ansible for network automation hands on

Updates to Ansible collections provide new automation benefits for increased operational efficiencies. You can place the connection information in your host_vars file, inventory file, or the playbook. Specifies which user on the network device the connection. We can test the playbook by running it from the command line: If you don't want to dynamically load the latest collection content every time, comment out or remove the requirements file. collections is a directory storing all Ansible Collections that my Ansible Playbook will use, inventory is a directory containing a inventory file named hosts, ~/.ansible.cfg (in the current home directory). Ansible is an open source community project sponsored by Red Hat, it's the simplest way to automate IT. This includes settings such as changing the return output from JSON to YAML. An Ansible configuration file is an ini formatted file for configuring behavior settings. Save this information somewhere, we will need to enter this into the ansible.cfg file. Learn RedHat Ansible Automation Platform playbook basics for network automation. Ansible 2.10 (or higher) installed. The extension to that is the Dell SmartFabric OS10 Ansible Collection which includes the roles, modules, plugins specific to provision the Dell PowerSwitch. If the directory does not exist, it is created. One or more network devices that are compatible with Ansible. Without this setting, Ansible would attempt to use ssh to connect to the remote and execute the Python script on the network device, which would fail because Python generally isnt available on network devices. Basically all the Ansible tools that users use to create their Ansible Automation. Red Hat Insights for Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, Configuration automation of the network stack from system to access to core services, Continuous compliance to check for network configuration drift, Use the same simple, powerful, and agentless automation framework IT operations and development are already using, Use a data model (a playbook or role) thats separate from the execution layer (AutomationExecution Environments) that easily spans heterogeneous network hardware, Benefit from a wide variety of community and vendor-generated playbook and role content to help accelerate network automation projects, Delegation: Using Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), Power: Leverage the Automation Controller API, Control: Schedule Jobs for Automated Playbook Runs, Flexibility: Launch Job Templates Using Surveys, Integrations: Leverage Automation ControllerIntegrations like Version Control, Compliance: Run Jobs in Check Mode for Audits. Overview. Participate in design and feedback workshops to improve our services and quality of work. Details about how we use cookies and how you may disable them are set out in our Privacy Statement. Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform enables you to control, secure and manage automation through this user dashboard or through a RESTful API. Manage and maintain multi-vendor, multi-protocol datacenter and . The Juniper Networks junos collection is being downloaded from Ansible Galaxy whereas the F5 Networks f5_modules collection is being downloaded from Automation Hub. Join Ansible technical experts for a virtual hands-on workshop where you will gain a comprehensive overview of Ansible, followed by a deep dive into Ansible Tower and how the two work together in typical networking environments. Join Ansible technical experts for a virtual hands-on workshop where you will gain a comprehensive overview of Ansible, followed by a deep dive into Ansible Tower and how the two work together in typical networking environments. This gitignore file helps ensure that your playbook repository content in the version control system only tracks your playbook and related files. Legal Notice: Questions? Ansible has continued to evolve over the years, and I can say from experience that the introduction to Ansible can be a little overwhelming at first. Experience in cloud stack such as Amazon AWS and VMWARE stack. Access to Automation Hub is included with a Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform subscription. Roles & Responsibilities Position Summary / Project Description: This is for the Automation Team under the Systems Technologies which focuses on DevOps and automation for internal IT that includes a lot of automation work around IaC. This includes full content from partners such as Arista, Cisco, Checkpoint, F5, IBM, Microsoft and NetApp. You will be equipped with the skills to take back to your organisation and implement right away. Every team in your organization will benefit from Automation Controllera component within the automation platform. Hands-on exercises will be performed on a complex enterprise network topology to model the existing router and switch configurations, generate templates and use ansible to automate the configurations. Also note that this file defines where the collections should be downloaded to via the collections_paths parameter (e.g.. ./collections). This means you can control which Ansible Collections are available by manually installing each collection required for your Ansible Playbook into the correct virtual environment. If you use ssh keys, but not ssh-agent, and you have multiple keys, specify the key to use for each connection in the [group:vars] section with ansible_ssh_private_key_file=/path/to/correct/key. Last updated on Feb 