How to be a Network Engineer in a

Programmable Age
Introduction to Network Programmability Basics

Hank Preston, ccie 38336

Developer Evangelist
@hfpreston

Network Programmability Basics/Introduction/How to be a Network Engineer in a Programmable Age

Topics to Cover
• The Network Engineer of Old
The Network Engineer Evolves
• The Four Ages of
Networking
• Cloud to the Rescue rtr$ conf t

• Today’s Network Engineer

• Network Programmability
Basics Course

© 2017 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
The Network Engineer of Old
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Meet Carl the Network Engineer

Programming Skills Networking Skills

• TCL • Spanning-Tree
• EEM • Routing Protocols
• Expect Scripts • QoS
• VPN Design
• Spanning-Tree
• VOIP
• Fibre Channel
• Security Policy
• MPLS
• Spanning-Tree
• Did I mention Spanning-Tree?

© 2017 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
The Network…

© 2017 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
The Network…

© 2017 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
The Network…

© 2017 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
The Network…

© 2017 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
The Network…

© 2017 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
The Network…

© 2017 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
The OSI Model of Networking…
L7: Application
Please don’t ask
L6: Presentation
about this…
L5: Session

L4: Transport Oh Yeah… We Got

L3: Network this
L2: Data Link
Black Magic
L1: Physical
© 2017 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
The Four Ages of
Networking

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Stone Age
Spanning Tree
VLANs

The Four Ages of Networking…..

© 2017 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
Stone Age Bronze Age
Spanning Tree Routing Protocols
VLANs WAN Design
IP-magedon

The Four Ages of Networking…..

© 2017 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
Stone Age Bronze Age The Renaissance
Spanning Tree Routing Protocols SDN
VLANs WAN Design OpenFlow
IP-magedon Controllers
Overlays
MP-BGP
VXLAN
Micro-Segmentation
White Box

The Four Ages of Networking…..

© 2017 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
Stone Age Bronze Age The Renaissance Programmable Age
Spanning Tree Routing Protocols SDN Cloud
VLANs WAN Design OpenFlow Python
IP-magedon Controllers REST / APIs
Overlays NETCONF / YANG
MP-BGP “Fabrics”
VXLAN Network Function
Micro-Segmentation Virtualization (NFV)
White Box DevOps
Containers

The Four Ages of Networking…..

© 2017 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
App Economy Internet of Things Tech Unicorns

User Expectations and If it isn’t connected, don’t Low barrier of entry for
Agility bother… disruptors

© 2017 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
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 The Cloud You Plan to
Build ☺

© 2017 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
 The Cloud You Plan to
Build ☺

The Cloud You End

Up With 
© 2017 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
© 2017 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
© 2017 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
Today’s Network Engineer

© 2017 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
Carl’s 3 Step Approach to Network
Programmability
Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3
• Python • Linux Skills • Linux Networking
• REST APIs • Ansible • Container Networking
• JSON/XML • Docker • NFV
• git/GitHub • NETCONF/YANG

As Needed
• Network Controllers
• IOT Networking
• Cloud Networking
• NFV
• ”DevOps”
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Carl has Embraced Programmability!
(and got himself a new shirt ☺)

Core Programming “New” Networking Stuff

• Python • Network Controllers
• REST APIs • NETCONF/YANG
• JSON/XML • Container Networking
• Linux Skills • Cloud Networking
• Ansible • Linux Networking
(Puppet/Chef/etc) • IOT Networking
• git/GitHub • NFV
• Docker
• ”DevOps”

© 2017 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
© 2017 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
Network Programmability
Basics Course

© 2017 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
Network Programmability Basics Modules
• Introduction: How to be a Network Engineer in a Programmable Age
• Programming Fundamentals
• Network Device APIs
• Network Controllers
• Application Hosting and the Network
• NetDevOps

© 2017 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
Network Programmability Basics: The Lessons
Module: Programming Fundamentals
• Data Formats: Understanding and using JSON, XML and YAML
• APIs are Everywhere... but what are they?
• REST APIs Part 1: HTTP is for more than Web Browsing
• REST APIs Part 2: Making REST API Calls with Postman
• Python Part 1: Python Language and Script Basics
• Python Part 2: Working with Libraries and Virtual Environments
• Python Part 3: Useful Python Libraries for Network Engineers
© 2017 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
Network Programmability Basics: The Lessons
Module: Network Device APIs
• Getting the “YANG” of it with Standard Data Models
• Good by SNMP <hello> NETCONF!
• Learn to CRUD with GET, POST and DELETE using RESTCONF
• NX-API Part 1: Get Started with APIs and Nexus
• NX-API Part 2: Dive into the Nexus Object Model

© 2017 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
Network Programmability Basics: The Lessons
Module: Network Controllers
• Program your own DNA with APIC-EM APIs
• Got SDN? Understanding the ACI Programmability Options
• Network Control in the Cloud - Developing with Cisco Meraki
• DNA APIs Part 1: Exploring APIC-EM Apps via API
• DNA APIs Part 2: Troubleshooting with APIC-EM Programmability
• ACI Programmability Part 1: The ACI Object Model
• ACI Programmability Part 2: Using the ACI Toolkit
© 2017 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
Network Programmability Basics: The Lessons
Module: Application Hosting and the Network
• Cloud to Fog… Why Host Apps in the Network
• Linux at the Edge: Introduction to Guest Shell
• Python at the Edge: Super Charged Network Event Management
• Package, Deploy and Run Applications in the Network with IOx

© 2017 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
Network Programmability Basics: The Lessons
Module: NetDevOps
• Configuration Management and the Network
• Ansible Part 1: What you need to Get Started
• Ansible Part 2: Using Ansible for Network Configuration
• Ansible Part 3: Your Network As Code

© 2017 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
Summing up

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Review
• We looked back on the history of the network and network
engineering
• Traveled through the Four Ages of Networking
• Talked about the impact “Cloud” has had on IT
• Considered the skills a network engineer needs today

© 2017 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
Call to Action!
• Complete the full Network
Programmability Basics Course
• Get the Code!
github.com/CiscoDevNet/netprog_basics
• Join DevNet for so much more!
• Learning Labs
• Development Sandboxes

• Code Samples and API Guides

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Got more questions? Come find me!
[email protected]
@hfpreston
http://github.com/hpreston

@CiscoDevNet
facebook.com/ciscodevnet/
http://github.com/CiscoDevNet

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