Tail-f Systems' New Cisco Configuration Engine is 'Game Changer' for Cisco Networking Equipment

A manufacturer of configuration management software for networking equipment and network management systems, Tail-f Systems (News - Alert) has unveiled its Cisco (News - Alert) Configuration Engine, a game-changing, code-free solution designed to transform the management of Cisco’s networking equipment.

A unit of Tail-f Systems’ NCS platform, this innovative Cisco Configuration Engine will enable Cisco IOS, IOS-XR and NX-OS-based solutions to experience NCS’ many benefits. Radically different from traditional Command Line Interface scripting tools, this first-ever code-free solution exponentially lowers the time and costs it takes to maintain and build up service activation systems for Cisco equipment. In addition, it decreases any risk of disruptive configuration inaccuracies.

"The historically painful practice of using CLI scripting to provision Cisco equipment has reached its breaking point, becoming a significant impediment to cost effective network operations," said Nancee Ruzicka, OSS/BSS strategy director for Stratecast. "Service providers are looking for reliable and cost-effective solutions for configuration management. Innovation in this area is long overdue, and Tail-f Systems' new Cisco Configuration Engine is intended to be a game changer."

As opposed to CLI scripting, in which maintenance is time-consuming and network disruptions and errors are more likely, the NCS platform paired with the Cisco Configuration Engine offers several gleaming benefits.

First, rising development costs and obstacles associated with writing and upholding task-specific CLI scripts are eliminated with this code-free technology. Cisco CLI commands are outputted by a bidirectional engine from one data model, or the commands are processed from live devices. In addition, the chance of configuration errors during difficult multi-box changes is reduced via extensive transaction and validation management.

Lastly, developers can quickly prototype and test management platforms during the development stages through auto-rendering of management interface and a built-in device simulator.

"It is now common to find large teams of in-house or outsourced programmers working on CLI scripting, but despite all the money spent on these efforts, configuring Cisco equipment is still a painful process," said Fredrik Lundberg, CEO of Tail-f Systems. "With the Cisco Configuration Engine added to our NCS product line, we now can help our customers build automated service provisioning platforms that seamlessly support a high percentage of all installed network devices."

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Tammy Wolf is a TMCnet web editor. She covers a wide range of topics, including IP communications and information technology. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Jennifer Russell