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Apstra Test Drive Guide

Hands-on with Juniper Networks' Data Center Automation Solution

Welcome to Your Apstra Test Drive!

This guide is designed to work with the Juniper SE Demo with Apstra topology, in Apstra CloudLabs.

Thank you for joining us for this hands-on experience with Juniper Apstra, the industry’s only Intent-Based Networking solution for data center operations. Over the next while, you’ll get direct experience with how Apstra can transform your data center operations - from initial design to ongoing management and optimization.

This guide shows you how to perform key tasks for designing, building and expanding data center fabric with Apstra. It starts with the fundamentals of building a blueprint. But it stops just prior to when you would define and assign switches in your fabric. This illustrates how Apstra can be used for designing and documenting the network before you actually have the hardware on-hand.

The second phase of this lab will focus on tasks related to expanding your network after it is already in operation. These are commonly referred to as Day 2 tasks. For this, you will use the pre-built SE Demo blueprint that comes already defined in your Cloudlabs pod. Virtual switches are already defined in this blueprint. However, the expansions you perform will not have actual network devices to assign.

When you have additional time and are ready to perform the entire process of deploying a fabric, from start-to-finish, you must leverage the Juniper Customer Lab scenario, in Apstra Cloudlabs. In that lab scenario, you will build an entire fabric and assign the virtual devices to each role. The result is a fully functioning topology. But, today you are getting a taste of using Apstra for different phases of a data center network’s lifecycle.

What is Apstra?

Apstra is a powerful intent-based networking solution that enables you to design, build, deploy, and operate your data center network with confidence and agility. Unlike traditional data center network management approaches, Apstra provides:

  • Intent-Based Architecture: Define what you want your network to do - not how to do it

  • Single Source of Truth: One unified view of your entire network state

  • Closed-Loop Validation: Continuous verification that your network meets your intent

  • Multi-Vendor Support: Freedom to choose the best hardware for your needs

  • Automation Throughout the Lifecycle: From design to deployment to operation

What You’ll Learn Today

This Test Drive is designed to give you practical experience with Apstra’s key capabilities in a realistic data center environment. We’ve divided the session into two main sections:

Part 1: Design & Blueprint (~ 30 minutes)

Learn how Apstra lets you model your entire data center in software before you would be deploying any physical equipment. You will:

  • Learn about logical devices, interface maps, and device profiles

  • Create a dual switch rack type to model your physical infrastructure

  • Build a template to define your network architecture

  • Deploy the template into a blueprint and assign resources (but not devices for every role)

Part 2: Day 2 Operations (~ 90 minutes)

Experience how Apstra simplifies ongoing tasks and management of your data center network:

  • Explore the dashboard and understand fabric health

  • Scale an existing data center fabric by adding a new rack

  • Extend connectivity with new virtual networks

  • Add and connect new servers to your fabric

  • Set up external BGP peerings

  • Use Time Voyager to roll back configuration changes

  • Leverage analytics to monitor and troubleshoot your network

  • Create custom analytics probes for your specific needs

Again, assigning device to the new rack and external peerings are not part of this exercise.

Getting Started

Your lab environment is already configured and waiting for you. All the necessary components are accessible through the CloudLabs portal you’ve connected into.

Let’s begin by exploring how Apstra allows you to design your data center network completely in software, before you ever connect a single cable!

How Apstra Manages Devices

As you progress through the lab, you’ll work with abstractions that represent common network constructs. This Intent-Based Networking approach uses these abstractions to build your design, giving Apstra the power to reliably deploy and modify complex infrastructures with speed and precision.

For this Test Drive, we’ve pre-configured the Logical Devices and Interface Maps to streamline the experience, but you’ll become familiar with how these components work together in the upcoming exercises.

Ready to start? Let’s dive in!