Hands-On Network Automation Workshop

Are you struggling to cope with repetitive daily network configuration or troubleshooting tasks? Wondering whether it makes sense to wait for SDN to materialize or forget the SDN hype and focus on something more practical and realistic like network automation? Do you want to know what can be automated in your network? Do you need to understand the network automation fundamentals to be able to recommend the way forward for your organization? Why not invest three days of your time to separate the reality from the hype and get real-life network automation guidelines and hands-on examples?

We'll focus on the advantages and pitfalls of network automation technologies and products, compare commercial and open-source products, and discuss potential use cases and real-life deployment scenarios.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re working on data center, WAN, or service provider networks. It doesn’t matter whether you’re focused on design or deployment. You can automate parts of your network and we’ll help you figure out what parts that might be and how you can automate them.

Each day in this 3-day workshop is split into two parts:

• Theory mixed with hands-on examples in the mornings
• Practical examples and demos in the afternoons

The theory part of the workshop covers these topics:

• Network automation fundamentals
• Open-source network automation tools
• Data models
• Typical network automation use cases

The practical examples include:

• Generating and deploying device configurations
• Automating virtualized data center environments covering compute, storage, and networking virtualization
• Automated service provisioning
• What is network automation?
• Where does it make sense and where can you use it?
• From operated networks to self-driving networks
• Typical challenges and pitfalls

Program

Day 1 (Morning) – Network Automation Fundamentals

• What is network automation?
• Where does it make sense and where can you use it?
• From operated networks to self-driving networks
• Typical challenges and pitfalls

Day 1 (Afternoon) – Automating Virtualized Environments

Case Study#1: automated migration from traditional vSphere networking to NSX using PowerNSX:

• Extract the existing vSphere networking configuration
• Setup NSX infrastructure components (DLR, ESG)
• Apply network configuration to NSX

Case Study#2: Add underlay automation using EVPN-based VXLANs on Cisco Nexus 9000:

• Use PowerShell to create VLANs and interfaces based on vSphere requirements

Case Study#3: Automatic buildout of vSphere compute infrastructure on Cisco UCS:

• Automated physical server provisioning
• Automated ESXi host deployment
• Automated HA cluster setup and NSX deployment

Case Study#4: Automating storage array (using Pure Storage):

• Adding hosts and LUNs
• Snapshots and reverting
• Automatic upgrade testing and reverting on failure

We’ll discuss these open-source network automation tools and spend most of our time figuring out how to use them to automate your networks:

• Configuration backup tools: Rancid, Oxidized, and Ansible
• Source control and versioning tools: Git and SVN
• Configuration management tools: Puppet, Chef, Ansible, and Salt
• Code review: Gerrit
• Continuous integration: GitLab
• Abstraction libraries: NAPALM and ntc-ansible
• Programming and scripting: Python, Paramiko, and Netmiko
• IPAM tools: NSoT and NetBox
• Testing tools: Ansible, NAPALM, and ToDD

Case Study#5: Creating multi-DC architecture with regions and zones:

• Package applications into containers that include VMs, IP subnets, firewall rules, and load balancers.
• Move application containers across multiple data centers without using L2 extensions or DNS-based global load balancing.
• Trigger automated migration on data center failure or maintenance.

Case Study#5: Integration with an orchestration system (VMware vRealize).

Data models used in network automation

• The importance of data models
• Generating data models for your network
• Abstracting everything
• Generating device configurations from abstract data models

Network automation use cases:

• Managing device configurations
• Deploying data center fabrics
• Continuous network testing
• Compliance audits

Automate point-to-point layer-2 MPLS VPN service deployment using a data model-based orchestration system (Cisco NSO):

• Create YANG service model describing P2P L2VPN
• Create XML configuration template for Cisco IOS
• Provision P2P L2VPN service
• Service model optimization: automatic creation of pseudowire IDs, automatic lookup of remote neighbor IP
• Adding Cisco IOS XR and Junos support
• Using REST API and NETCONF for service management
• Service modification and deletion
• Dealing with provisioning failures

About the Authors

Ivan Pepelnjak (CCIE#1354 Emeritus) implemented his first network automation solution in the mid-1990s, presented SDN and Network Automation solutions at Interop, Troopers, RIPE and other regional ISP meetings, and delivered numerous on-site SDN and network automation workshops for large enterprises and service providers.

Ivan is the author of several SDN-related books, Hands-On Network Automation workshop, Building Network Automation Solutions online course, highly praised webinars, and dozens of network automation and SDN-related technical articles published on his blog.

Mitja Robas (IT architect at NIL, CCIE #12907, VCIE-VN) is a data center expert with more than fifteen years of experience in designing, implementing, and supporting high-demand data centers, and has deployed complex networks and virtualization solutions all over the world.

Apart from a field and consulting engineer role, he also acts as an instructor and content developer for specialized courses and workshops, sharing his knowledge with engineers around the world. Recently, he has been focusing on all-flash storage, software defined networking, and cloud computing, exercising his curiosity in testing and analyzing those solutions.

Bostjan Sustar (IT architect at NIL, CCIE #2387) is a leading network orchestration and automation expert, primarily engaged in consulting projects on network services provisioning and network function virtualization in complex enterprise and carrier-grade networks. He also has extensive experience in network security and data center networking technologies. For over 20 years, Bostjan, has been working as a network designer, consultant, architect, instructor, and content developer, and he is a regular speaker at main regional and global IT conferences, such as Interop.

Registration Fee

Early bird – until April 30th, 2017: $1,999

Regular – from May 1st to May 22nd, 2017: $2,299

The registration fee includes a 3-day workshop, breakfast, lunch and break refreshments.

Good to know

The accommodations are not included in the registration fee, but we did manage to get a block of rooms at a slightly reduced daily rate - you'll get more information in the confirmation email.