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

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​​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

# Introduction
In this chapter, network configurations are converted and split into variables contained inside data
models and dynamic templates. First group variables are created at a platform level representing standard
configurations for the distribution or access layer. Unique, host-specific information will become host
variables. Data models are written in the YAML format.

Jinja2 dynamic templates are introduced at this stage. These templates are used to establish the intent-based, data-driven, golden configuration that is applied to the devices. Jinja2 files are a mix of static text,
programmatic logic, and dynamic variables. These variables are called from the group and host variables
in the data models. The resulting compiled output is an intent-based golden configuration.

# Group variables
Planning data models should take some time. These models are the structures, and ultimately the
variables, that will be called by dynamic Jinja2 templates. The structure is important as it will dictate how
to use the data logically to create working network device configurations. Another way to think of the group and
host variables is to consider them as data dictionaries made up of key-pair values and lists.
Templates will access the key-value pairs and iterate over lists. 

Remember, the examples of data that
should be modeled in the group variables:

- Standard NTP, IP helper addresses for DHCP, SNMP, or **syslog** servers
- Access-control lists at the distribution layer
- QoS policies either by platform, logical function, or both
- Banners
- AAA configurations such as RADIUS or TACACS+ servers
- Universal secret
- Standard interfaces
    - VSS configurations for core and distribution
    - Standardized uplinks. For example, port-channel 1 is always used as the uplink between distribution and core
- Domain name
- Native VLAN
- Multicast
- NetFlow
- Platform type flag/identifier
- Other features with common code across a platform

Here are some examples of `group_vars` for the enterprise network. Remember, the scope of the data model applies to all devices under the group in `hosts`.

## CAMPUS
For example, here is a data model that applies to all devices on the network: 


Let's learn about some of the group variables that are used in the code configurations.

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

Data Models: Group Variables

Introduction