For me, 2020 is going to be the year of taking my automation skills to the next level, and a Pandemic is not going to get in the way of that goal (much)! At the top of the list is handling credentials and API keys in a more secure fashion so lets look at how READ MORE
Category: Network Automation
Posts about network automation and software defined networking, python for network automation.
Your Automation Skills will Travel Well
In 2020 our automation skills may be the only thing that does travel! What I mean is that the automation skills being evangelized by so many in the networking community (Kirk Byers, David Bombal, Nick Russo, Jason Edelman and the Network to Code team, Hank Preston and Cisco DevNet and many more ….) will serve READ MORE
Getting Started with pyATS (and Genie)
What is Python Automated Test System (pyATS)? None of the answers I found to this question really made much sense to me initially. A Python3 based Test Automation and Validation Framework developed by Cisco (but open and extensible to any vendor) is probably the best short answer but still too vague. Add in Genie because, READ MORE
How much network automation stuff should I learn as a network engineer? & Passing the DevNet Associates Exam
It is important to note that the question is not “should I learn any?” but rather “how much should I learn?”. The new Cisco DevNet Certifications help us answer that question. Let me share my journey to that conclusion. In early February I decided to take the DevNet Associates Exam. I scheduled it for the READ MORE
Configuration Creation with Nornir
I tend to assess automation tools in four different contexts which is, in fact, a very general networking and automation workflow: Discovery How easy is it to find out about the network, document its configuration (the configuration of a device itself) and state (show commands “snapshotting” its state)? Configuration Creation How easy is it to READ MORE
Nornir – A New Network Automation Framework
nornir (formerly brigade) – A new network automation framework Before getting started, let me say that I’m big fan of Ansible. It is one of my go-to automation frameworks. Having said that, there have been use cases where I’ve run into some of the limitations of Ansible and to be fair some of those limitations may READ MORE
What language for Network Automation?
I’m often asked variants of “What language would you recommend when getting started with Network Automation and how would you get started? As with most things in IT, the answer requires context. In general, right now I would still pick Python. Go is getting popular but still can’t compete with the huge body for work and READ MORE
Using Docker as an Ansible and Python platform for Network Engineers
A quick start guide for using the purpose built Docker images for Ansible and Python Built for Network Engineers by a Network Engineer Over the last few years I’ve built up a repository of Docker images to help me learn Ansible. If you are new to Ansible you may not know that while Ansible can READ MORE
The Struggle with Structure – Network Automation, Design, and Data Models
Preface Modern enterprise networking is going to require a level of structure and consistency that the majority of its networking community may find unfamiliar and perhaps uncomfortable. As a community, we’ve never had to present our designs and configuration data in any kind of globally consistent or even industry standard format. I’m fascinated by all READ MORE
Decomposing Data Structures
Whether you are trying to find all the tenants in an ACI fabric, or all the interface IPs and descriptions on a network device, or trying to determine if the Earth is in imminent danger from an asteroid hurtling towards it, understanding complex data structures is a critical skill for anyone working with modern IT READ MORE