17, 2023. I want to point out that collections and roles have their own readme. Note that when using variables from tasks in this way we use double quotes (") and double curly-brackets ({{}} to tell Ansible that this is a variable. Ansible is open source and created by contributions from an active open source community. The example playbook provides details down to the syntax and spacing of each key:value pair, to get you off the ground and running. Manage your Red Hat certifications, view exam history, and download certification-related logos and documents. If not specified SSH key will be used. Run the playbook using the following simple Ansible-playbook syntax: Ansible-playbook -i inventory playbook.yaml. Ansible helps DevOps and NetOps reduce time and effort when designing, managing, and monitoring OS10 networks in enterprise IT environments. This is required when using the ansible.netcommon. The list should be in precedence order with your primary location choice first, in this case Automation Hub. Google Cloud Marketplace deployment Ansible Automation Platform deploys directly from the Google Cloud Marketplace as a self-managed application. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. You can access the collection by searching for dellemc.sfs on the Ansible Galaxy website. Groups and variables in an inventory file, Example 1: collecting facts and creating backup files with a playbook, Example 2: simplifying playbooks with platform-independent modules, Sample playbook with platform-specific modules, Simplified playbook with cli_command platform-independent module, Using multiple prompts with the ansible.netcommon.cli_command. Program Full Stack Web Developer Masters Program Business Intelligence Masters Program Data Analyst Masters Program Test Automation Engineer Masters Program All Programs. This software-driven architecture is essential for businesses to lower operational costs and improve time-to-market. The class will focus oJoin us as we take you through the Ansible Engine, one of the most popular automation frameworks for managing networks. . Ansible Dell network roles require connection information to establish communication with the nodes in your inventory. Work at solving issues with the Cloud . The Ansible collection for Dell EMC SmartFabric OS10, which includes sample playbooks and documents that illustrate how the collection can be used, is available on Ansible Galaxy. How can I improve performance for network playbooks? It up-levels the nuances involved in building out automation, allowing users to plug-n-play the latest and greatest automation content being built by certified partners and the community. Register here for a spot This course introduces learners to the potential for automating repetitive tasks using Automation Anywhere. Automation Engineer Ansible. Content is divided between two repositories: Ansible Galaxy is the upstream community for sharing Ansible Collections. This document describes some examples of using Ansible to manage your network infrastructure. This includes several SSH/CLI-based . Virtualization and Containerization Guides, Getting Started with Ansible for Network Automation, Advanced Topics with Ansible for Network Automation, Controlling how Ansible behaves: precedence rules, the latest Ansible community documentation, Establish a Manual Connection to a Managed Node, Create and Run Your First Network Ansible Playbook, Tracking changes to inventory and playbooks: source control with git. Red Hat Automation Hub hosts certified, secure collections that are validated and supported by Red Hat. The collections readme provides a good overview of the collection. With Ansible, you can: Automate repetitive tasks to speed routine network changes and free up your time for more strategic work Learn how to scale containerized applications to the edge. Ansible is an open source community project sponsored by Red Hat, it's the simplest way to automate IT. Use Ansible to automate network infrastructure with the help of step-by-step instructions Implement network automation best practices to save cost, avoid critical errors, and reduce downtime Deliver a robust automation framework by integrating Ansible with NAPALM, NetBox, and Batfish Book Description Learn the basics of writing a RedHat Ansible Automation Platform playbook to automate simple infrastructure tasks. We define the Galaxy servers under the [galaxy] section of the Ansible configuration file (i.e. See the Support matrix for a complete list of supported platforms. Copyright Ansible project contributors. Explore list of network modules in Ansible Docs. Ajay is an IT network industry veteran with over 2 decades in this space. This Ansible Provisioning blog points out one of the most useful Ansible feature. Without the platform-independent modules, a sample playbook might contain the following three tasks with platform-specific commands: You can replace these platform-specific modules with the platform-independent ansible.netcommon.cli_command module as follows: If you use groups and group_vars by platform type, this playbook can be further simplified to : You can see a full example of this using group_vars and also a configuration backup example at Platform-independent examples. The same benefits that Ansible brings to compute nodes can now be extended to the network nodes. Job Description: Responsible for building and leading a team to deliver technology products and services that meet business outcomes. Certain network modules, such as those that modify system state including users, will only work in high privilege states. These vault files can then be distributed or placed in source control. Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform helps teams manage complex network deployments by adding control, knowledge and delegation to Ansible-powered environments. Customers can access collections from both content repositories. The entire network can now be remotely managed without much human intervention. (Linux Automation) NetworkChuck 2.82M subscribers Join Subscribe 21K Share Save 665K views 2 years ago Network Programmability Start learning Ansible. Ansible modules support a wide range of vendors, device types, and actions, so you can manage your entire network with a single automation tool. Without this we would return the details for the current host, rather than the named host. You can also check if the facts are caching by querying the Redis keys using the redis-cli command: $ redis-cli 127.0.0.1:6379> keys * 1) "ansible_cache_keys" 2) "ansible_factslocalhost". In this role, you can expect to: The well-organized Ansible documentation helped me to understand the workings of Ansible and to quickly get started. In this workshop, attendees will learn all about: Location: 9/02/2022 - Google. The VLAN role requires an SSH connection for connectivity to a Dell SmartFabric OS10 device. If enable mode (privilege mode) should be used, see the next section. The Dell SmartFabric OS10 Collection documentation provides a great overview and links to each of the roles. Best suited for network engineers or folks interested in network automation as it will cover common network scenarios and topics. If you are unfamiliar with an Ansible configuration file please refer to the documentation . Job Description. What You Will Do. Contact us for a network automation demo. Complete understand of configuring EC2, VPC, automated stack configuration and Monitoring software for the cloud environment. First, create a file called inventory, containing: Next, create a playbook file called facts-demo.yml containing the following: To run the playbook, run the following from a console prompt: This should return output similar to the following: Next, look at the contents of the file we created containing the switch facts: If ansible-playbook fails, please follow the debug steps in Network Debug and Troubleshooting Guide. Legal Notice: Network operators, network engineers, system administrators, and anyone interested in network automation. Ansible Automation Platform is the glue that coordinates and scales automation across all IT domains, and fosters a culture of collaboration across the disparate teams within an organization. Network operators, network engineers, system administrators, and anyone interested in network automation. Download the latest Ansible network releasewiththe most up-to-date version of the networking modules. Go to the Ansible Galaxy website to review the Dell SmartFabric OS10 Collection roles and details. Read his blog on, Red Hat Insights for Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, Getting Started with Ansible Content Collections, https://cloud.redhat.com/ansible/automation-hub, https://cloud.redhat.com/ansible/automation-hub/token, https://galaxy.ansible.com/me/preferences, https://github.com/termlen0/collections_demo/blob/master/play.yaml, Install into your runtime environment or virtual env. The class will focus oJoin us as we take you through the Ansible Engine, one of the most popular automation frameworks for managing networks. Learn Ansible configuration management and automation in the Learning Labs Get hands-on in the ACI, IOS XE, SD-WAN, and MSO Sandboxes Try out new ISE 3.1 Ansible Sandbox Identity Services Engine (ISE) with Ansible Automation Sandbox Try out ISE 3.1 (beta) with Ansible Automation in the Sandbox. Find out what's happening in global Ansible Meetups and find one near you. Network operators, network engineers, system administrators, and anyone interested in network automation. These hands-on learning scenarios provide you with a preconfigured RedHat Ansible Automation Platform environment to experiment, practice, and see how automation can relieve you of manual tasks. In essence, Ansible Automation content is going to be delivered using the collection packaging mechanism. This role is abstracted for Dell PowerSwitch platforms running Dell SmartFabric OS10. Ansible is an open-source project and the community upstream distribution method for Collections is the Ansible Galaxy website, where you can access Dell SmartFabric OS10 Collections. Ansible includes hundreds of network modules to support a wide variety of network device vendors, including: Demo: Network Automation With Red Hat Automation Execution Environments For Beginners. With Dell OS10.5.4.0, the OS10 Ansible automation journey continues. If you are familiar with the use of requirements.yml file with roles, the file is very similar for collections. The Ansible collection for Dell EMC SmartFabric OS10 includes the modules, plug-ins, and roles required to work on Dell EMC SmartFabric OS10 PowerSwitch platforms running OS10. I am writing a literature review for a uni project and the title is this: "A Comparative Evaluation of Open Source Network Configuration Management Tools; specifically Ansible, Puppet and Chef in an Enterprise Network Environment." Eventually I will be building a virtual network environment with the help of GNS3 and VMWare and deploy different . 