# Intent - based networking (IBN)

Tailor your IT infrastructure based on the business intent with an adaptable IBN system.

Intent-based networking is networking technology that configures the entire IT infrastructure based on the business intent — a service request from the network administrator without any human intervention. In a nutshell, it is the use of technology to eliminate manual configuration of the network. The employed technology continuously provides critical network insights and constantly tweaks the hardware configuration to ensure the intent is met.

Intent based networking system takes networking from a device-centric to a business-centric model. Intent-based networking (IBN) leverages the analytics of machine learning (ML) with the power of IT automation to enhance the agility of the IT infrastructure in every possible aspect. In simple terms, IBNS is a self-driving networking system.

## Why should enterprises adopt intent based networking (IBN)?

The Intent based networking system has a lot to offer organizations, including:

- Massive scalability
- Improved security
- Maximum flexibility
- Multi-vendor hardware management

Managing hardware in the thousands with network automation can drastically reduce the mean time to repair (MTTR). It makes the IT infrastructures flexible, helping IT administrators handle complex service requests with fewer resources. The intent based networking platform saves time and resources for businesses, which are important factors for all enterprise-grade organizations to consider.

## Advantages of intent-based networking

Here are some of the advantages of intent-based networking.

- Intent based networking makes it easy for network administrators by simplifying the complex configuration processes.
- The automation reduces manual interruption thereby saving a lot of time, resources and manual errors.
- The network experiences minimal downtime since the network is proactively monitored. This brings performance bottlenecks to light wherein IBN enables faster troubleshooting.
- Because of proactive monitoring, the network is constantly scanned for threats and this in turn helps strengthen the security of the network.
- Network changes and policy updates are monitored continuously and hence the network is maintained compliant.

## How does an intent based networking software (IBNS) work?

An IBNS works on four basic principles.

**Translation of intent:** The business intent is translated into a policy (configuration change) that is an actionable service request.

**Implementation of policies:** The network administrator approves the new policy and it is implemented by software.

**Continuous data analysis:** The IBNS audits the network infrastructure for faults and performance.

**Assurance by real-time reporting:** The IBNS reports on the performance with critical network insights.

Let's consider an educational institution that offers off-campus learning courses to its students. The institute broadcasts a lecture for a specific course from 10am to 11:30am on the third Wednesday of every month. For the lecture to broadcast without intermittent issues, the organization must do two things during the lecture:

1. Allocate more bandwidth to the broadcasting hardware
2. Control bandwidth consumption by other endpoints

The IBNS breaks down the service request into actionable tasks:

1. **Business Intent:** Smooth broadcast of the lecture
2. **Translation:** Broadcasting hardware resources are identified. Script is coded to configure networking hardware to control bandwidth during the specified time.
3. **Feasibility Check:** The IBNS runs a complete check on a simulated environment.
4. **Policy Authentication:** The network administrator approves the configuration changes.
5. **Policy Implementation:** Configurations are pushed to networking hardware for controlling bandwidth during the specified time.
6. **Assurance:** The IBNS constantly audits for performance hogs and tweaks the configurations accordingly.
7. **Reporting:** The IBNS reports on the network status, performance, and glitches to the network administrator in timely manner.

![Intent Based Networking (IBN) - ManageEngine OpManager](https://cdn.manageengine.com/network-monitoring/images/ibn.png)

The IBNS comes in handy for the network administrators when dozens of service requests have to be handled. The above mentioned example covers only some of the capabilities of the IBNS.

## How is an intent based networking solution different from a software-defined networking solution?

### IBN vs SDN:

The idea behind intent based network management has been around for years, just as SDN. Though the two technologies graze one another in numerous aspects, they differ by their fundamental ideas.

### Software-defined network (SDN):

A [software-defined network (SDN)](https://www.manageengine.com/network-monitoring/sdn-management.html?ibn) is an IT infrastructure in which all hardware is configured by a central software console. An SDN aims at controlling the IT infrastructure with the help of software applications but an SDN operates on a device-centric model such as exporting flow data from a specific interface.

### Intent-based networking (IBN):

The goal of IBN is to create an autonomous network. IBN needs only the business intent. So it can frame and enforce policies, configure the network accordingly, and constantly check and tweak the [network performance](https://www.manageengine.com/network-monitoring/network-performance-monitoring.html?ibn). Leveraging the cognition of machine learning with network orchestration is IBN's unique selling proposition (USP). Above all, IBN operates on a business-centric model.

SDN primarily works on how a device should operate. On the other hand, IBN works on how to achieve the service request — intent by automatically identifying resources and configuring them.

