Intent translation converts high-level policies into device configurations.
Translation layers:
Business intent: "Finance cannot access engineering servers"
Network policy: Block traffic between Finance VLAN and Engineering subnet
Device configuration: ACLs on routers, firewall rules, SDN flow entries
What the system needs: Device inventory, group-to-segment mapping, device syntax knowledge, current configuration state.
Validation before deployment:
Simulate the change
Check for conflicts
Verify no service disruption
Prepare rollback plan