Automation
Latest Articles
Some operations are not worth automating. [ipSpace]
Complexities of network automation. [ipSpace]
Do we need network automation? [ipSpace] [Mircea Ulinic]
Network automation -- a service provider perspective. [ipSpace]
DC network automation intro -- an onion-based architecture. [Packet Pushers]
Network automation considered harmful. [ipSpace]
What's wrong with network automation? [ipSpace]
Infrastructure-as-Code sounds scary. [ipSpace]
Is automation a full-time career? [Packet Pushers]
Older Articles
The best outcome of automation? Visibility. [Packet Pushers]
Are routing protocols automation? [EtherealMind]
Do a cleanup before automating your network. [ipSpace]
Enhancing network security with automation. [No Jitter]
Jerikan + Ansible: a configuration management system. [ipSpace] [Github] [Vincent Bernat]
Managing hierarchical device configurations. [ipSpace] [Network Code]
Programming sucks. [ipSpace] [Still Drinking]
Reimaging "show ip interface brief". [Packet Pushers]
The state of network automation. [Network Computing]
Five things to avoid network automation failures. [Network Computing]
Adapting network design to support automation. [ipSpace]
Starting your network automation journey. [ipSpace] [Daniel Teycheney]
How should network architects deal with network automation? [ipSpace]
Cloud automation example: create a virtual network. [ipSpace, GitHub]
Automation tools. [ipSpace]
Network automation is more than pushing configs. [Network Computing]
The ironies of automation. [Russ White]
Network automation -- the hype vs reality. [NANOG 78 YouTube]
Network automation -- beyond configuration templating. [ipSpace]
A pragmatic approach to network automation. [Network Computing]
Advice on automating existing networks. [Packet Pushers]
REST API basics cheat sheet. [Karneliuk: part 1, part 2, part 3]
What is the right tool for network automation? [Packet Pushers]
Snowflake networks: putting a freeze on automation. [No Jitter]
Automation should prevent operator errors. [ipSpace]
Will there be a consolidation of network automation tools? [Packet Pushers]
Recovering from network automation failures. [ipSpace]
Automating NSX-T. [ipSpace]
Creating automation source-of-truth from device configurations. [ipSpace]
Building the network automation source of truth. [ipSpace: part 1, part 2]
Why is network automation so hard? [No Jitter]
Managing automation -- fighting fear of job justification. [Networking Nerd]
Overview of network automation mechanisms. [ipSpace, ipSpace]
A pragmatic approach to automation. [Network Computing]
Five stages of automation grief. [ipSpace]
Automation and time. [ipEngineer]
Network automation is more than just Ansible. [ipSpace]
DC automation: fact vs fiction. [DC Knowledge]
How network automation increases security. [ipSpace]
No scripting required to start your automation journey. [ipSpace]
The network automation paradox: why people are key to its success. [Network Computing]
Complexity and network automation. [Russ White] [NetCraftsMen]
Automation learning charter. [IPEngineer]
Seven reasons why we automate. [Packet Pushers]
Simple DDNS solution supporting IPv6 and your own domains using Cloudflare and some Python. [Packet Pushers]
Is automation really faster? [No Jitter]
The single source of truth for network automation. [NANOG YouTube]
Automation for success. [IPEngineer]
Getting started with network automation. [No Jitter]
Automation win: document Cisco ACI configuration. [ipSpace]
Why is network automation so hard? [ipSpace]
Old configs and automation. [Networking Nerd]
Automation: easy button vs sentient voodoo magic button. [ipSpace] [IPEngineer]
Not interested in network automation? No problem... for now. [ipSpace]
Anti-automation from the antimatter universe. [ipSpace]
Big red button for network automation. [ipSpace]
