Network Automation

What I do

• Automate network configuration and management
• Write scripts for network device provisioning
• Implement infrastructure as code for networks
• Build network CI/CD pipelines
• Manage network state declaratively
• Automate network testing and validation
• Handle multi-vendor network automation

When to use me

Use me when:

• Managing large network infrastructures
• Reducing manual configuration errors
• Implementing consistent network policies
• Automating routine network tasks
• Building network CI/CD pipelines
• Scaling network operations

Key Concepts

Network Automation Tools

• Ansible: Agentless, YAML playbooks
• Python (Netmiko, NAPALM): Scripting
• Terraform: Infrastructure as code
• Nornir: Python-based automation
• StackStorm: Event-driven automation

Ansible Network Example

---
- name: Configure network devices
  hosts: switches
  gather_facts: no
  
  tasks:
    - name: Configure VLANs
      cisco.ios.ios_vlans:
        config:
          - vlan_id: 10
            name: Management
          - vlan_id: 20
            name: Data
          
    - name: Configure interfaces
      cisco.ios.ios_l2_interfaces:
        config:
          - name: GigabitEthernet0/1
            mode: access
            access:
              vlan: 20

NAPALM for Multi-Vendor

from napalm import get_network_driver

driver = get_network_driver('ios')
device = driver('192.168.1.1', 'admin', 'password')
device.open()

# Get facts
facts = device.get_facts()
print(facts['hostname'], facts['model'])

# Get config
config = device.get_config()
print(config['running'])

# Compare configs
device.load_merge_candidate(config='new_config.txt')
device.compare_config()
device.commit_config()

Network CI/CD Pipeline

1. Commit: Code changes to version control
2. Lint: Validate syntax and templates
3. Test: Dry-run, sanity checks
4. Stage: Apply to staging network
5. Verify: Automated testing
6. Production: Deploy with rollback plan