atrinet - lifecycle service manager

Lifecycle Service Manager

NetACE White Paper

www.atrinet.com

SDN Migration and Deployment Challenges

Applications compatibility issues

An SDN Controller communicates with

SDN Applications, these applications are

written to a set of APIs that are

provided by the SDN controller. Generally,

APIs are not standardized, so an SDN

Application that runs on a given SDN

controller may have to be modified to run

on another SDN controller. A Mediation

Layer for connecting network Applications

to re-configurable Network Nodes / SDN

controllers is required.

Missing Skills

SDN requires bringing together advanced

networking and programming skills, which

is not a common thing among IT

professionals, especially in an environment

where the staff is constantly replaced by

new ones.

SDN holds great promise in terms of simplifying network deployment and operation along with lowering the

total cost of managing enterprise and carrier networks by providing programmable network services.

However, a number of challenges remain to be addressed:

Preserving the effectiveness of network

operations during the transition state

It would be straightforward to deploy a completely new

infrastructure based on SDN technology. For this, all

elements and devices in the network would be SDN-

enabled. However, there exists an installed-base of

networks today that cannot be replaced in one day or in

the near future. The transition to SDN requires

simultaneous support of SDN and traditional equipment.

Further development and complicated integration is

required to achieve a hybrid SDN infrastructure in which

traditional, SDN-enabled and hybrid network nodes can

operate in harmony and being managed and automated at

the same time. Such approach would reduce the cost, risk

and disruption for enterprise and carrier networks

transitioning to SDN as well as enable new revenue

generation and SDN-like programmability during the

transition state, which is an extremely painful process for

the operator in terms of operational efficiency and

expenses.

Conclusion

SDN offers many advantages to network design including programmability, agility and NFV. However, in most

cases SDN is not being deployed in greenfield networks. To ensure the smooth and cost-effective transition

to SDN (and afterwards) without disrupting daily network operations and revenue streams, an operator

requires a set of SW tools like those described in this paper to streamline the management of a complex

multi-vendor network built of different generations of telecommunication equipment and to deliver open and

unified programmable interfaces to allow the orchestration of applications and automation of network

functions.

NetACE – SDN Lifecycle Service Manager 2

NetACE is designed to transform enterprise and carrier networks by unifying traditional network management

and open, SDN-style network orchestration and programmability to enable Lifecycle Service automation and

flexibility, being a missing link in the transformation from Legacy to Next Generation networks.

NetACE shortens service delivery times and reduces operational expenses by simplifying and automating

service design, service activation, network-aware resource allocation and routine network maintenance tasks

across multi-vendor, multi-service networks of different generations.

NetACE provides control, e2e visibility and real-time assurance over the customer’s network and services

through a single pane-of-glass management.

• Lifecycle Service Management (design, configure, activate, discover, control, assure)

• Network-aware and policy-driven mapping of services to network resources

• Vendor-agnostic L2-L4 service activation (via NetACE GUI or “hands-free” through REST APIs)

• Traditional and Next Generation Networks automation and programmability

• Open and Simple Model-driven Service Design (no programming skills required)

• Vendor Device Independence (add a new vendor in 15 minutes via GUI)

• Real-time Troubleshooting

NetACE Value


Receive Order Process Order Decline OrderDesign Service

Create configuration

Activate Service

Monitor & Manage

18% 37% 31% 14% % Cost

NetACEAPI

Why automating Service Lifecycle Management is so important?

NetACE focuses on the following:

1. Automating the most expensive and time-consuming tasks such as design, configuration and activation

2. Automatic resource allocation based on user constrains and network availability

3. Real-time monitoring and managing all customer’s services

Implication of lack of network-wide programmability and automation in terms of OpEx


• Ensure a successful migration to SDN

• Deliver the benefits of SDN to Traditional Networks

• Generate new revenue from new agile services

• Drive down operational expenses by 30-40%

• Enable design agility

• Achieve rapid time-to-market

• Totally eliminate the risk of vendor lock-in

• Significantly reduced mean time to recovery (MTTR)

Why NetACE

Challenge: To deliver a cost effective, Lifecycle Service

Management solution that can enable the design and

operational agility, rapid vendor-agnostic service

deployment, holistic and real-time view and seamless

automation of traditional and next generation networks.

Existing Gaps

Delays in

Service Activation

Lack of

Automation

• Hands-free provisioning

• Network wide transactions

• Real-Time Service Discovery

• Open Service Architecture

• Model-driven

• Vendor agnostic provisioning

STEP 1

Reuse / Update / Create

Network Entities

Large Multi-Vendor Multi-Service Network

New Service Type Order

Service Model

Mapping

STEP 2

Create new Service

Model (Automap Entities)

STEP 3

Provision the new

Service

Costly Software

Overhead

• Adapter-free configuration

• Self-customizable

• Vendor agnostic

Configuration change

Juniper Cisco Alcatel Huawei

CLISNMP NETCONF

Monitor

Topology & Inventory & FCAPS

Configuration Activation Engine

3rd Party Apps NetACE GUIWeb-portalsOSS/BSS

Database

REST

Error-Prone

Operations

• Built-in Resource management

• Rollbacks

• Validation

A unique SDN approach of NetACE

“Getting Started” at a glance

Define as many network equipment vendors and device types as you desire into the system via the GUI-

based Device Type Manager (a process that takes less than 15 minutes).