Network automation: do I need expensive tools to do meaningful automation? [NANOG 72 YouTube]
Introduction to IaaC -- Infrastructure as a Code. [PacketPushers]
IaaC-Git. [PacketPushers: part 1]
Automation isn't about building a button to press. [ipSpace]
Automation win: MPLS/VPN service deployment. [ipSpace]
Ansible, Chef, Puppet or Salt -- which one should I use? [ipSpace]
Managing switches with REST and Thrift APIs. [Network Computing]
APIs and networking: three use cases. [Network Computing]
SDN vs automation video. [Russ White]
Network automation: leaky abstractions. [ipEngineer]
Network automation engineer persona. [ipEngineer: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4] [ipSpace]
Targeted learning. [ipEngineer]
Proof of concepts. [ipEngineer]
Network automation: past, present and future. [NANOG YouTube]
Start your network automation journey by mastering fundamentals. [ipSpace]
Top networking researcher looks to a programmable future. [Network Computing]
Grassroots automation. [Network Collective, YouTube]
Cisco's SD-Access - all the pieces. [Packet Pushers]
Network automation with Netmiko. [Network Computing]
Infrastructure as code for the network:
Part 1: Introduction and day 0 provisioning. [Packet Pushers]
Part 2: Day 1 operations and beyond. [Packet Pushers]
Part 3: Wins and challenges. [Packet Pushers]
Early network automation. [ipSpace]
Network automation resources for beginners. [Network Computing]
Automation or orchestration? [ipSpace]
How do I start automating network device configurations in an existing network? [ipSpace]
Network automation and programmability: reality vs vendor hype. [NANOG YouTube]
Will I be replaced by a script? The future of network engineering. [NANOG YouTube]
Getting started with network automation. [Network Computing]
PowerShell 101. [ipSpace]
Use your networking knowledge to design automation solutions. [ipSpace]
Looking for a tool to create device configuration from templates. [ipSpace]
Don't believe the non-programming hype. [EtherealMind] [Paul's Blog]
Coding is hard. [Russ White] [FreeCodeCamp]
Starting with network automation. [ipSpace]
Network automation is much more than configuration management. [ipSpace]
Why you will never be better than automation. [EtherealMind]
Choosing network automation tools. [Network Computing]
Automation and IT: a perfect match. [Network Computing]
The future of networking summit 2017: automation. [Packet Pushers]
Do network professionals need to be programers? [Networking Nerd]
Network automation at scale: up and running in 60 minutes. [NANOG YouTube]
Automation - build or consume? [IPEngineer]
Network automation: 7 basic steps. [Network Computing]
Network automation at scale. [Packet Pushers]
Automating your job away isn't easy. [Networking Nerd]
You don't need programming skills to build network automation solutions. [ipSpace]
Learning network automation. [Packet Pushers: part 1, part 2, part 3]
There and back again -- a journey into network automation. [Packet Pushers]
Finding excuses to avoid network automation. [ipSpace]
Network automation: Lego bricks and death stars. [ipSpace]
This is why you need automation. [ipSpace]
Automation gone wild. [ipSpace]
Automate the exceptions. [ipSpace]
Scripting does not scale for network automation. [EtherealMind]
Network automation: just do it! [ipSpace]
Automate tasks in Cisco IOS. [Network Engineering]
The Snowden effect and IT automation's role. [DC Knowledge]
Ansible
Connection types with network automation and Ansible. [DC Overlords]
Ansible for network automation:
Lesson 1 – Why Ansible? [Packet Pushers]
Lesson 2 – Getting to know Ansible. [Packet Pushers]
Lesson 3 – Ansible modules overview. [Packet Pushers]
Lesson 4 – Gathering device information. [Packet Pushers]
Lesson 5 – Ansible variables and folder structure. [Packet Pushers]
