Question

Difficulty: MediumImpact of Automation on Network Management

An enterprise network engineering team is transitioning from traditional per-device CLI configuration management to a centralized, API-driven network automation architecture. Which TWO statements accurately describe the operational impacts of adopting this network automation framework? (Select TWO.)

  1. Configuration drift is significantly reduced by defining baseline states in a centralized repository and programmatically enforcing compliance across devices.Answer
  2. B
    Centralized management plane APIs eliminate the requirement for physical underlay IP connectivity between enterprise network nodes.
  3. Network changes can be pre-tested in CI/CD pipelines and deployed consistently across multiple nodes using structured data models and templates.Answer
  4. D
    Management plane automation replaces real-time control plane protocol processing on local switches and routers.

Answer

The operational impacts of adopting a network automation framework include significantly reducing configuration drift by enforcing baseline states from a single source of truth, and enabling consistent, pre-validated change deployment across multiple devices using structured templates and data models.
Transitioning to API-driven automation replaces error-prone, per-device CLI commands with centralized configuration management. By maintaining a single source of truth, automated systems detect and remediate configuration drift automatically. Additionally, changes can be programmatically tested in software pipelines and deployed uniformly across numerous switches and routers using standardized templates.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze how network automation alters configuration management and compliance enforcement.
Centralized repositories store intended network state, allowing automated scripts or controllers to detect and fix out-of-band manual edits (reducing configuration drift).
Traditional CLI management suffers from human error and manual variation across network devices over time.
2
Evaluate the mechanism for provisioning changes in an automated environment.
Using structured data models (e.g., YANG/JSON) alongside templating engines allows bulk, identical updates to be validated prior to execution.
Automated pipelines minimize deployment errors by standardizing how configuration variables are injected into device templates.
3
Differentiate management plane operations from physical underlay connectivity and control plane functions.
Management plane automation does not bypass the necessity of physical underlay IP routing or eliminate local control plane routing protocols.
Automation alters how network devices are configured and monitored, but does not remove core infrastructure networking requirements.

Key Concept

Impact of Automation on Network Management
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