Python Network Automation Labs: Ansible, pyATS, Docker, and the Twilio API

Abstract

This chapter is designed to introduce you to Python virtualenv and to Docker concepts and expose you to other ways of exploring Python external modules and features. Thus far in this book, we have focused on using Python’s basic Telnet and SSH remote access methods to probe, configure, and manage network devices in the lab topology. In a production environment, often we do not always get a dedicated Linux server for testing and implementation; often you will be given a limited resource on a Linux server with shared access with other engineers. We have to learn how to get around these obstacles and still implement our solutions (or applications) in such a production environment. At the end of this chapter, you will be able to work in a Python virtual environment for testing without affecting the existing Python setup. You will have made a quick start on Ansible and pyATS (Genie) and learned how sending an email works on Linux and Python using Sendmail. Finally, you will learn to monitor your network device’s CPU utilization with your Python application and then use a free Twilio SMS account to send an SMS to your smartphone using the Twilio API. You will explore how to adapt to other open source tools and write Python programs accordingly.