The Traditional Divide: Why Network Engineering and DevOps Often Exist in Separate Worlds
For decades, network engineering has maintained its position as a specialized discipline, operating with its own set of tools, procedures, and institutional knowledge. Network engineers have traditionally focused on designing, implementing, and maintaining the physical and logical connectivity that forms the backbone of IT infrastructure.
DevOps, on the other hand, emerged as a methodology aimed at breaking down barriers between development and operations teams, emphasizing automation, continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD), and infrastructure as code. While DevOps practices have revolutionized application deployment and infrastructure management, networking has often remained a separate domain with its own pace of innovation and change.
This separation creates significant challenges for organizations:
Slow network changes that can't keep pace with rapid application deployments
Manual network configuration processes that create bottlenecks
Inconsistent infrastructure management across different technical domains
Difficulty implementing end-to-end automation
Increased risk of errors and outages during change management
The Rise of NetDevOps: Where Network Engineering Meets DevOps
The concept of NetDevOps (or Network DevOps) represents the practical fusion of networking and DevOps principles. It's not simply about applying DevOps tools to networking problems, but rather a fundamental shift in how network infrastructure is conceptualized, delivered, and maintained.
The core principles of NetDevOps include:
Infrastructure as Code (IaC): Managing network configurations using version-controlled code repositories
Automation: Replacing manual CLI configuration with programmatic approaches
Continuous Testing: Validating network changes before and after deployment
Collaboration: Breaking down organizational silos between network teams and other technical groups
Observability: Implementing comprehensive monitoring and analytics across the network infrastructure
Key Technologies Enabling the Network Engineering + DevOps Convergence
1. Network Automation Tools and Frameworks
Network automation has evolved significantly beyond basic scripts to comprehensive frameworks:
Ansible: With its agentless architecture, Ansible has become a popular choice for network automation, offering modules for most major networking vendors.
Terraform: An Infrastructure as code tool that can provision and manage network resources alongside compute and storage.
Python Libraries: Purpose-built libraries like NAPALM, Netmiko, and nornir provide powerful interfaces for interacting with network devices.
2. APIs and Programmable Networks
Modern network infrastructure increasingly supports API-based management:
RESTful APIs: Most network vendors now offer RESTful APIs that allow programmatic control of their devices.
Controller-Based Architectures: SDN controllers and network management platforms provide centralized API endpoints for network management.
gRPC/gNMI: Newer protocols designed specifically for network management and telemetry.
3. CI/CD for Network Changes
Applying continuous integration and deployment concepts to networking:
Automated Testing: Frameworks like pyATS, Batfish, and Suzieq enable validation of network configurations and states.
GitOps Workflows: Using Git repositories as the single source of truth for network configurations.
Canary Deployments: Gradually rolling out network changes to minimize risk.
Practical Steps to Bridge the Gap in Your Organization
1. Start with Cultural Transformation
Technology alone won't bridge the gap – organizational culture needs to evolve:
Cross-Training Initiatives: Help network engineers gain DevOps skills and DevOps practitioners understand networking fundamentals.
Unified Teams: Consider integrated teams responsible for both network infrastructure and applications.
Shared Metrics: Implement common performance indicators that span both networking and application domains.
2. Implement a Network Automation Strategy
Begin with a thoughtful approach to automation:
Identify High-Value Targets: Start by automating repetitive, error-prone tasks.
Standardize Configurations: Create templates and standards that enable easier automation.
Build a Network CI/CD Pipeline: Implement automated testing and deployment for network changes.
3. Adopt Network Infrastructure as Code
Treat network configurations like software:
Version Control: Store all network configurations in a Git repository.
Review Processes: Implement pull request reviews for network changes.
Configuration Generation: Use templating systems to generate consistent configurations.
4. Implement Comprehensive Observability
You can't manage what you can't measure:
Unified Monitoring: Integrate network monitoring with application and infrastructure observability.
Telemetry Collection: Implement streaming telemetry to gather real-time network data.
Automated Remediation: Create self-healing mechanisms for common network issues.
Real-World Success Stories
Case Study: Financial Services Firm Accelerates Network Changes
A large financial services company reduced their network change window from weeks to hours by:
Implementing a network automation platform built on Ansible and Python
Creating a CI/CD pipeline that included pre and post-deployment testing
Training network engineers in DevOps methodologies and tools
Integrating their network management into their existing GitOps workflow
The result was a 90% reduction in time-to-deploy for network changes and a 70% reduction in network-related incidents.
Case Study: E-commerce Platform Achieves Network Reliability at Scale
A rapidly growing e-commerce platform needed to scale their network infrastructure without sacrificing reliability:
They adopted a "network as code" approach using Terraform for provisioning
Implemented canary deployments for network changes
Created automated testing scenarios to validate configurations
Built a shared platform used by both network engineers and DevOps teams
This approach allowed them to scale from supporting 10,000 daily users to over 1 million while maintaining 99.99% availability.
Challenges and Considerations
While the benefits are clear, bridging network engineering and DevOps isn't without challenges:
Legacy Equipment: Older network devices may lack API support or automation capabilities.
Specialized Knowledge: Networking concepts can be complex and require dedicated expertise.
Regulatory Requirements: Some industries have compliance requirements that may affect automation approaches.
Skill Gaps: Finding professionals with both networking and DevOps expertise remains difficult.
Conclusion: The Future is Collaborative
The separation between network engineering and DevOps is increasingly untenable in today's fast-moving technical landscape. Organizations that successfully bridge this gap gain significant competitive advantages through faster deployments, more reliable infrastructure, and more efficient operations.
By adopting shared tools, implementing automation, and fostering a collaborative culture, companies can transform their network infrastructure from a bottleneck to an enabler of rapid innovation. The future belongs to organizations that can deploy and manage their entire technical stack—including networking—with the speed, reliability, and efficiency that modern business demands.