- COURSE
Network Automation with Ansible (Ansible 201)
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This course provides a comprehensive introduction to using Ansible for network automation and management, blending foundational skills with advanced techniques tailored for network professionals. Participants will begin by mastering Ansible fundamentals, such as YAML syntax, inventory creation, and playbook execution, before progressing to specialized topics like templating, error handling, and integrating network-specific modules. The course emphasizes real-world applications, including automating multi-vendor device management, implementing NetDevOps practices, and leveraging tools like Netbox and Cisco Modeling Labs (CML). By the end, attendees will be equipped to design efficient, scalable, and adaptable network automation workflows, enhancing both operational efficiency and network reliability.
Upcoming Class Dates and Times
All Sunset Learning courses are guaranteed to run
Course Outline and Details
Prerequisites
Basic Keyboard Proficiency: Ability to efficiently navigate and use a keyboard, including typing, copy-pasting, and basic text editing in terminal and/or text editors.
Target Audience
- Network Engineers seeking to automate the management and configuration of network devices.
- System Administrators managing hybrid infrastructures involving servers and network components.
- DevOps Engineers looking to incorporate network automation into CI/CD pipelines.
- NetDevOps Practitioners aiming to implement agile practices and a source-of-truth methodology in network management.
- IT Operations Professionals tasked with maintaining multi-vendor network environments and reducing manual workloads.
- Cloud and Infrastructure Engineers integrating network automation with cloud platforms or data center operations.
- Security Engineers focused on enforcing network policies and monitoring configurations through automation.
Course Objectives
- Understand the Basics of Ansible: Learn the foundational principles of Ansible, including YAML syntax, inventory creation, and playbook execution.
- Configure and Optimize Ansible for Networking: Explore configuration options like ansible.cfg and implement best practices for efficient network automation.
- Leverage Core Ansible Modules for Networking: Master critical modules such as copy, template, and get_url for managing and automating network configurations.
- Implement Advanced Playbook Features: Use handlers, conditional statements, and error-handling techniques to build robust and flexible playbooks.
- Automate Network Device Management: Perform automated backups, configuration changes, and monitoring for multi-vendor environments, including Cisco, Juniper, and Arista.
- Simplify Network Automation with Agnostic Modules: Utilize network-agnostic modules to streamline playbooks for managing diverse network devices.
- Integrate NetDevOps Principles: Apply NetDevOps practices, including leveraging a source of truth, such as Netbox, to enhance agility and collaboration.
- Use Templates for Network Configuration: Design and deploy network configurations dynamically with Jinja2 templates.
- Integrate Network Automation Tools: Connect Ansible with tools like Cisco Modeling Labs (CML) and TextFSM to enhance automation workflows.
Course Outline
Software Control Management
- Lecture + Lab: SCM Option #1 – GitHub
- Lecture + Lab: SCM Option #2 – GitLab
Ansible Overview
- Lecture: Introduction to Ansible
Day 1- Ansible Basics
- Lecture: Introduction to YAML
- Lecture + Lab: Making an Inventory
- Lecture + Lab: Running a Playbook
- Lecture + Lab: ansible.cfg setup
- Lecture + Lab: Looping Tasks
- Lecture + Lab: Setting Variables: Part 1
- Lecture + Lab: Setting Variables: Part 2
Day 2- Critical Modules and Keywords
- Lecture + Lab: Ansible Module – copy
- Lecture + Lab: Ansible Module – file
- Lecture + Lab: Ansible Module – get_url and uri
- Lecture: Templating with Jinja
- Lecture + Lab: Ansible Module – template
- Lecture + Lab: When Condition
- Lecture + Lab: Playbook Tags
Day 3- Advanced Ansible
- Lecture + Lab: Ansible Handlers and Listeners
- Lecture + Lab: Ansible Error Handling
- Lecture + Lab: Ansible Lookup Plugin
- Lecture + Lab: Ansible Callback Plugins
- Lecture: Collections, Roles, and Ansible Galaxy
- Lecture + Lab: Using Collections
- Lecture + Lab: Using Roles
- Lecture + Lab: Making Roles
- Lecture + Lab: Making Collections
- Lecture + Lab: Ansible Vault
Day 4- Ansible Network Automation Tools
- Lecture + Lab: Network API Calls
- Lecture + Lab: Exploring Switches with Ansible
- Lecture + Lab: Ansible Get Switch Config and Archive
- Lecture + Lab: network_cli Playbook
- Lecture + Lab: Network Playbooks and Vendor-Specific Modules
- Lecture + Lab: Backup Cisco, Juniper, Arista, and More
- Lecture + Lab: Agnostic Network Modules
- Lecture + Lab: Simplifying Network Playbooks with Agnostic Modules
Day 5- Ansible Networking Best Practices
- Lecture + Lab: Network Playbooks, Set Fact, and Fail
- Lecture + Lab: Network Playbook Error Handling
- Lecture + Lab: Network Playbook Precheck
- Lecture + Lab: Network Playbooks with Roles and Rollbacks
- Lecture + Lab: Ansible and TextFSM
Additional Tools
- Lecture + Lab: Roles and Molecule
- Lecture + Lab: Ansible Module – script
- Lecture + Lab: Writing an Ansible Module with Python