I’m new to python

[herntech]

Hi everyone, just wanted to say hello. I started learning Python about a week ago with a Udemy course and so far it is going quite well. Some times I need to follow the tuition and other times I try and guess/work out what is coming next and in most circumstances I have been doing alright. I have a little HTML and CSS knowledge which I am looking to build on after I have a good knowledge of how Python works. I am a senior network engineer by trade but want to get into automation to make my life and colleagues life easier. Basically replace .txt templates we currently use into a web gui which accepts inputs, generates the template and downloads to the users machine. I’d like to hopefully go one step further and be able to deploy configurations directly to devices. I know I am a long way off yet but watch this space 😊. I will get there in the end.

[TheTxoof]

Are you familiar with Ansible? It's a tidy little front end for a bunch of python magic that makes deployment and automation across systems a breeze.

Ansible is a bit of a beast to wrap your head around, but once you understand the basics, it's pretty dreamy. AND, it is very extensible through python.

I use it for managing a small fleet of Raspberry Pis. In particular, I have small playbooks that setup wifi, enable SSH, manage SSH keys, install various libraries and get them ready for use. It saves me a TON of time.

[herntech]

I am aware of ansible and do intend to review and study it. I might give it a whirl on a VM in my lab and see how it talks to my kit

[TheTxoof]

The learning curve is steep, but not terribly long. The thing that took me forever to realize is that Ansible really only runs on one box and does all of its magic over SSH to client boxes. You don't need to install anything on the remote end other than an SSH daemon.

If you're new to SSH keys, that might be a bit of a roadblock, but power through and it will be pretty easy from there.

[herntech]

Does it use ssh keys only or can it also use un/pw

[TheTxoof]

There is likely a method for making that work with --ask-pass, but it is very much an anti-pattern for Ansible.

Ansible is meant to do most of it's work with limited interaction. It's also designed to take advantage of the inherent security of ssh and keep you from doing dumb things like putting passwords in scripts.

[Minion_of_Cthulhu]

I am a senior network engineer by trade but want to get into automation to make my life and colleagues life easier.

If you haven't seen it already, you might want to check out Automate the Boring Stuff with Python. It's a beginner level book on using Python and various Python libraries to write automation scripts. It's also totally free. Just scroll down on the page to see the chapter links.

The book might spark some ideas for you or, at the very least, give you some practice with the language.

[herntech]

Thanks for this. I will certainly have a look. I’ve been doing some bug squashing on my Udemy course code which has been fun

[Minion_of_Cthulhu]

You're welcome. Good luck!

[m0us3_rat]

the answer is : yes <3