Mesh provides simple, secured and predictable app-centric connectivity
Simple - Operational simplicity, bridging the operational silos across DevOps and CloudOps teams
Secured - Zero-trust architecture with end-to-end encryption
Scalable - Scale up to the largest enterprise environments
Seamless - Any service, any cloud with on-demand, intent-driven, app-centric connectivity that reduces barriers between clouds and between teams
Devon - A DevOps is the in charge of application development and configuration of connection policies across clouds.
Claudia - A CloudOps is responsible for managing network connectivity and security for the business.SimonA SecOps is all about establishing and maintaining a secure and stabile network.
Simon - A SecOps is all about establishing and maintaining a secure and stabile network.
IBM Hybrid Cloud Mesh, a platform that offers simple, secure, and predictable connectivity for edge and hybrid cloud environments. It aims to provide application-centric connectivity, with a focus on Claudia, who is responsible for managing network connectivity and security for her business using Hybrid Cloud Mesh.
The challenge lies in addressing the difficulty and frustration Claudia faces when alerted about an application issue in a hybrid cloud environment. The problem could be a code error, connectivity issue, or cloud network problem, and finding the root cause quickly can be challenging. The goal is to highlight specific routes and directions of slowdowns in network traffic with minimal digging in the topology.
Process
Research has been conducted to understand the product and the problem better. Competitor analysis shows that Aviatrix CoPilot excels in visualizing topology view data, but there are areas for improvement in trouble shooting and connectivity. User research has identified pain points such as nodes overlaying on top of each other, the state of the map not being persisted once a user jumps to another part of the product, and troubleshooting being manual and complex.
The current process involves DevOps logging in to Mesh, viewing the topology, and selecting individual nodes to open detail panels. Errors or events are not surfaced on the user interface, and users must remember node details and take them into the events page for correlation. Exploring the events page for what could have gone wrong can be challenging due to a lack of relevant filtering categories.
Solution
The proposed design aims to improve the experience of error detection within the topology map, addressing pain points such as Claudia needing to navigate through the topology to find the source of the error, errors not being effectively detected in the topology, and Claudia having to find anomalies on her own. The design includes features such as status icons on some nodes and connectors, hovering over resources with event indicators, and expanding resources to see the full extent of the events.
Key takeaways
Overall, the proposed design for the IBM Hybrid Cloud Mesh project effectively addresses Claudia's challenge of improving error detection within the topology map. By integrating features such as status icons on nodes and connectors, hovering over resources with event indicators, and expanding resources for detailed event visibility, the solution aims to significantly reduce Claudia's investigation time. This enhancement not only streamlines troubleshooting but also provides relevant details directly within the context of the network topology view, ultimately enhancing Claudia's ability to manage network connectivity and security efficiently.