The economy and businesses closely rely on network infrastructures functioning efficiently. Minor network bottlenecks and snags can cost companies a good chunk of money and negatively affect their reputation. When there is so much to lose, the natural reaction of organizations is to throw more people and, in turn, more money at the problem.
In no time, organizations can incur high costs for infrastructure upkeep, including for the team that oversees the network, thereby bringing down cost efficiency. Time efficiency also ends up in the red; while anyone hired can be trained to be experts, in an era of dynamic changes happening at lightning speed that transcend applications, the cloud, and workloads, can humans react quickly enough to random network incidents in a high-traffic environment? Personnel may have the expertise to react and resolve, but they will eventually get overwhelmed by the sheer number of abstract issues that can happen in a network.
This is where closed-loop remediation comes in: a concept conceived in IT management as one of the many answers to the ever-growing complexity of networks.
What is closed-loop remediation?
Closed-loop remediation is a self-corrective mechanism that relies on automation to continuously monitor, detect, fix, and verify network issues. A network with this capability also needs to establish optimum human intervention while ensuring the network issue is truly resolved.
Why and how is it a closed loop?
The steps that go into closed-loop remediation are similar to the usual ones involved in managing an IT network. But here, the difference lies in leveraging observability to eliminate blind spots and independently solve problems. These steps include:
Monitoring: Constant monitoring of network devices, applications, traffic, and other components to collect telemetry data on performance, errors, and resource utilization.
Detection: When anomalies or predefined thresholds are breached, the system identifies a potential problem.
Analysis: The system analyzes the collected data to pinpoint the root cause of an issue.
Remediation: Based on preconfigured rules, workflows, or automated scripts, the system takes corrective actions. This might involve restarting a switch, rerouting traffic, or applying configuration changes.
Verification: The system doesn’t just assume the fix worked. It verifies if the network performance has returned to normal after the remediation steps.
Feedback loop: The entire process forms a closed loop because the verification step feeds back information. If the issue persists, the system might attempt alternative solutions or escalate the problem for human intervention.
From the above steps, we can think of closed-loop remediation as a circular track. The process continuously circles through these steps, monitoring, detecting, fixing, and verifying until the network issue is truly resolved. This continuous cycle is why it’s called “closed-loop” remediation.
The antithesis of closed-loop remediation
In the absence of closed-loop remediation capabilities, organizations rely on manual remediation. Here, human intervention takes a larger role in detecting, diagnosing, and fixing problems. IT personnel manually identify issues through monitoring tools or user reports, then take steps to resolve them. Even if the process involves automated issue detection or attempted fixes, there’s no verification step. The process doesn’t automatically check if the attempted fix was successful or not.
Advantages of closed-loop remediation
Faster response times: With an automated remediation process, your network can respond to network issues in real time or near real time. This rapid response helps minimize downtime and service disruptions, leading to improved reliability and performance for the network infrastructure.
Enhanced efficiency: Closed-loop automation streamlines the entire remediation workflow, from issue detection to resolution. It eliminates the need for manual handoffs between different teams or tools, reducing delays and bottlenecks in the remediation process. This efficiency ensures that network issues are addressed promptly and effectively.
Continuous improvement: The collected historical data and performance metrics can help IT admins identify patterns and trends in network incidents. By leveraging this insight, IT teams can proactively identify and address underlying issues before they escalate into larger problems. This proactive approach to network management fosters continuous improvement and helps optimize network performance over time.
Reduced human error: Automation reduces the likelihood of human error in the remediation process. By following predefined workflows and rulesets, closed-loop systems can execute remediation actions consistently and accurately, minimizing the risk of mistakes that could further impact network stability.
Equip your organization with closed-loop remediation using OpManager Plus
Observability: OpManager Plus swiftly detects issues across multi-cloud environments using its comprehensive monitoring capabilities, determining incident severity.
Ownership and ticket creation: The platform assigns incident ownership to relevant teams or individuals, ensuring swift action. Utilizing its integration with ITSM tools like ServiceDesk Plus and Servicenow, OpManager Plus automatically generates detailed tickets outlining problem specifics and impact.
Targeted notifications: Responsible parties receive automatic notifications, through notification profiles, about the incident for prompt attention.
Root cause analysis: OpManager Plus pinpoints the root cause of incidents, enabling effective remediation strategies.
Automated response: Upon root cause identification, OpManager Plus triggers automated remediation workflows or integrates with tools like Ansible for runbook execution.
Deployment: OpManager Plus orchestrates the deployment of optimal solutions to improve or restore system functionality.
Validation through observability: Post-deployment, OpManager Plus scans the environment to assess solution efficacy. If fully remediated, it validates the solution and resolves the ticket.
Closing the loop: OpManager Plus informs relevant teams of successful solutions, closing the loop. If unsuccessful, further escalation occurs until a resolution is achieved.
Achieve full-stack visibility, empower your IT teams, enhance reliability, and embrace the future of IT observability with OpManager Plus. Ready to revolutionize your IT infrastructure? Schedule a demo or explore our free trial today!
