Usability

[itdependsnetworks]

The application is complex and there is a lot of complication in setting everything up. I have personally thought about this a lot and do not see any easy fixes, however, I realize it is complex and likely there are many places that there are room for improvement.

Some things I have considered

• The native UI elements are not great for large amount of configuration
• There is a high barrier of entry to generate proper configuration
  • You need proper data (this is not always easy)
  • You need proper templating
• The freshness of the data, is not always apparent and any single solution will never meet all people's expectation
• Compliance lifecycle (want to start with LAN devices for features ntp, dns, than WAN for bgp, qos) is not really considered.

There are many more, but more than anything just want to get the discussion started.

[mitchell-foxworth]

2 other possible solutions occurred to me:

1. On the device object, use custom fields (or even tags) for the backup repo and intended repo. Downside: custom fields. Another downside: every device instance needs to be modified to have the GC plugin operate on it. Upside: device data can be as dirty, messy, incomplete and disorganized as the operator wants.
2. Custom relationships for device<->backup repo and device<->intended repo. Same upsides and downsides as option 1 but also a downside that custom relationships won't be as well understood by users as a custom field or tag would be.