12 Hot Programming Languages For Infrastructure Pros
Consider adding these top languages, including Python and Java, to your IT pro skill set.
Engineering Education: 5 Emerging Trends
Universities are taking several steps to update their engineering programs for modern IT.
Ansible and Junos Notes
I’m working on a project to push out configs to Juniper devices and upgrade them if necessary. In the first instance I thought about writing it all in Python, but there’s really no need because quite a lot of legwork has already been done for you in the form of ‘PyEz’ and the Junos Ansible core modules.
Juniper give you a few examples to get you started, but don’t really explain what each of the lines in the YAML file does, but I guess they expect you to figure that out. Below are a few notes on things I discovered – perhaps obvious to some, but they might help someone else.
‘No module named jnpr.junos’ When Running Ansible
In the examples Juniper give, they don’t tell you that the Ansible module ‘Juniper.junos’ relies on a Python module called ‘jnpr.junos’. (It is mentioned elsewhere if you look for it.)
So if you’ve done an ‘ansible-galaxy install Juniper.junos’ you could be forgiven for thinking that you’ve downloaded the modules you need. You then gaily go on to have a crack at the example given above, but get this error:
$ ansible-playbook juniper-test.yml PLAY [Get info] ********************************************************* TASK Continue reading
Save the date: Leaf-and-Spine Fabric Design Workshop in Zurich
Do you believe in vendor-supplied black box (regardless of whether you call it ACI or SDDC) or in building your own data center fabric using solid design principles?
It should be an easy choice if believe a business should control its own destiny instead of being pulled around by vendor marketing (to paraphrase Russ White)
Read more ...Scripts
This article contains a list of scripts that I created and that are somehow useful for me. You are free to download and modify them according to your needs. I do not take any responsibility for improper use or any damage caused by using them.
1. Networking & Servers
1.1 Automatic Deployment VyOS ISO on VMware VM
A Bash script deploy vyos.sh downloads the latest VyOS ISO image and an Expect script install vyos.exp installs VyOS ISO on VMware vmdk disk.
1.2 Automatic Deployment of DRBL (Clonezilla) Server
The script deploy drbl.sh installs and configure DRBL server on Ubuntu with a single Ethernet card. You have to provide the name of Ethernet interface as an argument. The script creates a virtual interface for you based on a physical interface. It also downloads a DRBL project public key, download and install drbl package from repository.
1.3 Secure Copy with Rsync from SSH server
The script copy.sh keeps copying files with rsync command while a return value of the rsync command is not zero. Just edit script and set server IP address and bothe remote and local directory.
1.4 Collecting MAC and IP addresses Continue reading
IPv6 and the DNS
We often think of the Internet as the web, or even these days as just a set of apps. When we look at the progress with the transition to IPv6 we talk about how these apps are accessible using IPv6 and mark this as progress. But the Internet is more than just these services. There is a whole substructure of support and if we are thinking about an IPv6 Internet then everything needs to change. So here I want to look at perhaps the most critical of these hidden infrastructure elements - the Domain Name System. How are we going with using IPv6 in the DNS?Principles of Automation
Automation is an increasingly interesting topic in pretty much every technology discipline these days. There’s lots of talk about tooling, practices, skill set evolution, and more - but little conversation about fundamentals. What little is published by those actually practicing automation, usually takes the form of source code or technical whitepapers. While these are obviously valuable, they don’t usually cover some of the fundamental basics that could prove useful to the reader who wishes to perform similar things in their own organization, but may have different technical requirements.
I write this post to cover what I’m calling the “Principles of Automation”. I have pondered this topic for a while and I believe I have three principles that cover just about any form of automation you may consider. These principles have nothing to do with technology disciplines, tools, or programming languages - they are fundamental principles that you can adopt regardless of the implementation.
I hope you enjoy.
It’s a bit of a long post, so TL;DR - automation isn’t magic. It isn’t only for the “elite”. Follow these guidelines and you can realize the same value regardless of your scale.
Factorio
Lately I’ve been obsessed with a game called “Factorio”. Continue reading
Principles of Automation
Automation is an increasingly interesting topic in pretty much every technology discipline these days. There’s lots of talk about tooling, practices, skill set evolution, and more - but little conversation about fundamentals. What little is published by those actually practicing automation, usually takes the form of source code or technical whitepapers. While these are obviously valuable, they don’t usually cover some of the fundamental basics that could prove useful to the reader who wishes to perform similar things in their own organization, but may have different technical requirements.
I write this post to cover what I’m calling the “Principles of Automation”. I have pondered this topic for a while and I believe I have three principles that cover just about any form of automation you may consider. These principles have nothing to do with technology disciplines, tools, or programming languages - they are fundamental principles that you can adopt regardless of the implementation.
I hope you enjoy.
It’s a bit of a long post, so TL;DR - automation isn’t magic. It isn’t only for the “elite”. Follow these guidelines and you can realize the same value regardless of your scale.
Factorio
Lately I’ve been obsessed with a game called “Factorio”. Continue reading