Preface

Network automation is the use of IT controls to supervise and carry out everyday network management functions. It plays a key role in network virtualization technologies and network functions.

This book starts by providing an introduction to network automation, SDN, and various applications of network automation, which include integrating DevOps tools to automate the network efficiently. It then guides you through different network automation tasks and covers various data digging and reporting methodologies, such as IPv6 migration, DC relocations, and interface parsing, all the while retaining security and improving data center robustness. The book then moves on to the use of Python and the management of SSH keys for machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, all followed by practical use cases. It also covers the importance of Ansible for network automation, including best practices in automation, ways to test automated networks using different tools, and other important techniques.

By the end of the book, you will be well acquainted with the various aspects of network automation.