SEPTEMBER 25-27, 2017AUSTIN, TX AUSTIN CONVENTION CENTER

ACCELERATING

DIGITAL

BUSINESS

Network Automation and the Tools Available Today

About Me:CCIE RS #50117

Network Engineer - 12+ years

• Primary focus is the DC

Industry Experience:

• Service Provider

• Enterprise

• Government

• Medical

• Financial

Network automation and development - 2 years

RyanBoothAdvanced Solutions

Engineer

@ApstraInc

Overview

Technical look at the tools available to network engineers today to automate and

simplify the management of current infrastructure with the limitations in place today.

Main focus will be DC and Enterprise networks. Will also cover what areas of our

job can automate.

Overview cont…

• Areas of Automation

• Organization approach towards automation and tooling

• Tools

• Frameworks

• Vendor Solutions

Areas of Automation:

Broken down into several main categories.

• Automated deployment (ZTP, scale-out, Initial configuration, etc)

• Config management and add/change/move and validate

• Troubleshooting and visibility beyond manual CLI

approach

towards

automation and

toolingTurn-key solution(s) with little customization

• 3rd party applications

DIY using Frameworks and in-house development

• fully customized and tailored to your needs

Tools Available:

• Netmiko

• Napalm

• TextFSM

NetmikoWhat is it?:

• Open source multi-vendor Python library to simplify SSH connections to network devices

• Build on-top of Paramiko

• Supports all major networking vendor's OSes

Usage:

• Python scripts to collect data push basic changes

• Ansible modules for playbooks

• <code snip show supported methods or options>

Netmiko cont…

• Example Usage:

NapalmWhat is it?:

• Open source multi-vendor library used to manage and configure network devices

• advanced configuration management

• push / roll-back

• diff

• merge

• validate

• Supports all major networking vendor's OSes

Usage:

• Python scripts to collect data push basic changes

• Framework modules

Napalm cont…• Example Usage:

TextFSM

What is it?:

• Python module used to parse semi-formatted text such as CLI output into

structured data.

• Developed by Google and released for public use

(https://github.com/google/textfsm)

• template based state machine using regex to parse output

Usage:

• Manually collect and parse CLI output from network devices

TextFSM cont…• Example Usage:

Template

TextFSM cont…

• Example Usage:

Frameworks

• Ansible

• Salt

• StackStorm

AnsibleWhat is it?

• Open source automation platform

• Agentless

• Supports all major networking vendors

Usage:

• Configuration management

• Data Collection

• Task automation

Ansible cont…• Example Usage:

Ansible cont…

Salt

What is it?

• Open source automation platform

• Agentless

• Uses NAPALM for network modules

Usage:

• Configuration management

• Data Collection

• Task automation

Salt cont…

• Example Usage:

Topology file - /etc/salt/pillar/top.sls

Proxy file - /etc/salt/pillar/switch1.sls

Salt cont…• Example Usage:

Salt cont…• Example Commands:

StackStorm

What is it?

• Open source automation/orchastration platform

• Event-driven automation

• IFTTT (If This Then That)

Usage:

• Task and Event Automation

• Configuration auditing

• Auto-remediation

StackStorm cont…• Example Usage:

Config file - /opt/stackstorm/configs/napalm.yaml

StackStorm cont…

• Example Usage:

StackStorm cont…• Example Usage:

Vendor Solutions

• Apstra AOS

• Arista Cloud Vision Portal (CVP)

Apstra AOSWhat is it?

• Full network lifecycle automation

Continuous enforcement & validation of intent vs network state (closed-loop)

• Vendor-agnostic

Supports: Cisco NX-OS, Arista EOS, Cumulus OS and Snaproute

• Agent based

Usage:

• Automates network design, build, deploy and operate

• Zero Touch Provisioning (ZTP)

• Unique visibility into network state and deviations

Streaming telemetry

• Fully integrated API

Apstra cont…

Apstra cont…

Apstra cont…

Apstra cont…

Apstra API

Arista CVP

• What is it?

• Network device management

• Central control and visibility

• Arista devices only

• Usage:

• Zero Touch Provisioning (ZTP)

• Configuration and NOS management

• Policy enforcement

Arista cont…

Arista cont…

Most Importantly

• Just get started!

• Find what works best for your objectives and team

Apstra

• Interested and want to learn more?

• Email:

ryan@apstra.com

Apstra

• Interested and want to learn more?

• Email:

ryan@apstra.com

THANK YOU!Don’t forget to turn in your

survey at the door!

SEPTEMBER 25-27, 2017AUSTIN, TX AUSTIN CONVENTION CENTER

ACCELERATING

DIGITAL

BUSINESS