Automatically discover your multi-vendor network by an IP address range (both devices and links) realizing

full FCAPS functionality.

Rapidly create any L2-L4 service models (or approach us to create those for you) via the Service Modeling

Tool (an open web-based, graphical interface; no programming skills required)

Mass-provision the custom-designed customer’s services in a point-and-click manner via NetACE GUI or

via 3rd party OSS/BSS portals.

NetACE is truly an open platform unifying traditional network management and open, SDN-style network

programmability and Lifecycle Service Orchestration while eliminating management silos. This in turn enables

service definition and provisioning automation that shortens time-to-market, delivers complete vendor

independency and dramatically improves cost structure.

The following figure clearly demonstrates NetACE's high-level functionality and the necessity for the

innovation it delivers


7

«Policer»

«Firewall»

«QoS»

«VPN Site»

Create Service Model

Drag & Drop the relevant Network Entities

Design Service Entities

CLI-based Data Model

Activate the Service

Via NetACE GUI or OSS/BSS Portals (via REST APIs)

(auto-rollback if failed)

Real-Time Discovery Health Monitoring

Modification Deletion

Web-based Service Modeling Tool

Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4

Service Modeling Service Activation Service Management

• Model any type of service: E-line, E-Lan (VPLS), E-Tree, L2VPNs, L3VPNs

• Provision the service across multiple networks/vendors as a simple atomic transaction:

Cisco, Juniper, Alcatel, Huawei, ZTE, Ciena…

• Manage, control and real-time monitor all customer’s services

NetACE provides a real-time, less expensive and the most practical way to program a multi-generation network and

the entire Service Lifecycle, delivering true vendor-agnostic multi-service solutions that control today's and

tomorrow's networks through a single pane-of-glass.

Automating Service Lifecycle Management with NetACE


Model-Driven

NetACE's unique Open Model-driven

Service Design Architecture easily enables

the design of the most complex services by

the service provider (in-house) in a matter of

hours, and run-time introduction of these

completely new services to the Service

Catalog. Atrinet has developed a simple and

intuitive process of designing new services

in NetACE using the web-based Service

Modeling Tool without the necessity for any

programming skills and system upgrades.

Programmable

Networks that allow business customers and/or their

applications to order, add, change and flex connectivity

services on demand are variously called "programmable

networks," "user-defined networks" or "network as a

service" (NaaS), but the principle is the same. They allow

customers, through a portal, to logically define where

they want connectivity services, their type and bandwidth.

NetACE receives the service creation request and user

parameters through its programmatic interfaces and

automatically provisions the service, taking minutes to

deploy what would once have taken a team of network

engineers perhaps weeks to roll out..


Available Today

Roadmap

3rd Party SW

NetACE Open Architecture

Service

Discovery Engine

Service ModelService Model

YANG-based Service ModelsService Manager

Device Manager

Vendor-agnostic

CLI Adapter

NetACE

NetACE GUIOSS/BSS

Portals


Device MIB Object Rules


YANG-Based Device Models


Entity-based Service Models

Centralized DB

SNMP NETCONFOpenFLow

ControllersREST

NMS/EMSNGNLegacy

FCAPS &

Topology

Network Service

Orchestration

Software

RESTXMLCORBAJava

Large Multi-vendor Networks: Hardware, Virtual, OpenFlow

Distributed, Redundant Backend ServersBESBESBES

CRM &

Bulling

• Tier 1 scalability: 60K NEs and 250K Services

• Linux and VMware Virtualization

• Modular and Distributed system Architecture

• Component Redundancy with Load Sharing

NetACE Applications

NetACE Web-based Service Modeling Tool™ and Service Catalog Manager

NetACE's Open Model-driven Service Design Architecture enables the design of the most complex service

types and run-time introduction of these completely new services to the Service Catalog in a matter of hours.

Atrinet has developed a simple and intuitive process of designing a new service in NetACE using the web-

based Service Modeling Tool and Service Catalog Manager that operates in a "drag-&-drop" manner.

This web-based tool facilitates the addition of new service models that are automatically saved to the Service

Catalog as well as modification of existing ones. Users model a service based on their knowledge of the

network and the service type they wish to implement, sometimes even relying on pre-existing Network

Entities that contain the set of CLI commands currently used to deploy a service. A service model can be

defined using either the rapid point-and-click Service Creation GUI or a scripting language or a mixture of

both. This flexibility allows the design of a variety of models ranging from the simple service model containing

a set of commands and parameters to the complicated ones which can include command conditionals,

sophisticated network logic and parameters requiring validation by built-in, user-defined Resource Managers.


NetACE Multi-vendor Topology Discovery Engine™ (and GUI)

Provides an accurate view of your network by automatically discovering and tracking changes to your network’s

equipment. NetACE’s automated discovery process completely eliminates preparatory manual data entry.

