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' copies files FROM network devices (config backups, logs); 'net_put' copies files TO network devices (new configs, 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

Persistent connections reuse established SSH sessions across multiple tasks, avoiding the overhead of repeated SSH handshakes and authentication for every task.

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

Group-based inventories with group_vars per vendor type is the standard pattern for managing heterogeneous network environments.

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 abstracts vendor differences, providing a unified API for operations like get_interfaces(), get_bgp_neighbors(), and load_merge_candidate() across multiple network OS vendors.

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

Network modules' diff support enables reviewing what would change before applying, similar to 'terraform plan', enabling safer network change management.

Ansible Automation Practice Test

Ansible Automation Practice Test

Ansible Automation Ansible for Network Automation 2