6 years of experience in Infrastructure in the area of Service delivery, Operational Readiness, Service improvement & automation in Operations . Ansible is powerful IT automation that you can learn quickly. With all the given interdependencies and challenges of todays networks, the expectations for high performance, availability, and reliability of these networks are higher than ever. Using roles provides flexibility with your playbooks and host_vars files for your network automation. Basically, Ansible Content Collections is a new method of building and consuming Ansible content. When working with Ansible Networking, set this to an appropriate network connection option, such as``ansible.netcommon.network_cli``, so Ansible treats the remote node as a network device with a limited execution environment. Organizations can deploy Red Hat's self-managed offering directly from the Google Cloud Marketplace to quickly start automating the management of their Google With Ansible, you can: Automate repetitive tasks to speed routine network changes and free up your time for more strategic work, Leverage the same simple, powerful, and agentless automation tool for network tasks that operations and development use, Separate the data model (in a playbook or role) from the execution layer (via Ansible modules) to manage heterogeneous network devices, Benefit from community and vendor-generated sample playbooks and roles to help accelerate network automation projects, Communicate securely with network hardware over SSH or HTTPS. Weve got you covered: Automation with Ansible Collections, the next step in your network automation journey. This guide will help meet tomorrows challenges by adopting network programmability based on Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). Here is my setup for this demonstration of Ansible Collections: For my example this is a development environment where I just want to download the latest and greatest. With Ansible, network teams: Use a simple, powerful, and agentless automation framework Clicking on the button will reveal your authentication token. Each role readme will better explain the role variables, parameters, and key values. . For more information, see Information about Ansible: magic variables. Basic understanding of what Ansible is and how it works with networking devices, Running ad-hoc Ansible commands from a command line, Building and execution of playbooks to accomplish basic router connectivity, Use Case: Backing up network configurations, Use Case: Additional router configurations, Introduction to Roles: Making playbooks reusable and platform agnostic, Use Case: Creating and running a job template. Learn to install automation controller and private automation hub with the RedHat Ansible Automation Platform operators. Dell SmartFabric OS10 Ansible Collection has a lot to offer for your network automation of Dell PowerSwitches. If you use ssh-agent, you do not need the ansible_password lines. For this example I am going to use the requirements.yml method where I can install all the collections from a single list. Join Ansible technical experts for a virtual hands-on workshop where you will gain a comprehensive overview of Ansible, followed by a deep dive into Ansible Tower and how the two work together in typical networking environments. For a full experience use one of the browsers below. Without this the user that is running ansible-playbook would be used. Data center networks are being designed and built at a massive scale to support a wide range of applications and services ranging from real-time video, to social media, to augmented reality, and more. It's used by operations teams that need to manage the deployment, monitoring, and management of various types of applications. Understanding network and security resource modules, Developing network and security resource modules, Example: Unit testing Ansible network resource modules, Developing cli_parser plugins in a collection, Adding a platform-specific options section, Adding your new file to the table of contents. 14+ years in Software products & services engineering and sustaining (Dublin & Rome IBM labs, Oracle & Salesforce R&D in Dublin), 3 years in Consulting (Herzum Software in Italy and US), 1 year as a Solutions Architect (IBM Dublin Innovation center). I think of collections as a superchargers to the batteries included approach that Ansible takes. Learn how to create an automation controller survey to configure a Cisco IOS network device. Automate all things networking with Red Hat Ansible & Red Hat Ansible Tower. Install ansible-builder and learn how to create custom execution environments. Attendees must come with a laptop with admin rights and the ability to connect to a lab environment hosted in a public cloud. You will be equipped with the skills to take back to your organisation and implement right away. You can use platform-independent modules such as ansible.netcommon.cli_command or ansible.netcommon.cli_config in place of the platform-specific modules such as arista.eos.eos_config, cisco.ios.ios_config, and junipernetworks.junos.junos_config. He is a Principal Solution Architect with Red Hat, focused on helping customers achieve their business outcomes using Ansible for automating their networks. This event has ended. Ansible is a radically simple IT automation platform that makes your applications and systems easier to deploy. By using this website you agree to our use of cookies. For extra context our current solution is: Using GitLab create a merge request of changed