Inside Open Networking by STORDIS – the podcast where tech meets real life

Revolutionizing Open Networking: Monsoon 2.0, AI-Enhanced ORCA and Smart CLI for SONiC | OCP 2025


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Recorded live at OCP Regional Summit Dublin 2025, this episode features Kamal Bhatt (Software Product Manager, STORDIS) presenting a suite of open-source tools that bring AI-driven monitoring and orchestration to SONiC network environments.

Learn how Monsoon 2, AI-enhanced ORCA, and Smart CLI are transforming SONiC operations — from agentless telemetry with gNMI to natural-language monitoring and AI-assisted command execution.

  • The evolution from Monsoon 1 (agent-based) to Monsoon 2 (agentless monitoring) using gNMI
  • An AI chatbot for natural-language monitoring queries using InfluxDB (and optional Prometheus support)
  • ORCA orchestration with Neo4j graph database, device discovery, and SONiC lifecycle management
  • Smart CLI: AI-powered command execution using RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) + GPT-4
  • Real-time validation, safety prompts, and open-source availability through OCP

0:00 Intro — Kamal Bhatt & session overview
0:10 STORDIS tooling focus: monitoring + orchestration for SONiC
0:24 Tool suite: Monsoon 2, AI-enhanced ORCA, and Smart CLI
0:49 “Make SONiC consumable” — Smart CLI for the iPhone generation
1:01 Monsoon 1 overview (why it existed)
1:16 Adoption & feedback loop (downloads, usage, lessons learned)
1:51 Monsoon 1 architecture: agent-based Prometheus + SONiC exporter
3:30 Monsoon 2: moving to agentless monitoring
3:35 gNMI + Unified Management Framework (OpenConfig)
3:58 ORCA Network Library: gNMI client + topology discovery (Neo4j)
5:04 Data storage choices: InfluxDB (plus limited Prometheus support)
5:39 Grafana dashboards + what’s included in Monsoon 2
6:30 AI monitoring chatbot: natural-language queries → time-series results
7:39 Model notes: open-source LLMs (incl. 70B) + work toward smaller models
8:07 ORCA orchestration platform: architecture + components
9:31 ORCA capabilities: discovery, topology/links, and device configuration
10:47 SONiC lifecycle: image/release management + DHCP/ZTP workflows
11:53 ORCASK: AI chatbot for configuration via function calling
12:58 ORCASK deep dive: plan → confirmation → execute (with safety prompt)
15:16 Smart CLI explained: natural-language requests → correct SONiC commands
16:22 Smart CLI deep dive: RAG pipeline + vector store + GPT-4 “final verdict”
18:39 Q&A begins
18:51 Q: vendor CLI differences + transactions + safety/revert concerns
22:40 Q: Integrations
23:14 Q: prompt engineering + open-source availability (via OCP)

📬 Questions or support: [email protected] | 🌐 www.stordis.com

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Inside Open Networking by STORDIS – the podcast where tech meets real lifeBy STORDIS GmbH