IP Fabric expands network visibility, automation with platform update

As modern networking deployments across the cloud and edge become increasingly complex, it can be a non-trivial exercise for teams to get proper visibility. IP Fabric is updating its automated network assurance platform to version 7.0 with the goal of helping organizations to answer the challenges of hybrid networking environments. The release focuses on streamlining network operations across cloud, SD-WAN and traditional environments while strengthening security and compliance capabilities.

Key updates in version 7.0 include:

• Enhanced AWS networking visibility, including Direct Connect Transit VIF and Transit Gateway support
• Advanced BGP analytics for detailed route advertisement tracking
• Expanded SD-WAN support for Silverpeak and Viptela environments
• Network digital twin capability through shareable snapshots
• Over 160 new automated intent verification checks
• Multi-view dashboards for role-specific network insights

“As one of our most ambitious updates to date, IP Fabric 7.0 offers wider and more actionable insights into business-critical infrastructure, along with greater ability to embed these insights into critical workflows across the organization,” IP Fabric CEO Pavel Bykov told Network World.

Deeper network visibility across hybrid environments

Among the critical new updates is the platform’s enhanced network discovery capabilities that now provide more granular insights into AWS networking configurations. Network teams can track traffic patterns and routing behaviors across Direct Connect Transit VIF deployments and Transit Gateway implementations with more detail.

Version 7.0’s advanced BGP analytics allow engineers to monitor route advertisements between devices in real-time, helping ensure routing policies are correctly implemented across the network. This level of detail significantly simplifies troubleshooting in complex environments where routing issues can be particularly challenging to diagnose.

For organizations using SD-WAN, the expanded support for Silverpeak and Viptela environments provides enhanced visibility into performance metrics and connectivity status across distributed networks. The platform update also introduces over 160 automated intent verification checks to help verify compliance and security posture.

IP Fabric aims to differentiate against observability tools

The market for network monitoring and observability is highly competitive with no shortage of vendors targeting organizations large and small.

Bykov argued that his firm’s platform should be placed in a different category than observability, CMDB (configuration management database), or monitoring tools. He explained that the IP Fabric platform is able to automatically create a vendor-agnostic, end-to-end view of all network and security devices, states and dependencies, as well as the cloud. Additionally configuration and compliance analytics are able to reveal unknown risks and opportunities, which then can be shared and integrated into other workflows.

With the latest update, Bykov said that users have increased visibility into data sources like cloud inventory tables for AWS and GCP, expanded support for SD-WAN vendors, and access to newly added security data sources like Checkpoint, Stormshield and Palo Alto. 

Increased accuracy for network inventory

A core challenge that any networking monitoring platform faces is actually being able to properly identify all the assets in the network inventory. IP Fabric claims that its platform provides more accurate network inventory than other technologies.

Bykov said that on average, IP Fabric is able to reveal 2-10% more devices than what companies have in their CMDB systems. Similarly, he noted that his company tends to also find significant security vulnerabilities such as open ports, firewall misconfigurations, or improperly implemented network segmentation.

Here’s how IP Fabric’s underlying technology approach works:

• Discovery: The traditional approach uses probes to discover assets, but that can miss assets if the packet is dropped or filtered. IP Fabric’s CLI-based infrastructure in contrast uses an SSH discovery mechanism.
• Network coverage: The system looks for known neighbors with the ability to discover IP-based active network devices, such as switches, routers, firewalls, load-balancers, WAN concentrators, wireless controllers and wireless access-points.
• Data collection: The platform collects detailed network state information from every discovered device and computes cross-technology dependencies to create a complete model.
  

What multi-view dashboards bring to IP Fabric 7.0

Among the standout new features in IP Fabric 7.0 is support for multi-view dashboards.

Bykov emphasized that IP Fabric does not have “per-user” license costs. Instead his company encourages widespread adoption within customer organizations. The new multi-view dashboard supports that effort by enabling different types of users to view data that is impactful for a specific type of user.

For example, a cloud engineer proving segmentation for PCI-DSS compliance can get a view that is specific to that use case. A DevOps professional testing an automation workflow can get a view that provides the right visibility. For business executives that want to check in on their organization’s overall security posture, that can be another view.

“Each of them can accomplish their tasks with a single glance at an IP Fabric dashboard—no coding, scripting, or endless scrolling required,” Bykov said. “This feature is especially useful when it comes to compliance, as different teams often have different priorities and insights into their network.”

How IP Fabric aims to boost automation

A key promise of the IP Fabric platform is that it is able to help reduce manual preparation work and accelerate automation projects.

Bykov explained that IP Fabric helps closed-loop automation projects in three areas; the complete infrastructure and security data model, the outcomes of our configuration compliance analytics, and continuous compliance checks. 

IP Fabric is able to identify non-compliant conditions and can kick off workflows with automation platforms such as Ansible. After changes are made, IP Fabric can update systems such as NetBox and ensure that the changes that have been made have not caused any unintended issues.

“With IP Fabric 7.0, we have expanded the data model that will feed automation and AI programs,” Bykov said.