Programming and Python for

Network Engineer

Muhammad Yasir Shamim Hafsa Talat

APNIC Community Trainer Software Engineer
 Agenda

Session 1: Session 2: Session 3:

• Tedious Networking Operations • Which programming language should we learn • Network Integration with Python
• Network Operational Problems • Why Python • GNS3 DEMO
• Evolution Drift to DevOps • What is Python • Telnet
• Programming to rescue • Python and other languages • Netmiko
• Why learn Programming • Getting started with Python • Napalm
• Programming in Networks • Installing Python • Use Case
• Orchestration vs Automation • Python programming modes • Thinking Process
• Automation A Smart way out • Deeper into python • Python Code
• Types of Languages • Python for Network Engineers
• Languages for Automation • Closing remarks

2
 Tedious Networking Operations

• Vendor dependent command line syntax and structures

• Follow Standard Operating Procedures for tasks

• Low level operational works

• Daily chores drain out technical ability of an Engineer

• Maintenance of manual databases of many non-tech entities

• Learning theoretical network concepts to perform troubleshooting of seldom issues

3
 Network Operational Problems

• Daily repetitive tasks

• Highly time consuming operations

• Fat fingers and mistakes

• Infrastructure scaling

• Difficulty of understanding complex scenarios by less

technical team members

4
 Evolutional Drift to DevOps

• Software-defined networks using centralized controllers

• Introduction of GUI and replacing CLI legacy

• Inclusion of DevOps is changing networking infrastructure rapidly

• Era of cloud computing and mobility, businesses are demanding more

agility from their IT professionals

• Addition of programming skillset in bucket

5
 Programming to the Rescue

• Networker Engineers no longer need to learn all the different syntax

from diverse vendors, codes can do that ! Innovate

• Predefined code, eliminates the need to follow long configuration

steps
Automate

• Scalability of networks, adding new operational nodes to the

networks in just few clicks.
Enhance

• Zero tolerance to humanistic errors

• Routine network operations made easy for all

• One window solution for all operational tasks

6
 Why learn Programming

• If software eats everything, are network engineers on the menu?

• An Essential Skill For Network Engineers to enhance his capabilities.

• Programming to simplify or automate tasks.

• Programming languages are not just for programmers. If you are a Logic
Building
network engineer, knowing a programming language (or two or
three) can come in handy.
Problem
Productivity
Solving

Programming

Innovate Automate Enhance

Creativity Efficiency

7
 Programming in Networks

• Manages network more efficiently.

• Network Automation.

• Software define networking.

• Big vendors heading towards software based operations

i.e. Cisco, Juniper.

8
 Orchestration vs Automation

• Automation
• Well specified task run on its own

• Orchestration
• Automating a lot of things at once
• Multiple tasks to execute a workflow
• Is automation, coordination and management

• Automation is the first step towards orchestration

9
 Orchestration vs Automation
Scenario – Network Engineer needs to configure Customer link

What information Network Engineer is looking for:

Last mile configuration (Metro Fiber)

Free switch interface
Free vlan

Configuring the Router

Interface (vlan)
IP required (Public/Private)
Bandwidth

Each individual tasks can be automated, and the whole process is orchestrated
10
 “Automation” A Smart Way Out !

• Network Automation is a methodology in which programmed scripts automatically configures, provisions,

manages and tests network devices

• Why Automation? - Programmed management tools are designed to reduce the complexity of manually
configuring and managing distributed infrastructure resources by enabling speed, ensuring reliability and
compliance

• Using different programming languages provide different paths to achieve a common goal of managing
infrastructure efficiently

Improved Human Repetitive Increase

Security
efficiency Error Process Productivity

11
 Languages For Automation

• Strong binding between Network Automation Tools and Programming

languages.

Ansible •Python
• Puppet, Chef and Ansible are different paths to achieve a common
goal of managing infrastructure efficiently.
CHEF •Ruby

• All these configuration management tools are designed to reduce the

complexity of configuring distributed infrastructure resources,
enabling speed, ensuring reliability and compliance. PUPPET •Ruby

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 Which Programming Language should we learn

User Technical
Easy Size of What People Market Which
Friendly Online
Learning Community are available demands ! Language ?
Resources

13
 Type of Languages

• Frontend development is the practice of converting data to

graphical interface for user to view and interact with data.

FRONTEND BACKEND
• The digital interaction is accomplished by using HTML, CSS and
JavaScript.
HTML Bash
PHP
• Backend of an application is responsible for things like calculations, Laravel
logic, database interactions, and performance. Perl
Java Script
Ruby
• If we talk about networks, it is used to interact with Nodes and Django Python
perform actions such as run commands, gather stats, perform
configurational changes and view output.

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 What is Python

• Python is a high-level programming language

• Open source and community driven

• “Batteries Included”
• a standard distribution includes many modules

• Dynamic typed

• Source can be compiled or run just-in-time

• Similar to perl, tcl, ruby

Why Python
 Why Python

• Easy to understand and readable language.