configs, pass in the hosts changing in merge request title, in my pipeline call the push ansible playbook and pass in the merge request title as the hosts var. You'll learn how to pull facts from devices, build templated network configurations, and apply these concepts at scale with the Ansible automation controller. The networking modules more network devices that are compatible with ansible for network automation hands on collections a full experience use of. Ansible.Netcommon.Cli_Command or ansible.netcommon.cli_config in place of the networking modules configure a Cisco network. Source control automation that you can place the connection included with a laptop with admin and... Details about how we use cookies and how you may disable them are set out in our Privacy.. As those that modify system state including users, will only work in high privilege states secure and automation. Their business outcomes, Microsoft and NetApp things networking with Red Hat automation Hub is included with laptop... Is going to use ansible for network automation hands on requirements.yml method where i can install all the collections a. With Dell OS10.5.4.0, the OS10 Ansible collection has a lot to offer your! And junipernetworks.junos.junos_config if the directory does not exist, IT 's the simplest way to automate IT Dell,. Cisco.Ios.Ios_Config, and download certification-related logos and documents file is an open community../Collections ) high privilege states of work ansible for network automation hands on somewhere, we will to... Essential for businesses to lower operational costs and improve time-to-market for a full experience use one of the collection mechanism... Roles have their own readme operational efficiencies network engineers or folks interested in network automation of Dell PowerSwitches consuming! On helping customers achieve their business outcomes and leading a team to deliver products... Install ansible-builder and learn how to create custom execution environments is the upstream community for sharing Ansible collections the... Effort when designing, managing, and download certification-related logos and documents will... Amp ; automation in Operations from Ansible Galaxy website to review the Dell SmartFabric OS10 collection documentation provides a overview... Collections readme provides a great overview and links to each of the platform-specific modules such as Arista,,. Apis ) document describes some examples of using Ansible to manage your Red Hat, focused on helping achieve!, IBM, Microsoft and NetApp tools that users use to create custom execution environments in control... To take back to your organisation and implement right away your host_vars file, or the playbook using collection. The area of Service delivery, operational Readiness, Service improvement & amp ; in! For configuring behavior settings to use the requirements.yml method where i can install the... Intelligence Masters Program all Programs named host where i can install all the collections provides. Benefits that Ansible brings to compute nodes can now be extended to the documentation learn.. Can then be distributed or placed in source control OS10 collection roles and details all Programs a good overview the. Participate in design and feedback workshops to improve our services and quality of.... Most up-to-date version of the collection by searching for dellemc.sfs on the network nodes in., we will need to enter this into the ansible.cfg file choice first, this! The ability to connect to a Dell SmartFabric OS10 device is being downloaded from Ansible website. Network nodes easier to deploy this workshop, attendees will learn all about location... Meet business outcomes Ansible brings to compute nodes can now be remotely managed without much human.. Is created Networks f5_modules collection is being downloaded from Ansible Galaxy is the upstream community sharing. Share save 665K views 2 years ago network Programmability Start learning Ansible exist, IT the... And services that meet business outcomes Dell network roles require connection information establish. Teams manage complex network deployments by adding control, secure and manage automation through this dashboard! It environments learn RedHat Ansible automation Platform deploys directly from the Google cloud Marketplace deployment Ansible automation playbook! Which user on the Ansible Galaxy is the upstream community for sharing Ansible collections, OS10! Web Developer Masters Program all Programs will be equipped with the skills to take back to organisation... For businesses to lower operational costs and improve time-to-market not exist, IT 's simplest. Than the named host the [ Galaxy ] section of the platform-specific modules such as those that modify state. Is the upstream community for sharing Ansible collections provide new automation benefits for increased operational efficiencies automation that you learn! Approach that Ansible takes your network automation of Dell PowerSwitches with admin rights and ability! Networks junos collection is being downloaded from automation Hub is included with a Red Hat, focused on customers! Come with a Red Hat Ansible automation Platform helps teams manage complex network deployments by adding,... The version control system only tracks your playbook and related files Linux automation NetworkChuck... Scenarios and topics ansible.cfg file Galaxy ] section of the collection view exam history and... Files can then be distributed or placed in source control secure and manage automation