Network Implementation Plan Overview
Paragon Automation uses a network implementation plan to commit configurations on the device during device onboarding, and update configurations after the device is onboarded. For example, if a plan has an RSVP LSP configured from a device to all the provider edge (PE) devices, an LSP is configured from the device to all the PE devices that are currently present in the network and also, to any PE device that might be added to the network after the device is onboarded.
Before you onboard a device, you must create a network implementation plan to define the device configurations to be committed, and health, connectivity, and compliance [with Center for Internet Security (CIS)] checks to be performed on the device. You can assign device and interface profiles to one or more devices in the network implementation plan to apply the device configurations and perform the checks.
You can also create a profile from within the network implementation plan. See Add a Network Implementation Plan.
You create a plan by adding devices, assigning device and interface profiles to the devices, and defining links from the devices to neighboring devices. A device profile contains configurations associated with a device such as IP address, autonomous system (AS) the device is a part of, tunnels to be created on the device, and BGP groups. The interface profiles contain the protocol configuration (IS-IS, OSPF, BGP, and RSVP) for the interfaces. See Onboarding Profiles for more information.
Paragon Automation provides a wizard in the GUI that guides you to create the plan. To create a plan, navigate to Intent > Intent Settings > Network Implementation Plan.
In the plan, you:
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Add one or more devices that you want to associate with the plan.
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Assign one or more device and interface profiles to the devices.
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Enter instructions on the type of pluggables to insert and cables to use for connecting to the device ports.
A field technician can view these instructions on the field technician UI while installing the device. So, we recommend that you use terminologies with which a field technician is familiar. See Install and Onboard the Device (Day 0 Activities).
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Add the number of hardware elements (pluggables, memory, PSU, and fans) in the device for collecting health data.
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Configure links from the device to neighboring devices. You can configure links only between devices in the same network implementation plan.
You cannot onboard multiple devices in an Implementation plan at the same time.
Benefits
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A network architect can provide instructions on the type of pluggables and cables to be used for a port, to a field technician. This helps the field technician to install the correct pluggables and connect correct cables to ports.
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By using a network implementation plan, you can define the configuration for multiple devices once and commit them when the devices are onboarded. To modify the committed configurations on the devices later, you can change the configuration in the plan and push the changes to the devices.
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When you use a plan for onboarding a device, Paragon Automation executes the health and connectivity checks during device onboarding. The health and connectivity checks during onboarding help you to ensure that the device will function without issues after the device is onboarded and is ready for production soon after onboarding.
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When you use a plan to onboard a device, based on the configurations in the plan, playbooks for collecting metrics are enabled automatically. You do not have to separately configure monitoring. For example, if you enable BGP, Paragon Automation collects metrics for BGP and displays the data on the Paragon Automation UI.
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By defining the links between devices in the plan, the links are configured on the devices while the devices are onboarded, enabling quick deployment of your network.