WEBVTT 1 00:00.000 --> 00:04.960 Now friends, everyone agrees that NetSpark Automation is absolutely awesome. 2 00:04.960 --> 00:07.040 Who could disagree after all? 3 00:07.040 --> 00:12.320 But the reality is there is more than one way to implement NetSpark Automation. 4 00:12.320 --> 00:15.500 So what I want to do in this particular video is to talk to you about the 5 00:15.500 --> 00:16.720 concept of agent 6 00:16.720 --> 00:21.960 based automation as well as what is known as agent less automation. 7 00:21.960 --> 00:26.050 And what we'll also do is mention some very common utilities that are used with 8 00:26.050 --> 00:26.920 this particular 9 00:26.920 --> 00:27.920 architecture. 10 00:27.920 --> 00:29.360 So let's talk about it. 11 00:29.360 --> 00:33.840 So the way I like to describe this is if you look at this little topology right WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000 11 00:29.360 --> 00:33.840 So the way I like to describe this is if you look at this little topology right 12 00:33.840 --> 00:33.960 here, 13 00:33.960 --> 00:37.120 what I actually have are four Cisco switches. 14 00:37.120 --> 00:40.840 And over here, this is actually just my little Linux server. 15 00:40.840 --> 00:45.180 Basically this device here, this Linux machine can talk to all the devices in 16 00:45.180 --> 00:45.960 my topology. 17 00:45.960 --> 00:49.960 Now right now, I just said that these four devices were all Cisco based. 18 00:49.960 --> 00:54.600 Now what I would like you to do is to close your eyes, use your imagination. 19 00:54.600 --> 00:59.160 So let's just say that for the moment, they were all Linux servers. 20 00:59.160 --> 01:00.160 Okay, so this is Linux. WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000 20 00:59.160 --> 01:00.160 Okay, so this is Linux. 21 01:00.160 --> 01:01.160 This is Linux. 22 01:01.160 --> 01:02.840 As is this, as is this. 23 01:02.840 --> 01:04.000 And this one over here too. 24 01:04.000 --> 01:05.000 Okay. 25 01:05.000 --> 01:07.040 So a Linux environment is what we've got. 26 01:07.040 --> 01:10.600 So right now we're more doing automation for a system of administration as 27 01:10.600 --> 01:11.080 opposed to 28 01:11.080 --> 01:12.080 networking. 29 01:12.080 --> 01:13.240 Now here's the cool thing. 30 01:13.240 --> 01:18.120 This is the advantage of doing automation in the Linux world. 31 01:18.120 --> 01:20.240 Is it because they're just regular servers? 32 01:20.240 --> 01:23.720 What you can essentially do is install new software onto them. 33 01:23.720 --> 01:29.320 So this is something that you can't actually do on old legacy Cisco iOS devices 34 01:29.320 --> 01:29.400 . 35 01:29.400 --> 01:30.480 Let me show you what I mean. WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000 35 01:29.400 --> 01:30.480 Let me show you what I mean. 36 01:30.480 --> 01:34.620 If I go to this device here, as it is, open up a terminal window, what I can't 37 01:34.620 --> 01:35.080 say is 38 01:35.080 --> 01:38.480 you know, install the Python programming language. 39 01:38.480 --> 01:39.800 This is going to give me an error. 40 01:39.800 --> 01:43.880 Even if I type the actual correct syntax that I would use on a Linux machine, 41 01:43.880 --> 01:44.120 so the 42 01:44.120 --> 01:47.690 we have to install Python three, for example, or whatever it may be, still 43 01:47.690 --> 01:48.320 going to get 44 01:48.320 --> 01:49.320 an error. 45 01:49.320 --> 01:52.920 Because this particular operating system is really locked down. 46 01:52.920 --> 01:56.520 It's only going to accept Cisco specific syntax. 47 01:56.520 --> 02:00.030 So straight away, because we can actually install anything on this particular WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000 47 01:56.520 --> 02:00.030 So straight away, because we can actually install anything on this particular 48 02:00.030 --> 02:00.640 device, we 49 02:00.640 --> 02:04.720 actually have a little bit of a hurdle when it comes to our automation tools. 50 02:04.720 --> 02:08.520 Because here is our first architecture, the agent based architecture. 51 02:08.520 --> 02:13.100 Now again, let's imagine that these are all Linux machines and I can install 52 02:13.100 --> 02:14.000 new software 53 02:14.000 --> 02:15.000 on them. 54 02:15.000 --> 02:17.830 Then what I can actually do is I can install a little agent on each of these 55 02:17.830 --> 02:18.480 machines. 