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Mastering Python Networking
Mastering Python Networking

Mastering Python Networking: Utilize Python packages and frameworks for network automation, monitoring, cloud, and management , Fourth Edition

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Mastering Python Networking

Low-Level Network Device Interactions

In Chapter 1, Review of TCP/IP Protocol Suite and Python, we looked at the theories and specifications behind network communication protocols. We also took a quick tour of the Python language. In this chapter, we will start to dive deeper into the management of network devices using Python. In particular, we will examine the different ways in which we can use Python to programmatically communicate with legacy network routers and switches.

What do I mean by legacy network routers and switches? While it’s hard to imagine any networking device coming out today without an application programming interface (API) for programmatic communication, it is a known fact that many of the network devices deployed in previous years did not contain API interfaces. The intended method of management for those devices was through command-line interfaces (CLIs) using terminal programs, which were originally developed with a human engineer in mind. The management relied on the engineer’s interpretation of the data returned from the device for appropriate action. As one can imagine, as the number of network devices and the complexity of the network grew, it became increasingly difficult to manually manage them one by one.

Python has several great libraries and frameworks that can help with these tasks, such as Pexpect, Paramiko, Netmiko, NAPALM, and Nornir, amongst others. It is worth noting that there are several overlaps between these libraries in terms of code, dependencies, and the maintainers of the projects. For example, the Netmiko library was created by Kirk Byers in 2014 based on the Paramiko SSH library. Carl Montanari created the Scrapli library to take advantage of the latest Python 3 asyncio concurrency features. In recent years, Kirk, Carl, David Barroso from the NAPALM project, and others teamed up to create the awesome Nornir framework to provide a pure Python network automation framework.

For the most part, the libraries are flexible enough to be used together or separately. For example, Ansible (covered in Chapter 4, The Python Automation Framework – Ansible) uses both Paramiko and Ansible-NAPALM as the underlying libraries for its network modules.

With so many libraries in existence today, it’s not possible to cover all of them in a reasonable number of pages. In this chapter, we will cover Pexpect first, then move on with examples from Paramiko. Once we understand the basics and operations of Paramiko, it is easy to branch out to other libraries, such as Netmiko and NAPALM. In this chapter, we will take a look at the following topics:

  • The challenges of the CLI
  • Constructing a virtual lab
  • The Python Pexpect library
  • The Python Paramiko library
  • Examples from other libraries
  • The downsides of Pexpect and Paramiko

We have briefly discussed the shortfalls of managing network devices via the command-line interface. It has proven to be ineffective in network management with even moderate-sized networks. This chapter will introduce Python libraries that can work with that limitation. First, let us discuss some of the challenges with the CLI in more detail.

The challenges of the CLI

I started my IT career at an ISP help desk back in the early 2000s. I remember watching the network engineers typing in what seemed like cryptic commands into a text terminal. Like magic, the network devices would then bend to their will and behave in the way they intended. In time, I got to learn and embrace these magic commands that I could type into the terminal. As network engineers, these CLI-based commands are like secret codes we share with each other in this world we call network engineering. Manually typing in the command was just something we all had to do to get the job done, no harm, no foul.

However, it was right around the year 2014 when we started to see the industry coming to a consensus about the clear need to move away from manual, human-driven CLIs toward an automatic, computer-centric automation API. Make no mistake, we still need to directly communicate with the device when making network designs, bringing up an initial proof of concept, and deploying the topology for the first time. However, once the network is deployed, the network management requirement is now to consistently make the same changes reliably across all network devices.

These changes need to be error-free, and the engineers need to repeat the steps without being distracted or feeling tired. This requirement sounds like an ideal job for computers and our favorite programming language, Python.