Adding a new Vendor in 15 minutes (via GUI)

Adding a new and previously unknown device vendor to an NMS is usually a very expensive and time-consuming

process which requires vendor intervention and extensive development effort. The device may have non-standard

MIBs that need to be mapped to the device properties, and therefore the relevant changes must be inserted in several

places in the source code (e.g. OIDs must be hardcoded to show module information). These code changes

inevitably mean the release of a new software version. With NetACE's new Custom Device feature, adding a new

device type is speedily done within 15 minutes and never requires code modification. As part of the process, every

new device type configuration is automatically stored into NetACE's database including all its OIDs as configured by

the operator. Modification of the mapping between the device's MIBs and of the full set of properties controlled by

NetACE is simply achieved via GUI-based Device Type Manager and in effect allows any device vendor to be

automatically discovered, have a full set of managed properties, FCAPS and automated Service Lifecycle capabilities.


NetACE SDN Lifecycle Service Management Suite™

Leveraging NetACE's Lifecycle Service Management capabilities and Open Model-drive Service Design Architecture,

moving away from hard-coded, rigid service structures to re-usable and easy editable service models, will make the

service provider’s operational environment much more agile and achieve accelerated time-to-market for introducing

new services quickly into their portfolio. Operators will significantly improve their responsiveness to business demands

through a simple and network-aware service design approach (no programming skills required), rapid cross-silo

service deployment and, at the same time, reduce overheads associated with the network operations.

Rapidly design, configure, activate, plan and allocate resources, discover, assure, control all types of custom-

designed services over a complex multi-vendor network.

NetACE – SDN Lifecycle Service Manager

15 minutes To model a new device type

2 hoursTo model a new service

1 minuteTo activate a new service

Design

Configure

Activate

Allocate resources

Discover

Assure

Control

NetACE

Service Lifecycle

11

NetACE Real-Time Service Discovery Engine™

Discovery and reconciliation of services and network resources are key components of Lifecycle Service

Management, efficient network utilization and stability. NetACE enables operators to discover and manage not

only all cross-silo services created via NetACE but also has a unique technique to discover externally created

“brownfield” services.

NetACE Zero-touch Service Provisioning and Planning™

NetACE eliminates the complexity of circuit provisioning though zero-touch automated service activation for L2-L4

services. It enables pre-provisioning of services prior to deployment of physical network elements, automatic

resource allocation and ensures that the configuration parameters necessary for service delivery are correctly

applied.

NetACE RESTful APIs

NetACE provides robust northbound RESTful APIs for automated network provisioning, customer management,

billing, payment and ordering functionality, and integrates with the latest web technologies and OSS/BSS systems.

NetACE User-defined Resource Management™ and Automated Resource Allocation

NetACE, with its user-defined, network-aware Resource Management and Automated Resource

Allocation system, reduces the need for administrators to be constantly engaged in endlessly repetitive

routine work, allowing them to focus on the broader, higher-level tasks of managing their infrastructure.

Sophisticated and custom-defined resource management and automated resource allocation system

helps to avoid human errors while maintaining multiple customer datasheets outside the system and

attempting to set the correct parameter during provisioning. It replaces the manual, error-prone and time-

consuming resource lookup procedures with a smart and fully automated resource allocation process

which is custom-defined and managed inside the NetACE’s database.


NetACE Centralized Device Configuration Manager™ and Task Scheduler

Automatically backs up, restores, upgrades, and loads SW, etc. on all NEs across the entire network, regardless of

vendor, using a consistent process and a single user interface. Simply design and allocate custom network tasks

including target backup servers, backup frequency, and scheduling.

NetACE Fault Manager™

Minimizes network downtime and improves mean-time-to-repair by centralizing all alarms and traps of your multi-

vendor network into a single unified view reducing potential risks and expenses through reduction of SLA violations.

NetACE Security Manager and Event Logger™

Provides a centralized authentication and role-based access-control point into your system to improve security and

reduce user administration costs while enabling group permission management to control who can access what

and when and captures all user activities in real-time to facilitate security and tracking.


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Atrinet is a leading provider of multi-vendor Lifecycle Service Management solutions to telecommunication

service providers, enterprise customers and equipment vendors. Atrinet introduces programmability and

automated service delivery and operational agility to traditional and next generation networks, leveraging

the power of SDN to reduce the cost and complexity.

Backed by Nokia Solutions & Networks, Atrinet provides cost-efficient Network Management Solutions &

Services to over 40 equipment vendors and telecommunication service providers worldwide.

About Atrinet

Partial list of our Customers

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Contact Us

Phone: +972-77-8066900

Email: [email protected]

www.atrinet.com

NetACE trademarks are all trademarks or registered

trademarks of Atrinet Ltd.

All other trademarks are the property of their respective

owners. All rights reserved.

Copyright 2015.

…While others powering the networks of tomorrow, we

power the networks of today

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.atrinet.com/

atrinet - lifecycle service manager

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