Lesson 6 – Ansible vault and loops. [Packet Pushers]
Lesson 7 – Templating with Ansible. [Packet Pushers]
Lesson 8 – Ansible and idempotency. [Packet Pushers]
Lesson 9 – Working with APIs. [Packet Pushers]
Lesson 10 – Ansible configuration and verification. [Packet Pushers]
Lesson 11 – Ansible for Meraki. [Packet Pushers]
How I got started with Ansible. [Packet Pushers]
Ansible networking: from science fair project toward mature product. [ipSpace]
Automating Cisco ACI environment with Python and Ansible. [ipSpace]
New NETCONF modules in Ansible 2.6 (EOS, IOS XR, SR OS). [Karneliuk]
Automation of Cumulus Linux with Ansible. [Karneliuk]
Ansible for network automation tutorial. [Network Computing]
Use YANG data models to configure network device with Ansible. [ipSpace]
Ansible - VLAN provisioning. [The Network Stack]
Sample network automation Ansible playbooks. [ipSpace, ipSpace]
Ansible for networking: a primer. [Network Computing]
User authentication in Ansible network modules. [ipSpace, ipSpace]
Using Ansible to execute a single command on all routers. [ipSpace]
Python
Automating Cisco ACI environment with Python and Ansible. [ipSpace]
Python FTP for uploading router images. [Packet Pushers]
Using Python and Netmiko to configure Cisco switches. [Network Computing]
Using Python and SSH to program a Cisco switch. [Network Computing]
Managing FortiGate device configuration via REST API using Python. [Packet Pushers]
Simple Python script to read from a device. [PacketU]
Programming a Cisco network using Python. [Network Computing]
Intro to Python network automation. [Packet Pushers: Part 1, Part 2]
Python networking: configuring VLANs. [Network Computing]
Python networking made easy. [Network Computing] [YouTube]
Network automation with Python: getting started. [Network Computing]
Python:
For loops. [Lost In Transit]
Argparse part 1. [Lost In Transit]
Argparse part 2. [Lost In Transit]
Python, REST APIs and network automation. [Tony Bourke YouTube]
Python for network engineers. [ipSpace]
Learn Python. [PacketLife]
Netsim / Netlab Tools
Testing VRF-aware DHCP relaying. [ipSpace]
Testing DHCP relaying. [ipSpace]
Change stub networks into loopbacks. [ipSpace]
Getting started with netlab. [ipSpace]
Suspending devices. [ipSpace]
Start multiple netlab labs on the same server. [ipSpace]
Larger lab topologies. [ipSpace]
Building a Layer 2 fabric. [ipSpace]
Cisco IOS XRv, MPLS on FRR. [ipSpace]
Juniper vMX and JUNOS features. [ipSpace]
VRF Lite over VXLAN transport. [ipSpace]
What can Netlab do? [ipSpace]
Netlab release 1.4.1: Cisco ASAv. [ipSpace]
IRB with Anycast gateways. [ipSpace]
VXLAN router-on-a-stick example. [ipSpace]
EVPN asymmetric IRB, anycast gateways, VRRP. [ipSpace]
Router-on-a-stick example. [ipSpace]
Mikrotik RoterOS 7, additional EVPN platforms. [ipSpace]
EVPN/VXLAN bridging example. [ipSpace]
VXLAN bridging example. [ipSpace]
Netlab release 1.3.1 -- BGP local-AS, FRR, and more. [ipSpace]
VRF lite topology with VLAN trunks. [ipSpace]
Netlab release 1.3 -- VXLAN and EVPN. [ipSpace]
Netsim tools renamed to netlab. [ipSpace]
VLAN module. [ipSpace]
Device features. [ipSpace]
Combining VLANs with VRFs. [ipSpace]
VLAN trunk example. [ipSpace]
Simple VLAN example. [ipSpace]
VLANs, hardware labs, VRF loopbacks. [ipSpace]
Configure hardware labs. [ipSpace]
Creating VRF Lite labs. [ipSpace]
MPLS edition. [ipSpace]
Release 1.0. [ipSpace] [NetSim Tools]
Miscellaneous
Kubernetes for network engineers:
Lesson 1 – A brief overview of the Kubernetes architecture. [Packet Pushers]
Lesson 2 – Services, nodeports, and load balancers. [Packet Pushers]
Lesson 3 – Pod-to-pod networking. [Packet Pushers]
Lesson 4 – Kubernetes networking under the hood. [Packet Pushers]
Lesson 5 - Ingress and service mesh. [Packet Pushers]
© Robert Larsen. All rights reserved.