Название: Introduction to Ansible Network Automation: A Practical Primer
Автор: Brendan Choi, Erwin Medina
Издательство: Apress
Год: 2023
Страниц: 940
Язык: английский
Формат: pdf (true), epub (true)
Размер: 32.8 MB

This book provides a comprehensive learning journey aimed at helping you master Ansible and efficiently automate a range of enterprise network devices, such as routers, switches, firewalls, Wireless LAN Controller (WLC), and Linux servers. Introduction to Ansible Network Automation combines the fundamentals of three books into one, covering basics of Linux administration, Ansible concepts, and Ansible network automation.

Authors Brendan Choi and Erwin Medina have created a structured learning path that starts with the fundamentals and allows you to progressively enhance your skill sets with each chapter. Part I serves as an Ansible primer, guiding you through Linux basics using WSL on Windows 11 and assisting in the setup of your learning environment. Part II covers essential Ansible concepts through practical lab activities involving four Linux servers. In Part III, you will learn how to apply your Linux skills from Part I and the concepts from Part II to real-world scenarios by creating Ansible automation YAML scripts.

Ansible is a powerful open source automation tool that helps manage infrastructure, software deployments, and application configuration across numerous servers and IP devices. System administrators can define and automate workflows, called playbooks, that can perform various tasks such as installing software, managing services, configuring settings, and deploying applications. Network engineers can use Ansible to automate configuration management, patch management, deployment, and troubleshooting tasks. Its agentless architecture, easy-to-learn language, cross-platform support, idempotent playbooks, and troubleshooting capabilities make it an ideal automation tool for enterprise network management. It also supports dynamic inventory for automatic server discovery and management in dynamic environments like cloud environments.

Ansible uses SSH and other remote management protocols to connect to servers and execute required tasks, without the need for agents or additional software on managed nodes. It also supports dynamic inventory for automatic server discovery and management in dynamic environments like cloud environments. Although Ansible may not be the current market leader in Windows automation, it is capable of managing Windows servers and desktops when integrated with Windows Remote Management (WinRM). Furthermore, Ansible can be used to manage network devices by leveraging APIs. Most modern network devices, including routers, switches, and firewalls, offer several APIs that enable their configuration and management to be automated. By utilizing APIs, Ansible provides a powerful and flexible solution to automate network device management, reducing manual configuration errors and streamlining network operations.

Ansible is known for its simplicity, ease of use, and extensibility, with a large and active community providing support, documentation, plug-ins, and modules to extend its capabilities. Ansible is widely used in IT automation, DevOps, and cloud computing.

What sets this book apart is its unique focus on Ansible and Network Automation, combined with a strong emphasis on understanding Linux. It is specifically designed for novice network automation engineers and students, assuming no prior Linux expertise, and provides first-hand experience starting from scratch. It also offers practical insights by sharing real-life examples of Ansible playbooks derived from production enterprise infrastructure, allowing you to gain an understanding of how Ansible can be effectively applied in real-world enterprise network environments.

Upon completion of this book, you will have developed foundational skills in Ansible network automation and general Linux administration, and will understand how to apply this newly acquired knowledge to real-life scenarios.

You will:

Develop a comprehensive understanding of Ansible and its essential concepts for automating enterprise network devices and applying them to real-world scenarios
Master the basics of Ansible operations within Linux automation and progress to applying Ansible concepts specifically to network device automation
Execute Ansible ad-hoc commands and playbooks for a range of network operational tasks, including configuration management, software and system updates, and upgrades
Work with real-life examples of Ansible playbooks derived from actual enterprise infrastructure, gaining practical experience in writing Ansible YAML scripts
Acquire the skills to automate network operations using Ansible, streamline network management processes, and replace manual-driven tasks with directives in Ansible playbooks