Object
• Dominating language at this point of time in Network oriented
Automation space.
Platform
Powerful
independent
• A high level language, don’t have to write a lot of blue codes
to get things done.
PYTHON

• Powerful enough to be used as a convenient tool for daily Extensive

parsing tasks, performance management, and configuration. Open Source
Libraries

• It does not have to be compiled, which makes debugging really Fast

fast and easy

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 Why Python
• Interpreted

• You run the program straight from the source code.

• Python program Bytecode a platforms native language

• You can just copy over your code to another system and it will auto-magically work! *with python
platform

• Object-Oriented

• Simple and additionally supports procedural programming

• Extensible – easily import other code

• Embeddable –easily place your code in non-python programs

• Extensive libraries

• (i.e. reg. expressions, doc generation, CGI, ftp, web browsers, ZIP, WAV, cryptography, etc...)
(wxPython, Twisted, Python Imaging library)
 Why Python
• Simple

• Python is a simple and minimalistic language in nature

• Reading a good python program should be like reading English

• Its Pseudo-code nature allows one to concentrate on the problem rather than the language

• Easy to Learn

• Free & Open source

• Freely distributed and Open source

• Maintained by the Python community

• High Level Language –memory management

• Portable – *runs on anything c code will

 Python and Other Languages
• Python is Code-Friendly
The code syntax of Python are simple, concise, and much like English language. This makes coding an interactive and
engaging activity.

• It is Procedural and Object-Oriented Programming Language

Another best thing about Python is that it follows both the Procedure-oriented and Object-Oriented concepts.
Because of this, it is able to provide developers with an environment that no other language concentrating on a single
concept is able to offer.

• It comes with Plenty of Libraries and Frameworks

Python, unlike many other programming languages, avails a wide range of libraries and frameworks that gives
developers an escape from writing code from scratch. And eventually, lower down the time and cost of development.

• Python Enjoys Growing Market Popularity

Above all, Python is one of the trending programming languages with the support of a wider community. Also, its
popularity graph as per Google Trends is growing astronomically - something that is making developers choose
Python over other available options.
 Python and Other Languages

• Since 2012, Python has been consistently growing in

popularity, and the trend is likely to continue, if not
increase, in the future
 Getting started with Python
Usually a system may have one of the 3 famous Operating System.

• Microsoft Windows
• Apple Mac OS
• Linux Distribution OS

Python development environment is not included in Windows default setup. For Windows 10, a small patch
does the trick where as for earlier versions proper setup is required. Coding could be done on CMD window.

In Mac OS X, Python 2 and its built-in Interactive Development Environment (IDE) comes pre-installed.
Everything could be done in Terminal that includes creating the code and its execution.

Famous Linux Distributions also have Python enabled on default setup. Just as Mac OS, a user can start coding
and execute it in Linux terminal window using CLI.

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 Installing Python

• Linux
$sudo apt-get install python3-minimal

• Windows
 Download 64 bit python

• Python on default
download is 32 bit hence
we have to download a
specific release and
version from python
download release
section.
• Hence chose your
respective python version
as per your requirements.

24
 What is PIP

• PIP is a package manager for Python packages, or modules.

• You use PIP to install and update packages and modules as per required by your python code.

• You can check if PIP is Installed by typing following command

• C:\Users\Your Name\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python36-32\Scripts>pip –version

• If you do not have PIP installed, you can download and install it from,
• https://pypi.org/project/pip/
 Download Package

• Downloading a package in python is very easy.

• Open the command line interface and tell PIP to download the package you want.

• Make sure to navigate your command line to the location of Python's script directory, and type the
following:

• pip install packageName

 Python Development Interfaces

• Python Shell – running 'python' from the Command Line opens this interactive shell

• IDLE – a cross-platform Python development environment

• Spyder- It is a scientific integrated development environment written in Python, available through Anaconda

• PyCharm - a cross-platform IDE, that can be used on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

• Sublime Text 3 - Sublime Text 3 is a code editor which supports many languages including Python

• Visual Studio Code - The editor provides smart code completion based on function definition, imported modules, as well as variable types

• PythonWin – a Windows only interface to Python, It provides a simple graphical interface for editing and running Python programs

• Jupyter- It supports for Numerical simulation, data cleaning machine learning data visualization, and statistical modelling.

• For the exercises, we'll use Spyder, but you can try them all and pick a favorite
 IDLE – Integrated Development Environment

• IDLE helps you program in Python by:

• color-coding your program code

• debugging

• auto-indent

• interactive shell
 Python Programming Modes

1. Interpreter Mode

2. Normal Mode (Script Mode)

 Python Programming Modes

Interactive mode is a command line shell which gives immediate feedback for each statement

The “>>>” indicates that the shell is ready to accept interactive commands
 Python Programming Modes

Normal mode is the mode where the scripted (.py) files are run in
the Python interpreter.

