What this book covers?

Chapter 1, Configuring JUNOS through NETCONF, explores the NETCONF standard originally defined in RFC 4741, specifically, how it’s used over SSH to communicate with Junos devices. We will work through some practical examples of communicating with Junos programmatically from several technologies.

Chapter 2, Working with the Junos REST API, explores the relatively new REST interface with Junos and how to make use of it in HTTP and HTTPS environments. We will develop two sample REST clients that interact with Junos.

Chapter 3, Using SLAX to Write Op Scripts, explores Juniper’s SLAX technology for manipulating the XML representations used by the foundations of Junos. We will look at how to use SLAX as a macro language to make use of remote procedure calls and produce customized, filtered output.

Chapter 4, Event Programming, builds upon the SLAX expertise and leverages the capability to be proactive and respond to events. We’ll develop scripts to deal with common network situations and even a make shift routing protocol.

Chapter 5, Automating Junos with PyEZ, focuses on the Juniper extension module to Python, PyEZ, and its utility in programmatically working with Junos. You'll learn about PyEZ primitives, such as facts, views, and tables, and get a taste of using YAML to write Jinja2 templates.

Chapter 6, Advanced Visualization Applications, helps us visualize some of the aspects of our Junos network. We’ll build a basic graph utility for extracting information and then we'll use a popular rendering engine to visualize elements of our network, such as routing protocols.

Chapter 7, Monitoring and Maintaining Junos, looks at ways of monitoring what happens on our Junos network. We’ll build a tool to monitor configuration changes as well as look at how we can graphically monitor interface usage and other resources.

Chapter 8, Security Applications, looks at how we can use automation technologies to maintain the security of our networks. We’ll build commit scripts to vet configuration changes and look at BGP prefix filtering and anti-spoofing protection.

Chapter 9, Extending JUNOS with Ansible, explores how we can use the popular Ansible IT automation framework in conjunction with Junos as part of a wider enterprise orchestration system.

What you need for this book

In order to make use of the examples in this book, you’ll need a Unix-based management device, which can be your laptop or a virtual machine on your laptop, and access to a Junos platform. In some cases, it’s possible to run Junos in a virtual environment, such as with Juniper’s latest vMX developments or with vRR - virtual route reflector. Finally, if all else fails, you can also build an olive. But I'm not going to tell you how to do that!

Who this book is for

This book is for you if you’re a network engineer or operator with enthusiasm for network technology and a persistent thirst for wanting to know how you can get Juniper routers and switches to do more with less.