Network Automation and Sources of Truth

Welcome to the Network Automation and Sources of Truth laboratory. In this hands-on lab, you’ll learn how to integrate Ansible Automation Platform with NetBox to create a powerful network automation solution.

Ansible Automation Platform is a unified solution for strategic automation. It combines the security, features, integrations, and flexibility needed to scale automation across domains, orchestrate essential workflows, and optimize IT operations to successfully adopt enterprise AI.

NetBox is widely deployed in enterprise footprints and is trusted by IT, networking, and datacenter teams. Combining the capabilities of DCIM and IPAM into a comprehensive network source of truth, NetBox is the perfect partner to Ansible Automation Platform and your network.

NetOps is an approach to network operations that focuses on rapid deployments and agility. It is also referred to as NetOps 2.0 or NetDevOps, and has become the standard operating procedure for digital enterprises working to keep pace with customer expectations. NetOps includes elements of automation, orchestration, and continuous validation to enable agile development and application delivery in modern IT organizations with complex network infrastructure.

In this laboratory, we will get started with Network Automation and Sources of Truth using Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 together with NetBox. You will complete hands-on exercises to:

The following services are available in your lab environment:

Welcome to Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform. The new unified web UI in Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 has integrated all the components into a single control dashboard. We will be exploring the Automation Execution (automation controller) and Automation Decision (event-driven Ansible) functionality during this workshop.

For this exercise, we will focus on the Automation Execution (Automation controller) and its features.

Step 1: Switch to the AAP tab to access the Ansible Automation Platform login screen.

Step 2: Enter the credentials provided above to log in.

Step 3: Take a moment to familiarize yourself with the unified UI.

Step 1: Navigate to the Overview page (this is typically the landing page after login).

Step 2: Explore the dashboard sections listed below.

You will find the following card-like sections in the Overview screen:

Step 3: Review the Overview dashboard layout shown in the image below:

Step 4: Click on any of the section titles (or "View all" links) to navigate to the corresponding section. We recommend you take a peek at each one.

Step 5: Scroll to the bottom of the Overview page and locate the new card-like section that includes Quick Start Guides.

An Inventory is a collection of hosts against which playbooks may be launched or run. Basically, these are the "managed nodes" or devices we are automating. The inventory in AAP is the same concept as an inventory file you might know from working with Ansible on the command line.

Inventories in AAP have several advantages over file-based ones. You get all the functionality from traditional inventory files, with added features and better reusability.

Step 1: In the left sidebar, click on the Automation Execution drop-down menu to expand it.

Step 2: Navigate to Infrastructure → Inventories.

Step 3: Explore the Demo Inventory that comes pre-loaded.

Step 4: Review the different tabs available to familiarize yourself with the fields.

Projects are logical groups of Ansible playbooks in automation controller. These playbooks usually reside in a source code version control system like Git (and platforms such as GitHub or GitLab). With Projects, we can reference a repository or directory with one or several playbooks that we will later use.

Step 1: In the sidebar menu, under Automation Execution, click on the Projects submenu.

Step 2: Explore the Demo Project that comes pre-loaded.

Step 3: Review all the fields available when creating a project.

Step 4: Don’t forget to examine the different tabs!

A Job Template is a definition and set of parameters for running an Ansible job. Job templates are useful to run the same job many times. They also encourage the reuse of Ansible Playbook content and collaboration between teams.

Step 1: In the sidebar menu, under Automation Execution, click on the Templates submenu.

Step 2: Explore the Demo Job Template that comes pre-loaded.

Step 3: Review the configuration options and parameters available.