Python programs are nothing more than text files, and they may be edited
with a standard text editor program. For example Vim, Nano,
Notepad++,Sublime Text

Instead of having to run one line or block of code at a time, you can type up
all your code in one text file, or script, and run all the code at once.

To run the script, either select “Run” -> “Run Module” or press F5.

One more way of execute the python (.py) file from Linux distribution is

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 Python Shell

• command line shell is one of the most basic

interface for python development.
• You can specifically use this environment for
immediate testing of new libraries installed

32
 Python Jupyter

• You can add new python jupyter files

• Major advantage of jupyter is that you can execute
your code line by line or chunk by chunk
• You don’t need to create a separate file for
development and separate shell environment for
outputs

33
 Python Spyder

• Allows you to run Python code by cell, line, or file.

• Plot a histogram or time-series, make changes in date
frame.
• It offers automatic code completion and
horizontal/vertical splitting.
• Find and eliminate bottlenecks
• An interactive way to trace each step of Python code
execution.

34
 Installing an IDE

• Anaconda is a free and open-source distribution

of the Python programming language
for scientific computing, that aims to
simplify package management and deployment
• Anaconda Navigator is a desktop graphical user
interface (GUI) included in Anaconda
distribution that allows users to launch
applications and manage conda packages,
environments and channels without
using command-line commands.

35
 Online Python IDE

• https://repl.it/

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Deeper into Python
 Deeper into Python

Variable :
Variables are reserved memory locations to store values.
Numbers | Strings | List | Tuple | Dictionary

Operators :
Operators are the constructs which can manipulate the value of operands.
• Arithmetic Operators
• Comparison (Relational) Operators
• Assignment Operators
• Logical Operators
• Bitwise Operators
• Membership Operators
• Identity Operators
 Deeper into Python
Control Flow Tools :
These are the tools which control the logical flow of the program based on the following parameters.

• Value : Basic units of data. Eg- 10,'string'.

• Variable : A name that refers to a value. Eg- var=10, var is the variable.
• Statement : A section of code that represents a command or action.
• Operator : A symbol that performs operations on operands. Eg- * is for multiplication
• Expression : A combination of variables, operators, and values to perform a task.

Types:
• if statement
• while statement
• for statement
• break, continue and pass
 Deeper into Python
Iteration:
Computers are often used to automate repetitive tasks. Repeated execution of a set of statements is called
iteration.

Conditionals:
In python conditional statements are features which perform different computations or actions depending
on whether a programmer specified boolean condition evaluates to true or false

Regular Expressions:
A regular expression is a special sequence of characters that helps you match or find other strings or sets of
strings, using a specialized syntax held in a pattern

40
 Deeper into Python

Function:
A function is a block of organized, reusable code that is used to perform a single or multiple related action

Classes:
Python uses classes to keep related things together.

Modules:
A Python module is a Python source file which can expose classes, functions and global variables. A Python
package is a directory of Python module

Repeatable Code ( Writing Reusable Code):

programmers like to be lazy. If something has been done before, why should you do it again?
That is what functions cover in python. You've had your code do something and now you want to do it
again. You put that code into a function, and re-use it. You can refer to a function anywhere in your code,
and the computer will always know what you are talking about.

41
 Python semantics

• Each statement has its own semantics, the def statement doesn’t get executed immediately like other
statements

• Python uses duck typing, or latent typing

• Allows for polymorphism without inheritance

• This means you can just declare

“somevariable = 67” don’t actually have to declare a type

• print “somevariable = “ + tostring(somevariable)”

strong typing , can’t do operations on objects not defined without explicitly asking the operation to
be done
 Sequential Steps

When a program is running, it flows from

one step to the next. We as programmers x=1
set up “paths” for the program to follow.

print x
x=1
print x
x=x+1 x=x+1
print x

print x
 Conditional Steps
x=5

Yes
X < 10 ?
When a program is running, it flows from
print 'Smaller' one step to the next step based on the
condition designed.

Yes
X > 20 ?

print 'Bigger'

print 'Finis'
 Repeated Steps
n=5
Loops (repeated steps) have iteration variables that change
each time through a loop. Often these iteration variables go
No Yes through a sequence of numbers.
n>0?

Program:
print n
n=5
while n > 0 :
n = n -1 print n
n=n–1
print 'Blastoff!'

print 'Blastoff'
 Variables Types

• Variables
• Constants
 Variables

A variable is a named place in the memory where a programmer can store data and later retrieve the data
using the variable “name”

Programmers get to choose the names of the variables

You can change the contents of a variable in a later statement

x = 12.2
y = 14
 Constants

Fixed values such as numbers, letters, and strings are called “constants” - because their value does
not change

Numeric constants are as you expect

String constants use single-quotes (')

or double-quotes (")
>>> print 123
123
>>> print 98.6
98.6
>>> print 'Hello world'
Hello world
 Data Types

In Python variables, literals, and constants have a “data type”

In Python variables are “dynamically” typed. In some other languages you

have to explicitly declare the type before you use the variable

In C/C++:
In Python:
int a;
a=5
float b;
a = “Hello”
a=5
a = [ 5, 2, 1]
b = 0.43
 Some Data Types in Python

• Integer (Examples: 0, 12, 5, -5)

• Float (Examples: 4.5, 3.99, 0.1 )

• String (Examples: “Hi”, “Hello”, “Hi there!”)

