Create a backup automation job template

This lab will walk you through using Automation controller to automate backup and restore the configuration of a Cisco CSR (cloud services router) running IOS-XE.

The lab diagram for this demonstration is very simple. There will be one Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 device running automation controller. It is directly connected to the management network for a Cisco CSR (cloud services router) running IOS-XE.

We know that network backup and restores are fairly uninteresting in the grand scheme of things, but they are a very common and ubiquitous use-case that all network operators will need. This provides an easy turn key use-case for network engineers to start their automation journey.

Automation controller provides a standardized way to define, operate, and delegate Ansible automation across the enterprise. It includes a Web User Interface (WebUI) that we will be using for this challenge.

Everything in Automation controller revolves around the concept of a Job Template. Job Templates allow Ansible Playbooks to be controlled, delegated and scaled for an organization.

For this challenge exercise you are going to create a Job Template in Automation controller. We are going to use the Network Toolkit Collection (https://github.com/network-automation/toolkit) that contains multi-vendor playbooks for Backup, restore and more.

The credentials (username and password), inventory (a single Cisco router) and project (the network toolkit repository listed above) are already added. We simply need to tie them together into a simple re-usable Job Template for our organization to use.