Simplifying enterprise data center networks has been a major goal of Aruba Fabric Composer, a software-defined orchestration solution from Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company. But now that goal has been extended.

The new data center switch announced by Aruba, the Aruba CX 10000, which uses a programmable chip from startup Pensando Systems Inc., also runs Aruba Fabric Composer. This means that with Pensando Policy and Services Manager technologies embedded into the switch, Aruba Fabric Composer can now orchestrate security policies in addition to those of the network, according to Simon McCormack (pictured), senior manager of product management at Aruba.

“You have got one single pane of glass now that does network and policy — it actually provides a really powerful capabilities for operators of different skillsets to be able to manage and orchestrate this environment,” he said.

McCormack spoke with Dave Vellante, host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio, during the Aruba and Pensando Announce New Innovations event. They discussed the role of Aruba Fabric Composer in the new Aruba CX 10000 switch, as well as how it unifies and provisions network and security policy configurations for both the switch and distributed stateful firewall and other services. (* Disclosure below.)

Working with third-party tools

While Aruba Fabric Composer works very well in proprietary compute and storage environments, it is also flexible to embrace other tools and operating frameworks, according to McCormack.

“We’re expecting to often go into brownfield environments, where they’ve already got best practices for security and networking, they’ve already got networking vendors there,” he explained. “The [CX] 10000 is a very powerful lease switch on its own, [and] we want those lease switches to go in all of these different environments.”

With the technology provided by Aruba Fabric Composer and Pensando PSM, enterprises can do a pure operational split between SecOps and NetOps, which is what many customers prefer today, according to McCormack.

“If they’re split, you can use the two tools and make a fantastic product using that,” he added.

When areas work together and customers have a single policy for them, they can still use Aruba Fabric Composer to do so.

“So, you’ve got the options there, and we fully embrace that in the architecture of what we built,” McCormack stated. “This extends to multiple layers for the technology built as well.”

Aruba Fabric Composer can also be used as the primary prism for troubleshooting across the entire architecture. It has a global health dashboard that encompasses networking and security policy, so it lets teams know what’s happening in both areas right away.

“If you are that customer that wants to do single pane of glass using Fabric Composer for the standard day-to-day stuff, you’ve got the tools there to do the advanced troubleshooting between the different elements that we have within the Pensando and the Aruba tools,” McCormack concluded.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the Aruba and Pensando Announce New Innovations event. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for the “Aruba and Pensando Announce New Innovations” event. Neither Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co., the sponsor for theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE