Mastering Automation in Enterprise Networking
You’re trusted with securing and scaling one of the most complex systems in your organisation. Yet every day brings new pressure. Manual configurations, inconsistent policies, and repeat outages eat into performance. You're expected to deliver perfect uptime, rapid deployments, and ironclad security. But the tools you use are rigid, siloed, and slow. You're not failing. The system is. What if you could remove dependency on fragile, human-led processes and shift your network from a cost centre to a strategic asset? What if you could deploy infrastructure changes in minutes, validate compliance automatically, and reduce outages by over 70% - all while being recognised as the architect of transformation at your company? That’s not hypothetical. It’s exactly what engineers are achieving after completing Mastering Automation in Enterprise Networking. This course is your entry point into a world where networks are predictable, resilient, and self-healing. No more heroic firefighting. No more spreadsheets of device credentials. No more silence from leadership when you propose change. Instead, you gain a repeatable system for designing, deploying, and governing automated networking at scale. From initial assessment to board-ready implementation plan, you’ll go from concept to operational autonomy in under 30 days. Take Sarah M., a Senior Network Engineer at a global logistics firm. After implementing the configuration templating framework from this course, she reduced deployment time for new branch offices from 5 days to 90 minutes. Her team eliminated 18 manual checklist steps, cut provisioning errors to zero, and earned a spot on the CIO’s innovation taskforce the following quarter. You don’t need a greenfield environment. You don’t need executive buy-in day one. You don’t need to learn three new programming languages. What you do need is a structured, battle-tested path that delivers real ROI and removes the guesswork. This course is that path. Here’s how this course is structured to help you get there.Immediate, Risk-Free, Lifetime Access to Industry-Grade Automation Excellence Mastering Automation in Enterprise Networking is a fully self-paced, on-demand learning experience designed for senior engineers, network architects, and infrastructure leads who demand precision, control, and real career impact. From the moment you enroll, you gain full digital access to an enterprise-grade curriculum that evolves with the industry - no scheduled classes, no time conflicts, no delays. What You Get
- Self-paced, on-demand access - Begin immediately, progress at your speed, pause and resume as needed
- Lifetime access - One-time enrollment grants permanent access, including all future updates and content refreshes at no additional cost
- Global, 24/7 availability - Access your materials anytime, from any device, anywhere in the world
- Mobile-optimised - Read, annotate, and track progress from your smartphone, tablet, or laptop
- Role-specific implementation guides - Templates, checklists, and validation workflows tailored to your environment
- Direct instructor support access - Structured guidance pathways with response protocols for clarification and review
- Certificate of Completion issued by The Art of Service - A globally recognised credential that validates your expertise in enterprise automation, ideal for LinkedIn, resumes, and performance reviews
Most learners complete the core program in 4 to 6 weeks, investing 60 to 90 minutes per day. But results begin within days. Within the first module, you’ll audit your current automation readiness and create a high-impact pilot project plan. Many engineers report a measurable reduction in configuration drift and incident recurrence in under two weeks. Zero-Risk Enrollment with Full Confidence Protection
We remove every barrier to your success. There are no hidden fees, no monthly subscriptions, and no surprise charges. The price is a single, transparent investment with immediate access to all materials. We accept Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal for fast, secure payment processing. If at any point in the first 14 days you find the course does not meet your expectations, simply contact support for a full refund - no forms, no justification, no risk. Your mastery is the only condition. After enrollment, you’ll receive an email confirmation. Your course access credentials and entry instructions will be delivered separately once your learner profile is fully provisioned. This Works Even If...
You’re not a coder. You work with legacy Cisco and Juniper stacks. Your change control process is bureaucratic. You don’t have API access yet. You’re not in a cloud-first environment. You’ve tried Ansible before and failed. You've been burned by automation platforms that promised more than they delivered. Here’s the truth: This course is not about tools. It's about strategy, governance, and sustainable automation patterns. You’ll master declarative workflows, intent-based networking principles, and closed-loop validation - methods used by Fortune 500 enterprises to scale operations with zero downtime. One learner, Raj K., Principal Architect at a Tier 1 financial institution, was managing over 4,000 network devices with zero automation. 12 weeks after applying the segmentation and phased rollout model taught in this program, his team reduced manual troubleshooting hours by 64%, eliminated rollback incidents, and automated 95% of PCI-DSS compliance checks. You’re not learning theory. You're getting an executable blueprint. With lifetime access, continuous content updates, and a global credential behind you, you gain long-term leverage, not just a temporary skill.
Module 1: Foundations of Enterprise Automation - Defining automation in the context of enterprise networking
- Differentiating orchestration, automation, and programmability
- Understanding the business drivers behind network automation
- Common failure patterns in legacy network operations
- Assessing organisational readiness for automation
- Building the case for change in risk-averse environments
- Establishing measurable goals for automation projects
- Understanding the role of change management in automation adoption
- Mapping stakeholders and identifying key decision-makers
- Creating a personal automation success metric framework
Module 2: Core Automation Architectures and Design Principles - The layered automation stack: data, control, and management planes
- Agent vs agentless architectures in network automation
- Push vs pull configuration models and their trade-offs
- Idempotency and its critical role in reliable automation
- Declarative vs imperative configuration approaches
- State-driven automation workflows
- Intent-based networking and policy-driven design
- Designing automation for resilience and fault tolerance
- Version-controlled network infrastructure using Git
- The role of abstraction in managing complexity
- Creating environment parity across dev, test, and production
- Modular design patterns for reusable automation components
- Service abstraction layers for multi-vendor environments
- Backward compatibility strategies when introducing automation
- Designing for auditability and compliance by default
Module 3: Data Models and Configuration Templating - YANG data modelling fundamentals for network devices
- Translating vendor CLI into structured data models
- NETCONF and RESTCONF protocol data encoding
- Using Jinja2 templates for dynamic configuration generation
- Creating reusable templates for switch, router, and firewall roles
- Managing variable inheritance and environment-specific overrides
- Validating template output before deployment
- Handling complex configurations with nested templates
- Automating template versioning and change tracking
- Mapping business requirements to configuration parameters
- Building template libraries for organisational reuse
- Syntax validation and error prevention in templated outputs
- Testing configuration templates in sandbox environments
- Integrating templates with deployment pipelines
- Securing templates with access controls and audit trails
Module 4: Version Control and Infrastructure As Code - Principles of Infrastructure as Code for networking
- Setting up Git repositories for network device configurations
- Branching strategies for parallel development and testing
- Commit message standards and audit trails
- Pull request workflows for peer review of configuration changes
- Automating file formatting and linting in code pipelines
- Protecting master branches with approval requirements
- Using Git hooks to enforce automation policies
- Storing credentials securely using Git-crypt and SOPS
- Versioning network policies and access control lists
- Rolling back changes using Git history
- Generating configuration snapshots for compliance audits
- Comparing configurations across time using Git diff
- Integrating version control with ticketing systems
- Documenting configuration rationale in commit notes
- Training teams on Git workflows for networking
Module 5: Orchestration Frameworks and Execution Engines - Comparing Ansible, SaltStack, and Nornir for network automation
- Selecting the right tool based on environment and team skills
- Understanding playbook structure and execution flow
- Role-based automation with reusable playbook components
- Task delegation and control node design
- Handling credential management securely
- Creating custom modules for proprietary devices
- Using dynamic inventories for large-scale device management
- Integrating DNS, IPAM, and monitoring systems into playbooks
- Managing dependencies between automation tasks
- Parallel execution and performance scaling
- Error handling and graceful degradation strategies
- Logging and reporting automation execution results
- Building self-documenting automation workflows
- Testing playbooks in isolated environments
- Scheduling recurring automation tasks with reliability checks
Module 6: Device APIs and Communication Protocols - Understanding REST APIs in network device management
- Working with vendor-specific API endpoints
- Using Python requests to interact with device APIs
- Authentication methods: API keys, tokens, OAuth, and certificates
- Handling rate limiting and connection timeouts
- Parsing JSON and XML responses from devices
- Constructing valid API payloads for configuration commands
- Verifying SSL certificates and securing API connections
- Using gRPC and gNMI for modern telemetry and configuration
- Navigating API versioning and deprecation policies
- Reverse engineering undocumented API behaviour
- Building API wrappers for consistent interaction patterns
- Caching API responses to improve performance
- Monitoring API health and availability
- Integrating APIs into broader automation pipelines
Module 7: Configuration Management and Drift Detection - Defining the “golden configuration” concept
- Automating configuration backups from all network devices
- Normalising configurations for cross-vendor comparison
- Detecting configuration drift using checksums and diffs
- Creating automatic notifications for unauthorised changes
- Reconciling drift with automation to restore compliance
- Using regular expressions to extract critical configuration lines
- Building drift reports for security and compliance teams
- Scheduling automated audit intervals
- Integrating drift detection with SIEM systems
- Handling intentional vs unintentional configuration changes
- Versioning configuration snapshots over time
- Comparing configurations across device roles
- Restoring configurations from backup in outage scenarios
- Validating restored configurations for correctness
Module 8: Compliance and Security Automation - Automating compliance checks for PCI-DSS, HIPAA, and SOX
- Mapping regulatory requirements to device configuration rules
- Creating automated audit evidence reports
- Validating firewall rule consistency across zones
- Enforcing minimum password length and complexity
- Automating SSH key rotation processes
- Checking for disabled unused services and ports
- Validating ACLs against least-privilege principles
- Generating compliance dashboards for leadership review
- Integrating with GRC platforms via API
- Automating vulnerability scanning for network services
- Detecting misconfigurations that violate security policies
- Scheduling recurring compliance validation cycles
- Creating executive summaries of compliance posture
- Automating approval workflows for exceptions
- Producing time-stamped evidence logs for auditors
Module 9: Zero-Touch Provisioning and Lifecycle Management - Principles of zero-touch provisioning for new devices
- Setting up DHCP options for automated onboarding
- Using iPXE and TFTP for initial configuration delivery
- Automating firmware upgrades across device fleets
- Validating hardware compatibility before updates
- Creating maintenance windows with automated rollback
- Decommissioning devices with automated configuration removal
- Archiving device documentation and access logs
- Updating network diagrams automatically during changes
- Managing device lifecycle from onboarding to retirement
- Tracking device warranties and support contracts
- Automating end-of-life risk detection
- Integrating with asset management databases
- Ensuring physical security policies are enforced during decommissioning
- Generating asset handover documentation automatically
Module 10: Monitoring, Telemetry, and Closed-Loop Automation - Differences between polling and streaming telemetry
- Setting up gNMI subscriptions for real-time data
- Ingesting and storing telemetry data with time-series databases
- Using Prometheus and Grafana for visualisation
- Creating alerts based on network state anomalies
- Designing self-healing automation responses
- Automated interface flapping detection and mitigation
- Dynamic load balancing adjustments based on traffic patterns
- Automated rerouting during congestion or outages
- Using SNMP traps in hybrid automation systems
- Event correlation across multiple network layers
- Integrating with AIOps platforms for root cause analysis
- Building feedback loops between monitoring and configuration
- Validating automated fixes with post-recovery checks
- Documenting closed-loop events for review and audit
Module 11: Multi-Vendor and Hybrid Environment Integration - Strategies for automating mixed-vendor environments
- Abstracting vendor-specific syntax behind common interfaces
- Normalising data models across Cisco, Juniper, Arista, and HPE
- Handling CLI variations using template logic
- Integrating SD-WAN controllers into automation workflows
- Automating cloud networking components (AWS, Azure, GCP)
- Synchronising on-prem and cloud network policies
- Using Terraform for cloud-native resource provisioning
- Managing hybrid DNS and DHCP services
- Automating firewall policy consistency across domains
- Handling credential differences across platforms
- Building interoperability test suites
- Validating cross-platform configurations for consistency
- Creating unified inventory files for global device management
- Reporting on automation coverage across all environments
Module 12: Change Validation and Pre-Deployment Testing - Establishing pre-change validation checkpoints
- Using sandbox environments for risk-free testing
- Automated syntax validation before deployment
- Simulating topology changes in lab environments
- Verifying ACL and firewall rule logic before rollout
- Testing failover scenarios in virtual networks
- Using pyATS for automated network test scripting
- Generating test reports with pass/fail metrics
- Scheduling regression testing after changes
- Automating peer review requests for high-risk changes
- Integrating test results into change approval workflows
- Building checklists into automation for gatekeeping
- Validating backup availability before execution
- Confirming rollback procedures are in place
- Logging validation results for audit purposes
Module 13: Orchestration with CI/CD and DevOps Pipelines - Integrating network automation with Jenkins pipelines
- Using GitLab CI for continuous configuration testing
- Creating pipeline stages: lint, test, stage, approve, deploy
- Fail-fast principles in network change pipelines
- Automated deployment approvals based on test outcomes
- Integrating with Jira and ServiceNow for change tracking
- Using webhooks to trigger automation from ticket updates
- Generating deployment reports after each pipeline run
- Managing environment promotions via pipeline gates
- Securing pipeline credentials with vault integration
- Parallelising deployments across regions
- Rolling back failed deployments automatically
- Monitoring pipeline health and performance metrics
- Training operations teams on pipeline interaction
- Documenting pipeline architecture and dependencies
Module 14: Governance, Documentation, and Knowledge Transfer - Creating automation runbooks with standard operating procedures
- Documenting decision logic behind automation workflows
- Generating topology diagrams from live configurations
- Automating documentation updates after changes
- Using Markdown and static site generators for guides
- Building searchable internal knowledge bases
- Onboarding new engineers with automation training paths
- Conducting internal automation review sessions
- Defining ownership and maintenance responsibilities
- Establishing review cycles for automation scripts
- Managing technical debt in automation code
- Creating version compatibility matrices
- Standardising naming conventions and labelling
- Compliance with internal IT governance policies
- Ensuring operational continuity during staff transitions
- Scaling knowledge beyond a single automation champion
Module 15: Certification, Career Impact, and Next Steps - Preparing your final project: a real-world automation implementation
- Reviewing project against enterprise best practices
- Documenting business impact and technical results
- Submitting for assessment and feedback
- Earning your Certificate of Completion issued by The Art of Service
- Verifying credential authenticity via official portal
- Adding certification to LinkedIn and professional profiles
- Leveraging the credential in performance reviews and promotions
- Networking with peers through alumni forums
- Accessing advanced automation case studies and playbooks
- Receiving invitations to exclusive industry roundtables
- Using the certification as a stepping stone to SRE or cloud architecture roles
- Building a portfolio of automation achievements
- Speaking confidently about automation ROI in interviews
- Staying updated through member-only content briefings
- Accessing lifetime course updates and community insights
- Planning your next automation initiative with confidence
- Measuring long-term performance gains from implemented systems
- Establishing yourself as a trusted automation authority
- Guiding your organisation toward autonomous infrastructure
- Defining automation in the context of enterprise networking
- Differentiating orchestration, automation, and programmability
- Understanding the business drivers behind network automation
- Common failure patterns in legacy network operations
- Assessing organisational readiness for automation
- Building the case for change in risk-averse environments
- Establishing measurable goals for automation projects
- Understanding the role of change management in automation adoption
- Mapping stakeholders and identifying key decision-makers
- Creating a personal automation success metric framework
Module 2: Core Automation Architectures and Design Principles - The layered automation stack: data, control, and management planes
- Agent vs agentless architectures in network automation
- Push vs pull configuration models and their trade-offs
- Idempotency and its critical role in reliable automation
- Declarative vs imperative configuration approaches
- State-driven automation workflows
- Intent-based networking and policy-driven design
- Designing automation for resilience and fault tolerance
- Version-controlled network infrastructure using Git
- The role of abstraction in managing complexity
- Creating environment parity across dev, test, and production
- Modular design patterns for reusable automation components
- Service abstraction layers for multi-vendor environments
- Backward compatibility strategies when introducing automation
- Designing for auditability and compliance by default
Module 3: Data Models and Configuration Templating - YANG data modelling fundamentals for network devices
- Translating vendor CLI into structured data models
- NETCONF and RESTCONF protocol data encoding
- Using Jinja2 templates for dynamic configuration generation
- Creating reusable templates for switch, router, and firewall roles
- Managing variable inheritance and environment-specific overrides
- Validating template output before deployment
- Handling complex configurations with nested templates
- Automating template versioning and change tracking
- Mapping business requirements to configuration parameters
- Building template libraries for organisational reuse
- Syntax validation and error prevention in templated outputs
- Testing configuration templates in sandbox environments
- Integrating templates with deployment pipelines
- Securing templates with access controls and audit trails
Module 4: Version Control and Infrastructure As Code - Principles of Infrastructure as Code for networking
- Setting up Git repositories for network device configurations
- Branching strategies for parallel development and testing
- Commit message standards and audit trails
- Pull request workflows for peer review of configuration changes
- Automating file formatting and linting in code pipelines
- Protecting master branches with approval requirements
- Using Git hooks to enforce automation policies
- Storing credentials securely using Git-crypt and SOPS
- Versioning network policies and access control lists
- Rolling back changes using Git history
- Generating configuration snapshots for compliance audits
- Comparing configurations across time using Git diff
- Integrating version control with ticketing systems
- Documenting configuration rationale in commit notes
- Training teams on Git workflows for networking
Module 5: Orchestration Frameworks and Execution Engines - Comparing Ansible, SaltStack, and Nornir for network automation
- Selecting the right tool based on environment and team skills
- Understanding playbook structure and execution flow
- Role-based automation with reusable playbook components
- Task delegation and control node design
- Handling credential management securely
- Creating custom modules for proprietary devices
- Using dynamic inventories for large-scale device management
- Integrating DNS, IPAM, and monitoring systems into playbooks
- Managing dependencies between automation tasks
- Parallel execution and performance scaling
- Error handling and graceful degradation strategies
- Logging and reporting automation execution results
- Building self-documenting automation workflows
- Testing playbooks in isolated environments
- Scheduling recurring automation tasks with reliability checks
Module 6: Device APIs and Communication Protocols - Understanding REST APIs in network device management
- Working with vendor-specific API endpoints
- Using Python requests to interact with device APIs
- Authentication methods: API keys, tokens, OAuth, and certificates
- Handling rate limiting and connection timeouts
- Parsing JSON and XML responses from devices
- Constructing valid API payloads for configuration commands
- Verifying SSL certificates and securing API connections
- Using gRPC and gNMI for modern telemetry and configuration
- Navigating API versioning and deprecation policies
- Reverse engineering undocumented API behaviour
- Building API wrappers for consistent interaction patterns
- Caching API responses to improve performance
- Monitoring API health and availability
- Integrating APIs into broader automation pipelines
Module 7: Configuration Management and Drift Detection - Defining the “golden configuration” concept
- Automating configuration backups from all network devices
- Normalising configurations for cross-vendor comparison
- Detecting configuration drift using checksums and diffs
- Creating automatic notifications for unauthorised changes
- Reconciling drift with automation to restore compliance
- Using regular expressions to extract critical configuration lines
- Building drift reports for security and compliance teams
- Scheduling automated audit intervals
- Integrating drift detection with SIEM systems
- Handling intentional vs unintentional configuration changes
- Versioning configuration snapshots over time
- Comparing configurations across device roles
- Restoring configurations from backup in outage scenarios
- Validating restored configurations for correctness
Module 8: Compliance and Security Automation - Automating compliance checks for PCI-DSS, HIPAA, and SOX
- Mapping regulatory requirements to device configuration rules
- Creating automated audit evidence reports
- Validating firewall rule consistency across zones
- Enforcing minimum password length and complexity
- Automating SSH key rotation processes
- Checking for disabled unused services and ports
- Validating ACLs against least-privilege principles
- Generating compliance dashboards for leadership review
- Integrating with GRC platforms via API
- Automating vulnerability scanning for network services
- Detecting misconfigurations that violate security policies
- Scheduling recurring compliance validation cycles
- Creating executive summaries of compliance posture
- Automating approval workflows for exceptions
- Producing time-stamped evidence logs for auditors
Module 9: Zero-Touch Provisioning and Lifecycle Management - Principles of zero-touch provisioning for new devices
- Setting up DHCP options for automated onboarding
- Using iPXE and TFTP for initial configuration delivery
- Automating firmware upgrades across device fleets
- Validating hardware compatibility before updates
- Creating maintenance windows with automated rollback
- Decommissioning devices with automated configuration removal
- Archiving device documentation and access logs
- Updating network diagrams automatically during changes
- Managing device lifecycle from onboarding to retirement
- Tracking device warranties and support contracts
- Automating end-of-life risk detection
- Integrating with asset management databases
- Ensuring physical security policies are enforced during decommissioning
- Generating asset handover documentation automatically
Module 10: Monitoring, Telemetry, and Closed-Loop Automation - Differences between polling and streaming telemetry
- Setting up gNMI subscriptions for real-time data
- Ingesting and storing telemetry data with time-series databases
- Using Prometheus and Grafana for visualisation
- Creating alerts based on network state anomalies
- Designing self-healing automation responses
- Automated interface flapping detection and mitigation
- Dynamic load balancing adjustments based on traffic patterns
- Automated rerouting during congestion or outages
- Using SNMP traps in hybrid automation systems
- Event correlation across multiple network layers
- Integrating with AIOps platforms for root cause analysis
- Building feedback loops between monitoring and configuration
- Validating automated fixes with post-recovery checks
- Documenting closed-loop events for review and audit
Module 11: Multi-Vendor and Hybrid Environment Integration - Strategies for automating mixed-vendor environments
- Abstracting vendor-specific syntax behind common interfaces
- Normalising data models across Cisco, Juniper, Arista, and HPE
- Handling CLI variations using template logic
- Integrating SD-WAN controllers into automation workflows
- Automating cloud networking components (AWS, Azure, GCP)
- Synchronising on-prem and cloud network policies
- Using Terraform for cloud-native resource provisioning
- Managing hybrid DNS and DHCP services
- Automating firewall policy consistency across domains
- Handling credential differences across platforms
- Building interoperability test suites
- Validating cross-platform configurations for consistency
- Creating unified inventory files for global device management
- Reporting on automation coverage across all environments
Module 12: Change Validation and Pre-Deployment Testing - Establishing pre-change validation checkpoints
- Using sandbox environments for risk-free testing
- Automated syntax validation before deployment
- Simulating topology changes in lab environments
- Verifying ACL and firewall rule logic before rollout
- Testing failover scenarios in virtual networks
- Using pyATS for automated network test scripting
- Generating test reports with pass/fail metrics
- Scheduling regression testing after changes
- Automating peer review requests for high-risk changes
- Integrating test results into change approval workflows
- Building checklists into automation for gatekeeping
- Validating backup availability before execution
- Confirming rollback procedures are in place
- Logging validation results for audit purposes
Module 13: Orchestration with CI/CD and DevOps Pipelines - Integrating network automation with Jenkins pipelines
- Using GitLab CI for continuous configuration testing
- Creating pipeline stages: lint, test, stage, approve, deploy
- Fail-fast principles in network change pipelines
- Automated deployment approvals based on test outcomes
- Integrating with Jira and ServiceNow for change tracking
- Using webhooks to trigger automation from ticket updates
- Generating deployment reports after each pipeline run
- Managing environment promotions via pipeline gates
- Securing pipeline credentials with vault integration
- Parallelising deployments across regions
- Rolling back failed deployments automatically
- Monitoring pipeline health and performance metrics
- Training operations teams on pipeline interaction
- Documenting pipeline architecture and dependencies
Module 14: Governance, Documentation, and Knowledge Transfer - Creating automation runbooks with standard operating procedures
- Documenting decision logic behind automation workflows
- Generating topology diagrams from live configurations
- Automating documentation updates after changes
- Using Markdown and static site generators for guides
- Building searchable internal knowledge bases
- Onboarding new engineers with automation training paths
- Conducting internal automation review sessions
- Defining ownership and maintenance responsibilities
- Establishing review cycles for automation scripts
- Managing technical debt in automation code
- Creating version compatibility matrices
- Standardising naming conventions and labelling
- Compliance with internal IT governance policies
- Ensuring operational continuity during staff transitions
- Scaling knowledge beyond a single automation champion
Module 15: Certification, Career Impact, and Next Steps - Preparing your final project: a real-world automation implementation
- Reviewing project against enterprise best practices
- Documenting business impact and technical results
- Submitting for assessment and feedback
- Earning your Certificate of Completion issued by The Art of Service
- Verifying credential authenticity via official portal
- Adding certification to LinkedIn and professional profiles
- Leveraging the credential in performance reviews and promotions
- Networking with peers through alumni forums
- Accessing advanced automation case studies and playbooks
- Receiving invitations to exclusive industry roundtables
- Using the certification as a stepping stone to SRE or cloud architecture roles
- Building a portfolio of automation achievements
- Speaking confidently about automation ROI in interviews
- Staying updated through member-only content briefings
- Accessing lifetime course updates and community insights
- Planning your next automation initiative with confidence
- Measuring long-term performance gains from implemented systems
- Establishing yourself as a trusted automation authority
- Guiding your organisation toward autonomous infrastructure
- YANG data modelling fundamentals for network devices
- Translating vendor CLI into structured data models
- NETCONF and RESTCONF protocol data encoding
- Using Jinja2 templates for dynamic configuration generation
- Creating reusable templates for switch, router, and firewall roles
- Managing variable inheritance and environment-specific overrides
- Validating template output before deployment
- Handling complex configurations with nested templates
- Automating template versioning and change tracking
- Mapping business requirements to configuration parameters
- Building template libraries for organisational reuse
- Syntax validation and error prevention in templated outputs
- Testing configuration templates in sandbox environments
- Integrating templates with deployment pipelines
- Securing templates with access controls and audit trails
Module 4: Version Control and Infrastructure As Code - Principles of Infrastructure as Code for networking
- Setting up Git repositories for network device configurations
- Branching strategies for parallel development and testing
- Commit message standards and audit trails
- Pull request workflows for peer review of configuration changes
- Automating file formatting and linting in code pipelines
- Protecting master branches with approval requirements
- Using Git hooks to enforce automation policies
- Storing credentials securely using Git-crypt and SOPS
- Versioning network policies and access control lists
- Rolling back changes using Git history
- Generating configuration snapshots for compliance audits
- Comparing configurations across time using Git diff
- Integrating version control with ticketing systems
- Documenting configuration rationale in commit notes
- Training teams on Git workflows for networking
Module 5: Orchestration Frameworks and Execution Engines - Comparing Ansible, SaltStack, and Nornir for network automation
- Selecting the right tool based on environment and team skills
- Understanding playbook structure and execution flow
- Role-based automation with reusable playbook components
- Task delegation and control node design
- Handling credential management securely
- Creating custom modules for proprietary devices
- Using dynamic inventories for large-scale device management
- Integrating DNS, IPAM, and monitoring systems into playbooks
- Managing dependencies between automation tasks
- Parallel execution and performance scaling
- Error handling and graceful degradation strategies
- Logging and reporting automation execution results
- Building self-documenting automation workflows
- Testing playbooks in isolated environments
- Scheduling recurring automation tasks with reliability checks
Module 6: Device APIs and Communication Protocols - Understanding REST APIs in network device management
- Working with vendor-specific API endpoints
- Using Python requests to interact with device APIs
- Authentication methods: API keys, tokens, OAuth, and certificates
- Handling rate limiting and connection timeouts
- Parsing JSON and XML responses from devices
- Constructing valid API payloads for configuration commands
- Verifying SSL certificates and securing API connections
- Using gRPC and gNMI for modern telemetry and configuration
- Navigating API versioning and deprecation policies
- Reverse engineering undocumented API behaviour
- Building API wrappers for consistent interaction patterns
- Caching API responses to improve performance
- Monitoring API health and availability
- Integrating APIs into broader automation pipelines
Module 7: Configuration Management and Drift Detection - Defining the “golden configuration” concept
- Automating configuration backups from all network devices
- Normalising configurations for cross-vendor comparison
- Detecting configuration drift using checksums and diffs
- Creating automatic notifications for unauthorised changes
- Reconciling drift with automation to restore compliance
- Using regular expressions to extract critical configuration lines
- Building drift reports for security and compliance teams
- Scheduling automated audit intervals
- Integrating drift detection with SIEM systems
- Handling intentional vs unintentional configuration changes
- Versioning configuration snapshots over time
- Comparing configurations across device roles
- Restoring configurations from backup in outage scenarios
- Validating restored configurations for correctness
Module 8: Compliance and Security Automation - Automating compliance checks for PCI-DSS, HIPAA, and SOX
- Mapping regulatory requirements to device configuration rules
- Creating automated audit evidence reports
- Validating firewall rule consistency across zones
- Enforcing minimum password length and complexity
- Automating SSH key rotation processes
- Checking for disabled unused services and ports
- Validating ACLs against least-privilege principles
- Generating compliance dashboards for leadership review
- Integrating with GRC platforms via API
- Automating vulnerability scanning for network services
- Detecting misconfigurations that violate security policies
- Scheduling recurring compliance validation cycles
- Creating executive summaries of compliance posture
- Automating approval workflows for exceptions
- Producing time-stamped evidence logs for auditors
Module 9: Zero-Touch Provisioning and Lifecycle Management - Principles of zero-touch provisioning for new devices
- Setting up DHCP options for automated onboarding
- Using iPXE and TFTP for initial configuration delivery
- Automating firmware upgrades across device fleets
- Validating hardware compatibility before updates
- Creating maintenance windows with automated rollback
- Decommissioning devices with automated configuration removal
- Archiving device documentation and access logs
- Updating network diagrams automatically during changes
- Managing device lifecycle from onboarding to retirement
- Tracking device warranties and support contracts
- Automating end-of-life risk detection
- Integrating with asset management databases
- Ensuring physical security policies are enforced during decommissioning
- Generating asset handover documentation automatically
Module 10: Monitoring, Telemetry, and Closed-Loop Automation - Differences between polling and streaming telemetry
- Setting up gNMI subscriptions for real-time data
- Ingesting and storing telemetry data with time-series databases
- Using Prometheus and Grafana for visualisation
- Creating alerts based on network state anomalies
- Designing self-healing automation responses
- Automated interface flapping detection and mitigation
- Dynamic load balancing adjustments based on traffic patterns
- Automated rerouting during congestion or outages
- Using SNMP traps in hybrid automation systems
- Event correlation across multiple network layers
- Integrating with AIOps platforms for root cause analysis
- Building feedback loops between monitoring and configuration
- Validating automated fixes with post-recovery checks
- Documenting closed-loop events for review and audit
Module 11: Multi-Vendor and Hybrid Environment Integration - Strategies for automating mixed-vendor environments
- Abstracting vendor-specific syntax behind common interfaces
- Normalising data models across Cisco, Juniper, Arista, and HPE
- Handling CLI variations using template logic
- Integrating SD-WAN controllers into automation workflows
- Automating cloud networking components (AWS, Azure, GCP)
- Synchronising on-prem and cloud network policies
- Using Terraform for cloud-native resource provisioning
- Managing hybrid DNS and DHCP services
- Automating firewall policy consistency across domains
- Handling credential differences across platforms
- Building interoperability test suites
- Validating cross-platform configurations for consistency
- Creating unified inventory files for global device management
- Reporting on automation coverage across all environments
Module 12: Change Validation and Pre-Deployment Testing - Establishing pre-change validation checkpoints
- Using sandbox environments for risk-free testing
- Automated syntax validation before deployment
- Simulating topology changes in lab environments
- Verifying ACL and firewall rule logic before rollout
- Testing failover scenarios in virtual networks
- Using pyATS for automated network test scripting
- Generating test reports with pass/fail metrics
- Scheduling regression testing after changes
- Automating peer review requests for high-risk changes
- Integrating test results into change approval workflows
- Building checklists into automation for gatekeeping
- Validating backup availability before execution
- Confirming rollback procedures are in place
- Logging validation results for audit purposes
Module 13: Orchestration with CI/CD and DevOps Pipelines - Integrating network automation with Jenkins pipelines
- Using GitLab CI for continuous configuration testing
- Creating pipeline stages: lint, test, stage, approve, deploy
- Fail-fast principles in network change pipelines
- Automated deployment approvals based on test outcomes
- Integrating with Jira and ServiceNow for change tracking
- Using webhooks to trigger automation from ticket updates
- Generating deployment reports after each pipeline run
- Managing environment promotions via pipeline gates
- Securing pipeline credentials with vault integration
- Parallelising deployments across regions
- Rolling back failed deployments automatically
- Monitoring pipeline health and performance metrics
- Training operations teams on pipeline interaction
- Documenting pipeline architecture and dependencies
Module 14: Governance, Documentation, and Knowledge Transfer - Creating automation runbooks with standard operating procedures
- Documenting decision logic behind automation workflows
- Generating topology diagrams from live configurations
- Automating documentation updates after changes
- Using Markdown and static site generators for guides
- Building searchable internal knowledge bases
- Onboarding new engineers with automation training paths
- Conducting internal automation review sessions
- Defining ownership and maintenance responsibilities
- Establishing review cycles for automation scripts
- Managing technical debt in automation code
- Creating version compatibility matrices
- Standardising naming conventions and labelling
- Compliance with internal IT governance policies
- Ensuring operational continuity during staff transitions
- Scaling knowledge beyond a single automation champion
Module 15: Certification, Career Impact, and Next Steps - Preparing your final project: a real-world automation implementation
- Reviewing project against enterprise best practices
- Documenting business impact and technical results
- Submitting for assessment and feedback
- Earning your Certificate of Completion issued by The Art of Service
- Verifying credential authenticity via official portal
- Adding certification to LinkedIn and professional profiles
- Leveraging the credential in performance reviews and promotions
- Networking with peers through alumni forums
- Accessing advanced automation case studies and playbooks
- Receiving invitations to exclusive industry roundtables
- Using the certification as a stepping stone to SRE or cloud architecture roles
- Building a portfolio of automation achievements
- Speaking confidently about automation ROI in interviews
- Staying updated through member-only content briefings
- Accessing lifetime course updates and community insights
- Planning your next automation initiative with confidence
- Measuring long-term performance gains from implemented systems
- Establishing yourself as a trusted automation authority
- Guiding your organisation toward autonomous infrastructure
- Comparing Ansible, SaltStack, and Nornir for network automation
- Selecting the right tool based on environment and team skills
- Understanding playbook structure and execution flow
- Role-based automation with reusable playbook components
- Task delegation and control node design
- Handling credential management securely
- Creating custom modules for proprietary devices
- Using dynamic inventories for large-scale device management
- Integrating DNS, IPAM, and monitoring systems into playbooks
- Managing dependencies between automation tasks
- Parallel execution and performance scaling
- Error handling and graceful degradation strategies
- Logging and reporting automation execution results
- Building self-documenting automation workflows
- Testing playbooks in isolated environments
- Scheduling recurring automation tasks with reliability checks
Module 6: Device APIs and Communication Protocols - Understanding REST APIs in network device management
- Working with vendor-specific API endpoints
- Using Python requests to interact with device APIs
- Authentication methods: API keys, tokens, OAuth, and certificates
