Practical Network Automation, Second Edition

Network Automation That Starts with Real Tasks ⚙️

Practical Network Automation, Second Edition is built for engineers who want to move from manual device work to repeatable, programmable workflows. The book keeps its focus on the daily realities of network operations: validating addresses, hiding credentials, accessing APIs, parsing output, and making automation choices that hold up in production.

From Python Scripts to Ansible Playbooks 💻

Abhishek Ratan begins with fundamental automation concepts and Python examples, including regex, file handling, Git check-in, and API access. The material then shifts into Ansible ad hoc commands, playbooks, network templates, and Python integration. A comparison of Chef, Puppet, and Ansible helps readers understand where each tool fits in a broader automation strategy.

AI, Web Frameworks, and Intelligent Operations 🧠

Later chapters turn toward AIOps: structured and unstructured data, data collectors, machine learning examples, and intelligent remediation. A web framework discussion covers Falcon, encoding and decoding, and automation triggers. Continual integration lessons connect Splunk data, standardized configurations, and scripted responses to real operational signals.

Automation Use Cases You Can Follow

• Creating loopback interfaces and handling dynamic configuration updates
• Pinging specific or multiple IPs from routers through Ansible
• Validating IPv4 and IPv6 addresses
• Configuring OSPF through Python and working with BGP autonomous system numbers
• Building chatbot and voice-command interactions for troubleshooting

Who Will Get the Most from This Edition

Network engineers and DevOps professionals with some Python exposure will find the strongest fit. The book does not require prior network automation experience, but a basic comfort with programming helps the examples land. Readers who want a practical bridge between networking fundamentals and automation tooling will recognize the problems the use cases address.

Why It Matters

Networks are only becoming more complex, and manual repetition does not scale. This edition shows how Python, Ansible, AIOps, and automation frameworks can be combined to reduce routine effort, improve consistency, and support faster troubleshooting. It is a focused, example-led guide for turning automation ideas into working network operations.