56 02:18.480 --> 02:21.610 And this is just like on your phone if you download a new application, okay, it 57 02:21.610 --> 02:22.160 's a very 58 02:22.160 --> 02:25.600 particular piece of software that does a very particular thing. 59 02:25.600 --> 02:29.340 So I find all this agent, this piece of software on all the devices that I want 60 02:29.340 --> 02:30.120 to manage, WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000 60 02:29.340 --> 02:30.120 to manage, 61 02:30.120 --> 02:33.600 as well as over here, I install whatever software I need. 62 02:33.600 --> 02:37.800 Then what it does is that it gives my management station over here a way to 63 02:37.800 --> 02:38.800 communicate with 64 02:38.800 --> 02:40.480 the devices under my control. 65 02:40.480 --> 02:43.880 So we can have this nice detail conversation between each other. 66 02:43.880 --> 02:48.120 Let me just first begin by talking about a particular configuration management 67 02:48.120 --> 02:49.680 tool known as puppets, 68 02:49.680 --> 02:50.680 okay. 69 02:50.680 --> 02:54.330 Now puppets happens to be very well known in the world of automation and system 70 02:54.330 --> 02:55.200 administration 71 02:55.200 --> 02:57.920 i.e. managing servers with automation. 72 02:57.920 --> 03:00.120 And this is precisely what is going to happen. WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000 72 02:57.920 --> 03:00.120 And this is precisely what is going to happen. 73 03:00.120 --> 03:03.510 You happen to have, like say, for example, your Linux machine over here, you 74 03:03.510 --> 03:04.160 install the 75 03:04.160 --> 03:05.840 puppet software on it. 76 03:05.840 --> 03:09.490 And then all the devices that you're managing, you also install this little 77 03:09.490 --> 03:10.200 puppet agent, 78 03:10.200 --> 03:12.920 okay, every device gets the puppet agent. 79 03:12.920 --> 03:16.120 And the management point gets the full puppet software. 80 03:16.120 --> 03:19.360 And what this one is referred to is the puppet master. 81 03:19.360 --> 03:22.880 And this is where we decide what should actually happen within the network. 82 03:22.880 --> 03:27.840 Quite simply, what we do is we configure particular files on this device. 83 03:27.840 --> 03:30.480 And these are known as manifest files. WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000 83 03:27.840 --> 03:30.480 And these are known as manifest files. 84 03:30.480 --> 03:34.270 And this is used to describe what the configurations of all these devices here 85 03:34.270 --> 03:35.360 should actually be. 86 03:35.360 --> 03:39.290 Now here's what's going to happen because this device here actually has an 87 03:39.290 --> 03:40.520 agent installed. 88 03:40.520 --> 03:44.320 What it's going to do is going to continually talk back to the puppet master. 89 03:44.320 --> 03:47.480 And it's going to ask the question, is my configuration correct? 90 03:47.480 --> 03:52.120 Now at this point here, the puppet master is going to compare what is actually 91 03:52.120 --> 03:53.120 being sent 92 03:53.120 --> 03:57.170 from the agent right here and compare it against what it has in the manifest 93 03:57.170 --> 03:57.960 file i.e. 94 03:57.960 --> 04:00.240 what should the configuration actually be? WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000 94 03:57.960 --> 04:00.240 what should the configuration actually be? 95 04:00.240 --> 04:03.760 Now let's imagine for whatever reason that happens to be some type of discrepan 96 04:03.760 --> 04:04.200 cy, maybe 97 04:04.200 --> 04:08.440 someone's logged into this machine remotely and made a configuration change. 98 04:08.440 --> 04:11.960 So if there is an error, then the puppet master is going to pretty much inform 99 04:11.960 --> 04:12.360 and say, 100 04:12.360 --> 04:14.960 hey, no, your configuration is wrong. 101 04:14.960 --> 04:16.960 You should have x, y, and z. 102 04:16.960 --> 04:21.230 Now at this stage here, having now been informed of this, the actual node is 103 04:21.230 --> 04:22.800 going to reach out 104 04:22.800 --> 04:26.530 to the actual puppet master and say, hey, send me the configurations that it 105 04:26.530 --> 04:27.480 should have. 106 04:27.480 --> 04:31.100 And what is going to happen is the puppet agent will then apply these configs WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000 106 04:27.480 --> 04:31.100 And what is going to happen is the puppet agent will then apply these configs 107 04:31.100 --> 04:32.360 to the machine. 