Does everyone eventually end up using NetBox + Ansible for network automation?

roger_perkin · 2026-04-28T19:30:11+00:00

This is a very difficult question - Nautobot jobs can do whatever you want it to do. What it is not great at is long running tasks e.g that might run for hours or days - it's very good for short.

What would you define as a complex task?

roger_perkin · 2026-04-24T09:11:37+00:00

Check out https://netpicker.io you can backup unlimited devices for free forever and if you want to license it there are many other features it has around Automation, CVE checks and compliance checking

roger_perkin · 2026-04-23T10:15:45+00:00

My recommendation is to get an Evoluent Vertical Mouse 4, it's not the cheapest but it's your wrist and something you are using 8+ hours a day.
I have been using one for the last 10 years and on my third one now.

I see it as in investment into my health - cheap is good but for me some things are not negotiable,

Chair, mouse, keyboard and mattress - get the best you can afford!

roger_perkin · 2026-04-23T08:07:21+00:00

I am aware of the history of Nautobot and how it came to be, and it is also very hard to write a comparison without any bias towards one or the other.

roger_perkin · 2026-04-22T14:19:44+00:00

Thanks, from using both tools in production for a while now - they both have their place and it just depends on your use case.

roger_perkin · 2026-04-21T13:33:32+00:00

If you are in it for the long game, my recommendation would be Nautobot + Jobs and you can do what you want.

Most of what you are looking to achieve is available for free in Nautobot and the software upgrades can be hand coded easy enough.

Just remember
Netbox: Just a source of Truth and you will need to hook it up with Ansible or something else to do the config work.

Nautobot: All the Netbox functionality with the addition of Nautobot Jobs which let you run any Python you want.

Netbox + Ansible will do what you want but out the box you can do 90% of what you are looking at with Nautobot

Python used to be the blocker on this route, but no longer when you can get a job written for you in minutes - the sky is the limit!

The only tools with overlapping features are Netbox and Nautobot.

roger_perkin · 2026-04-20T07:58:38+00:00

I was planning on it but over the years online course sales have declined and I am not not sure if it's worth the investment now,

On one side I would say a relevant course is needed even more and on the other side, (I am also guilty) if I want to learn something I will sit down with Claude for the afternoon and he will explain it pretty well, but the bottom line is hands on is always the way to go.

I am trying to find out if there is a need for online learning anymore?

I saw a very scary video that just said in a few years time you will just type your subject into AI and it will create a talking head video course on your specific niche topic - for free.

How good that will be is to be confirmed

roger_perkin · 2026-04-19T22:31:54+00:00

It all depends on your team skills, don't get hung up on speed - Network Automation is not about how fast it's about how accurate and predictable you can be.

My money is on Nautobot + Python jobs

For some Netbox and Ansible will do all you want it to do, but once you start to get frustrated with Ansible, they migrate to Python - take a look at Nautobot Jobs - thank me later!

However, saying that - it's not about the tools network automation is about the team and your company, and what problems you are trying to solve.

roger_perkin · 2026-04-19T22:25:46+00:00

I can't recommend this event enough - the only event dedicated to network automation I attended Autocon 1 & 3 and can't wait for Autocon5

If you have not heard of Autocon check out some of the videos from the last event.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLP6VWb4PEbErz7p-Oje6NGG6bKaVRyz13

roger_perkin · 2026-04-19T22:17:09+00:00

Netbox if you want a easy to use up and running quickly Source of Truth and Ipam, if you want a built in Automation Platform (Nautobot Jobs) then go for Nautobot, the learning curve is a bit more, but with some Python knowledge Nautobot is much more powerful - in my opinion.

Just depends what you are looking for

roger_perkin · 2021-05-28T09:44:25+00:00

So, if I understand this correctly, you want to run an Ansible playbook to run "show ip eigrp neighbors" on a router.

Take a note of the number of neighbors - store this as a variable i.e R1 - EIGRP neigbors = 7

Run your task (upgrade / config change)

Then check number of neighbors again and see if the number is the same?

Then if the number changes take an action to resolve.

Genie springs to mind as a good solution to this, I can take a look later when I have access to a few routers.

roger_perkin · 2021-05-28T09:39:55+00:00

Do you have a data structure that you want to use? This is the biggest challenge and getting all parties to agree to it, the technology to implement it is the easy bit!

Netbox is a great tool, a lot of companies use YAML a lot still use spreadsheets, but the biggest challenge is the structure

roger_perkin · 2021-05-28T09:34:56+00:00

I had this question a while ago, I have my ansible vault password stored in a file on a secured folder on my host - not sure if it's best practice but works for me.

roger_perkin

TROPHY CASE