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)

Building an enterprise network topology

In our base lab setup, we will simulate an enterprise network that has four switches and one router that act as a gateway to outside networks. Here is the IP schema that will be used for each node:

Node name
IP
GW
10.10.88.110
Switch1
10.10.88.111
Switch2
10.10.88.112
Switch3
10.10.88.113
Switch4
10.10.88.114

Our Python script (or Ansible playbook) will be hosted on an external Windows PC that connects to the management of each device.

Adding new nodes

We will start by choosing the IOSv image that was already uploaded to EVE and add four switches to the topology. Right-click on any empty space in the topology and from the drop-down menu named...