Resource Library

To be a data center network engineer is to live with complexity and uncertainty. A change in one place could have an unintended effect somewhere else. Performance could suffer, workloads could be exposed to security threats, or the network could crash.

To operate successfully in uncertain environments where network requirements constantly evolve, network engineers need to cultivate good habits. Experienced network engineers tend to be careful, thoughtful, and precise.

Traditionally, before making a change, they seek out information about the network through SNMP traps, syslogs, device configurations, packet captures, and streaming telemetry. Some network teams gather this information manually. Others might deploy network sources of truth that centralize essential information. And some organizations take advantage of new tools such as AI for IT operations (AIOps) software and intent-based networking (IBN) that collect and contextualize multiple sources of information about the network.

Regardless of how you and your team operate, this paper proposes seven habits that can help network engineers better grapple with the uncertainty in data center management and operations.