Mastering Ansible Automation for Network Engineers

Contents

What You’ll Learn Requirements Description Who this course is for:

What
You’ll Learn

Master Ansible Network Automation from scratch. No prior coding experience is needed. 100% Hands-on demonstration
Elevate your career as a future-ready Network Automation Engineer
equipped with cutting-edge skills and expertise
REST API Automation using Ansible GET
POST
PUT
PATCH DELETE operation sto Devices
SSH Automation and Leverage TextFSM
NTC templates and PyATS CLI Parsers in Ansible for device configuration Parsing
Learn to use Ansible Network resource modules such as cisco ios_facts
ios_config
ios_comands
ios_interfaces
ios_l3_interfaces
ios_static_routes
Use RegEX Filters in Ansible for custom config parsing
In-depth understanding on Ansible valut for encrypting/decrypting variables and files
Cisco IOS Resource Modules
PaloAlto Firewall Automation using Ansible Examples
Gain Beginner to Advanced knowledge on Ansible Playbook and Task Options
Explore Jinja2 templating for dynamic configuration Generation using host or group variables
Understand ansible Magic Variables
hostvars
play_vars
include_vars
group_vars
host_vars with examples
Learn advanced playbook features such as loops
conditionals
handlers
block
rescue and assert
Lab setup using GNS3 VM and VS Code as the IDE for Playbooks with SSH remote development extension
Utilize Ansible roles and collections for modular and reusable automation.
Implement automation solutions across Network Devices such as routers switches etc
Optimize Ansible playbook strategies and parallelism for faster execution
“Ansibles inventory and configuration file management”
Understand Ansible Core vs Community
Create ansible custom modules using Python Script
Ansible include vs improt with task roles and playbooks examples
Ansible task options
play options and debugger
“Clear explanation on Ansibles Variable Precedence”
Ansible loops conditionals and exception handling
“How to use Ansibles filter and lookup plugins”
How to use Network device resource module for configuration management
REST API Automation using Ansible
Configuration Parsing using Ansible RegEx
Brief Introduction to Ansible automation frameworks such as Ansible AWX

Requirements

No prior Ansible or Python knowledge is required. You will learn everything you need to know
Need knowledge on basic Networking concepts (What is SSH
Basic Interface Configurations in Router and Switches)
Basics of Routing Protocols (static routes and dynamic routes) and Switching Protocols (vlans ) configuration knowledge
Basic Understanding on setting up Cisco images in: GNS3 or EVE-NG
Softwares used: Windows (Primary OS)
VMWare Player,Ubuntu OS(VM)
Ansible CLI
VSCode
GNS3VM

Description

Learn Ansible Automation skills from scratch to an advanced level for automating your Network.

Gain an in-depth understanding of Ansible Playbook and Task Options
For attending this course you don’t need any prior coding experience.

100% Hands-on demonstration of the concepts using Network Automation Usecases

The IDE is VS Code and Cisco devices will be used for demonstrating most of the device interactions.(vIOS, IOS-XE)

Below are the topics in high level

The course will be starting with how to setup Lab for Ansible Network Automation Practice
Install and Setup Ubuntu OS VM for ansible
Setup VSCode for SSH remote development
Ansible installation in the Python VIrtual Environment
Ansible Core and Community difference
Inventory and Config file setup
YAML File ,Playbook fundamentals and Ansible Lint
SSH Keybased Authentication to Cisco devices from Ansible
Ansible Vault for encrypting files and variables
Demonstration of Ansible Vault ID
group_vars and host_vars
Handle device specific variables and configurations effectively
Explore advanced features of Ansible CLI
cisco ios_facts and ios_commands module
cisco ios_config module explained in detail
PaloAlto Firewall Galaxy Collections Examples
PaloAlto Address Objects, Object Groups and Security Rule automation using Ansible
Cisco config diff, parent command, before, after, match and replace options
ios config backup options
Configuration backup and save option
Cisco ios resource modules
cisco interfaces, l3_interfaces and l2_interfaces resource module
cisco ios_user and static_route module
CLI Parsers
pyATS, ntc_templates and TextFSM Parsers
Ansible Magic Variables
hostvars and play_vars
set_fact vs vars explained
Ansible Variable precedence explained in detail
Ansible filter Plugins
default, ternary, dict2items, items2dict filters
to_json, from_json, to_yaml, from_yaml filters
zip, combine, map,json_query(using JMES Path) filters
ip_address, url and datetime filters
list operations and string manipulation using filters
RegEX Filters
Regex search, find_all and replace filters
Jinja2 templates example
jinja2 for loop and include option
jinja2 in ios_config module
embed code in jinja2 template
lookup Plugins
file lookup, template lookup plugins
vars, env and pipe lookup plugins
Loops and Conditionals : loops, until and when
Play Options
- ansible play strategies, forks and serial
- debugger for effective troubleshooting
- host order, log_path
- tags and limit option
- check_mode
Task Options
- delegate_to
- run_once
- ignore_erros and failed when
- changed_when and no_log
use handlers and listen option
block and rescue for exception handling
assert option
How to install ansible collections: using galaxy command, requirements file and github
How to create roles and add tasks to respective directories
Detailed explanation of ansible include vs import
include_tasks vs import tasks
include_role vs import role
import_playbook module
how to create ansible custom modules
- convert facts to csv file using custom module which uses python csv in the backend
- how to pass module args to custom module
- how to return data using custom module
REST API from Ansible
- how to use URI Module for REST API
- YANG Suite introduction
- REST API from Postman
- Convert POSTMAN REST request to Ansible URI task
- Initiate REST – GET, PUT,POST PATCH and DELETE Operations from Ansible
- How to configure Cisco device using REST API
- how to save config using rest API
- Parse config using REST API
Extra Learning Topic(AWX)
- Install AWX in Minikube for learning
- Basics of Ansible execution environment (Podman)