Book Image

Hands-On Enterprise Automation with Python

By : Bassem Aly
Book Image

Hands-On Enterprise Automation with Python

By: Bassem Aly

Overview of this book

Hands-On Enterprise Automation with Python starts by covering the set up of a Python environment to perform automation tasks, as well as the modules, libraries, and tools you will be using. We’ll explore examples of network automation tasks using simple Python programs and Ansible. Next, we will walk you through automating administration tasks with Python Fabric, where you will learn to perform server configuration and administration, along with system administration tasks such as user management, database management, and process management. As you progress through this book, you’ll automate several testing services with Python scripts and perform automation tasks on virtual machines and cloud infrastructure with Python. In the concluding chapters, you will cover Python-based offensive security tools and learn how to automate your security tasks. By the end of this book, you will have mastered the skills of automating several system administration tasks with Python.

Related Content you might be interested in

Current Title:

Small book image
Hands-On Enterprise Automation with Python
Bassem Aly
Jun, 2018 | 398 pages
Small book image
Practical Network Automation
Abhishek Ratan
Nov, 2017 | 266 pages
Small book image
Mastering Python Scripting for System Administrators
Ganesh Naik
Jan, 2019 | 318 pages
Small book image
Python Network Programming Techniques
Marcel Neidinger
Oct, 2021 | 340 pages
Table of Contents (20 chapters)
Preface
Preface
Who this book is for
What this book covers
To get the most out of this book
Get in touch
Free Chapter
1
Setting Up Our Python Environment
Setting Up Our Python Environment
An introduction to Python
Installing the PyCharm IDE
Exploring some nifty PyCharm features
Summary
2
Common Libraries Used in Automation
Common Libraries Used in Automation
Understanding Python packages
Common Python libraries
Accessing module source code
Summary
3
Setting Up the Network Lab Environment
Setting Up the Network Lab Environment
Technical requirements
When and why to automate the network
Screen scraping versus API automation
Why use Python for network automation?
The future of network automation
Network lab setup
Getting ready – installing EVE-NG
Building an enterprise network topology
Summary
4
Using Python to Manage Network Devices
Using Python to Manage Network Devices
Technical requirements
Using the telnet protocol in Python
Handling IP addresses and networks with netaddr
Sample use cases
Summary
5
Extracting Useful Data from Network Devices
Extracting Useful Data from Network Devices
Technical requirements
Understanding parsers
Introduction to regular expressions
Configuration auditing using CiscoConfParse
Visualizing returned data with matplotLib
Summary
6
Configuration Generator with Python and Jinja2
Configuration Generator with Python and Jinja2
What is YAML?
Building a golden configuration with Jinja2
Summary
7
Parallel Execution of Python Script
Parallel Execution of Python Script
How a computer executes your Python script
Python multiprocessing library
Summary
8
Preparing a Lab Environment
Preparing a Lab Environment
Getting the Linux operating system
Creating an automation machine on a hypervisor
Getting started with Cobbler
Summary
9
Using the Subprocess Module
Using the Subprocess Module
The popen() subprocess
Reading stdin, stdout, and stderr
The subprocess call suite
Summary
10
Running System Administration Tasks with Fabric
Running System Administration Tasks with Fabric
Technical requirements
What is Fabric?
Executing your first Fabric file
Other useful features in Fabric
Summary
11
Generating System Reports and System Monitoring
Generating System Reports and System Monitoring
Collecting data from Linux
Managing users in Ansible
Summary
12
Interacting with the Database
Interacting with the Database
Installing MySQL on an automation server
Accessing the MySQL database from Python
Summary
13
Ansible for System Administration
Ansible for System Administration
Ansible terminology
Installing Ansible on Linux
Using Ansible in ad hoc mode
Creating your first playbook
Understanding Ansible conditions, handlers, and loops
Working with Ansible facts
Working with the Ansible template
Summary
14
Creating and Managing VMware Virtual Machines
Creating and Managing VMware Virtual Machines
Setting up the environment
Generating a VMX file using Jinja2
VMware Python clients
Using Ansible playbook to manage instances
Summary
15
Interacting with the OpenStack API
Interacting with the OpenStack API
Understanding RESTful web services
Setting up the environment
Sending requests to the OpenStack keystone
Creating instances from Python
Managing OpenStack instances from Ansible
Summary
16
Automating AWS with Boto3
Automating AWS with Boto3
AWS Python modules
Managing AWS instances
Automating AWS S3 services
Summary
17
Using the Scapy Framework
Using the Scapy Framework
Understanding Scapy
Installing Scapy
Generating packets and network streams using Scapy
Capturing and replaying packets
Summary
18
Building a Network Scanner Using Python
Building a Network Scanner Using Python
Understanding the network scanner
Building a network scanner with Python
Sharing your code on GitHub
Summary
19
Other Books You May Enjoy
Other Books You May Enjoy
Leave a review - let other readers know what you think

Working with the Ansible template

The last piece of working with Ansible is understanding how it handles the template. Ansible uses the Jinja2 template, which we discussed in Chapter 6, Configuration Generator with Python and Jinja2. It fills the parameters with either Ansible facts or the static values provided in the vars section, or even with the result of a task stored using the register flag.

In the following example, we will build an Ansible playbook that gathers the previous three cases. First, we define a variable called Header in the vars section, holding a welcome message as a static value. Then, we enable the gather_facts flag, to get all possible information from the target machine. Finally, we execute the date command, to get the current date in the server and store the output in the date_now variable:

- hosts: centos-servers
  vars:
    - Header: "Welcome to Server...
Previous Section
End of Section 8
Next Section