Juniper Apstra describes data center fabric management as a full lifecycle that spans three core phases: Design (Day 0), Deployment (Day 1), and Operations (Day 2). These phases map directly to how Apstra applies intent-based networking to a data center fabric.

In the Design phase, you model the intended architecture—templates (3-stage or 5-stage), rack types, logical devices, interface maps, resource pools, and high-level constructs such as routing zones and virtual networks. The objective is to capture intent in a vendor-agnostic way while ensuring consistency and validation before anything is pushed.

In the Deployment phase, Apstra turns the modeled intent into device-level implementation. This includes onboarding systems, assigning device profiles, allocating resources, rendering configurations, and pushing the resulting configuration to switches so the IP fabric becomes operational. This is where Junos v24.4 leaf/spine nodes receive underlay and overlay configuration generated from the blueprint.

In the Operational phase, Apstra continuously validates the running network against intent using telemetry and analytics (IBA), detects deviations and anomalies, supports maintenance workflows (such as drain), and provides troubleshooting tools (queries, time-series utilization, and configuration compliance).

“Configuration” and “installation” are activities that occur within the lifecycle, but the lifecycle phases themselves are Design, Deployment, and Operations.