With Magic Cloud Networking from Cloudflare, companies can connect workloads running on different public cloud platforms more easily. This service is based on technology from recently acquired startup Nefeli Networks and has recently been introduced in the Cloudflare One platform.
The service provides a single management environment for managing networks for different public cloud environments. Managing these network connections is easier through a central interface than the traditional way of managing the cloud with separate tools.
Cloudflare compares Magic Cloud Networking to an online travel agency. It arranges multiple transportation options, books different tickets, facilitates changes in the itinerary after booking and provides status updates during the “journey.
Features
Through the single interface, administrators in Magic Cloud Networking can create rules that define how a network should be configured. For example, consider a policy mandating routing traffic between two applications over an encrypted connection. The service also detects if the configuration of a particular cloud resource is not in line with the policies set for it and resolves them automatically.
In case the built-in automation features cannot solve a problem, Magic Cloud Networking provides an API. This API allows companies to connect that service to their own cloud automation tools, which can then use Cloudflare’s service to perform maintenance tasks.
Other features of Magic Cloud Networking should make administrators’ daily tasks easier, such as a tool that maps all resources within a company’s cloud environments.
The tool provides appropriate technical information for each asset, such as which internal network it is connected to. It also visualizes this data in a graph that should help administrators better understand the network infrastructure.
Spaghetti of network connections
Companies today have hundreds of accounts with many public cloud providers. The workloads running in these cloud environments, in turn, require them to have different network connections. According to Cloudflare, setting up these network connections to the various public cloud environments is difficult for companies.
Especially since all these platforms in turn use different network technologies that do not always work together by default. This “spaghetti” of network connections can lead to so-called “disconnected networking silos” that create operational inefficiencies and risks.
New service included in Cloudflare One
Magic Cloud Networking will be available as a solution to this shortcoming through the Cloudflare One platform. This platform allows companies to use the Cloudflare network to move data between their data centres, cloud environments and other infrastructure.
The new service will include tooling that automates connecting cloud environments to the Cloudflare One platform. Examples include (automatically) configuring VPN gateways, routes and security groups of Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) networks with Cloudflare One.
When companies change their network(s), Cloudflare takes care of route management. It adds or removes new routes globally on the Cloudflare platform and all connected cloud environments.
Nefeli Networks acquisition
The technology behind Magic Cloud Networking comes from the startup Nefeli Networks, which Cloudflare recently purchased. The parties did not disclose financial details about the acquisition.
Nefeli Networks is a multicloud networking (MCN) startup primarily focused on reducing the challenges faced by IT and DevOps teams by providing a converged network management layer for cloud infrastructures. This technology is now directly integrated into the Magic Cloud Networking solution.
The startup was no stranger to Cloudflare, as it was already a participant in the networking giant’s Workers Launchpad Funding Program. This program provides startups with the necessary funding, tools and a community environment to scale their operations (and, in this case, be acquired).
Second Cloudflare service this week
Cloudflare’s introduction of Magic Cloud networking is its second new networking solution in a week. Last Monday, it introduced its Firewall for AI service. This service should protect LLMs from malicious network traffic, among other things.
Also read: Cloudflare tries to reduce attacks on LLMs with new firewall
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