- Handling rate limiting and connection timeouts
- Parsing JSON and XML responses from devices
- Constructing valid API payloads for configuration commands
- Verifying SSL certificates and securing API connections
- Using gRPC and gNMI for modern telemetry and configuration
- Navigating API versioning and deprecation policies
- Reverse engineering undocumented API behaviour
- Building API wrappers for consistent interaction patterns
- Caching API responses to improve performance
- Monitoring API health and availability
- Integrating APIs into broader automation pipelines
Module 7: Configuration Management and Drift Detection - Defining the “golden configuration” concept
- Automating configuration backups from all network devices
- Normalising configurations for cross-vendor comparison
- Detecting configuration drift using checksums and diffs
- Creating automatic notifications for unauthorised changes
- Reconciling drift with automation to restore compliance
- Using regular expressions to extract critical configuration lines
- Building drift reports for security and compliance teams
- Scheduling automated audit intervals
- Integrating drift detection with SIEM systems
- Handling intentional vs unintentional configuration changes
- Versioning configuration snapshots over time
- Comparing configurations across device roles
- Restoring configurations from backup in outage scenarios
- Validating restored configurations for correctness
Module 8: Compliance and Security Automation - Automating compliance checks for PCI-DSS, HIPAA, and SOX
- Mapping regulatory requirements to device configuration rules
- Creating automated audit evidence reports
- Validating firewall rule consistency across zones
- Enforcing minimum password length and complexity
- Automating SSH key rotation processes
- Checking for disabled unused services and ports
- Validating ACLs against least-privilege principles
- Generating compliance dashboards for leadership review
- Integrating with GRC platforms via API
- Automating vulnerability scanning for network services
- Detecting misconfigurations that violate security policies
- Scheduling recurring compliance validation cycles
- Creating executive summaries of compliance posture
- Automating approval workflows for exceptions
- Producing time-stamped evidence logs for auditors
Module 9: Zero-Touch Provisioning and Lifecycle Management - Principles of zero-touch provisioning for new devices
- Setting up DHCP options for automated onboarding
- Using iPXE and TFTP for initial configuration delivery
- Automating firmware upgrades across device fleets
- Validating hardware compatibility before updates
- Creating maintenance windows with automated rollback
- Decommissioning devices with automated configuration removal
- Archiving device documentation and access logs
- Updating network diagrams automatically during changes
- Managing device lifecycle from onboarding to retirement
- Tracking device warranties and support contracts
- Automating end-of-life risk detection
- Integrating with asset management databases
- Ensuring physical security policies are enforced during decommissioning
- Generating asset handover documentation automatically
Module 10: Monitoring, Telemetry, and Closed-Loop Automation - Differences between polling and streaming telemetry
- Setting up gNMI subscriptions for real-time data
- Ingesting and storing telemetry data with time-series databases
- Using Prometheus and Grafana for visualisation
- Creating alerts based on network state anomalies
- Designing self-healing automation responses
- Automated interface flapping detection and mitigation
- Dynamic load balancing adjustments based on traffic patterns
- Automated rerouting during congestion or outages
- Using SNMP traps in hybrid automation systems
- Event correlation across multiple network layers
- Integrating with AIOps platforms for root cause analysis
- Building feedback loops between monitoring and configuration
- Validating automated fixes with post-recovery checks
- Documenting closed-loop events for review and audit
Module 11: Multi-Vendor and Hybrid Environment Integration - Strategies for automating mixed-vendor environments
- Abstracting vendor-specific syntax behind common interfaces
- Normalising data models across Cisco, Juniper, Arista, and HPE
- Handling CLI variations using template logic
- Integrating SD-WAN controllers into automation workflows
- Automating cloud networking components (AWS, Azure, GCP)
- Synchronising on-prem and cloud network policies
- Using Terraform for cloud-native resource provisioning
- Managing hybrid DNS and DHCP services
- Automating firewall policy consistency across domains
- Handling credential differences across platforms
- Building interoperability test suites
- Validating cross-platform configurations for consistency
- Creating unified inventory files for global device management
- Reporting on automation coverage across all environments
Module 12: Change Validation and Pre-Deployment Testing - Establishing pre-change validation checkpoints
- Using sandbox environments for risk-free testing
- Automated syntax validation before deployment
- Simulating topology changes in lab environments
- Verifying ACL and firewall rule logic before rollout
- Testing failover scenarios in virtual networks
- Using pyATS for automated network test scripting
- Generating test reports with pass/fail metrics
- Scheduling regression testing after changes
- Automating peer review requests for high-risk changes
- Integrating test results into change approval workflows
- Building checklists into automation for gatekeeping
- Validating backup availability before execution
- Confirming rollback procedures are in place
- Logging validation results for audit purposes
Module 13: Orchestration with CI/CD and DevOps Pipelines - Integrating network automation with Jenkins pipelines
- Using GitLab CI for continuous configuration testing
- Creating pipeline stages: lint, test, stage, approve, deploy
- Fail-fast principles in network change pipelines
- Automated deployment approvals based on test outcomes
- Integrating with Jira and ServiceNow for change tracking
- Using webhooks to trigger automation from ticket updates
- Generating deployment reports after each pipeline run
- Managing environment promotions via pipeline gates
- Securing pipeline credentials with vault integration
- Parallelising deployments across regions
- Rolling back failed deployments automatically
- Monitoring pipeline health and performance metrics
- Training operations teams on pipeline interaction
- Documenting pipeline architecture and dependencies
Module 14: Governance, Documentation, and Knowledge Transfer - Creating automation runbooks with standard operating procedures
- Documenting decision logic behind automation workflows
- Generating topology diagrams from live configurations
- Automating documentation updates after changes
- Using Markdown and static site generators for guides
- Building searchable internal knowledge bases
- Onboarding new engineers with automation training paths
- Conducting internal automation review sessions
- Defining ownership and maintenance responsibilities
- Establishing review cycles for automation scripts
- Managing technical debt in automation code
- Creating version compatibility matrices
- Standardising naming conventions and labelling
- Compliance with internal IT governance policies
- Ensuring operational continuity during staff transitions
- Scaling knowledge beyond a single automation champion
Module 15: Certification, Career Impact, and Next Steps - Preparing your final project: a real-world automation implementation
- Reviewing project against enterprise best practices
- Documenting business impact and technical results
- Submitting for assessment and feedback
- Earning your Certificate of Completion issued by The Art of Service
- Verifying credential authenticity via official portal
- Adding certification to LinkedIn and professional profiles
- Leveraging the credential in performance reviews and promotions
- Networking with peers through alumni forums
- Accessing advanced automation case studies and playbooks
- Receiving invitations to exclusive industry roundtables
- Using the certification as a stepping stone to SRE or cloud architecture roles
- Building a portfolio of automation achievements
- Speaking confidently about automation ROI in interviews
- Staying updated through member-only content briefings
- Accessing lifetime course updates and community insights
- Planning your next automation initiative with confidence
- Measuring long-term performance gains from implemented systems
- Establishing yourself as a trusted automation authority
- Guiding your organisation toward autonomous infrastructure
- Defining the “golden configuration” concept
- Automating configuration backups from all network devices
- Normalising configurations for cross-vendor comparison
- Detecting configuration drift using checksums and diffs
- Creating automatic notifications for unauthorised changes
