NSO and Workflow
Automation Developer Days US, Dec 6, 2023
Abstract:
This session focuses on the use of workflow with Network Services Orchestrator (NSO) and Cisco Crosswork Workflow Manager (CWM). CWM is a vendor-neutral workflow management platform that creates workflows based on Serverless Workflow Specification DSL. NSO is a network service provisioning and lifecycling platform that is also vendor-neutral and model-driven.
There are benefits to using both. NSO can mitigate state explosion and provide transactionality, while CWM can handle non-config-centric tasks and allow for user interaction.
However, there are also scenarios where one is preferable over the other. CWM is more suited for non-config, non-service related tasks, while NSO is more appropriate for device/config-centric use cases.
In terms of implementation, NSO can handle service-provisioning and life-cycling, while CWM can integrate with order systems and gather service input parameters.
The session also compared workflows to NSO Nano Services. Both have discrete steps with conditional transitions, but while Nano services are driven by config/device notification, CWM workflows are better for heterogeneous system integration and manual approval steps.
Speaker: Martin Kjellin, Software Engineering Technical Leader
