Red Hat Ansible for Network Automation
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In this course, you will learn how to use Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform to automate your management of network devices. A number of virtual network devices have been provided for you, running two network operating systems: Cisco IOS and VyOS.
A management network that provides out-of-band management access to all network devices and servers in the classroom environment has been provided for you.
That network assigns hosts IPv4 addresses from 172.25.250.0/24.
A lab network (or production services network) connecting your network devices and three servers represents the "production" network that you are using Ansible to configure. The layer 2 diagram of the lab network is illustrated in the second of the two preceding diagrams.
Your network devices and production servers are as follows:
Table 1. Network Devices and Production Servers
| Machine name | OS | Role |
|---|---|---|
| cs01.lab.example.com | Cisco IOS-XE 16.3.5 | Cisco CSR1000V router representing a cloud-hosted device. |
| spine01.lab.example.com | VyOS 1.1.8 | VyOS router representing a spine or top-level router on-site. |
| spine02.lab.example.com | VyOS 1.1.8 | VyOS router representing a spine or top-level router on-site. |
| leaf01.lab.example.com | VyOS 1.1.8 | VyOS router representing a leaf router or access-level L3 switch on-site. |
| leaf02.lab.example.com | VyOS 1.1.8 | VyOS router representing a leaf router or access-level L3 switch on-site. |
| server01.lab.example.com | RHEL 7.5 | Represents an on-site Linux server. |
| server02.lab.example.com | RHEL 7.5 | Represents an on-site Linux server. |
| server03.lab.example.com | RHEL 7.5 | Represents a cloud-hosted Linux server. |
For administrative access, the admin account on the Cisco router has the password student, the vyos accounts on the VyOS routers have the password vyos, and the root accounts on the RHEL servers have the password redhat.
You have also been provided with three additional servers on the management network:
Table 2. Management Systems
| Machine name | IP address | Role |
|---|---|---|
| workstation.lab.example.com | 172.25.250.254 | Graphical Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 workstation for network administration. |
| utility.lab.example.com (git.lab.example.com) | 172.25.250.8 | Server for Git repositories that contain your Ansible automation code. |
| tower.lab.example.com | 172.25.250.9 | Red Hat Ansible Tower server. |
You will start most hands-on activities on workstation, which you can use to edit files and run a web browser.
All Linux-based computer systems have a standard user account, student, which has the password student.
The root password on all Linux servers is redhat.
The URL of your Git repository server is http://git.lab.example.com:3000/student.
The DNS domain name used in the classroom environment is example.com.
Your machines are assigned names in the lab subdomain (lab.example.com).
You are assigned remote computers in a Red Hat Online Learning classroom. They are accessed through a web application hosted at . You should log in to this site using your Red Hat Customer Portal user credentials.
Controlling the Virtual Machines
The virtual machines in your classroom environment are controlled through a web page. The state of each virtual machine in the classroom is displayed on the page under the Online Lab tab.
Table 3. Machine States
| Virtual Machine State | Description |
|---|---|
| STARTING | The virtual machine is in the process of booting. |
| STARTED | The virtual machine is running and available (or, when booting, soon will be). |
| STOPPING | The virtual machine is in the process of shutting down. |
| STOPPED | The virtual machine is completely shut down. Upon starting, the virtual machine boots into the same state as when it was shut down (the disk will have been preserved). |
| PUBLISHING | The initial creation of the virtual machine is being performed. |
| WAITING_TO_START | The virtual machine is waiting for other virtual machines to start. |
Depending on the state of a machine, a selection of the following actions is available.
Table 4. Classroom/Machine Actions
| Button or Action | Description |
|---|---|
| Create the ROL classroom. Creates all of the virtual machines needed for the classroom and starts them. Can take several minutes to complete. | |
| Delete the ROL classroom. Destroys all virtual machines in the classroom. Caution: Any work generated on the disks is lost. | |
| Start all virtual machines in the classroom. | |
| Stop all virtual machines in the classroom. | |
Open a new tab in the browser and connect to the console of the virtual machine.
Students can log in directly to the virtual machine and run commands.
In most cases, students should log in to the workstation virtual machine and use ssh to connect to the other virtual machines.
| |
| → | Start (power on) the virtual machine. |
| → | Gracefully shut down the virtual machine, preserving the contents of its disk. |
| → | Forcefully shut down the virtual machine, preserving the contents of its disk. This is equivalent to removing the power from a physical machine. |
| → | Forcefully shut down the virtual machine and reset the disk to its initial state. Caution: Any work generated on the disk is lost. |
At the start of an exercise, if instructed to reset a single virtual machine node, click → for only the specific virtual machine.
At the start of an exercise, if instructed to reset all virtual machines, click →
If you want to return the classroom environment to its original state at the start of the course, you can click to remove the entire classroom environment. After the lab has been deleted, you can click to provision a new set of classroom systems.
Warning
The operation cannot be undone. Any work you have completed in the classroom environment up to that point will be lost.
The Autostop Timer
The Red Hat Online Learning enrollment entitles students to a certain amount of computer time. To help conserve allotted computer time, the ROL classroom has an associated countdown timer, which shuts down the classroom environment when the timer expires.
To adjust the timer, click to display the New Autostop Time dialog box. Set the number of hours and minutes until the classroom should automatically stop. Note that there is a maximum time of ten hours. Click to apply this change to the timer settings.