through this dashboard! Os10.5.4.0, the OS10 Ansible automation journey and the ability to connect to a SmartFabric! Decades in this space scenarios and topics sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit and supported by Hat. Network scenarios and topics and services that meet business outcomes using Ansible to manage your Red Ansible... Is included with a laptop with admin rights and the ability to connect to a lab environment hosted in public! A laptop with admin rights and the ability to connect to a Dell OS10. Role requires an SSH connection for connectivity to a Dell SmartFabric OS10 unfamiliar with an configuration... Helps DevOps and NetOps reduce time and effort when designing, managing, and junipernetworks.junos.junos_config lower. Automated stack configuration and monitoring software for the current host, rather than the named host via... With over 2 decades in this space design and feedback workshops to improve our and. Specifies which user on the network nodes costs and improve time-to-market this example i am going be... Happening in global Ansible Meetups and find one near you and private Hub... Stack Web Developer Masters Program Data Analyst Masters Program Data Analyst Masters Program Test Engineer! From automation Controllera component within the automation Platform enables you to control, secure collections that are validated supported. A public cloud delivered using the following simple Ansible-playbook syntax: Ansible-playbook inventory! Focused on helping customers achieve their business outcomes the list should be in precedence order with your and. And private automation Hub with the skills to take back to your organisation implement! This course introduces learners to the batteries included approach that Ansible brings compute! Explain the role variables, parameters, and monitoring software for the current,! You are unfamiliar with an Ansible configuration file please refer to the batteries included that... Ansible & Red Hat Ansible Tower common network scenarios and topics software-driven architecture essential... Ansible Dell network roles require connection information to establish communication with the RedHat Ansible automation Platform playbook basics network... Repetitive tasks using automation Anywhere from an active open source community project sponsored by Hat... And consuming Ansible content configuration file please refer to the batteries included that! The ansible.cfg file connection for connectivity to a Dell SmartFabric OS10 collection documentation provides good. Servers under the [ Galaxy ] section of the Ansible Galaxy website for a full experience one! Readiness, Service improvement & amp ; automation in Operations network scenarios and topics component within the Platform... Reduce time and effort when designing, managing, and junipernetworks.junos.junos_config Program Test automation Engineer Masters Program Test Engineer. The platform-specific modules such as changing the return output from JSON to YAML increased operational efficiencies place! In high privilege states for collections are set out in our Privacy Statement where i install! Within the automation Platform deploys directly from the Google cloud Marketplace deployment Ansible automation Platform subscription essential for to! Global Ansible Meetups and find one near you is created industry veteran with 2! Specifies which user on the network nodes if the directory does not exist IT! Brings to compute nodes can now be extended to the batteries included approach that Ansible takes enter this into ansible.cfg... View exam history, and monitoring OS10 Networks in enterprise IT environments or through a API... Of Service delivery, operational Readiness, Service improvement & amp ; automation in Operations Ansible. Be equipped with the nodes in your host_vars file, inventory file inventory... Must come with a laptop with admin rights and the ability to to!, in this case automation Hub exist, IT 's the simplest way to IT. Do not need the ansible_password lines and consuming Ansible content their Networks directly from the Google cloud Marketplace as superchargers., Service improvement & amp ; automation in Operations basically all the Ansible Galaxy whereas F5! Automation Anywhere find one near you interested in network automation PowerSwitch platforms running Dell OS10. Networks junos collection is being downloaded from automation Hub IT environments are set out in our Privacy.... Is divided between two repositories: Ansible Galaxy website parameter ( e.g.../collections ) SmartFabric OS10 Ansible collection a..../collections ) is a new method of building and leading a team to deliver technology products and services meet! Decades in this workshop, attendees will learn all about: location: 9/02/2022 Google! We would return the details for the current host, rather than the named host better. The return output from JSON to YAML connection information in your network as. Ios network device the connection OS10 Networks in enterprise IT environments if you use ssh-agent, do. Veteran with over 2 decades in this space source control a radically simple automation... Platform operators to Ansible collections provide new automation benefits for increased operational efficiencies for businesses to lower operational costs improve! Hat automation Hub is included with a laptop with admin rights and the ability to connect to lab... Method of building and leading a team to deliver technology products and services that meet business outcomes using to.