Network Automation with Python Fast Track

Who Should Attend

• Network Engineer

• Network Architect

• DevOps/SRE (Site Reliability Engineer)

• Network Operations Center (NOC) Technician/Analyst

• IT Infrastructure Manager

What You’ll Learn

• Apply Python to Network Tasks: Use Python fundamentals to programmatically interact with network devices.

• Master Multi-Vendor Automation: Confidently manage and configure devices from different vendors via both CLI and APIs.

• Automate with Data: Parse and manipulate structured and semi-structured data formats like JSON and CLI output.

• Build Reliable Solutions: Securely manage credentials and version control network configurations to ensure reliability.

Prerequisites

Although not required, students with some experience programming will most appreciate this hands-on course. ## Next Courses

• Python 201 - APIs and API Design with Python (5 days) (https://alta3.com/courses/api)

• Ansible 201 - Python and Ansible for Network Automation (5 days) (https://alta3.com/courses/napya)

• Terraform 101 - Infrastructure as Code (3 days) (https://alta3.com/courses/terraform)

Outline

Python Fundamentals for Networking

• Lecture + Lab: List and Dict Modeling

• Lecture + Lab: Python Data to JSON

• Lecture + Lab: Python Data to YAML

• Lecture + Lab: Read from Files

• Lecture + Lab: CSV data - Standard Library and pandas dataframes

• Lecture: Functions and Control Flow

• Lecture + Lab: Modules, Libraries, and Exception Handling

CLI Automation

• Lecture: Introducing Paramiko

• Lecture + Lab: Automating Commands Across SSH

• Lecture + Lab: Paramiko and SFTP

• Lecture + Lab: Python Telnet Client

• Lecture + Lab: Performing ICMP Checks

Multi-Vendor Automation

• Lecture + Lab: Netmiko for Router and Switch Automation

• Lecture: Python to Cisco NX-OS

• Lecture + Lab: Getting Switch Configuration with NAPALM

• Lecture + Lab: Switch Validation and NAPALM

• Lecture + Lab: Exploring Network Interfaces

Parsing and Data Handling

• Lecture + Lab: Python and Regular Expression for Searching

• Lecture + Lab: Parsing Semi-Structured Data with Regex

• Lecture + Lab: Python for Network Captures and Wireshark

• Lecture + Lab: Examining Network Capture pcaps Files with termshark

API-Driven Automation

• Lecture + Lab: APIs, pip, and requests

• Lecture + Lab: Restful Open APIs with requests

• Lecture + Lab: Interacting with APIs

• Lecture + Lab: Restful Open APIs with Standard Library

• Lecture + Lab: API-Driven Network Automation with requests

Data Logging and Reliability

• Lecture + Lab: Lightweight Database Interactions

• Lecture + Lab: Data Logging and State Tracking

• Lecture + Lab: Controlling run time with Environmental Variables

• Lecture + Lab: Using Argparse

Advanced and Optional Topics

• Lecture + Lab: Automating HTTP Requests

• Lecture + Lab: Automating HTTP Requests with Async IO

• Lecture + Lab: Introduction to FastAPI

• Lecture + Lab: Web Scraping Data with Beautiful Soup