Prepare for Device Onboarding (Day -1 Activities)

Before a device is onboarded to Paragon Automation, a network planner must create a network implementation plan for onboarding the device. In the network implementation plan, you (network planner):

• Add devices and device interfaces to which the plan can be applied.

• Assign device profiles and interface profiles to the devices and interfaces in the plan. The profiles define the general and protocol configurations for the devices and interfaces. You can also configure specific configurations (for example, IP address) that override the configurations in the profiles.

• Define the connections between devices added to the plan.

• Specify the SFPs (also called as pluggables or optics) to be installed in the device ports and cables to be used for connecting the ports. The information related to the SFPs and cables is displayed to the field technician for guiding the field technician to install the device at a site.

Apart from using the network implementation plan for applying configurations on a device during onboarding, you can use the network implementation plan to make any changes to the device or interface configurations even after the device is onboarded. For example, after a device is onboarded, at a later time, to upgrade the software on the device, you change only the software version of the device in the network implementation plan and publish the plan. Paragon Automation automatically upgrades the software of the devices added to the plan.

If you assign a device to a network implementation plan, Paragon Automation starts monitoring the device, which enables it to track the device's performance and health right after the device is onboarded.

For information about adding the network implementation plan, see Add a Network Implementation Plan.

After you create the network implementation plan for a device, the device can be installed and onboarded to Paragon Automation. See Install and Onboard the Device (Day 0 Activities).