Network automation is the use of IT controls to supervise and carry out everyday network management functions. It plays a key role in network virtualization technologies and network functions.
This book starts by providing an introduction to network automation, SDN, and various applications of network automation, which include integrating DevOps tools to automate the network efficiently. It then guides you through different network automation tasks and covers various data digging and reporting methodologies, such as IPv6 migration, DC relocations, and interface parsing, all the while retaining security and improving data center robustness. The book then moves on to the use of Python and the management of SSH keys for machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, all followed by practical use cases. It also covers the importance of Ansible for network automation, including best practices in automation, ways to test automated networks using different tools, and other important techniques.
By the end of the book, you will be well acquainted with the various aspects of network automation.
Chapter 1, Fundamental Concepts, introduces how to get started with automation.
Chapter 2, Python for Network Engineers, introduces to Python as a scripting language, and samples to explain usage of Python in accessing network devices and data parsing from the device outputs.
Chapter 3, Accessing and Mining Data from Network, introduces you to delivering on-demand, self-service capacity and resources while retaining security and improving data center robustness.
Chapter 4, Web Framework for Automation Triggers, discusses making scalable calls to automation framework and generating custom and dynamic HTML pages.
Chapter 5, Ansible for Network Automation, explains how to virtualize Oracle databases and scale dynamically to ensure service level are met.
Chapter 6, Continuous Integration for Network Engineers, gives an overview of integration principles for network engineers to manage rapid growth with high availability and rapid disaster recovery.
Chapter 7, SDN Concepts in Network Automation, talks about moving your enterprise Java applications to virtualized x86 platforms to better utilize resources with easier life cycle and scalability management.
The hardware and software requirements for this book are Python (3.5 onward), IIS, Windows, Linux, an Ansible installation, and GNS3 (for testing) or real routers.
You need an internet connection for downloading the Python libraries. Also, basic knowledge of Python, knowledge of networking, and basic familiarity with web servers like IIS are required.
If you are a network engineer looking for an extensive guide to help you automate and manage your network efficiently, then this book is for you.
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#PowerShell sample code
$myvalue=$args[0]
write-host ("Argument passed to Powershell is "+$myvalue)Any command-line input or output is written as follows:
python checkargs.py 5 6New terms and important words are shown in bold.
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