API Use Cases

API Use Case Examples

Source of Truth

As network operations continue to evolve, the Source of Truth (SoT) is becoming a more important concept. This SoT allows you to describe to an external software application how the network should be configured and have it directly interact with Mist for device configuration.

The source of truth can be something as simple as a set of YAML or JSON data files or as sophisticated as a dedicated application or a suite of applications that manage and automate your entire network. Configuring sites and devices via the API, based on data in the SoT, provides a level of control and can keep configurations consistent across sites and devices.

Service Oriented Configuration

Change management is a large part of network operations. Manual changes are both error prone and time consuming. Integration of change management into a platform like ServiceNow helps simplify common change management requests by letting changes flow through proper change management processes as well as reduce the human error of making the changes. The API for Wired Assurance enables these integrations between service platforms and the wired network configuration.

Continuing Efforts

While the API gives us some immediate opportunities to programmatically configure EX Switching, work is already progressing for additional functionality. For example, automating the migration Cisco IOS configurations as well as the automated migration of existing Juniper EX configurations to the Mist platform using existing software libraries and opensource tools.