Workshop overview

About this workshop

This workshop teaches network automation using Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform. You will progress from command-line automation fundamentals to building production-ready automation workflows in the Automation Platform web interface.

Learning objectives

By the end of this workshop, you will be able to:

  • Use ansible-navigator to run playbooks, inspect execution environments, and explore inventory

  • Write Ansible Playbooks that configure network devices across multiple vendors

  • Gather structured facts from network devices and use them in automation

  • Use network resource modules for vendor-agnostic, idempotent configuration management

  • Create and manage job templates, surveys, and workflows in Ansible Automation Platform

  • Configure RBAC to delegate automation safely to different teams and users

Workshop progression

The workshop is organized into two phases:

Phase 1: Module 1: Network Basics (1-1 through 1-4)

Build foundational Ansible skills on the command line:

  • 1-1 — Explore the lab environment, tools, and inventory

  • 1-2 — Execute your first network automation playbook

  • 1-3 — Gather and use Ansible facts from network devices

  • 1-4 — Use network resource modules for multi-vendor configuration

Phase 2: Module 2: Intro to AAP (2-1 through 2-5)

Move to the Ansible Automation Platform web interface:

  • 2-1 — Explore Ansible Automation Platform: inventories, credentials, and projects

  • 2-2 — Create a job template for network configuration backup

  • 2-3 — Add surveys for user-friendly input to job templates

  • 2-4 — Configure RBAC for multi-user access control

  • 2-5 — Build automation workflows with conditional execution and failure handling

Target audience

This workshop is designed for:

  • Network engineers looking to automate repetitive tasks

  • Systems administrators expanding into network automation

  • Automation architects evaluating Ansible for network infrastructure

  • Anyone interested in hands-on network automation experience

What you need to succeed

You should have:

  • Basic networking knowledge (routing, switching, VLANs)

  • Familiarity with the Linux command line

  • A web browser for accessing the lab environment

  • No prior Ansible experience required

Lab topology

The lab environment includes the following devices:

Device Platform Connection Data Center

rtr1

Cisco IOS-XE

network_cli

dc1

rtr2

Arista EOS

network_cli

dc2

rtr3

Juniper Junos

netconf

dc1

rtr4

Arista EOS

network_cli

dc2