• Boolean (Examples: True, False)

• List (Example: [ “hi”, “there”, “you” ] )

• Tuple (Example: ( 4, 2, 7, 3) )
 String Data Type

• A string is a sequence of characters

>>> str1 = "Hello“
>>> str2 = 'there‘
• A string literal uses quotes ‘Hello’ or “Hello” >>> bob = str1 + str2
>>> print bob
Hellothere
• For strings, + means “concatenate” >>> str3 = '123‘
>>> str3 = str3 + 1
Traceback (most recent call last): File "<stdin>", line 1, in
• When a string contains numbers, it is still a string <module>TypeError: cannot concatenate 'str' and 'int' objects
 Looking Inside Strings

b a n a n a

0 1 2 3 4 5
• We can get at any single character in a string using an index
specified in square brackets

>>> fruit = 'banana‘

• The index value must be an integer and starts at zero >>> letter = fruit[1]
>>> print letter
a
• The index value can be an expression that is computed >>> n = 3
>>> w = fruit[n - 1]
>>> print w
n
 Slicing Strings

M o n t y P y t h o n

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

• We can also look at any continuous section of a string

using a colon operator
>>> s = 'Monty Python‘
• The second number is one beyond the end of the slice >>> print s[0:4]
- “up to but not including” Mont
>>> print s[6:7]
P
• If the second number is beyond the end of the string, >>> print s[6:20]
it stops at the end Python
 Slicing Strings

M o n t y P y t h o n

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

>>> s = 'Monty Python‘

• If we leave off the first number or the last
>>> print s[:2]
number of the slice, it is assumed to be the
Mo
beginning or end of the string respectively
>>> print s[8:]
thon
>>> print s[:]
Monty Python
 String Concatenation

>>> a = 'Hello‘
>>> b = a + 'There‘
• When the + operator is applied to >>> print b
strings, it means "concatenation" HelloThere

>>> c = a + ' ' + 'There‘

>>> print c
Hello There
 Handling User Input

• We prefer to read data in using strings and then >>> name = raw_input('Enter:')
parse and convert the data as we need Enter:Chuck
>>> print name
Chuck
• This gives us more control over error situations >>> apple = raw_input('Enter:')
and/or bad user input Enter:100
>>> x = apple – 10
Traceback (most recent call last): File "<stdin>", line 1, in
• Raw input numbers must be converted from <module>TypeError: unsupported operand type(s) for -: 'str' and 'int‘
strings >>> x = int(apple) – 10
>>> print x
90
 Casting

• Int()
• Float()
• Str()
 Python Collections (Arrays)

• There are four collection data types in the Python programming language:
• List is a collection which is ordered and changeable. Allows duplicate members.
• Tuple is a collection which is ordered and unchangeable. Allows duplicate members.
• Set is a collection which is unordered and unindexed. No duplicate members.
• Dictionary is a collection which is unordered, changeable and indexed. No duplicate members.
• When choosing a collection type, it is useful to understand the properties of that type. Choosing the
right type for a particular data set could mean retention of meaning, and, it could mean an increase in
efficiency or security.

59
 Lists

• A list is a collection which is ordered and changeable. In Python lists are written with square brackets.
• You access the list items by referring to the index number.
• You can specify a range of indexes by specifying where to start and where to end the range.
• When specifying a range, the return value will be a new list with the specified items.

60
 Tuples

• A tuple is a collection which is ordered and unchangeable. In Python tuples are written with round
brackets.
• You can access tuple items by referring to the index number, inside square brackets.
• Negative indexing means beginning from the end.
• You can specify a range of indexes by specifying where to start and where to end the range.
• When specifying a range, the return value will be a new tuple with the specified items

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 Sets

• A set is a collection which is unordered and unindexed. In Python sets are written with curly brackets.
• You cannot access items in a set by referring to an index, since sets are unordered the items has no
index.
• But you can loop through the set items
• Once a set is created, you cannot change its items, but you can add new items.

62
 Dictionary

• A dictionary is a collection which is unordered, changeable and indexed. In Python dictionaries are
written with curly brackets, and they have keys and values.
• You can access the items of a dictionary by referring to its key name, inside square brackets.
• You can change the value of a specific item by referring to its key name.
• You can loop through a dictionary.
• When looping through a dictionary, the return value are the keys of the dictionary, but there are
methods to return the values as well

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 Operators

• Arithmetic Operators

• Assignment Operators

• Logical Operators

• Membership Operators
 Arithmetic Operators

Symbol Operator Name Description

+ Addition Adds the values on either side of the operator and calculate a result.

- Subtraction Subtracts values of right side operand from left side operand.

