So friends, let me talk you through my solution to this particular problem.
So here it is, we are managing a network of around 1000 devices spanning three
different countries.
Now this part here is really quite relevant. A large proportion of the devices
are 15 years old or more.
So I'm thinking are these devices really equipped to handle model automation?
Or are they more likely to be a little bit more limited in that respect?
Yeah, I would kind of say so that is more likely the case. So I'm already WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
Yeah, I would kind of say so that is more likely the case. So I'm already
thinking here about a solution
that is agentless i.e. we don't have to install any particular fancy software
on these old devices.
Now it does say here that currently configuration changes are made manually
over SSH. So we do have
SSH connectivity to these devices. And also here is the next important part.
Nobody on the team has
any experience writing code. This can be a little bit of a limiting factor.
Despite this, your team
leader would like you to introduce automation. So which automation tool are you WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
leader would like you to introduce automation. So which automation tool are you
going to recommend
and why? Now it may not be such a surprise to you to learn that the utility
that I'm suggesting
is going to be Ansible. Now if you two also suggested Ansible, then I think
that's a good idea.
However, I am more really curious not just about the tool that you chose but
why you chose that
specifically. For me, the very fact that nobody in the team has any experience
writing code, Ansible
for me is a very, very good shout because we can interact with, well, WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
for me is a very, very good shout because we can interact with, well,
underlying Python code via
this Yamel abstraction layer. Now Yamel is very, very human readable. It really
lowers the barrier
of entry. So this to me already is much better than trying to write some unique
Python code yourself
and connecting to the device over some type of SSH channel. You know, that can
be done. But this part
here, the lack of experience really is a limiting factor and Ansible does help
solve that. Now obviously
Ansible is an agent less solution, which also ties into the fact that these WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
Ansible is an agent less solution, which also ties into the fact that these
devices are 15 years old
or more and Ansible supports SSH connectivity. So straight away despite the
fact that these are
old machines and are going to be administered by people with limited code and
experience or no
code and experience rather should I say Ansible is not shutting off any doors
to us right here. So this
is a good, good sign. Now as it says here, many of the configurations are
location specific. So for
example, some configurations should only be applied to particular devices in
one particular time.
So specifically, some configurations are only going to be applied to particular WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
So specifically, some configurations are only going to be applied to particular
devices in one
particular country. So how would the solution that you are suggesting solve for
this particular
problem? Well, as we know Ansible actually gives us access to an inventory. So
what we can do is we
can logically segment our devices and make sure that within our inventory, we
actually have location
specific groups. So we would actually have a UK group or rather not a UK group
forget that. We
would have a USA group as well as a Brazilian group and a German group. Now WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
would have a USA group as well as a Brazilian group and a German group. Now
because of this, we can
then subdivide our 1000 devices into their respective camps, whether they're in
the USA, Brazil or
Germany. Now when we want to actually connect these devices within our playbook
, we just use the host
keyword and just point it to a particular group and we can now target that
particular subset of
devices within our management. The devices dependent on that particular
location you want to target
and not just that. If you want to utilize some particular configurations that WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
and not just that. If you want to utilize some particular configurations that
are location
specific, then we also have the ability to utilize things like group bars. So
we would have an
American group variable file, a Brazilian group variable file, Andy German
group variable file,
and we can easily suck in these values depending on their membership to that
particular location.
And again, we still have the flexibility to override those values with these
host specific values.
So even though we have these groups, we are not tied down and bogged down with WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
So even though we have these groups, we are not tied down and bogged down with
them. Ultimately,
we still have full flexibility. So for me, once again, this is just a very good
reason why Ansible
does shine in this particular example, I think it's a very good solution. But
for whatever reason,
if you got a different solution or perhaps maybe parts of the question confused
you,
then a good idea would be to try to rewatch this skill and just give yourself a
little bit more time
for these concepts to sink in. But for now, that is us for our validation
section on configuration
management. I hope it's been informative for you and I'd like to thank you for
viewing.