#vRealizeChat: Networking for Modern Applications Recap

On Thursday, February 25, the VMware Cloud Management team had the pleasure of hosting yet another #vRealizeChat on networking for modern applications. We asked 10 questions to our team experts, including John Dias (vRealize Operations), Varun Santosh (NSX), Matt Just (vRealize Network Insight), Amarnath Pallampati (vRealize Network Insight), Thomas Bryant (vRealize Cloud Management), Rekha Prasad (VMware SD-WAN), Jay Thontakudi (VMware SD-WAN), and Tuan Loc Nguyen (NSX). We even had some extra special guests from the twitter handles of vRealize Network Insight, VMware SD-WAN, and VMware NSX! Thanks also go to Haley Kilroy and Beverly Storrs from Lewis for helping us run this fun event.

For insights into Network Modernization, cost savings, and networking optimization for cloud, read on to see a full recap of the chat.

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It’s that time… Welcome to our #vRealizeChat on networking for the modern applications! 🎉A quick rundown of the rules 👇

Use #vRealizeChat in your responses
GIFs are HIGHLY encouraged
Have fun!

Please introduce yourself and let us know where you’re tweeting from. [Introductory Tweet]

Q1) What is a modern network? 🤔 [link]

Matt Just: A1) The Modern Network is dynamically configurable and adaptive to real-time application conditions, runs on general-purpose hardware, and delivers cloud elasticity at scale. #vRealizeChat

John Dias: A1) Characteristics include on-demand networking services, highly secure, dynamic, adaptive and agnostic (i.e. runs on any cloud / on-prem) and runs on commodity hardware. #vRealizeChat

Amarnath Pallampati: A1) Transformational network framework that puts User & Application experience at the epicenter of Universe!!! #vRealizeChat #vRNI # VMware SD-WAN #SD-WAN #vRealize #VMware

Thomas Bryant: A1) A modern network is one that is has zero-trust, secure, adaptive and simple to automate. #vRealizeChat

VMware SD-WAN: A1) A modern network enables users located anywhere to access apps on any Cloud in a secure, reliable, and efficient manner with the ability to dynamically remediate problems, self-heal, and delivered as a cloud-hosted service. #vRealizeChat

vRealize Network Insight: A1) A Modern Network is one that uses all the latest innovations to look at a network holistically from a user/application view and not in pieces/parts that are managed box by box. #vRealizeChat

Varun Santosh: A1) Modern network is a thoughtful evolution of network infra to serve the business in an agile and secure manner at scale #vRealizeChat

Q2) What role does #security play in modern applications? #vRealizeChat [link]

Matt Just: A2) Protect the modern apps alone. Modern Applications require an internal firewall approach that offers a distributed and granular enforcement of security policies. #vRealizeChat

John Dias: A2) Modern apps have to integrate #security earlier in the dev process, aka “Shift-Left” so that sec teams are keeping up with the rapid pace of development and this requires a lot of network automation to support DevSecOps methods. #vRealizeChat

Varun Santosh: A2) Zero-trust is fundamental to modern apps, giving each app its own “micro-perimeter” and enhancing it with end-to-end encryption, cloud monitoring, visibility, while reducing the chance of breaches. #vRealizeChat

Amarnath Pallampati: A2) Security of application and user cannot be an afterthought. Protect everything should be the mantra esp. in the era of Any app, Any Cloud, Any User/Device. #vRealizeChat #vRNI # VMware SD-WAN #SD-WAN #vRealize #VMware

Thomas Bryant: A2) Security is a primary concern in any modern network. Being able to identify, isolate and eliminate threats and proactive protect is critical for any organization. #vRealizeChat

VMware SD-WAN: A2) With applications moving to the cloud and enterprise workforce widely distributed due to the pandemic it is important that security is administered in such a way that user traffic goes over an optimal path to the app destination. #vRealizeChat

vRealize Network Insight: A2) Visibility is security with vRealize Network Insight. Security is the foundation which is end-to-end and permeates throughout and is always there. It is not just on the edges, but everywhere around us and designed from day 0. #vRealizeChat

Q3) How can network modernization reduce costs for enterprises? #vRealizeChat [link]

Matt Just: A3) The abstraction of functionality from hardware into software enables organizations to quickly provision application components, move virtual systems across and between data centers, and automate critical processes allows for a great reduction in CapEx and OpEx! #vRealizeChat

John Dias: A3) CapEx costs are reduced by using commodity network gear while OpEx is reduced via automating network reducing network provisioning time and effort dramatically. See also cost avoidance with proactive monitoring. @vmwnetinsight #vRealizeChat

