This repository originally started as a place for me to store my playbooks and scripts for my internal CML test bed during my studies of CML; however, I shortly realized the opportunity that this repository had in helping others with a limited experience with Infrastructure as Code (IaC). It is my goal to build this repository as a practical "how to guide" that is not only a learning tool for Network Engineers to how to set up their first IaC based network, but also a starting point for a practial implementation on their existing network. It is my hope that a Network Engineers can clone this repository in their lab and use the instructions that are in this README to learn about IaC and then using this repository as a springboard to start their own PoC. If you are looking for a way to show your boss the benefits of IaC and network automation than I hope you will find this repository useful.

I used a number of resources to help me put together this repository. Many thanks and appreciation to the creators and organizaitons that put that information out there. Below are the links that I found invaulable and highly recommend that the learner take time to review them:

• Nick Russo's Pluralsight Video Series "Automating Networks with Ansible the Right Way"
• Ansible Documentation - Best Practices
• 'Jinja2 Tutorial' on TTL255 - Przemek Rogala's Blog

• a basic knowledge of navigating the Linux Bash Sheel (although you can run this lab on MacOS or Windows, it is easier to do much of this in an Linux environment).
• a rudimentry knowledge of Python or some basic programming knowledge
• understand data encoding structures such as JSON and YAML (especially YAML!)
• a Cisco Modeling Lab (CML) configured and host machine that can access your network devices on the CML instance. You will need to set up external connectivity with a bridge interface on CML to do this.

For this lab I used an Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS VM and CML. The Ubuntu VM housed all my services such as Ansible, SCP, TFTP (for ZTP), and DHCP for my lab. CML ran on the same host as my Ubuntu VM and were connected by a layer 3 bridge allowing me to use an out of band network (OOB) to access the network devices that ran in CML. However, in order to run this enviromenment you do not have to use the same design.

👍 BONUS: In fact this lab can be replicated on the DevNet Sandbox's Cisco Modeling Labs Enterprise instance. Click here and then type CML in the search box in the upper lefthand side. See screen cap below to see how to get to the sandbox (NOTE: you will need to have to sign in or sign up if you are not already registered with developer.cisco.com):

Just be aware there are some extra steps you may need to do. Maybe I'lll add those instructions later.

1. Ensure that your envirorment has git installed. If not there are plenty of tutorials that can walk you through this installation process on your host. Just google 'How do I install git for my environment?'

2. Python should be installed. I used Python 3.6.10 during the creation of this walkthrough; however, check the documentation to be sure you are using the correct version to run ansible. I also highly recommend that you use pyenv to set up python environment. Please see this tutorial that I created that will walk you though setting up pyenv.

3. Clone this repostitory in your home directory. For example:

   mkdir Ansible-CML
   git clone https://github.com/barweiss45/Ansible_CML.git Ansible-CML
   cd Ansible-CML
   

4. Install the requirements.txt file located in the Ansible-CML directory with pip.

   pip install -f requirements.txt
   

5. Verify

You may need to make changes your .ssh/config file due to IOSv not accepting some of the newer ssh key algorithms. This can be remediated by creating a .ssh/config file if this does not already exist or updating it if it does existing. It is also suggested to turn StrictHostKeyChecking off when using IOSv and ansible. This is an example of the configuration:

# Assuming that you do not have a ~/.ssh/config file in your home directory.
touch ~/.ssh/config
cd ~/.ssh/

# Use your favorite editor (e.g. Vim, Nano, etc.)
Host <IP or Regex>
    KexAlgorithms +diffie-hellman-group14-sha1
    StrictHostKeyChecking no