Juniper Networks has announced that its Apstra data center automation software can now run on any network topology and support more protocols. This new capability, called Freeform, gives network engineers more choices for network design while still providing automation features such as network OS upgrades, the ability to push configuration changes to hundreds of devices at a time, and the ability to roll back the network to a known good state.
Prior to the launch of Freeform, Apstra required predefined reference architectures that essentially limited customers to leaf-spine topologies using BGP, EVPN, and VXLAN. With Freeform, customers can build hub-and-spoke, ring, full mesh, and other topologies, and use protocols including OSPF, IS-IS, RIFT, and more.
The goal is to make Apstra easier to sell to customers. While there were good reasons for requiring strict reference designs (which I’ll get into below), the requirement made Apstra a harder sell. If a customer was evaluating network automation platforms such as, for example, Apstra, Gluware, and Itential, Apstra was off the table if you weren’t building your data center network to Apstra’s specifications.
The introduction of Freeform reduces the friction around topology and protocol choices. This is good news for Apstra, particularly as it goes after enterprise data centers that may not have embraced cloud-like leaf-spine topologies.
This Is The Way
Apstra’s value proposition is built around Intent-Based Networking (IBN). Simply put, IBN lets organizations define high-level business requirements in the Apstra platform (for example, enable connectivity among these workloads but not those, provide quality of experience for applications based on business need, enforce access controls to meet policy requirements, and so on) and then Apstra automatically configures the routers and switches in the data center to deliver those outcomes.
Once those configurations are in place and the network is running, Apstra then continuosly collects telemetry to ensure that outcomes continue to match the stated intent. If the network falls out of compliance with intent, the system can automatically make the necessary changes to bring the network back to the desired state, creating a closed-loop environment.
To perform this feat, Apstra basically needed a clean sheet network that it could model from top to bottom and then configure by itself. Thus, Apstra only allowed a limited number of reference designs and supported a handful of protocols to ensure that it could correctly model the network and deliver on its promise of matching outcomes to intent. If you wanted Apstra, you had to use their reference designs. That was the way.
Freeform, But Not Free From Limitations
Freeform eliminates the reference design requirement. Organizations can use whatever topology best fits their requirements while still getting automation benefits form Apstra.
While this gives Apstra the opportunity to reach new customers, those customers should understand that Freeform still has limits.
First, one of Apstra’s key value propositions has always been multi-vendor hardware and network OS (NOS) support. Using one of Apstra’s reference designs, you could use hardware and a network OS from a number of sources including Arista, Cisco, SONiC, Juniper, and others.
At present, however, Freeform only works with Juniper’s equipment and NOS. The company says it will extend Freeform to other NOSs based on customer feedback and demand. For now though, Freeform isn’t a multi-vendor solution.
Another limitation of Freeform is that by expanding the number of topologies and protocols, Freeform can’t auto-genearte device configurations if an organization is using a network topology outside Apstra’s traditional reference designs. Customers have to create and validate all the device profiles themselves and model the topology in Apstra’s software. For more details on the creation of device profiles, see this documentation from Juniper.
Apstra Freeform Topology View. Source: Juniper Networks
While the need to build your own device profiles isn’t the end of the world, it can be time-consuming and puts a burden on the network team to get Apstra off the ground. Depending on the size and complexity of the network, it may also require a services engagement.
Juniper also says Freeform mode doesn’t support the advanced telemetry that customers get from the reference-design approach. Juniper’s own documentation says of Freeform “when compared to the more advanced reference designs, reduced depth of IBA [Intent-Based Analytics] capabilities is the trade-off for greater design flexibility.”
That said, customers still get useful capabilities including NOS upgrades, roll back (which Juniper calls Time Voyager) and other automation capabilities. However, customers should make sure they precisely understand what “reduced depth of IBA capabilities” actually means for their own deployment.
What About Brownfield?
Another limitation with Apstra’s strict reference design approach was that it basically required a greenfield deployment. Customers would have to build out a new data center or new racks or pods within an existing data center to run Apstra.
Juniper says the Freeform option is more brownfield-capable, but bringing Freeform into an brownfield data center network will require serious work and likely a services engagement. If you want more details about Apstra Freeform, Juniper produced several recent Network Field Day videos. And I’m sure Juniper would be happy to talk to you about a brownfield opportunity.
