Chapter 1, Building Blocks of Ansible, focuses on how to install Ansible and describes the main building blocks of Ansible and how to utilize them to build advanced Ansible playbooks.
Chapter 2, Managing Cisco IOS Devices Using Ansible, focuses on how to integrate Ansible with Cisco IOS devices and how to use Ansible to configure Cisco IOS devices. We will explore the core Ansible modules developed to interact with Cisco IOS devices. Finally, we will explore how to use the Cisco PyATS library and how to integrate it with Ansible in order to validate the network state on Cisco IOS and Cisco IOS-XE devices.
Chapter 3, Automating Juniper Devices in the Service Providers Using Ansible, describes how to integrate Ansible with Juniper devices in Service Provider (SP) environments and how to manage the configuration of Juniper devices using Ansible. We will explore how to use the core Ansible modules developed to manage Juniper devices. Furthermore, we will explore the PyEZ library, which is used by Juniper custom Ansible modules to extend Ansible functionality in managing Juniper devices.
Chapter 4, Building Data Center Networks with Arista and Ansible, outlines how to integrate Ansible with Arista devices to build data center fabrics using EVPN/VXLANs. We will explore how to use the core Ansible modules developed to manage Arista devices and how to use these modules to configure and validate the network state on Arista switches.
Chapter 5, Automating Application Delivery with F5 LTM and Ansible, focuses on how to integrate Ansible with F5 BIG-IP LTM devices to onboard new BIG-IP LTM devices and how to set up the BIG-IP system as a reverse proxy for application delivery.
Chapter 6, Administering Multi-Vendor Network with NAPALM and Ansible, introduces the NAPALM library and outlines how to integrate this library with Ansible. We will explore how to utilize Ansible and NAPALM to simplify the management of multi-vendor environments.
Chapter 7, Deploying and Operating AWS Networking Resources with Ansible, outlines how to integrate Ansible with your AWS environment and how to describe your AWS infrastructure using Ansible. We explore how to utilize the core Ansible AWS modules to manage networking resources in AWS in order to build your AWS network infrastructure using Ansible.
Chapter 8, Deploying and Operating Azure Networking Resources with Ansible, outlines how to integrate Ansible with your Azure environment and how to describe your Azure infrastructure using Ansible. We will explore how to utilize the core Ansible Azure modules to manage networking resources in Azure in order to build Azure network solutions using Ansible.
Chapter 9, Deploying and Operating GCP Networking Resources with Ansible, describes how to integrate Ansible with your GCP environment and how to describe your GCP infrastructure using Ansible. We explore how to utilize the core Ansible GCP modules to manage networking resources in GCP in order to build GCP network solutions using Ansible.
Chapter 10, Network Validation with Batfish and Ansible, introduces the Batfish framework for offline network validation and how to integrate this framework with Ansible in order to perform offline network validation using both Ansible and Batfish.
Chapter 11, Building a Network Inventory with Ansible and NetBox, introduces NetBox, which is a complete inventory system to document and describe any network. We outline how to integrate Ansible with NetBox and how to use NetBox data to build Ansible dynamic inventories.
Chapter 12, Simplifying Automation with AWX and Ansible, introduces the AWX project, which extends Ansible and provides a powerful GUI and API on top of Ansible to simplify running automation tasks within an organization. We outline the extra features provided by AWX and how to use it to manage network automation within an organization.
Chapter 13, Advanced Techniques and Best Practices for Ansible, describes various best practices and advanced techniques that can be used for more advanced playbooks.