Varun Santosh: A3) Modernizing using software-based solutions allows for more efficient capacity management, longer hardware refresh cycles, faster devops cycles, and reduced operational overhead #vRealizeChat

Amarnath Pallampati: A3) Modern networking works toward self-driving & self-healing network capabilities, vRNI offers pervasive visibility to both modern and existing networks, so you don’t have to worry about investments across several Monitoring & management tools. #vRealizeChat #vRNI #VMwareSDWAN

Thomas Bryant: A3) Modernizing your network can save $$ by running on commodity HW, but even more so by being more adaptive to changes for the business. Agility for the business wins! #vRealizeChat

VMware SD-WAN: A3) The modern network leverages centralized orchestration to auto-provision devices eliminating manual intervention. With a central management pane, you can scale and manage the network with greater ease. #vRealizeChat

vRealize Network Insight: A3) Look at this customer ROI study with vRealize Network Insight #vRealizeChat [link]

Q4) What are some best practices for making the network more agile and proactive? #vRealizeChat [link]

John Dias: A4) You need to have 360-degree visibility into VMs and apps, and you need to take stock of your network layout to create a secure and available network. We make this super simple with @vmwnetinsight. #vRealizeChat

Varun Santosh: A4) To be truly responsive to the end user experience, networks need to overcome the complexity of legacy infrastructure and become agile and self-healing to support massive scale and operational efficiencies across layers 2-7. https://via.vmw.com/EQcn #vRealizeChat

Amarnath Pallampati: A4) Why fly blind and react to things? Leverage Intent driven analytics offered by vRNI (AI & ML) platform to pro-actively detect anomalies associated to Utilization & Performance insights across your network; so you avoid issues before they appear! across your network. #vRealizeChat

Thomas Bryant: A4) Best practices? Ruthlessly automating actions & having deep visibility across the entire network. #vRealizeChat

Tuan Loc Nguyen: A4) Network Automation and Simplification with NSX @vmwarensx [link]

VMware SD-WAN: A4) Leverage #AI and #ML to gather data from multiple sources, correlate insights from the data, and perform root cause automatically with remediation and self-healing. This helps Ops to get away from break-fix to proactive mode. #vRealizeChat

vRealize Network Insight: A4) Moving from reactive to proactive will give more time to strategic IT project. Look into vRealize Network Insight Assurance and Verification on how to do that. Read the ebook #vRealizeChat [link]

Q5) How does #vRealizeCloudMgmt work with @VMware’s Virtual Cloud Network? 🤝 [link]

John Dias: A5) Using @vmwnetinsight to operationalize, monitor and troubleshoot your @VMware Virtual Cloud Network results in significant savings – see this Forrester Study for details. #vRealizeChat [link]

Amarnath Pallampati: A5) Full gamut of Product suite that helps customers accelerate, manage, operate and more in their journey to Modernizing their networks and applications. vRNI provides a comprehensive visibility across VMware’s VCN esp. spanning NSX, Cloud, SD-WAN, VMC and more. #vRealizeChat

vRealize Network Insight: A5) vRealize Network Insight is the broad network visibility tool that makes end-to-end possible for VMware’s Virtual Cloud Network. App discovery, app migration, and Day 2 troubleshooting #vRealizeChat

Q6) What are some IT job skillsets needed to keep up with the demands of a modern network? #vRealizeChat [link]

Matt Just: A6) I would have to say a good understanding of Network Security, Network Routing and Switching, and some basic skills in Linux and REST. #vRealizeChat

John Dias: A6) Modern networks are code-driven just like the rest of the modern IT infra, bone up on REST, scripting with Python. Security knowledge is also critical. #vRealizeChat

Varun Santosh: A6) Virtualization and multi-cloud networking have made the NetSecOps role critical. You need tight collaboration between the lines of business, DevOps, NetOps, and security. Modern networks abstract virtual from the physical and NetOps team is central to making this a reality.

Amarnath Pallampati: A6) Holistic view into Branch, Private & Public Cloud Architectures; and an ability to leverage intent driven platforms is key to drive digital transformation with modern networks. #vRealizeChat #vRNI #VMwareSDWAN #SDWAN #vRealize #VMware

Thomas Bryant: A6) The critical ones for me would be a monitoring, automation, & scripting. #vRealizeChat #automationRules

Tuan Loc Nguyen: A6) Knowing your customer personas- DevOps, Security, SRE, automation and how those are all related. [link]

VMware SD-WAN: A6) With the volume of data generated, #IT teams have to embrace AI-based solutions to automate the initial bring-up and Day 2 operations. Although IT is not expected to be an AI/ML Ninja’s it is important to expand the skills to pick the right solution in the market. #vRealizeChat

vRealize Network Insight: A6) Today’s IT people need to learn how to scale and this can be done using scripts, APIs are the new currency. vRealize Network Insight has a script exchange library #vRealizeChat https://bit.ly/3stinyS

