Preface

Thank you and welcome to “Automate Your Network”. Today’s modern networks have grown in scale and complexity while the tools and methodologies used in designing, operating, and deploying these networks have largely remained stagnant. 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. The next step is making automated changes to the network. Starting small, the book exhibits the simplicity and elegance of network automation. Next, the book outlines 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, readers can fully transform network configuration management to an automated, intent-based, self-documenting system. Change management and version controls are built into the processes. Once coverage of the network is achieved, a data model driven, dynamic template-based, human-readable version of the network exists. The final step is migrating to a continuous integration / continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipeline, thereby fully automating the network.

Network automation is not a substitute for solid network design or foundational knowledge about networking. Knowing how to convert network configurations to code is not the same as understanding the configurations themselves. It is strongly encouraged that network administrators who understand the configurations be involved in the code conversion processes. Network administrators need to understand the Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) model, achieve industry certifications, and stay current on industry trends while developing their coding skills. Before going too far, here is a basic outline of the book.

How This Book is Organized This book is divided into two parts: Part 1 introduces network automation while Part 2 contains instructions to begin coding. Part 1 covers what network automation means; why organizations should automate; how to automate; and where to start when ready to automate. Part 2 contains the technical steps, with examples, that can be used as a foundation for network automation.

Part I. Chapter 1 What Is Network Automation? Compares traditional network management using a manual approach to network changes and maintaining documentation with modern network automation capabilities. This chapter introduces software-defined networking and the concept of converting networks to code.

Chapter 2 Why Automate the Network? This chapter covers the problems with traditional network management and how network automation solves these problems. As networks scale in size and complexity the traditional ways of managing them has become inadequate. The tools have finally arrived which allows for the quick delivery of automated solutions with more precision and quality.