108 04:32.360 --> 04:34.760 And ultimately, any problems are going to be resolved. 109 04:34.760 --> 04:38.120 Now what we just talked about here was agent-based automation. 110 04:38.120 --> 04:42.080 Now the utility that I happen to specify was something known as puppets. 111 04:42.080 --> 04:46.080 And this is just one of the options that utilizes this particular architecture. 112 04:46.080 --> 04:49.940 Now just some things to note about puppet, it's written in the Ruby programming 113 04:49.940 --> 04:50.800 language. 114 04:50.800 --> 04:54.380 But the good news is that you do not have to know how to write Ruby code in 115 04:54.380 --> 04:55.080 order to use 116 04:55.080 --> 04:56.080 puppets. 117 04:56.080 --> 05:00.050 Instead of writing Ruby code, you just write these what are called manifest WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000 117 04:56.080 --> 05:00.050 Instead of writing Ruby code, you just write these what are called manifest 118 05:00.050 --> 05:00.680 files that 119 05:00.680 --> 05:03.440 basically describe the state of your network. 120 05:03.440 --> 05:07.240 And ultimately, under the hood, puppet acts as a type of translation layer. 121 05:07.240 --> 05:09.400 So that was an example of an agent-based solution. 122 05:09.400 --> 05:12.120 Another one would be a tool called chef. 123 05:12.120 --> 05:16.130 Once again, very, very popular in the world of server administration for 124 05:16.130 --> 05:17.440 similar reasons. 125 05:17.440 --> 05:20.820 Because once again, chef involves that you actually install some type of 126 05:20.820 --> 05:22.000 software on the devices 127 05:22.000 --> 05:23.200 that you're going to be managing. 128 05:23.200 --> 05:25.920 In this case here, it is the chef client. 129 05:25.920 --> 05:29.880 So the chef client gets installed on all of the target devices to be managed. 130 05:29.880 --> 05:34.280 And on your management node, you just install the regular chef software. WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000 130 05:29.880 --> 05:34.280 And on your management node, you just install the regular chef software. 131 05:34.280 --> 05:37.690 Now in Shefflingo, as opposed to be known as a puppet master, this is just 132 05:37.690 --> 05:38.400 simply known 133 05:38.400 --> 05:39.960 as the chef server. 134 05:39.960 --> 05:43.480 So basically we've got the chef server as well as our chef clients. 135 05:43.480 --> 05:47.050 And in a similar way, because we have this ability to have this two-way 136 05:47.050 --> 05:48.200 conversation, the 137 05:48.200 --> 05:51.960 devices being managed can reach out to the actual server in check that the 138 05:51.960 --> 05:52.920 configurations 139 05:52.920 --> 05:53.920 are indeed correct. 140 05:53.920 --> 05:57.570 And if there are any problems, then once again, those configurations can be 141 05:57.570 --> 05:58.320 pulled in by 142 05:58.320 --> 05:59.760 the client and repaired. 143 05:59.760 --> 06:03.790 Now, one thing to note about chef, and this is not a small problem, is that it WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000 143 05:59.760 --> 06:03.790 Now, one thing to note about chef, and this is not a small problem, is that it 144 06:03.790 --> 06:04.040 's 145 06:04.040 --> 06:06.000 kind of complex to use. 146 06:06.000 --> 06:09.840 This too is also written in the Ruby programming language. 147 06:09.840 --> 06:13.360 And in order to use chef effectively, you kind of really have to understand a 148 06:13.360 --> 06:13.960 little bit 149 06:13.960 --> 06:15.280 of Ruby programming. 150 06:15.280 --> 06:18.120 This is obviously a barrier of entry. 151 06:18.120 --> 06:21.990 And it's one of the reasons why chef did not take off in the world of network 152 06:21.990 --> 06:22.640 automation 153 06:22.640 --> 06:26.240 the way it did in the world of server administration automation. 154 06:26.240 --> 06:32.120 Okay, now here is the part where I abandoned all pretends entirely. WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000 154 06:26.240 --> 06:32.120 Okay, now here is the part where I abandoned all pretends entirely. 