Book Image

Mastering Python Scripting for System Administrators

By : Ganesh Sanjiv Naik
Book Image

Mastering Python Scripting for System Administrators

By: Ganesh Sanjiv Naik

Overview of this book

Python has evolved over time and extended its features in relation to every possible IT operation. Python is simple to learn, yet has powerful libraries that can be used to build powerful Python scripts for solving real-world problems and automating administrators' routine activities. The objective of this book is to walk through a series of projects that will teach readers Python scripting with each project. This book will initially cover Python installation and quickly revise basic to advanced programming fundamentals. The book will then focus on the development process as a whole, from setup to planning to building different tools. It will include IT administrators' routine activities (text processing, regular expressions, file archiving, and encryption), network administration (socket programming, email handling, the remote controlling of devices using telnet/ssh, and protocols such as SNMP/DHCP), building graphical user interface, working with websites (Apache log file processing, SOAP and REST APIs communication, and web scraping), and database administration (MySQL and similar database data administration, data analytics, and reporting). By the end of this book, you will be able to use the latest features of Python and be able to build powerful tools that will solve challenging, real-world tasks
Table of Contents (21 chapters)

Python Scripting Overview

Python is a scripting language, created by Guido van Rossum in 1991, which is used in various applications, such as game development, GIS programming, software development, web development, data analytics, machine learning, and system scripting.

Python is an object-oriented, high-level programming language with dynamic semantics. Mainly, Python is an interpreted language. Python is used for rapid application development, as it has all of the advanced features for development.

Python is simple and easy to learn, as its syntax makes programs more readable. Hence, the program maintenance cost is low.

Python has one more important feature of importing modules and packages. This feature allows for code reuse. The Python interpreter is easy to understand. We can write the complete code one by one in it and, as Python is an interpreted language, the code gets executed line by line. Python also has a wide range of libraries for advanced functionality.

This chapter will cover the following topics:

  • Python scripting
  • Installing and using Python and various tools
  • Variables, numbers, and strings
  • Python supported data structures and how to use all of these concepts in a script
  • Decision making; that is, the if statement
  • Looping statements; that is, the for and while loops
  • Functions
  • Modules