- Reconciling drift with automation to restore compliance
- Using regular expressions to extract critical configuration lines
- Building drift reports for security and compliance teams
- Scheduling automated audit intervals
- Integrating drift detection with SIEM systems
- Handling intentional vs unintentional configuration changes
- Versioning configuration snapshots over time
- Comparing configurations across device roles
- Restoring configurations from backup in outage scenarios
- Validating restored configurations for correctness
Module 8: Compliance and Security Automation - Automating compliance checks for PCI-DSS, HIPAA, and SOX
- Mapping regulatory requirements to device configuration rules
- Creating automated audit evidence reports
- Validating firewall rule consistency across zones
- Enforcing minimum password length and complexity
- Automating SSH key rotation processes
- Checking for disabled unused services and ports
- Validating ACLs against least-privilege principles
- Generating compliance dashboards for leadership review
- Integrating with GRC platforms via API
- Automating vulnerability scanning for network services
- Detecting misconfigurations that violate security policies
- Scheduling recurring compliance validation cycles
- Creating executive summaries of compliance posture
- Automating approval workflows for exceptions
- Producing time-stamped evidence logs for auditors
Module 9: Zero-Touch Provisioning and Lifecycle Management - Principles of zero-touch provisioning for new devices
- Setting up DHCP options for automated onboarding
- Using iPXE and TFTP for initial configuration delivery
- Automating firmware upgrades across device fleets
- Validating hardware compatibility before updates
- Creating maintenance windows with automated rollback
- Decommissioning devices with automated configuration removal
- Archiving device documentation and access logs
- Updating network diagrams automatically during changes
- Managing device lifecycle from onboarding to retirement
- Tracking device warranties and support contracts
- Automating end-of-life risk detection
- Integrating with asset management databases
- Ensuring physical security policies are enforced during decommissioning
- Generating asset handover documentation automatically
Module 10: Monitoring, Telemetry, and Closed-Loop Automation - Differences between polling and streaming telemetry
- Setting up gNMI subscriptions for real-time data
- Ingesting and storing telemetry data with time-series databases
- Using Prometheus and Grafana for visualisation
- Creating alerts based on network state anomalies
- Designing self-healing automation responses
- Automated interface flapping detection and mitigation
- Dynamic load balancing adjustments based on traffic patterns
- Automated rerouting during congestion or outages
- Using SNMP traps in hybrid automation systems
- Event correlation across multiple network layers
- Integrating with AIOps platforms for root cause analysis
- Building feedback loops between monitoring and configuration
- Validating automated fixes with post-recovery checks
- Documenting closed-loop events for review and audit
Module 11: Multi-Vendor and Hybrid Environment Integration - Strategies for automating mixed-vendor environments
- Abstracting vendor-specific syntax behind common interfaces
- Normalising data models across Cisco, Juniper, Arista, and HPE
- Handling CLI variations using template logic
- Integrating SD-WAN controllers into automation workflows
- Automating cloud networking components (AWS, Azure, GCP)
- Synchronising on-prem and cloud network policies
- Using Terraform for cloud-native resource provisioning
- Managing hybrid DNS and DHCP services
- Automating firewall policy consistency across domains
- Handling credential differences across platforms
- Building interoperability test suites
- Validating cross-platform configurations for consistency
- Creating unified inventory files for global device management
- Reporting on automation coverage across all environments
Module 12: Change Validation and Pre-Deployment Testing - Establishing pre-change validation checkpoints
- Using sandbox environments for risk-free testing
- Automated syntax validation before deployment
- Simulating topology changes in lab environments
- Verifying ACL and firewall rule logic before rollout
- Testing failover scenarios in virtual networks
- Using pyATS for automated network test scripting
- Generating test reports with pass/fail metrics
- Scheduling regression testing after changes
- Automating peer review requests for high-risk changes
- Integrating test results into change approval workflows
- Building checklists into automation for gatekeeping
- Validating backup availability before execution
- Confirming rollback procedures are in place
- Logging validation results for audit purposes
Module 13: Orchestration with CI/CD and DevOps Pipelines - Integrating network automation with Jenkins pipelines
- Using GitLab CI for continuous configuration testing
- Creating pipeline stages: lint, test, stage, approve, deploy
- Fail-fast principles in network change pipelines
- Automated deployment approvals based on test outcomes
- Integrating with Jira and ServiceNow for change tracking
- Using webhooks to trigger automation from ticket updates
- Generating deployment reports after each pipeline run
- Managing environment promotions via pipeline gates
- Securing pipeline credentials with vault integration
- Parallelising deployments across regions
- Rolling back failed deployments automatically
- Monitoring pipeline health and performance metrics
- Training operations teams on pipeline interaction
- Documenting pipeline architecture and dependencies
Module 14: Governance, Documentation, and Knowledge Transfer - Creating automation runbooks with standard operating procedures
- Documenting decision logic behind automation workflows
- Generating topology diagrams from live configurations
- Automating documentation updates after changes
- Using Markdown and static site generators for guides
- Building searchable internal knowledge bases
- Onboarding new engineers with automation training paths
- Conducting internal automation review sessions
- Defining ownership and maintenance responsibilities
- Establishing review cycles for automation scripts
- Managing technical debt in automation code
- Creating version compatibility matrices
- Standardising naming conventions and labelling
- Compliance with internal IT governance policies
- Ensuring operational continuity during staff transitions
- Scaling knowledge beyond a single automation champion
Module 15: Certification, Career Impact, and Next Steps - Preparing your final project: a real-world automation implementation
- Reviewing project against enterprise best practices
- Documenting business impact and technical results
- Submitting for assessment and feedback
- Earning your Certificate of Completion issued by The Art of Service
- Verifying credential authenticity via official portal
- Adding certification to LinkedIn and professional profiles
- Leveraging the credential in performance reviews and promotions
- Networking with peers through alumni forums
- Accessing advanced automation case studies and playbooks
- Receiving invitations to exclusive industry roundtables
- Using the certification as a stepping stone to SRE or cloud architecture roles
- Building a portfolio of automation achievements
- Speaking confidently about automation ROI in interviews
- Staying updated through member-only content briefings
- Accessing lifetime course updates and community insights
- Planning your next automation initiative with confidence
- Measuring long-term performance gains from implemented systems
- Establishing yourself as a trusted automation authority
- Guiding your organisation toward autonomous infrastructure
- Principles of zero-touch provisioning for new devices
- Setting up DHCP options for automated onboarding
- Using iPXE and TFTP for initial configuration delivery
- Automating firmware upgrades across device fleets
- Validating hardware compatibility before updates
- Creating maintenance windows with automated rollback
- Decommissioning devices with automated configuration removal
- Archiving device documentation and access logs
- Updating network diagrams automatically during changes
- Managing device lifecycle from onboarding to retirement
- Tracking device warranties and support contracts
- Automating end-of-life risk detection
- Integrating with asset management databases
- Ensuring physical security policies are enforced during decommissioning
- Generating asset handover documentation automatically
Module 10: Monitoring, Telemetry, and Closed-Loop Automation - Differences between polling and streaming telemetry
- Setting up gNMI subscriptions for real-time data
- Ingesting and storing telemetry data with time-series databases
- Using Prometheus and Grafana for visualisation
- Creating alerts based on network state anomalies
- Designing self-healing automation responses
