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
Category: Network Automation
Posts about network automation and software defined networking, python for network automation.
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
A quick example of using TextFSM to parse data from Cisco show commands – Python3 Version
As part of my ongoing effort to migrate everything over to Python 3, it’s time to show this “quick example” in Python 3. TextFSM is a powerful parsing tool (python module) developed by Google. There are some great examples out there to get you started. Here are two I urge you to read if this READ MORE