{"id":161,"date":"2023-09-23T12:38:39","date_gmt":"2023-09-23T12:38:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.netasic.com\/?p=161"},"modified":"2026-05-18T15:34:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T15:34:34","slug":"getting-started-with-network-automation-using-ansible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.netasic.com\/index.php\/2023\/09\/23\/getting-started-with-network-automation-using-ansible\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting Started with Network Automation using Ansible"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ansible is an agentless automation tool, which allow dramatically reduce the time required for configuring our networks systems. We can automate many of our daily tasks and even dynamically manage of our configuration what we call orchestration.<\/p>\n

Let’s start<\/h3>\n
    \n
  1. Getting started with Ansible<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. Installation Guide<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    After installation ansible on Linux:<\/h3>\n
      \n
    1. Finding ansible.cfg<\/span> file:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      ansible@virtualbox:~$ ansible --version<\/strong><\/span>\r\nansible [core 2.14.5]<\/span>\r\nconfig file = \/home\/ansible\/ansible.cfg<\/span>\r\nconfigured module search path = ['\/home\/ansible\/.ansible\/plugins\/modules', '\/usr\/share\/ansible\/plugins\/modules']<\/span>\r\nansible python module location = \/usr\/lib\/python3\/dist-packages\/ansible<\/span>\r\nansible collection location = \/home\/ansible\/.ansible\/collections:\/usr\/share\/ansible\/collections<\/span>\r\nexecutable location = \/usr\/bin\/ansible<\/span>\r\npython version = 3.10.12 (main, Jun 11 2023, 05:26:28) [GCC 11.4.0] (\/usr\/bin\/python3)<\/span>\r\njinja version = 3.0.3<\/span>\r\nlibyaml = True<\/span><\/pre>\n
      2. Finding path to “inventory”:<\/span><\/p>\n
      ansible@virtualbox:~$ cat \/home\/ansible\/ansible.cfg | grep 'inventory'<\/strong><\/span>\r\n# For some uses you can also look into custom vars_plugins to merge on input, even substituting the default ``host_group_vars`` that is in charge of parsing the ``host_vars\/`` and ``group_vars\/`` directories. Most users of this setting are only interested in inventory scope, but the setting itself affects all sources and makes debugging even harder.<\/span>\r\n# (pathlist) Comma separated list of Ansible inventory sources<\/span>\r\n;inventory=\/etc\/ansible\/hosts<\/span>\r\n;inventory_plugins={{ ANSIBLE_HOME ~ \"\/plugins\/inventory:\/usr\/share\/ansible\/plugins\/inventory\" }}<\/span><\/pre>\n
      3. Adding addresses IP of nodes in “inventory” file:<\/p>\n
      ansible@virtualbox:~$ cat \/etc\/ansible\/hosts<\/strong>\r\n# This is the default ansible 'hosts' file.\r\n#\r\n# It should live in \/etc\/ansible\/hosts\r\n#\r\n# - Comments begin with the '#' character\r\n# - Blank lines are ignored\r\n# - Groups of hosts are delimited by [header] elements\r\n# - You can enter hostnames or ip addresses\r\n# - A hostname\/ip can be a member of multiple groups\r\n\r\n# Ex 1: Ungrouped hosts, specify before any group headers:\r\n\r\n\r\n[all:vars]\r\nansible_ssh_pass=cisco\r\nansible_network_os=ios\r\nansible_connection=network_cli\r\n\r\n[test]\r\nlocalhost ansible_connection=local\r\n\r\n[router]\r\n10.0.0.1\r\n10.0.0.2\r\n10.0.0.10<\/span><\/pre>\n
       <\/p>\n
      4. Checking connection with nodes:<\/p>\n
      ansible@virtualbox:~$ ansible all -m ping<\/strong><\/span>\r\nlocalhost | SUCCESS => {<\/span>\r\n\"ansible_facts\": {<\/span>\r\n\"discovered_interpreter_python\": \"\/usr\/bin\/python3\"<\/span>\r\n},<\/span>\r\n\"changed\": false,<\/span>\r\n\"ping\": \"pong\"<\/span>\r\n}<\/span>\r\n[WARNING]: ansible-pylibssh not installed, falling back to paramiko<\/span>\r\n[WARNING]: ansible-pylibssh not installed, falling back to paramiko<\/span>\r\n[WARNING]: ansible-pylibssh not installed, falling back to paramiko<\/span>\r\n10.0.0.2 | SUCCESS => {<\/span>\r\n\"changed\": false,<\/span>\r\n\"ping\": \"pong\"<\/span>\r\n}<\/span>\r\n10.0.0.1 | SUCCESS => {<\/span>\r\n\"changed\": false,<\/span>\r\n\"ping\": \"pong\"<\/span>\r\n}<\/span>\r\n10.0.0.10 | SUCCESS => {<\/span>\r\n\"changed\": false,<\/span>\r\n\"ping\": \"pong\"<\/span>\r\n}<\/span><\/pre>\n