Of course, if the network devices can only be managed with the command line, the main challenge becomes how we can replicate the previous manual interactions between the router and the administrator automatically with a computer program. In the command line, the router will output a series of information and will expect the administrator to enter a series of manual commands based on the engineer’s interpretation of the output. For example, in a Cisco Internetwork Operating System (IOS) device, you have to type in enable to get into a privileged mode, and upon receiving the returned prompt with the # sign, you then type in configure terminal in order to go into the configuration mode. The same process can further be expanded into the interface configuration mode and routing protocol configuration mode. This is in sharp contrast to a computer-driven, programmatic mindset. When the computer wants to accomplish a single task, say, put an IP address on an interface, it wants to structurally give all the information to the router at once, and it would expect a single yes or no answer from the router to indicate the success or failure of the task.

The solution, as implemented by both Pexpect and Paramiko, is to treat the interactive process as a child process and watch over the interaction between the child process and the destination device. Based on the returned value, the parent process will decide the subsequent action, if any.

I am sure we are all anxious to get started on using the Python libraries, but first, we will need to construct our network lab in order to have a network to test our code against. We will begin by looking at different ways we can build our network labs.

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Key benefits

  • Leverage Python's powerful libraries and frameworks to build production-ready network automation solutions efficiently and effectively
  • Implement network security, monitoring, and management solutions using modern DevOps tools and cloud-native approaches
  • Utilize AsyncIO and cloud capabilities in Python 3 for AWS and Azure network solutions

Description

Networks in your infrastructure set the foundation for deploying, maintaining, and servicing applications. Python is the ideal language for network engineers to explore tools that were previously available to systems engineers and application developers. Mastering Python Networking, Fourth edition, guides you on a Python-driven journey from traditional network engineering to modern network development. This new edition incorporates the latest Python features and DevOps frameworks. In addition to new chapters on introducing Docker containers and Python 3 Async IO for network engineers, each chapter is updated with the latest libraries and working examples to ensure compatibility and clarity of the concepts. Starting with a basic overview of Python, the book teaches you how it can interact with both legacy and API-enabled network devices. You will learn to leverage high-level Python packages and frameworks to perform network automation tasks, monitoring, management, and enhanced network security, followed by AWS and Azure cloud networking. You will use Git for code management, GitLab for continuous integration, and Python-based testing tools to verify your network. By the end of this book, you'll be a confident network developer capable of automating modern infrastructure using Python, DevOps practices, and cloud technologies.

Who is this book for?

Mastering Python Networking, Fourth edition is for network engineers, developers, and SREs who want to learn Python for network automation, programmability, monitoring, cloud, and data analysis. Network engineers who want to transition from manual to automation-based networks using the latest DevOps tools will also get a lot of useful information from this book. Basic familiarity with Python programming and networking-related concepts such as Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) will be helpful in getting the most out of this book.

What you will learn

  • Use Python to interact with network devices
  • Explore Docker for efficient network application development and deployment
  • Extract network insights using Python and monitoring tools like NetFlow and SNMP
  • Analyze network data with ELK for real-time visualization
  • Build high-level API with Flask for in-house applications
  • Discover the new AsyncIO feature and its concepts in Python 3
  • Explore test-driven development concepts and use PyTest to drive code test coverage
  • Understand how to implement DevOps best practices with GitLab in networking

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Publication date : Jan 20, 2023
Length: 594 pages
Edition : 4th
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781803242323
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Product Details

Publication date : Jan 20, 2023
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Table of Contents

18 Chapters
Review of TCP/IP Protocol Suite and Python Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Low-Level Network Device Interactions Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
APIs and Intent-Driven Networking Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
The Python Automation Framework – Ansible Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Docker Containers for Network Engineers Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Network Security with Python Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Network Monitoring with Python – Part 1 Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Network Monitoring with Python – Part 2 Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Building Network Web Services with Python Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Introduction to Async IO Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
AWS Cloud Networking Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Azure Cloud Networking Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Network Data Analysis with Elastic Stack Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Working with Git Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Continuous Integration with GitLab Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Test-Driven Development for Networks Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Other Books You May Enjoy Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Index Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

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