Five Things Network Engineers Should Know About The Cisco Devnet Program

Last week Cisco Systems hosted their annual DevNet Create event at the supercool Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. This is Create's third year, and as the show grew, so did its audience. The first year was Create, focusing primarily on IoT and cloud developers as a way to help understand how to create applications on Cisco network platforms.

This year's audience was split roughly 50/50 between developers and network engineering, emphasizing that DevNet programs are not just for application developers.

For those unfamiliar with DevNet, the program was the brainchild of Cisco Senior Vice President Susie Wee, whose vision was that the infrastructure had to be programmable to interact with the application. Today's program has approximately 600,000 members, most of whom are developers, but a growing population of network engineers. Now that applications can access network information such as location, identity, security features, and other data, it's easy to understand the value proposition for vendors and software developers.

What network engineers should know

Here are five things that network engineers should know when deciding if DevNet is right for them.

It Is Easy To Start. Without a doubt, DevNet's biggest concern is fear of starting. My estimate is that around 70% of network professionals have never made API calls during their careers. While they excel at working with the CLI and writing scripts to automate some configuration changes, the API is as externally influenced as Spock's sentiment. As a result, the level of threat can be very high. Cisco revolves around a series of learning labs at your own pace, starting from the basics, assuming you don't have programming skills. In fact, the first two labs are just step-by-step guides to creating APIs. Cisco also has a lot of "popular" videos and sandboxes, so DevNet members can try it without buying equipment. As the skill level increases, so does the laboratory. Literally anyone can start, regardless of skill level.

It Is Not Just For Developers. When you request a "developer program," it's easy to get the impression that you need to be a developer. DevNet is structured to allow multiple audiences to get more value from the Cisco infrastructure through the use of APIs. While it has obvious value for developers, it also makes life easier for network professionals. More and more automated network configuration changes are taking place. The digital business is advancing rapidly and it is too late to run each of the boxes at once. The API allows an administrator to write the code once and then use it again and again. It does not require the engineer to be a programmer, but must be familiar with scripting, making API calls, and working with software that uses languages ​​such as Python. The person creating the application needs to know how to program. Engineers working with Cisco equipment must be advanced software users. In both cases, DevNet can help.

Related To All Cisco Products. When DevNet was first released, there were only a few products that had an API exposed, and DevNet had a limited scope. Currently, all Cisco products in all product areas are accessible through APIs. The Technology tab on developer.cisco.com is divided by IoT, cloud, networking, datacenter, collaboration, analytics and automation, security, open source, mobility, and services, so engineers no matter where they focus. DevNet can make your life easier. The important thing is to understand that DevNet has become the de facto standard way to operate Cisco equipment. Cisco moved to a first software model. Programs like DevNet are relatively new to networks, but common in the software industry.

Creation Is Not The Only Way To Join Devnet. As I mentioned earlier, the Create event was held last week. In addition to that conference, Cisco hosts a series of small local events known as "DevNet Express ...". You can find a complete list of them here and there are various events held around the world. Additionally, each Cisco Live event has a DevNet zone specifically designed to help network professionals become advanced software users. Cisco Live U.S. It will be available in June, so anyone who attends can check it out for themselves. The DevNet zone for Cisco Live US 2018 is full and I think it will be bigger this year. Cisco can also use Github as a code repository and use its own CodeExchange to find working code that anyone can reuse.

It Is Important For Your Career. This is probably the most important point for network professionals. The world is changing and the skills that were valued 10 years ago do not guide you into the future. I've spoken with IT leaders, senior network professionals, CIOs and others, and they all agree that automation and scheduling capabilities are necessary to successfully align networks with digital trends. Engineers who focus on mundane and repetitive tasks are not needed in the not-too-distant future. The required skills are tailored to digital trends such as software fluency, analytics, and strategic planning. The challenge for network professionals is that they cannot rebuild their skills if they are busy performing their daily tasks. My advice to network professionals is that if you are doing something that is not strategic to your career, don't do it. Find a way to automate it. That functionality is made possible by DevNet.