Data network and execution environment replication for network automation and network applications

A system comprising:

• one or more network interfaces communicatively coupled to one or more management systems and one or more networks associated with the one or more management systems via one or more Application Programming Interfaces (APIs);
• one or more processors communicatively coupled to the one or more network interfaces;
• and
• memory storing instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to
• obtain data from any of the one or more management systems and the one or more networks for a database of record, the data obtained for the database of record including one or more of Performance Monitoring (PM), Operations, Administration, Maintenance, and Provisioning (OAM&P) data, configuration data, network topology data, service configuration data, human workload management data, job control data, and network change management data,
• store the data in the database of record which defines a detailed model of a current state of the one or more networks, and
• apply one or more assertions to data of interest in the database of record to emulate behavior in the one or more networks, wherein the assertions map one or more of actual device, process, business, architecture, and technology behaviors onto the data of interest from the database of record to emulate the behavior,
• wherein the database of record and the applied one or more assertions comprise a network replica of the one or more networks.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a server, group of servers, or a cloud computing environment to perform the steps of:

• communicating with one or more management systems and one or more networks associated with the one or more management systems via one or more Application Programming Interfaces (APIs);
• obtaining data from any of the one or more management systems and the one or more networks for a database of record, the data obtained for the database of record including one or more of Performance Monitoring (PM), Operations, Administration, Maintenance, and Provisioning (OAM&P) data, configuration data, network topology data, service configuration data, human workload management data, job control data, and network change management data;
• storing the data in the database of record which defines a detailed model of a current state of the one or more networks;
• and
• applying one or more assertions to data of interest in the database of record to emulate behavior in the one or more networks, wherein the assertions map one or more of actual device, process, business, architecture, and technology behaviors onto the data of interest from the database of record to emulate the behavior,
• wherein the database of record and the applied one or more assertions comprise a network replica of the one or more networks.