* Multiplication Multiplies the values on both sides of the operator.

/ Division Divides left side operand with right side operand.

% Modulus It returns the remainder by dividing the left side operand with right side
operand
** Exponent Calculates the exponential power
 Assignment Operators

Symbol Operator Description

Name
= Equal Assigns the values of right side operand to left side
operand.

+= Add AND Adds right side operand value to the left side operand
value and assigns the results to the left operand.

-= Subtract AND Subtracts right side operand value to the left side operand
value and assigns the results to the left operand.

*= Multiply AND Similarly does their respective operations and assigns the
operator value to the left operand.
 Logical Operators

Symbol Operator Description

Name

or Logical OR If any of the two operands are non-zero, then the

condition is true.

and Logical AND If both the operands are true, then the condition is true.

not Logical NOT It is used to reverse the logical state of its operand.
 Membership Operators

• In
• The result of this operation becomes True if it finds a value in a specified sequence
and False otherwise.
• Not in
• The result of this operation becomes True if it doesn't find a value in a specified sequence
and False otherwise.
 Decision making

• if Statement

• if else Statements

• elif Statements
Decision making
Decision making
 Loops

• For
• While
• Nested for
 Looping with For

• We could use a for loop to perform geoprocessing tasks on each layer in a list

• We could get a list of features in a feature class and loop over each, checking attributes

• Anything in a sequence or list can be used in a For loop

• Just be sure not to modify the list while looping

 Looping with For

• For allows you to loop over a block of code a set number of times

• For is great for manipulating lists:

a = ['cat', 'window', 'defenestrate']
for x in a:
print x, len(x)
Results:
cat 3
window 6
defenestrate 12
For loop
While loop
Nested Loops
 Functions in Python

• There are two kinds of functions in Python

• Built-in functions that are provided as part of Python - raw_input(), type(), float(), max(), min(),
int(), str(), …

• Functions (user defined) that we define ourselves and then use

• We treat the built-in function names like reserved words (i.e. we avoid them as variable names)
 Definition of Function

• In Python a function is some reusable code that takes arguments(s) as input does some
computation and then returns a result or results

• We define a function using the def reserved word

• We call/invoke the function by using the function name, parenthesis and arguments in an expression
 Functions

• Using 'def' statement for defining a function

 The range() function

• range() is a built-in function that allows x = range(5)

you to create a sequence of numbers in a print x
range [0, 1, 2, 3, 4]

• Very useful in “for” loops which are x = range(3, 7)

discussed later in the Iteration chapter print x
[3, 4, 5, 6]

• Takes as an input 1, 2, or 3 arguments. x = range(10, 1, -2)

See examples. print x
[10, 8, 6, 4, 2]
 Modules

• Modules are functions and variables defined in separate files

• Items are imported using from or import

• from module import function
• function()
• import module
• module.function()

• Modules are namespaces

• Can be used to organize variable names, i.e.
• atom.position = atom.position - molecule.position
 Why use Modules?

• Code reuse
• Routines can be called multiple times within a program
• Routines can be used from multiple programs

• Namespace partitioning
• Group data together with functions used for that data

• Implementing shared services or data

• Can provide global data structure that is accessed by multiple subprograms
 OOP Terminology

• class -- a template for building objects

• instance -- an object created from the template (an instance of the class)

• method -- a function that is part of the object and acts on instances directly

• constructor -- special "method" that creates new instances

 "Special" methods

• All start and end with __ (two underscores)

• Most are used to emulate functionality of built-in types in user-defined

classes

• e.g. operator overloading

• __add__, __sub__, __mult__, ...
• see python docs for more information
 Classes

• A Class is like an object constructor, or a "blueprint" for creating objects.

 Defining a Class

class Thing:

"""This class stores an arbitrary object."""

def __init__(self, value):

"""Initialize a Thing."""
constructor
self.value = value

def showme(self):

method

"""Print this object to stdout."""

print "value = %s" % self.value

 Using a Class

• t = Thing(10) # calls __init__ method

• t.showme() # prints "value = 10"

• t is an instance of class Thing

• showme is a method of class Thing

• __init__ is the constructor method of class Thing

• when a Thing is created, the __init__ method is called

• Methods starting and ending with __ are "special" methods

 Using a Class

print t.value # prints "10"

value is a field of class Thing
t.value = 20 # change the field value
print t.value # prints "20"
 File Handling

• Files are manipulated by creating a file object

• f = open("points.txt", "r")

• The file object then has new methods

• print f.readline() # prints line from file

• Files can be accessed to read or write

• f = open("output.txt", "w")
• f.write("Important Output!")

• Files are iterable objects, like lists

File Opening and Attributes
 Modes of File opening

r Opens a file for reading only. (It's a default mode.)

w Opens a file for writing. (If a file doesn't exist already, then it creates a new file. Otherwise, it's truncate a file.)

x Opens a file for exclusive creation. (Operation fails if a file does not exist in the location.)

a Opens a file for appending at the end of the file without truncating it. (Creates a new file if it does not exist in the
location.)

t Opens a file in text mode. (It's a default mode.)

b Opens a file in binary mode.

