The rise of the NetOps engineer

NetOps, also known as NetDevOps, is the practice of monitoring, managing, automating, and operating networks using DevOps techniques, such as agile software development, continuous integration/continuous delivery, and extensive use of automation. The goal of NetOps is to use these techniques to make fast and accurate changes to the network to support ever-changing business applications. Many people are now leveraging DevOps techniques, and this is leading to the rise of a new type of engineer.

NetOps engineers, like DevOps engineers, rely primarily on automation and programming scripts to achieve repeatable processes. From the perspective of advancements in application development, network automation lags behind DevOps primarily due to two factors:

• Deploying web software development practices requires a cultural shift;
• There are difficulties in creating development and test environments that replicate production networks. While virtual instances of network operating systems from major network vendors such as Cisco, Juniper Networks and Arista are beginning to make this easier, replicating production data flows in test networks remains a challenge.

The emergence of NetOps engineers

To solve these two problems, NetOps engineers came into being. This position mainly comes from two different disciplines:

• Most common are network engineers who first learned about networking through traditional command line interfaces. These engineers may have become frustrated with the slow and error-prone process of manually changing device configurations. These candidates begin the transition by learning software technologies that make them more effective.
• Another is from DevOps engineers who are interested in networking. These people are interested in applying software development techniques to network management, perhaps to help out some friendly network engineers.

What does a NetOps Engineer do?

The primary function of a NetOps engineer is to deploy repeatable, automated processes for network operations. NetOps engineers apply a paradigm equivalent to DevOps, where standardized server builds reduce management workloads. To achieve this, network designs must minimize design variations in favor of standardized designs that automate common processes.

This requires working with network architects to create network building blocks based on common best practice designs. Configuration templates are then created to incorporate variables such as device names, IP addresses, or virtual LANs in each building block implementation. These variables will come from a central repository, called the Network Source of Truth (NSoT).

NetOps engineers work with automation systems to create network device configurations by combining configuration templates with NSoT variables. Automation is used to deploy the resulting configurations to the production network. Changes to NSoT variables can be quickly deployed across the network, such as updating access list rules or modifying quality of service parameters.

Another function of a NetOps engineer is to build a virtual test/development network infrastructure that matches the production network environment as closely as possible. Test/development networks enable personnel to test proposed network changes before deploying them to the production network.

Once the test network is in place, NetOps engineers can create a continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) process. Network engineers use the CI/CD process to validate proposed network changes, and if the changes pass all tests, they can be automatically applied to the production network. This is similar to the process that DevOps teams use for server and application management.

NetOps engineers can develop scripts for custom automation as well as use commercial tools to accomplish common tasks. In either case, network standardization, templates, and variables are key elements.

Since they are responsible for network configuration, NetOps engineers work closely with network security operations (SecOps) engineers as well as network architects and engineers to monitor the network for problems. Common automation tasks are updating security controls or verifying that the network is operating as expected. To do this, NetOps systems, security systems, and network monitoring systems need to be integrated.

NetOps Engineer Skills

Key skills for NetOps engineers include understanding network configuration, network protocols, software development, and the language used for NetOps. Understanding basic networking concepts can help prevent unnecessary mistakes. For example, there are often subtle but critical differences between data center networks, enterprise office LAN environments, and WANs. Since many different network environments are transitioning to software-defined network controllers, NetOps engineers should understand what is happening behind the scenes.

Senior NetOps engineers should understand and apply the principles of object-oriented programming, the use of abstraction layers, and the concept of infrastructure as code to complete automation tasks. At the same time, they must have a good understanding of software development paradigms, processes (including agile), languages, tools, and libraries for network automation. Excellent troubleshooting skills are essential for both software and networks.

Finally, strong communication and collaboration skills are required when working with network architects, application system architects, DevOps engineers, and SecOps engineers. Good reading skills are also critical - for understanding API documentation and applying it to building and customizing automation systems.

NetOps Engineer Career Path

A NetOps engineer's career can begin in software development or networking, eventually covering both knowledge areas. Regardless of the starting point, courses such as Cisco DevNet certification are beneficial. Those starting from a software development background should also look for Network Associate and Network Specialist courses. Whereas software development courses are best suited for existing network engineers. Either track should start with simple concepts and then work your way up to learn the best practices of each discipline.

NetOps engineer positions currently show expected salaries of $115,000 or more. Experienced engineers with a background in successful deployments should expect to receive higher compensation, especially those with higher-level certifications.