[DL.EAC.2] Modernize networks through infrastructure as code

Category: FOUNDATIONAL

The practice of managing networking configurations through code, including network automation, version control, and rigorous testing to ensure quality and stability. Apply DevOps practices to networking systems to streamline network operations, reduce human errors, and speed up network deployments. Networking as code enables the predictable and repeatable provisioning of networking components, making infrastructure more modular and less prone to error.

Managing networking components as code requires cultural, process, and tool changes. Shift from a centralized, manual model of network management to a more autonomous model where individual teams can operate independently. Loosely couple networking architectures to create modular components that can be managed, maintained, and scaled individually. Use infrastructure as code (IaC) tools to define network infrastructure and configurations and use development lifecycle capabilities like continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) for deploying networking changes. Like other systems, networking changes should undergo automated testing to provide assurance that they meet functional, non-functional, and security requirements before deployment.

Often, platform teams manage network components on behalf of individual teams when possible so that all teams do not need to become networking experts. However, for cases where this is not possible, use shared resources or predefined network configuration templates which have embedded best practices and secure defaults. This approach encourages predictable and repeatable provisioning of self-service networking components. Have guardrails in place within the environment to enforce compliance of networking requirements.

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