Advanced Python for network engineers

Description

This course caters to network engineers aiming to
enhance both their Python proficiency and network
automation skills. Delving deeper into key areas such
as netmiko, Nornir, and ncclient, we also focus on
automating network testing and validation. Participants
gain greater confidence working with Python functions,
classes, objects, and error handling. The course
additionally introduces more libraries like Scrapli, TTP,
pyATS, Genie, pybatfish, and Suzieq, which cover
parsing strategies, automation testing, validation,
network analysis, observability, and telemetry. The
curriculum also encompasses concurrency techniques.

What will you learn

Advanced Python training course details

Network engineers.

Python for network engineers

5 days

CLI, NETCONF, RESTCONF, structured versus
unstructured data, gNMI and when to use which.
PEP 8. Naming conventions. Packages, modules,
Classes and methods. The scrapli library. Netmiko
versus scrapli.
Hands on: scrapli, Dictionaries
versus Regular Expressions.

Writing your own modules, containers versus
packages, virtual environments. Best practices,
calling functions, writing your own functions.
Parameters, arguments. Named arguments,
dictionaries as arguments. Builtins. Docstrings.
Main. __name__, __main__ . Program arguments.

Hands on: Getting interfaces, showing interface
status using Netmiko and functions. Using
dictionaries as arguments. Writing your own
modules.

Turning unstructured data into structured data.
textfsm, PyATS Genie parser, NAPALM getters,
Template Text Parser.
Hands on: Genie parser,
TTP. Accessing structured data with lists and
dictionaries.

Python classes in Genie, PyEZ and others .

Hands on: studying network automation classes,
objects, methods and attributes.

Nornir tasks. Nornir results, Nornir functions,
Nornir plugins. Nornir processors. YANG, YANG
models, pyang. NETCONF hello. Capabilities.
Schemas. Filters. Subtrees. XPATH. Exploring
available YANG data models. NETCONF and
network wide transactions. Asserting NETCONF
capabilities. Configuration types. Locking
configurations, commits. NETCONF data stores.
Netconf-console. RESTCONF differences from
NETCONF. URI construction. Postman. More XML
and JSON. Git and configuration versions.
Hands
on: Nornir and Jinja2. Exploring available models,
NETCONF filters. Using postman.

Context handlers, try, assert, logging, pdb, pytest,
unit testing, chatgpt.
Hands on: Writing code with
each of the error handling methods, investigating
what happens on an error. Use chatgpt to debug
your code.

Testing and validation. pyATS, Genie. Testbed
file. Genie parse, genie learn, genie diff. Genie
conf, Genie ops, Genie SDK, Genie harness.
Xpresso.
Hands on: Using Genie for state
comparisons of the network.

Batfish, pybatfish, configuration analysis,
analysing routing, analysing ACLs. Pandas.
Pandas dataframe. Filtering and selecting values
of interest.
Hands on: Use Batfish to analyse
network snapshots, find network adjacencies, flow
path analysis.

Suzieq, using docker, using as a package. Sqpoller, suzieq-gui, suzieq-cli, sq-rest-server.
Namespaces and seeing devices, network state
and Asserts. Time based analysis, snapshots and
changes.
Hands on: Suzieq: Gathering data from
the network, analysing data from the network.
Network state assertion.

gRPC, gNMI. CAP, GET, SET. Subscriptions.
Model Driven telemetry.
Hands on: Analysing
telemetry data with Python.

asyncio, threads, processes. Nornir concurrency.
Scrapli and netmiko concurrency.
Hands on:
Multiple SSH connections to devices at same
time. Scarpli asyncio.