Q7) How has the recent shift to remote work impacted the way we approach networking? #vRealizeChat [link]

Varun Santosh: A7) Remote work is challenging the network to provide superior end-user experience. The network needs to becomes simpler and more scalable with minimal security blind spots. Complex policies, poor visibility and non-uniform identity models slow down deployments. #vRealizeChat

John Dias: A7) Proliferation of VDI environments to support remote workers exponentially increases complexity in network design, operations, troubleshooting and security. Check out this blog on the subject #vRealizeChat

Amarnath Pallampati: A7) Return to No-Where is the New Norm and creates an opportunity to deliver Secure-Smart-Flexible networks to delight users with superior application experience. vRNI can offer detailed insights on application performance and experience insights at a branch #vRealizeChat #vRNI

Thomas Bryant: A7) It makes understanding the edge and the end user network that much more important. Having that true end to end visibility #vRealizeChat

Tuan Loc Nguyen: A7) VDI is VMware solution to make both workforce and workload together for the fully distributed network infrastructure from Day 0- VMware Horizon, Day 1- NSX and Day 2 with VRNI – [link]

VMware SD-WAN: A7) With the hybrid work environment, IT teams need to ensure employees are productive no matter the location. So the right tools to gain visibility without being dragged into home network issues is important

vRealize Network Insight: A7) This requires visibility to each individual user and their applications to improve Quality of Experience. vRealize Network Insight can work with VMware SD-WAN to look into remote work from home and VDI #vRealizeChat

Q8) What strategies and tools🛠️ can teams implement to improve user Quality of Experience (QoE)? #vRealizeChat [link]

Matt Just: A8) There are so many ways!! I recommend checking out https://pathfinder.vmware.com #vRealizeChat

John Dias: A8) Employing SD-WAN with NSX SD-WAN by VeloCloud delivers agility and cost effectiveness with performance assurance! @vmwinsight increases visibility and simplifies troubleshooting to keep users happy.

Varun Santosh: A8) You need a common framework that provides availability, resiliency, and security for modern apps with connectivity, identity, and policy delivered abstracted using declarative intent. Think SLOs. https://via.vmw.com/EQcp #vRealizeChat

Amarnath Pallampati: A8) vRNI offers ability to identify & isolate QoE issues with continuous baseline of your network & pro-actively notifies any anomalies based off correlation across all the key metrics across anywhere in your network. It does the job for you!!!!!! #vRealizeChat #vRNI #VMwareSDWAN

Thomas Bryant: A8) If you want to enhance QoE, looking at solutions like @vmwnetinsight and @vRealizeOps are a great place to start #vRealizeChat

Tuan Loc Nguyen: A8) VMware Tanzu Service Mesh (TSM) for modern software developers can take advantage to improve Quality of Experience (QoE)

VMware SD-WAN: A8) Real-time monitoring of WAN link quality and using optimization to dynamically remediate the onset of deteriorating conditions like jitter, latency, and loss. Providing visibility into each UX accessing apps helps #IT address issues before they become severe. #vRealizeChat

vRealize Network Insight: A8) vRealize Network Insight working together with Edge Network Intelligence and VMware SD-WAN has granular capabilities to look at other aspects per application, per interface, per site and more to improve QoE #vRealizeChat

Q9) How does @VMware help organizations simplify IT networks? #vRealizeChat [link]

John Dias: A9) Planning and assuring modern networks is made easy with vRealize Network Insight, so you can understand the impact of a change before implementation and enforce intended behavior. #vRealizeChat

Amarnath Pallampati: A9)VMware’s Modern Networks combined with vRealize suite of products delivers ultimate recipe to simplify IT networks & beyond!! #vRealizeChat #vRNI #VMwareSDWAN #SDWAN #vRealize #VMware

Thomas Bryant: A9) vRealize Network Insight is the ideal way for customers to plan, modernize and report on their networks. #vRealizeChat

VMware SD-WAN: A9) @VMware #SDWAN enables users located anywhere to access any app on any cloud. The solution builds a cloud-hosted overlay network that is easy to deploy and manage such that users get reliable, secure, and efficient access to their applications. #vRealizeChat #SASE

vRealize Network Insight: A9) VMware works across solutions on various integrations to simplify for customers. vRealize Network Insight has new integrations with NSX Intelligence as well as vRealize Operations #vRealizeChat

Q10) What game is closest to a career in IT and why? Think 🎲board games, 🎮video games, anything! [link]