Gain insights into automating network reconnaissance, orchestrating repetitive changes, and transforming network configuration management. Discover CI/CD pipeline migration for full network automation.

ansibleFinal1.tar.gz

gitjob

CIPhosts

CIPhosts-copy

gather_info

gather_important_facts

facts_to_md

facts_to_csv_html

tools

frr01

frr02

first_gather_important_facts

​​Network automation begins with automating network reconnaissance. This is accomplished by gathering important information from network devices while building a library of dynamic on-demand utilities and generating living documentation. Starting small, the course exhibits the simplicity and elegance of network automation.

Next, you will learn how to automate larger changes that require a high number of repetitive steps. These changes will be executed serially in a specific orchestrated order, making them perfect for an automated solution. After gaining comfort with the new tools, you can fully transform network configuration management to an automated, intent-based, self-documenting system.

The final step is learning how to migrate to a continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipeline, thereby fully automating the network.

Automate Your Network

# Linux 

A flavor of Linux is required in the environment to host the Ansible
installation. Linux may be new, or there might be an existing Linux
footprint in the enterprise. The Linux machine where Ansible is
installed requires the ability to resolve the hostnames and SSH into all the network devices. 

The Linux host needs to communicate with
the source control server to perform Git operations such as cloning the repository to the Linux host. Using Git, updates from the repository can be pulled down, and output from Ansible playbooks can be pushed up into the repository. RBAC should be implemented, and standard best practices for a server installation (e.g, apply updates, harden the system) followed, because the Linux host will become a central component of the automation engine. 

All Ansible playbooks are executed from this Linux host and as such, precautions should be taken to protect this system from unauthorized access.

## Traditional Linux

Ansible can be installed and run on any Red Hat Enterprise Linux (TM), CentOS, Fedora,
Debian, or Ubuntu system.

Below are commands to install Ansible on different distributions of Linux:

On Fedora:
```bash
$ sudo dnf install ansible
```
On RHEL and CentOS:
```bash
$ sudo yum install ansible
```
On Ubuntu:
```bash
$ sudo apt-get update

$ sudo apt-get install software-properties-common

$ sudo apt-add-repository --yes --update ppa:ansible/ansible

$ sudo apt-get install ansible
```


# Linux on Windows 10

The Linux requirement should not deter the organization from pursuing
Ansible. The enterprise may not support Linux because either the network team may not be very familiar with Linux or they are a purely Microsoft shop. Linux
on Windows is a relatively new supported feature from Microsoft. However, Ansible has been proven to run under Windows using the latest version of
Windows Subsystems for Linux (WSL) and the Ubuntu distribution.


## WSL and DrvFS

Microsoft WSL and DrvFS can be used to set the permissions using
traditional Linux `chmod` commands. If we encounter errors when running Ansible playbooks in Windows, such as those due to the
`ansible.cfg` file using world write permissions, we can use the following
instructions to open `chmod` capabilities in Ubuntu:

First, unmount the drive.
```bash
sudo umount /mnt/c
```
Then remount the drive, including the metadata.
```bash
sudo mount -t drvfs C:/mnt/c -o metadata
```
Now set permissions on the repository.
```bash
chmod -R 755 /home/user/Production-Infrastructures
```


Let's take a look at the role of Linux in the automation process.

Introduction

What Is Network Automation?

Why Automate the Network?

How to Automate the Network

Where to Start with Network Automation

Repository Structure

Network Reconnaissance

Tactical Playbooks

Data Models and Dynamic Templates

Dynamic Intent-Based Documentation

Configuration Management

Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery

Conclusion

Automation Tools: Linux

Linux