An emerging standard at my company may require my team to adopt infrastructure/configuration as code practices, meaning they expect us to write code that automates the change on our behalf rather than performing the change manually. Also required would be github version control.
The belief is that we'll be able to move faster, be able to document what was changed and by whom, and have a better capability to roll back bad changes. They are very focused on cloud/container technologies, but voice tends to get swept up in these things since we're in the infrastructure category.
I'd like to hear from members who have adopted this practice and understand how it's working in your environment. What configuration items have you been able to implement effectively and where does the model simply not work?
Currently, the best example I have is Ansible automation for routers and switches. All of the network changes are done via code, with individual switch ports being configured via a web portal.
I'm familiar with the APIs for System Manager User/Routing and for AES SMS, and the OSSI terminal and what they can do and how they can be coded. I'm more interested in whether you've gone down this road, and if so how successful you've been, and what were the unlocks that enabled that success? (starting to sound like an IAUG session?)
I think University of Michigan and University of Washington may have some experience here...
Thank you!
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Tom Lynn
Forum Moderator
Principal Engineer
Nordstrom, Inc.
Seattle
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