What Is Network Automation?
Network automation involves the use of software in managing network devices and performing critical network functions – such as running jobs and active scripts or remediating issues – without any intervention from network administrators. With network automation, oversight is still required, but day-to-day operations can be executed without putting unnecessary strain on IT.
Why Implement Network Automation?
Staffing is generally the biggest reason behind organizations using network automation software. When you have a small IT team, certain things need to be offloaded – whether that’s done through a managed service provider or the use of automation software. There is often simply not enough bandwidth among IT teams to support all day-to-day processes.
The improved efficiency that comes with streamlining network processes is usually the second biggest reason. Having specific workflows built into network operations means operations run smoother and employees are less likely to create unintended issues by deviating from outlined processes.
What Is A Network Automation Tool?
A network automation tool allows IT to schedule and set up jobs and workflows so that a network can run on its own. As is the case with Fortra’s Intermapper network monitoring software and its automation platform Automate, a network automation tool can also be used to optimize network performance as well as monitor network devices and traffic.
You can also combine alerts from Intermapper with the power of automation scripts from Automate to reduce day-to-day manual network activities. Network automation helps you assure a rapid response to network alerts and frees you from making the fix yourself.
How Does Our Network Automation Tool Work?
Once you’ve installed Intermapper and Automate on the same Windows platform, you'll need to enable the integration. Then it's easy to set up the desired action in Automate, attach it to the correct device, and set Intermapper to trigger the command whenever the alert sounds. Intermapper will receive the alert and execute a call to Automate to complete a pre-defined response.
Once the back-end work is done, the products will alert and act together just as you've instructed them to resolve the network issue.
Try a Sample Task: Restart a Service
If you've installed a trial of Intermapper and Automate, you can try out the interface yourself. We've created a sample task to show you exactly how it works. In the task, you'll restart a failed device with our network automation tool.
Just download the task, then get a quick step-by-step of how it works by watching the video. You'll see just how fast and easy it is to remediate network problems—no manual intervention required.
How One ISP Cut Outages from 2 Hours to 2 Minutes with a Network Automation Tool
An internet service provider covering a large rural area had a problem: their remote equipment kept failing. Getting a technician out to resolve the issue took hours—leaving customers dissatisfied. Using network automation, the ISP configured network self-healing, cutting their downtime to virtually nothing, saving them time and money and keeping customers happy.
Why Should You Create a Self-Healing Network?
Ready to Create Your Own Self-Healing Network?
Resolve network issues even faster when you combine network monitoring with the power of automation. Get started with a free 30-day trial.