Opscode and Arista Networks Extend IT Automation to Networking [feedly]

Opscode and Arista Networks Extend IT Automation to Networking
http://www.opscode.com/blog/2013/08/19/opscode-and-arista-networks-extend-it-automation-to-networking/

Integration of Opscode Chef™ with Arista EOS Automates the Configuration and Management of Physical and Virtual Networking Resources

SEATTLE – August 19, 2013 – Opscode®, the foundation of the coded business, and Arista Networks, today announced the integration of Opscode Chef™ and Arista Extensible Operating System (EOS). Using Opscode Chef with Arista EOS, enterprise IT teams can automate the configuration of physical and virtual networking ports using Chef Cookbooks, coordinating change management between compute and networking resources to align core datacenter operations. By automating previously manual, repetitive networking management tasks, Opscode Chef and Arista EOS accelerate bandwidth provisioning, improve operational efficiency, and reduce the time and cost required to support scale-out data centers.

"The business imperative to continually increase development velocity in the race to market means using IT as a catalyst in rapidly delivering goods and services. This can only happen when compute, networking, and storage resources are fully aligned," said Ken Cheney, VP of Business Development, Opscode. "By combining Chef with EOS, we're automating compute and networking via the same systems integration platform, ensuring compute resources and applications always have the bandwidth they need, with minimal overhead."

"The enterprise shift to scale-out computing has created a massive management challenge for the networking layer, with IT operations teams often employing only one networking person for thousands of ports," said Doug Gourlay, vice president Systems Engineering and Technology Marketing at Arista Networks. "Eliminating manual port configuration is the first, and most critical, step in solving the networking dilemma in today's data centers. Combining Chef and Arista EOS provides a flexible solution for abstracting management into simple code commands that ensure bandwidth availability and consistency at any scale."

Opscode and Arista have integrated the Chef client onto Arista EOS and collaborated on a Chef Cookbook featuring rock-solid, easy-to-follow recipes for automating the following:

• Physical Networking Port – Provision physical networking ports on Arista EOS with pre-configured code commands, eliminating manual management and creating a shared repository of configuration code for networking resources.
• Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) – Build virtual networking resources on top of physical ports, extending networking scalability and improving consistency.
• Logical Layer Two and Three Interfaces – Create virtual networking interfaces for assigning, supporting, and managing services across different tiers to best align service delivery with resource bandwidth.
• Link Aggregation Interface – Bundle multiple physical ports into a single virtual port interface, supplying high performance applications with the aggregate bandwidth they need without additional cost.

The Chef Cookbook for automating Arista EOS can be found here. Opscode and Arista will continue to collaborate on simplifying networking management and better aligning compute and networking resources in the enterprise data center.