Automating Multi-vendor and Cloud Networks Using Ansible
Over the past several years, many network engineers have leveraged Ansible automation in their enterprise networks. This course will expand those skills across multiple vendors, a centralized source of truth, and a cloud provider.
What you'll learn
Managing expansive, multi-vendor networks without automation is nearly impossible today. In this course, Automating Multi-vendor and Hybrid Cloud Networks Using Ansible, you’ll learn to securely extend your on-premises network architecture into the cloud. First, you’ll explore various multi-vendor Ansible techniques, including leveraging vendor-agnostic modules and the NAPALM library. Next, you’ll discover the power of deploying a Single Source of Truth (SSoT) to track your network infrastructure. This course highlights NetBox, a popular open-source infrastructure management solution with a strong complement of Ansible modules and dynamic inventory plugins. Finally, you’ll learn how to integrate private and public cloud networks into a hybrid cloud network using an IPsec VPN. This architecture is extremely common in real-life enterprise deployments. And it introduces many new vendor products and services. When you’re finished with this course, you’ll have the skills and knowledge of Ansible network automation needed to design, implement, and manage complex automation systems in production networks.
Table of contents
- Course Introduction and Prerequisites 5m
- Ansible and Multi-vendor Automation Refresher 5m
- Demo: Installing Ansible and Other Useful Packages/Collections 4m
- Demo: Managing VLANs on Cisco IOS, Cisco NXOS, and Arista EOS Devices 12m
- Securing Your Ansible Environment 3m
- Demo: Leveraging ansible-vault to Encrypt Strings 2m
- Demo: Integrating SSH Public Key Login Authentication 5m
- Module Summary 1m
- What Is NAPALM and How Can It Help? 4m
- Demo: Installing and Configuring napalm-ansible 4m
- Demo: Collecting VLANs Using NAPALM Getters 9m
- Demo: Validating NAPALM-collected VLANs (Sort Of) 5m
- Ansible Custom Filter Refresher 3m
- Demo: A Smarter Approach to Collecting and Validating VLANs 6m
- Demo: Using “Strict Mode” to Enhance NAPALM Validation 5m
- Module Summary 1m
- NetBox and the Single Source of Truth (SSoT) Concept 4m
- Demo: Installing NetBox Using Docker 4m
- High-level Strategies for Designing Complex, Multi-part Playbooks 2m
- Demo: Getting Set up for Ansible NetBox Automation 4m
- Demo: Describing Our Network in NetBox Terms 11m
- Demo: Applying and Validating the NetBox Configuration 6m
- Demo: Testing the Dynamic Inventory Plugin 4m
- Demo: Redesigning VLAN Collection Using a Dynamic Inventory 4m
- Module Summary 1m
- Introducting Hybrid Cloud Networking in AWS 7m
- Demo: AWS Identity and Access Management Setup 5m
- Demo: Installing Packages, Securing Secrets, and Testing Connectivity 5m
- Demo: Configuring AWS Components Using Ansible 9m
- Demo: Deploying and Managing Palo Alto Firewalls 8m
- Demo: Building an IPsec VPN from Globomantics to the Cloud Firewall 7m
- Demo: Assembling, Running, and Validating Everything 6m
- Demo: Teardown Cloud Infrastructure to Reduce Costs 7m
- Module Summary 1m
- Simplifying Our Cloud Architecture Using Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) 5m
- Demo: Reviewing the Code-level Differences 4m
- Demo: Configuring the IPsec VPN Gateway Service in AWS 10m
- Demo: Building the Globomantics IPsec VPN Connection 7m
- Demo: Running and Validating the Network Changes 5m
- Demo: Implementing a Teardown and Reporting Playbook 5m
- Module Summary 1m
About the author
Nicholas (Nick) Russo, CCDE #20160041 and CCIE #42518, is an internationally recognized expert in IP/MPLS networking and design. To grow his skillset, Nick has been focused advancing Network DevOps via automation for his clients. Recently, Nick has been sharing his knowledge through online video training and speaking at industry conferences. Nick also holds a Bachelor's of Science in Computer Science from the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). Nick lives in Maryland, USA with his wife, Car... more