+ Opens a file for updating (reading and writing.)
File Reading / Writing
 Time Library

• Python has a module named “time” to handle time-related tasks. To use functions defined in the module,
we need to import the module first.
• Time function returns the number of seconds passed since epoch
• Ctime function takes seconds passed since epoch as an argument and returns a string representing local
time
• Sleep function suspends (delays) execution of the current thread for the given number of seconds.

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 Types of errors

• IndexError is thrown when trying to access an item at an invalid index.

• ModuleNotFoundError is thrown when a module could not be found.
• KeyError is thrown when a key is not found.
• ImportError is thrown when a specified function can not be found.
• TypeError is thrown when an operation or function is applied to an object of an inappropriate type.
• ValueError is thrown when a function's argument is of an inappropriate type.
• NameError is thrown when an object could not be found.
• ZeroDivisionError is thrown when the second operator in the division is zero.
• KeyboardInterrupt is thrown when the user hits the interrupt key (normally Control-C) during the
execution of the program.

96
 Exception handling

• try/except
• catch the error and recover from exceptions hoist by programmers or Python itself.
• try/finally
• Whether exception occurs or not, it automatically performs the clean-up action.
• Assert
• triggers an exception conditionally in the code.
 Comments

• Single-Line Comment

• Multi-Line Comment
 Indentation Rules

• Increase indent after an if statement or for statement (after : )

• Maintain indent to indicate the scope of the block (which lines are affected by the if/for)

• Reduce indent to back to the level of the if statement or for statement to indicate the end of the
block

• Blank lines are ignored - they do not affect indentation

• Comments on a line by themselves are ignored w.r.t. indentation

 Indentation and Blocks

• Python uses whitespace and indents to denote blocks of code

• Lines of code that begin a block end in a colon:

• Lines within the code block are indented at the same level

• To end a code block, remove the indentation

• You'll want blocks of code that run only when certain conditions are met
Indentation
 Whitespace

• Whitespace is meaningful in Python: especially indentation and placement of newlines.

• Use a newline to end a line of code

Use \ when must go to next line prematurely.

• No braces {} to mark blocks of code, use consistent indentation instead

• First line with less indentation is outside of the block.
• First line with more indentation starts a nested block.

• Colons start of a new block in many constructs, e.g. function definitions, then clauses
 Naming Rules

• Names are case sensitive and cannot start with a number.

• They can contain letters, numbers, and underscores.

bob Bob _bob _2_bob_ bob_2 BoB

• There are some reserved words:

and, assert, break, class, continue, def, del, elif, else, except, exec, finally, for, from, global, if,
import, in, is, lambda, not, or, pass, print, raise, return, try, while
 Naming conventions

• The Python community has these recommend-ed naming conventions.

• joined_lower for functions, methods and, attributes.

• joined_lower or ALL_CAPS for constants.

• StudlyCaps for classes.

• camelCase only to conform to pre-existing conventions.

• Attributes: interface, _internal, __private

 Accessing Non-Existent Name

Accessing a name before it’s been properly created (by placing it on the left side of an assignment),
raises an error

>>> y

Traceback (most recent call last):

File "<pyshell#16>", line 1, in -toplevel-
y
NameError: name ‘y' is not defined
>>> y = 3
>>> y
3
 Keywords

and assert in
del else raise
from if continue
not pass finally
while yield is
as break return
elif except def
global import for
or print lambda
with class try
exec
 String Methods
Method Description
lstrip() Returns a left trim version of the string
replace() Returns a string where a specified value is replaced with a specified value
rfind() Searches the string for a specified value and returns the last position of where it was found
rindex() Searches the string for a specified value and returns the last position of where it was found
rsplit() Splits the string at the specified separator, and returns a list
rstrip() Returns a right trim version of the string
split() Splits the string at the specified separator, and returns a list
splitlines() Splits the string at line breaks and returns a list
startswith() Returns true if the string starts with the specified value
strip() Returns a trimmed version of the string
swapcase() Swaps cases, lower case becomes upper case and vice versa
title() Converts the first character of each word to upper case
upper() Converts a string into upper case
zfill() Fills the string with a specified number of 0 values at the beginning
108
Method Description
capitalize() Converts the first character to upper case
count() Returns the number of times a specified value occurs in a string
encode() Returns an encoded version of the string
endswith() Returns true if the string ends with the specified value
find() Searches the string for a specified value and returns the position of where it was found
format() Formats specified values in a string
index() Searches the string for a specified value and returns the position of where it was found
isalnum() Returns True if all characters in the string are alphanumeric
isalpha() Returns True if all characters in the string are in the alphabet
isdecimal() Returns True if all characters in the string are decimals
isdigit() Returns True if all characters in the string are digits
islower() Returns True if all characters in the string are lower case
isnumeric() Returns True if all characters in the string are numeric
isspace() Returns True if all characters in the string are whitespaces
istitle() Returns True if the string follows the rules of a title
isupper() Returns True if all characters in the string are upper case
join() Joins the elements of an iterable to the end of the string
lower() Converts a string into lower case 109
 List Methods
Method Description
append() Adds an element at the end of the list
clear() Removes all the elements from the list
copy() Returns a copy of the list
count() Returns the number of elements with the specified value

extend() Add the elements of a list (or any iterable), to the end of the current list

index() Returns the index of the first element with the specified value

insert() Adds an element at the specified position

pop() Removes the element at the specified position
remove() Removes the item with the specified value
reverse() Reverses the order of the list
sort() Sorts the list

