Cloudflare today launched a Magic Cloud Networking platform that makes it simpler to programmatically manage multiple cloud networking environments using Terraform code.
Based on a platform the Cloudflare gained when it acquired the core technology from Nefeli Networks late last year, the Magic Cloud Networking platform presents IT teams with a console through which they can use the existing Cloudflare One secure access service edge (SASE) platform to securely manage multiple cloud networks. The Cloudflare global network spans more than 310 cities in over 120 countries and interconnects with more than 13,000 networks worldwide.
Annika Garbers, director of product for Cloudflare, said this addition to the Cloudflare portfolio promises to make it simpler to integrate network operations (NetOps) with DevOps workflows in a way that makes it simpler to enforce zero-trust IT policies.
The degree to which NetOps and DevOps are integrated tends to vary widely from one organization to the next. It’s still not uncommon for DevOps teams to be able to provision a virtual machine in seconds or minutes but then be forced to wait days for a NetOps team to provide then network access. Arguably, those kinds of delays defeat the purpose of investing in DevOps in the first place.
That’s becoming a more problematic issue as organizations start to deploy workloads across multiple clouds, each with its own construct for managing software-defined networking infrastructure. The Magic Cloud Networking platform provides DevOps teams with a higher level of abstraction for programmatically managing those networks using Terraform code that is already widely used to manage infrastructure-as-code, noted Garbers.
That approach eliminates the need to rely on cumbersome virtual routers that IT teams don’t want to manage. In fact, more IT teams than ever just want to be able to access network services versus having to build, deploy and manage physical routers and switches, said Garbers. In the age of the cloud, the physical network underlay is typically managed by the cloud service provider, so all that’s required is a way to programmatically unify the management of multiple cloud networks that can be invoked via lower-level application programming interfaces (APIs).
The one thing that is certain is that as networking services become more programmable, the pace at which applications can be deployed is only going to accelerate. Each organization will need to determine which teams are best suited to manage any given layer of the networking stack. Still, regardless of approach it’s clear networks are finally catching up to rest of the IT infrastructure that is already being managed using code. The challenge, as always, is making just as easy for network administrators that lack programming skills to manage those networks as easily as a DevOps team that already has extensive experience using code to manage the rest of the infrastructure used to provide IT services.
Of course, there will still be plenty of routers and switches to manage in on-premises IT environments but it’s only a matter of time before they become part of a larger DevOps workflow.