Network management technologies course description

A comprehensive tour of the available network management technologies available for todays networks. The course starts with basic tools such as syslog along with Python network automation. SNMP is then covered with the *flow technologies and streaming telemetry. Configuration management with ansible, Python, NETCONF and RESTCONF is then studied. The final part of the course looks at SDN. Hands on sessions are used throughout to reinforce the theory rather than teach specific manufacturer equipment. Note that sections are available as individual courses.

What will you learn

• Evaluate network management technologies.
• Evaluate network management technologies.
• Recognise the weaknesses of SNMP versus NETCONF and streaming telemetry.
• Explain the role of NETCONF and RESTCONF.
• Compare & contrast *flow and streaming telemetry.
• Explain the role of SDN in network management.
• Automate network configuration with ansible and Python.

Network management technologies course details

Network management technologies course content

Basic network management

• Network management

What is network management? Benefits, issues. FCAPS model. Fault management, Configuration management, accounting, performance, security. What to manage, what not to manage. Managing network devices, managing servers.

Monitoring networks

• Traditional network tools

Ping..., SSH, syslog, TFTP for configurations. nmap. Wireshark. CLI. Web based management. Splunk. Nessus, snort, Kali.
Hands on syslog, network inventories.

• Network automation using the CLI

Programming and automating networks, netOps. Python, Git. Python network modules, SSH, paramiko, netmiko. EVE-NG.
Hands onPython network modules.

• Structured versus unstructured data

Problems with automation and unstructured data. XML, JSON, YAML. The role of YANG.
Hands on Parsing data.

• SNMP

SNMP architecture, SNMP MIBs, SMI, the SNMP protocol, polling security. Configuring SNMP. SNMPv1, v2, v3, SNMP security. Which version should you use? MIBs and MIB structure. mib-2, extra parts of mib-2, Private enterprise MIBs. Summary: What SNMP is good/bad at.
Hands on Configuring agents and a NMS. MIB browsing.

• Server management

Microsoft, Linux, application polling. WMI vs SNMP. Hands on: Application polling.

Performance management

• *flow

Polling, push vs pull, netflow, sflow, IPFIX, *flow. Flows. Where to monitor traffic. Comparing *flow with SNMP. Architecture: Generators and collectors. When flows are exported. NetFlow reporting products. SolarWinds.
Hands on Netflow configuration. Collectors.

• Streaming telemetry

Model driven telemetry, periodic/on change. Structured data. Telemetry protocol stack. gRPC and gNMI. Protobuf. gNMI operations. Telemetry architecture. Telegraf, databases, Grafana.
Hands on Telemetry example.

Configuration management

• Configuration management tools

Chef, puppet, ansible, saltstack. Ansible architecture, controlling machines, nodes, agentless, SSH, modules. Inventories, playbooks, modules, network modules, jinja2 templates.
Hands on Network configuration with ansible.

• NETCONF

What is NETCONF? Protocol stack, Data stores, traffic flows, validating configurations, rollback. YANG data models and how YANG is used by NETCONF. XML. Explorers and other tools.
Hands on anx, Python and NETCONF.

• RESTCONF

The REST API, HTTP, What is RESTCONF? Tools including Postman. Comparison with NETCONF.
Hands on Configuration with RESTCONF.

• Python network automation: configuration

SSH issues. Using structured data. Jinja2. ncclient, requests, NAPALM, Nornir. Automated testing.
Hands on Python network device configuration with nornir.

Software Defined Networks and orchestration

• Classic SDN

What is SDN? benefits. SDN architecture. SDN applications, SDN switches, SDN controllers, Network Operating Systems. Control plane, data plane. Northbound interfaces. SDN components. Southbound interfaces. OpenFlow. ONF, OpenFlow ports, Flow tables.

• Network virtualization

Virtual networks, virtual switches, NfV. Service chaining. NfV and SDN.

• SDN implementations

Classic SDN, Hybrid SDN, SDN via APIs, SDN via overlays. Data centre SDN, VXLAN, Service Provider SDN, SD WAN, Enterprise SDN, WiFi.

• SDN and open source

OpenDaylight, OpenVSwitch, Open Networking Forum, Open Network Operating System.
Hands onOpenStack.

• SD-WAN

What is SD-WAN? Architecture: Edge, gateway, orchestrator, controller. Overlay and underlay. Use of MPLS, 4G/5G. Benefits and features. Secure Access Service Edge (SASE).

Learning path

Reviews