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.

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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
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The future of network automation

For a long period of time, network automation only meant developing a script using a programming language such as Perl, TcL, or Python in order to execute tasks on different network platforms. This approach is known as script-driven network automation. But as the network becomes more complex and more service-oriented, new types of automation were required and started to appear, such as the following:

  • Software-defined network automation: Network devices will have only a forwarding plane, while the control plane is implemented and created using an external software called an SDN controller. The benefit of this approach is there will be a single point of contact for any network changes and the SDN controller can accept those change requests from other software, such as an external portal, through well-implemented northbound interfaces.
  • High-level...
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