       <\/p>\n
      Configuring SSH connection between Ubuntu and routers which launched in GNS3<\/h3>\n
        \n
      1. Software version of my virtual machines<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
        In my case I’m using Ubuntu 22.04 LTS:<\/p>\n
        Linux virtualbox 6.2.0-32-generic #32~22.04.1-Ubuntu SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Fri Aug 18 10:40:13 UTC 2 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU\/Linux<\/pre>\n
        and Cisco IOS C3745-ADVIPSERVICESK9-M:<\/p>\n
        Cisco IOS Software, 3700 Software (C3745-ADVIPSERVICESK9-M), Version 12.4(25d), RELEASE SOFTWARE (fc1)\r\nIMAGE in GNS3: c3745-adventerprisek9-mz.SW.image<\/pre>\n
        \"\"<\/p>\n
         <\/p>\n
        2. SSH configuration on Ubuntu:<\/p>\n
        ansible@virtualbox:~\/.ssh$ pwd<\/strong><\/span>\r\n\r\n\/home\/ansible\/.ssh        #\"ansible\" here is my user on Ubuntu<\/span>\r\n\r\nansible@virtualbox:~\/.ssh$ cat config<\/strong><\/span>\r\n\r\n#Host 10.0.0.10<\/span>\r\n\r\n# KexAlgorithms +diffie-hellman-group1-sha1<\/span>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nHost 10.0.0.10<\/span>\r\n\r\nUser cisco<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 PubkeyAcceptedAlgorithms +ssh-rsa<\/span>\r\n\r\nHostkeyAlgorithms +ssh-rsa<\/span>\r\n\r\nSendEnv LANG LC_*<\/span>\r\n\r\nCiphers +aes256-cbc<\/span>\r\n\r\nKexAlgorithms +diffie-hellman-group1-sha1<\/span>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nHost 10.0.0.1<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 User cisco<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 PubkeyAcceptedAlgorithms +ssh-rsa<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 HostkeyAlgorithms +ssh-rsa<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 SendEnv LANG LC_*<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Ciphers +aes256-cbc<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 KexAlgorithms +diffie-hellman-group1-sha1<\/span>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nHost 10.0.0.2<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 User cisco<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 PubkeyAcceptedAlgorithms +ssh-rsa<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 HostkeyAlgorithms +ssh-rsa<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 SendEnv LANG LC_*<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Ciphers +aes256-cbc<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 KexAlgorithms +diffie-hellman-group1-sha1<\/span>\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/pre>\n
         <\/p>\n
        3. SSH configuration of routers:<\/p>\n
        username cisco privilege 15 secret 5 $1$6ATn$K\/\/vtl9HPK8wx3bq7PnvB.<\/span>\r\n!<\/span>\r\nip ssh version 2<\/span>\r\n!<\/span>\r\nline vty 0 4<\/span>\r\nlogin local<\/span>\r\ntransport input ssh<\/span>\r\n!<\/span>\r\n!<\/span><\/pre>\n
        Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
        Ansible is an agentless automation tool, which allow dramatically reduce the time required for configuring our networks systems. We can automate many of our daily tasks and even dynamically manage of our configuration what we call orchestration. Let’s start Getting … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.netasic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.netasic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.netasic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.netasic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.netasic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161"}],"version-history":[{"count":34,"href":"https:\/\/www.netasic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":337,"href":"https:\/\/www.netasic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161\/revisions\/337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.netasic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.netasic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.netasic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}