Networking, an important piece of IT enterprises, There are 1000’s of networking devices in a typical enterprise data center and are treated like pets. This is a costly and ineffectual way to handle networking devices, and it can lead to security gaps and also most devices have very similar configurations that have only minor differences between them.

Ansible, an automation language that tells an IT professional about Ansible playbooks and are essentially scripts that run against devices in any environment. The User writes Ansible playbook in YAML (yet another markup language) & tasks are executed in sequential order in Ansible modules from top to bottom. Modules are set of codes in Python that push to target machines .  i.e. doesn’t need to understand code of these modules. We need only pass the correct argument.

Network Automation is designed for network administrators, or infrastructure automation engineers who also have some basic experience in a Linux environment; using a terminal, SSH, a text editor, and running basic commands and want to use Ansible to automate the central management of the network devices like switches, routers, firewalls load balancers and other devices in their datacenter or in the organization’s network infrastructure. Network vendors and their products like Cisco IOS, IOS-XE, NX-OS, IOS-XR, Arista EOS, Juniper JUNOS, F5 BIG-IP and VyOS support automation. There are over 45 networking platforms with integration of Ansible network automation today. That means, instead of hand-typing commands into network devices one by one, manage your network infrastructure using Ansible throughout the entire production life cycle:

• Configuring automation of the network stack from system to access to core service.
• Testing and validating existing network state.
• Continuous compliance to check for network configuration drift.     

Automation with Ansible (DO407) at Spectrum

As a Networking trainee, Spectrum not only issue real time knowledge and skills in networking, but also offers a triumphant career step in Network Automation. If your resume is updated with Automation with Ansible (dO407) training from an authorized best network automation institute in Kochi such as SPECTRUM which means you are capable of performing the following tasks:    

• Using Ansible inventories to define groups of hosts.
• Creating Ansible playbooks.
• Using Ansible playbooks to configure systems to a specified state.
• Creating and using Ansible templates to create customized configuration files for hosts.
• Creating Ansible roles.
• Using Ansible Vault in playbooks to protect sensitive data.
• Installing Ansible Tower and using it to manage systems.

Organizations, extending the capabilities of Ansible to include native support for both legacy and open network infrastructure devices. Network devices and systems can now be included in an organization’s overall automation strategy for a holistic approach to application workload management.

According to the Ansible BU, customer demand for Network Automation is growing at the extraordinary rate of 25% per month. Spectrum Softtech solutions Pvt. Ltd. provides excellent training programs for CCNA and Automation with Ansible (DO407) for networking professionals as well. For a CCNA certified professional Ansible is a great advantage of Network Automation.

In a couple of years, the job profiles for network engineers will require scripting skills and preferably Ansible. Many multinational companies favor Networking professionals with Ansible skills. So the better you understand Ansible, the more your chance is at being a skilled as well as a confident Networking Automation Engineer.

Author: STEPS