110
 Sets Methods
Method Description
add() Adds an element to the set
clear() Removes all the elements from the set
copy() Returns a copy of the set
difference() Returns a set containing the difference between two or more sets
difference_update() Removes the items in this set that are also included in another, specified set
discard() Remove the specified item
pop() Removes an element from the set
remove() Removes the specified element
symmetric_difference() Returns a set with the symmetric differences of two sets
symmetric_difference_update() inserts the symmetric differences from this set and another
union() Return a set containing the union of sets
update() Update the set with the union of this set and others
111
 Network Integration with Python

• Telnet
• Netmiko
• NAPALM

112
GNS3 DEMO

113
 GNS3 DEMO
• Download gns3
• https://www.gns3.com/
• Download the GNS3 VM
• Edit/Preference/GNS3VM/download here

114
 GNS3 DEMO
• Use VMware workstation to import the GNS3VM
• Download the GNS3 appliance
• https://www.gns3.com/marketplace/appliance/network-automation

115
 GNS3 DEMO
• Import the appliance
• File/import appliance

116
 GNS3 DEMO

• Drag the Network Automation appliance, NAT

Cloud and Switch.

• Modify Network Automation appliance to add

one more Network Adapter

117
Telnet

118
 Telnet
In Python telnet is implemented by the module telnetlib which has the Telnet class which has the required
methods to establish the connection
import telnetlib
import time

password = ("cisco")

tn = telnetlib.Telnet("192.168.1.10")
tn.read_until("Password: ")
tn.write(password + "\n")
root@NetworkAutomation:~# python telnet.py
tn.write("enable \n")
SW1#conf t
tn.read_until("Password: ")
Enter configuration commands, one per line. End with CNTL/Z.
tn.write(password + "\n")
SW1(config)#interface loopback100
SW1(config-if)#ip address 100.1.1.1 255.255.255.0
tn.write("conf t \n")
SW1(config-if)#end
time.sleep(1)
SW1#
tn.write("interface loopback10 \n")
time.sleep(1)
tn.write("ip address 10.1.1.1 255.255.255.0 \n")
time.sleep(1)
tn.write("end \n")
time.sleep(1)
tn.write("exit \n")

print tn.read_very_eager()
print("\nThank You")

119
 Telnet
import telnetlib
import time root@NetworkAutomation:~# python telnet_loop.py

username = ("cisco") SW1#conf t

password = ("cisco") Enter configuration commands, one per line. End with CNTL/Z.
SW1(config)#vlan 2
tn = telnetlib.Telnet("192.168.1.10") SW1(config-vlan)#name vlan_2
tn.read_until("Username: ") SW1(config-vlan)#vlan 3
tn.write(username + "\n") SW1(config-vlan)#name vlan_3
tn.read_until("Password: ") SW1(config-vlan)#vlan 4
tn.write(password + "\n") SW1(config-vlan)#name vlan_4
tn.write("conf t \n") SW1(config-vlan)#vlan 5
time.sleep(1) SW1(config-vlan)#name vlan_5
SW1(config-vlan)#vlan 6
for x in range (2,10): SW1(config-vlan)#name vlan_6
tn.write("vlan " + str(x) + "\n") SW1(config-vlan)#vlan 7
time.sleep(1) SW1(config-vlan)#name vlan_7
tn.write("name vlan_" + str(x) + "\n") SW1(config-vlan)#vlan 8
time.sleep(1) SW1(config-vlan)#name vlan_8
SW1(config-vlan)#vlan 9
tn.write("end\n") SW1(config-vlan)#name vlan_9
time.sleep(1) SW1(config-vlan)#end
tn.write("exit\n") SW1#

print tn.read_very_eager() Thank You

print("\nThank You")

120
Netmiko

121
 Netmiko

The purposes of this library are the following:

