Blog – Page 2 – Scripted Network

As a network engineer, you know that manual network management is time-consuming and error-prone. That's where network automation comes in. Network automation is the use of software to automate tasks such as configuration changes, troubleshooting, and monitoring. Ansible is a popular open source automation tool that can be used for network automation. Ansible is easy to learn and use, and it supports a wide range of network devices. In this blog post, I will show you how to get started in network automation using Ansible. I will cover the following topics: What is Ansible? What are the benefits of network automation? How to install Ansible How to create an Ansible playbook How to run an Ansible playbook What is Ansible? Ansible is an open source automation tool that automates tasks such as configuration changes, deployment, and orchestration. Ansible is agentless, meaning that it does not require any software to be installed on the target devices. Ansible uses SSH to connect to the target devices and execute commands. Ansible is easy to learn and use. It has a simple syntax that is similar to Python. Ansible also has a large and active community that provides support and documentation. What are the benefits of network automation? Network automation offers a number of benefits, including: Increased efficiency: Network automation can help you to automate repetitive tasks, such as configuration changes and troubleshooting. This can free up your time to focus on more strategic work. Reduced errors: Network automation can help you to reduce the number of errors in your network configuration. This is because Ansible uses a consistent and repeatable process to make changes to your network configuration. Improved security: Network automation can help you to improve the security of your network. This is because Ansible can be used to automate tasks such as password changes and vulnerability scanning. How to install Ansible Ansible is available for Linux, macOS, and Windows. To install Ansible, you will need to download the Ansible installer from the Ansible website. Once you have downloaded the Ansible installer, you can install Ansible by running the following command: Code snippet ansible-install Use code with caution. Learn morecontent_copy How to create an Ansible playbook An Ansible playbook is a collection of Ansible tasks that are executed together to achieve a specific goal. To create an Ansible playbook, you will need to create a file with the .yml extension. The following is an example of an Ansible playbook: Code snippet --- - hosts: all tasks: - name: Install Ansible apt: name: ansible state: present - name: Configure SSH lineinfile: path: /etc/ssh/sshd_config line: "PermitRootLogin yes" - name: Restart SSH service: name: ssh state: restarted Use code with caution. Learn morecontent_copy The first line in the playbook defines the hosts that the playbook will be run against. In this case, the playbook will be run against all hosts. The next section of the playbook defines the tasks that will be executed. In this case, the playbook will install Ansible, configure SSH, and restart SSH. The final section of the playbook defines the variables that are used by the tasks. In this case, the playbook does not use any variables. How to run an Ansible playbook To run an Ansible playbook, you will need to use the ansible-playbook command. The following is an example of how to run an Ansible playbook: Code snippet ansible-playbook playbook.yml Use code with caution. Learn morecontent_copy In this example, the ansible-playbook command is used to run the playbook.yml playbook. Conclusion In this blog post, I have shown you how to get started in network automation using Ansible. I have covered the following topics: What is Ansible? What are the benefits of network automation? How to install Ansible How to create an Ansible playbook How to run an Ansible playbook