Ansible Automation Ansible for Network Automation 2

Question 1

What is the purpose of the 'ansible.netcommon.net_get' and 'net_put' modules?

Accepted Answer

net_get transfers files from network devices to the control node; net_put transfers files from the control node to network devices

Answer

net_get retrieves configuration facts; net_put pushes configuration changes

Answer

They are used for SCP/SFTP file transfer to Linux-based network devices only

Answer

net_get downloads IOS images; net_put uploads new firmware

Question 2

What is the 'network_cli' persistent connection and why is it important for performance?

Accepted Answer

It maintains a persistent SSH connection across multiple tasks rather than reconnecting for each task, significantly reducing playbook execution time

Answer

It creates a dedicated network interface on the control node for device communication

Answer

It enables simultaneous connections to multiple devices in a single SSH session

Answer

It persists connection state between separate playbook runs

Question 3

How do you create a network automation inventory that separates Cisco IOS, NX-OS, and Junos devices?

Accepted Answer

Create inventory groups with group_vars defining ansible_network_os and connection parameters per vendor

Answer

Create separate inventory files per vendor and merge them at runtime

Answer

Use a dynamic inventory script that auto-detects device OS types

Answer

Network inventories cannot be mixed; one inventory per OS type is required

Question 4

What is the role of 'napalm' (Network Automation and Programmability Abstraction Layer with Multivendor support) in Ansible network automation?

Accepted Answer

NAPALM provides a vendor-agnostic Python API for network devices that Ansible can use via the 'napalm' collection, enabling consistent operations across IOS, NX-OS, EOS, and Junos

Answer

NAPALM is Ansible's internal connection framework for all network protocols

Answer

NAPALM replaces SSH with a proprietary protocol for faster network automation

Answer

NAPALM is a Cisco-developed library that only works with Cisco products

Question 5

What is 'config diff' functionality in Ansible network modules and why is it useful?

Accepted Answer

Network config modules can show a diff between desired and current device configuration, enabling review before applying changes and supporting --check mode

Answer

Config diff compares running vs startup configuration on the device

Answer

It shows differences between two network device configurations for compliance

Answer

Config diff is a backup feature that tracks configuration changes over time

Question 6

How do you generate network device configurations from templates using Ansible?

Accepted Answer

Use the 'template' module with Jinja2 templates to render device-specific configurations from variable data, then push with network config modules

Answer

Use ios_template or similar vendor-specific template modules

Answer

Configuration generation requires external tools—Ansible only pushes pre-built configs

Answer

Use ansible-builder to generate device configurations from YANG models