Summary

In this chapter, we covered low-level ways to communicate directly with network devices. Without a way to programmatically communicate and make changes to network devices, there is no automation. We looked at several libraries in Python that allow us to manage devices that were meant to be managed by the CLI. Although useful, it is easy to see how the process can be somewhat fragile. This is mostly due to the fact that the network gear in question was meant to be managed by human beings and not computers.

In Chapter 3, APIs and Intent-Driven Networking, we will look at network devices supporting API and intent-driven networking.