Hello , this is Maggie from UK

Hello everyone,
I work as a network engineer for an e-commerce website and have been using network lessons for all my CCNP exam preps.I find it easy to learn from this site.So clear and crisp.I also used all of Renes books for my CCNP. I found them easy to revise through.Currently I am concentrating on learning network automation through Python and Ansible.
Which one is best for network automation?
How do you guys manage to learn automation skills with also ensuring you have the relevant network knowledge to be a good network engineer?
I am also new to AWS networking and trying to get familiar with direct connects and other AWS services from a network point of view.

Hello Maggie

Great to hear that you are finding NetworkLessons useful in your certification journey. Rene is an excellent teacher and we do our best to support his work by answering any questions or concerns you may have.

It’s really a matter of opinion, and of experience. Even so, these two tools are a little different and focus on different things. Specifically, Python is a programming language that can be used to create and execute very complex scripts. You can customize it to a very high degree, but you must be proficient in programming in order to get to a high level of customization. In other words, experience with Python is a prerequisite.

Ansible on the other hand is a tool that has been specifically created for network automation. Ansible itself is written in Python. For those not as proficient with Python, Ansible is a simpler more streamlined way of enabling automation that has a minimal learning curve. However, if you do know Python well, Ansible can still be of benefit as you can add, extend, and further customize its capabilities.

So if you’re not as proficient in Python, or if your goal is limited only to network automation, then using only Ansible will probably be the easiest and most readily deployable choice. If however you are up for a challenge or you are a Python guru, then pure Python may actually be a more powerful tool for you as a high level of customization can be achieved. But remember, that these two can be used in conjunction to get what you need done fast and accurately.

I hope this has been helpful!

Laz

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Hi Laz,
Thanks for your detailed explanation.Gives me lot more clarity on what path to take.

Thanks.
Maggie

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