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.
Table of Contents (20 chapters)

Getting started with Cobbler

Cobbler is a piece of open source software, used for unattended network-based installation. It leverages multiple tools, such as DHCP, FTP, PXE, and other open source tools (we will explain them later), so that you will have a one-stop shop for automating the OS installation. The target machine (bare metal or a virtual machine) has to support booting from a network on its network interface card (NIC). This function enables the machine to send a DHCP request that hits the Cobbler server, which will take care of the rest.

You can read more about the project on its GitHub page (https://github.com/cobbler/cobbler).

Understanding how Cobbler works

Cobbler depends on multiple tools to provide the Preboot...