## What are the challenges with the Intent based networking system?

Since the IBNS is not a proven technology, there are a lot of challenges that might be encountered when employing it. Some of them are:

**Visibility:** The most important factor to consider is visibility into the network. If software fails to deliver as promised, identifying the network hogs won't be a picnic, since the policies are enforced by the software itself.

**Reliability:** Though the IBNS enforces policies after validation from network administrators, there will always be the concern of reliability. What if the policies do not yield peak performance for the specified intent? The process has to be started all over. Now imagine starting over an IT infrastructure containing a thousand devices...scary, right?

## How can you make your IT infrastructure more agile?

The IBNS is gaining traction in the networking industry and hence make your IT infrastructure more agile starting today with ManageEngine OpManager.

ManageEngine OpManager is a comprehensive network monitoring system that proactively monitors servers, switches, routers, firewalls, and anything that has an IP and is connected to the network. Gain 360° network visibility with complete

- Physical & Virtual Devices Monitoring
- Network Traffic Analysis
- Network Configuration Management
- Firewall Log Analysis & Management
- Switch Port & IP Address Management

OpManager's code-free [workflow automation](https://www.manageengine.com/network-monitoring/it-workflow-automation.html?ibn) feature helps in efficiently managing your IT infrastructure, making it more flexible to service requests. With the Network Configuration Manager add-on, the above discussed example can be executed in OpManager with a drag-and-drop workflow builder.

The Network Configuration Manager configlet (configuration template) is scheduled at 9:45am on the third Wednesday of every month. The configlets will modify the network devices and broadcast hardware configurations accordingly. Similarly, another configlet (this time, reverting the above changes) is scheduled at 11:45am on the third Wednesday of every month. SMS and Slack notifications can be added to the workflow to confirm the configlets are pushed in a timely manner. You can push and revert configurations without any user intervention on a regular basis with ManageEngine OpManager. [Email](https://www.manageengine.com/network-monitoring/fault-monitoring.html?ibn#Alerts) and [slack](https://www.manageengine.com/network-monitoring/opmanager-slack-integration.html?ibn) notifications can both be added.

![Intent-based Network Security (IBNS) - ManageEngine OpManager](https://cdn.manageengine.com/network-monitoring/images/workflow.png)

![IBN Network Management - ManageEngine OpManager](https://cdn.manageengine.com/network-monitoring/images/sms.png)

![Intent-based Networking Solution - ManageEngine OpManager](https://cdn.manageengine.com/network-monitoring/images/schedule.png)

![Intent based Networking System - ManageEngine OpManager](https://cdn.manageengine.com/network-monitoring/images/workflow1.png)

## Related Resources

### Featured

- [Fault monitoring](https://www.manageengine.com/network-monitoring/fault-monitoring.html?ibn)
- [Root cause analysis for network faults](https://www.manageengine.com/network-monitoring/root-cause-analysis.html?ibn)
- [Network troubleshooting tools](https://www.manageengine.com/network-monitoring/network-troubleshooting-tools.html?ibn)

### Quick links

- [Blogs](https://blogs.manageengine.com?ibn)
- [E-books](https://www.manageengine.com/network-monitoring/ebooks.html?ibn)
- [Videos](https://www.manageengine.com/network-monitoring/videos.html?ibn)
- [Case studies](https://www.manageengine.com/network-monitoring/customer-recommends.html?ibn)
- [Awards and Recognitions](https://www.manageengine.com/network-monitoring/network-software-review.html?ibn)

### More resources

- [Network monitor 101](https://blogs.manageengine.com/network/opmanager/2021/10/11/network-monitor-101-all-about-network-monitors.html)
- [Network monitoring - The must haves](https://www.manageengine.com/network-monitoring/network-monitoring-wp.html)
- [Fault management in OpManager](https://www.manageengine.com/network-monitoring/help/network-fault-management.html)

## Related Products

- [Network Monitoring](https://www.manageengine.com/network-monitoring/?relPrd)
- [Bandwidth Monitoring & Traffic Analysis](https://www.manageengine.com/products/netflow/?relPrd)
- [Network Configuration Management](https://www.manageengine.com/network-configuration-manager/?relPrd)
- [Switch Port & IP Address Management](https://www.manageengine.com/products/oputils/?relPrd)
- [Firewall Management](https://www.manageengine.com/products/firewall/?relPrd)
- [Network Monitoring Software for MSPs](https://www.manageengine.com/network-monitoring-msp/?relPrd)
- [IT Operations Management](https://www.manageengine.com/it-operations-management/)
- [Application Performance Monitoring](https://www.manageengine.com/products/applications_manager/?relPrd)