• Successfully establish an SSH connection to the device

• Simplify the execution of show commands and the retrieval of output data

• Simplify execution of configuration commands including possibly commit actions

Do the above across a broad set of networking vendors and platforms

122
 Netmiko
root@NetworkAutomation:~# python netmiko1.py
Interface IP-Address OK? Method Status Protocol
from netmiko import ConnectHandler Ethernet0/0 unassigned YES unset up up
Ethernet0/1 unassigned YES unset up up
ios = { Ethernet0/2 unassigned YES unset up up
Ethernet0/3 unassigned YES unset up up
'device_type': 'cisco_ios', Ethernet1/0 unassigned YES unset up up
'ip': '192.168.1.10', Ethernet1/1 unassigned YES unset up up
'username': 'cisco', Ethernet1/2 unassigned YES unset up up
Ethernet1/3 unassigned YES unset up up
'password': 'cisco' Ethernet2/0 unassigned YES unset up up
} Ethernet2/1 unassigned YES unset up up
Ethernet2/2 unassigned YES unset up up
Ethernet2/3 unassigned YES unset up up
net_connect = ConnectHandler(**ios) Ethernet3/0 unassigned YES unset up up
output = net_connect.send_command('show ip int brief') Ethernet3/1 unassigned YES unset up up
print (output) Ethernet3/2 unassigned YES unset up up
Ethernet3/3 unassigned YES unset up up
Loopback0 1.1.1.1 YES NVRAM up up
config_commands = ['int loop 0', 'ip address 1.1.1.1 255.255.255.0'] Vlan1 unassigned YES unset administratively down down
output = net_connect.send_config_set(config_commands) Vlan10 192.168.1.10 YES NVRAM up up
config term
print (output) Enter configuration commands, one per line. End with CNTL/Z.
IOU1(config)#int loop 0
IOU1(config-if)#ip address 1.1.1.1 255.255.255.0
IOU1(config-if)#end

123
NAPALM

124
 NAPALM

NAPALM (Network Automation and Programmability Abstraction Layer with Multivendor support) is a
Python library that implements a set of functions to interact with different network device Operating
Systems using a unified API.

NAPALM supports several methods to connect to the devices, to manipulate configurations or to retrieve
data.

Supported Network Operating Systems:

•Arista EOS
•Cisco IOS
•Cisco IOS-XR
•Cisco NX-OS
•Juniper JunOS

https://napalm.readthedocs.io/en/latest/index.html

125
NAPALM

126
NAPALM

127
 NAPALM

python napalm1.py
from napalm import get_network_driver
{u'os_version': u'Solaris Software (I86BI_LINUXL2-ADVENTERPRISEK9-M),
driver = get_network_driver('ios') Experimental Version 15.1(20130726:213425) [dstivers-j
uly26-2013-team_track 104]',
ios = driver('192.168.1.10', 'cisco', 'cisco') u'uptime': 2640,
u'interface_list': [u'Ethernet0/0', u'Ethernet0/1', u'Ethernet0/2', u'Ethernet
0/3', u'Ethernet1/0', u'Ethernet1/1', u'Ethernet1/2', u'Ethernet1/3',
ios.open() u'Ethernet2/0', u'Ethernet2/1', u'Ethernet2/2', u'Ethe
rnet2/3', u'Ethernet3/0', u'Ethernet3/1', u'Ethernet3/2', u'Ethernet3/3',
ios_output = ios.get_facts() u'Loopback0',
u'Vlan1', u'Vlan10'],
print (ios_output) u'vendor': u'Cisco',
u'serial_number': u'2048001', u'model': u'Unknown', u'hostname': u'IOU1',
u'fqdn': u'IOU1.cisco.com'}

128
 Use Case

Case I :
Configure Vlan on multiple switches and interfaces simultaneously.

129
 Thinking Process !

• Problem identification
• Configure Vlan on multiple switches and its interfaces simultaneously.
• Error handling.
• Time mismanagement.

• Implementing a Plan
• Automate vlan creation.
• Use programming language
• Debugging issues
• Determine format of output
• Integration of frontend and backend code.

• Solution
• No more manual configuration
• Error less provisioning
• Efficient utilization of time

• Future Enhancements
• Multi vendor support

130
Frontend HTML Page

131
Frontend HTML Page

132
Backend Python Code

133
Debug session on Network Node

134
What happened when vlan already exists !

135
Enter incorrect vlan !

136
 Python for Network Engineers

• The language which is widely opt by Network community and there is a very big gap between
Python and other prevalent languages such as Perl, Ruby, Go as far as the size of the
community.

• For new comers make simple scripts then move to complicated ones.

• There is a vast amount of available network libraries.

• Use various Python tools/modules to handle network devices from several networking vendors:
Cisco (IOS, IOS XE, IOS XR), Juniper, Arista, HP, Avaya.

• Execute CLI commands on several network devices simultaneously.

137
 Closing Remarks

• If you are really interested in moving forward, try making your mind and picking up a choice.

• Community is there to support you.

• Start small, celebrate the little things, and build, build, build!

• At the end of the day the true reason for happiness is creating something out of nothing.

A good mentor of mine told me if you want to create a flying car, then start with making some
wheels into a skateboard, enjoy the skateboard and turn that into a bike and so on. – Yad Faeq

Questions ! 13
8
 Thank You

You will never be 100% ready to change. Don’t wait for the perfect time. It will never come.
Start today ! 139