155 06:32.120 --> 06:37.450 The only reason I am talking to you about them is because they are listed on 156 06:37.450 --> 06:39.240 the exam objectives. 157 06:39.240 --> 06:43.360 Pretty much nobody uses chef or puppet to automate networks. 158 06:43.360 --> 06:45.040 It just simply is not a thing. 159 06:45.040 --> 06:48.840 Now don't think that this is a good reason just to skip over what we've talked 160 06:48.840 --> 06:49.440 about. 161 06:49.440 --> 06:53.320 The reality is you still might get a question on these particular technologies. 162 06:53.320 --> 06:57.760 So understanding that they can utilize agents and understanding the general 163 06:57.760 --> 06:58.680 workflow of 164 06:58.680 --> 07:01.480 these type of solutions is important to understand. WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000 164 06:58.680 --> 07:01.480 these type of solutions is important to understand. 165 07:01.480 --> 07:06.080 However, these tools do have some traction in the world of server admin. 166 07:06.080 --> 07:07.080 So what's the big difference? 167 07:07.080 --> 07:08.080 What is the problem? 168 07:08.080 --> 07:12.790 Let me tell you it again relates to this idea of an agent on these old dusty 169 07:12.790 --> 07:13.920 Cisco devices. 170 07:13.920 --> 07:16.600 We do not have the ability to install an agent. 171 07:16.600 --> 07:17.600 So would we do them? 172 07:17.600 --> 07:18.600 Do we just not automate? 173 07:18.600 --> 07:20.520 Well, that isn't a very good solution. 174 07:20.520 --> 07:25.000 Obviously, instead, what if we could have an agent less solution? 175 07:25.000 --> 07:29.970 Now this here, this would actually be very, very useful for us as network 176 07:29.970 --> 07:31.120 engineers. WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000 176 07:29.970 --> 07:31.120 engineers. 177 07:31.120 --> 07:36.100 And drumroll please, you'll be happy to hear that we actually do have such a 178 07:36.100 --> 07:37.040 solution. 179 07:37.040 --> 07:40.800 Now the way an agent less solution happens to operate is quite simply the 180 07:40.800 --> 07:41.440 devices that 181 07:41.440 --> 07:42.840 we're actually managing. 182 07:42.840 --> 07:44.160 We don't have to worry about them. 183 07:44.160 --> 07:45.960 Well, we do have to worry about them. 184 07:45.960 --> 07:46.960 We are managing them. 185 07:46.960 --> 07:50.850 But what I mean is we don't have to worry about installing any type of software 186 07:50.850 --> 07:51.280 on them, 187 07:51.280 --> 07:55.280 some specific agent in order to be able to automate the devices. 188 07:55.280 --> 07:59.950 In the case here, if these devices are simply capable of, say, for example, 189 07:59.950 --> 08:01.720 talking over SSH, WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000 189 07:59.950 --> 08:01.720 talking over SSH, 190 08:01.720 --> 08:05.880 we can use, say, for example, a Linux server over here, install some type of 191 08:05.880 --> 08:06.640 software on 192 08:06.640 --> 08:09.800 it, some type of agent less software. 193 08:09.800 --> 08:14.880 And all we'll do is utilize our SSH channel or maybe our HTTP channel. 194 08:14.880 --> 08:17.200 However it is, you can talk to these devices. 195 08:17.200 --> 08:20.890 And quite simply, you can just render all the automated configurations on the 196 08:20.890 --> 08:22.040 device itself 197 08:22.040 --> 08:25.880 and then just send those configs directly down an SSH channel. 198 08:25.880 --> 08:29.600 So these devices here could be made in the 1990s. 199 08:29.600 --> 08:34.360 So long as they're capable of SSH, then they can be automated in this agentless WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000 199 08:29.600 --> 08:34.360 So long as they're capable of SSH, then they can be automated in this agentless 200 08:34.360 --> 08:35.080 manner. 201 08:35.080 --> 08:39.670 Now unlike Chef and unlike puppet, there is one mega monster in the world of 202 08:39.670 --> 08:40.280 network 203 08:40.280 --> 08:41.280 automation. 204 08:41.280 --> 08:42.600 Perhaps you have heard about it. 205 08:42.600 --> 08:44.960 This is the utility known as Ansible. 206 08:44.960 --> 08:47.480 So let's dive in and talk about the details.