- Automated interface flapping detection and mitigation
- Dynamic load balancing adjustments based on traffic patterns
- Automated rerouting during congestion or outages
- Using SNMP traps in hybrid automation systems
- Event correlation across multiple network layers
- Integrating with AIOps platforms for root cause analysis
- Building feedback loops between monitoring and configuration
- Validating automated fixes with post-recovery checks
- Documenting closed-loop events for review and audit
Module 11: Multi-Vendor and Hybrid Environment Integration - Strategies for automating mixed-vendor environments
- Abstracting vendor-specific syntax behind common interfaces
- Normalising data models across Cisco, Juniper, Arista, and HPE
- Handling CLI variations using template logic
- Integrating SD-WAN controllers into automation workflows
- Automating cloud networking components (AWS, Azure, GCP)
- Synchronising on-prem and cloud network policies
- Using Terraform for cloud-native resource provisioning
- Managing hybrid DNS and DHCP services
- Automating firewall policy consistency across domains
- Handling credential differences across platforms
- Building interoperability test suites
- Validating cross-platform configurations for consistency
- Creating unified inventory files for global device management
- Reporting on automation coverage across all environments
Module 12: Change Validation and Pre-Deployment Testing - Establishing pre-change validation checkpoints
- Using sandbox environments for risk-free testing
- Automated syntax validation before deployment
- Simulating topology changes in lab environments
- Verifying ACL and firewall rule logic before rollout
- Testing failover scenarios in virtual networks
- Using pyATS for automated network test scripting
- Generating test reports with pass/fail metrics
- Scheduling regression testing after changes
- Automating peer review requests for high-risk changes
- Integrating test results into change approval workflows
- Building checklists into automation for gatekeeping
- Validating backup availability before execution
- Confirming rollback procedures are in place
- Logging validation results for audit purposes
Module 13: Orchestration with CI/CD and DevOps Pipelines - Integrating network automation with Jenkins pipelines
- Using GitLab CI for continuous configuration testing
- Creating pipeline stages: lint, test, stage, approve, deploy
- Fail-fast principles in network change pipelines
- Automated deployment approvals based on test outcomes
- Integrating with Jira and ServiceNow for change tracking
- Using webhooks to trigger automation from ticket updates
- Generating deployment reports after each pipeline run
- Managing environment promotions via pipeline gates
- Securing pipeline credentials with vault integration
- Parallelising deployments across regions
- Rolling back failed deployments automatically
- Monitoring pipeline health and performance metrics
- Training operations teams on pipeline interaction
- Documenting pipeline architecture and dependencies
Module 14: Governance, Documentation, and Knowledge Transfer - Creating automation runbooks with standard operating procedures
- Documenting decision logic behind automation workflows
- Generating topology diagrams from live configurations
- Automating documentation updates after changes
- Using Markdown and static site generators for guides
- Building searchable internal knowledge bases
- Onboarding new engineers with automation training paths
- Conducting internal automation review sessions
- Defining ownership and maintenance responsibilities
- Establishing review cycles for automation scripts
- Managing technical debt in automation code
- Creating version compatibility matrices
- Standardising naming conventions and labelling
- Compliance with internal IT governance policies
- Ensuring operational continuity during staff transitions
- Scaling knowledge beyond a single automation champion
Module 15: Certification, Career Impact, and Next Steps - Preparing your final project: a real-world automation implementation
- Reviewing project against enterprise best practices
- Documenting business impact and technical results
- Submitting for assessment and feedback
- Earning your Certificate of Completion issued by The Art of Service
- Verifying credential authenticity via official portal
- Adding certification to LinkedIn and professional profiles
- Leveraging the credential in performance reviews and promotions
- Networking with peers through alumni forums
- Accessing advanced automation case studies and playbooks
- Receiving invitations to exclusive industry roundtables
- Using the certification as a stepping stone to SRE or cloud architecture roles
- Building a portfolio of automation achievements
- Speaking confidently about automation ROI in interviews
- Staying updated through member-only content briefings
- Accessing lifetime course updates and community insights
- Planning your next automation initiative with confidence
- Measuring long-term performance gains from implemented systems
- Establishing yourself as a trusted automation authority
- Guiding your organisation toward autonomous infrastructure
- Strategies for automating mixed-vendor environments
- Abstracting vendor-specific syntax behind common interfaces
- Normalising data models across Cisco, Juniper, Arista, and HPE
- Handling CLI variations using template logic
- Integrating SD-WAN controllers into automation workflows
- Automating cloud networking components (AWS, Azure, GCP)
- Synchronising on-prem and cloud network policies
- Using Terraform for cloud-native resource provisioning
- Managing hybrid DNS and DHCP services
- Automating firewall policy consistency across domains
- Handling credential differences across platforms
- Building interoperability test suites
- Validating cross-platform configurations for consistency
- Creating unified inventory files for global device management
- Reporting on automation coverage across all environments
Module 12: Change Validation and Pre-Deployment Testing - Establishing pre-change validation checkpoints
- Using sandbox environments for risk-free testing
- Automated syntax validation before deployment
- Simulating topology changes in lab environments
- Verifying ACL and firewall rule logic before rollout
- Testing failover scenarios in virtual networks
- Using pyATS for automated network test scripting
- Generating test reports with pass/fail metrics
- Scheduling regression testing after changes
- Automating peer review requests for high-risk changes
- Integrating test results into change approval workflows
- Building checklists into automation for gatekeeping
- Validating backup availability before execution
- Confirming rollback procedures are in place
- Logging validation results for audit purposes
Module 13: Orchestration with CI/CD and DevOps Pipelines - Integrating network automation with Jenkins pipelines
- Using GitLab CI for continuous configuration testing
- Creating pipeline stages: lint, test, stage, approve, deploy
- Fail-fast principles in network change pipelines
- Automated deployment approvals based on test outcomes
- Integrating with Jira and ServiceNow for change tracking
- Using webhooks to trigger automation from ticket updates
- Generating deployment reports after each pipeline run
- Managing environment promotions via pipeline gates
- Securing pipeline credentials with vault integration
- Parallelising deployments across regions
- Rolling back failed deployments automatically
- Monitoring pipeline health and performance metrics
- Training operations teams on pipeline interaction
- Documenting pipeline architecture and dependencies
Module 14: Governance, Documentation, and Knowledge Transfer - Creating automation runbooks with standard operating procedures
- Documenting decision logic behind automation workflows
- Generating topology diagrams from live configurations
- Automating documentation updates after changes
- Using Markdown and static site generators for guides
- Building searchable internal knowledge bases
- Onboarding new engineers with automation training paths
- Conducting internal automation review sessions
- Defining ownership and maintenance responsibilities
- Establishing review cycles for automation scripts
- Managing technical debt in automation code
- Creating version compatibility matrices
- Standardising naming conventions and labelling
- Compliance with internal IT governance policies
- Ensuring operational continuity during staff transitions
- Scaling knowledge beyond a single automation champion
Module 15: Certification, Career Impact, and Next Steps - Preparing your final project: a real-world automation implementation
- Reviewing project against enterprise best practices
- Documenting business impact and technical results
- Submitting for assessment and feedback
- Earning your Certificate of Completion issued by The Art of Service
- Verifying credential authenticity via official portal
- Adding certification to LinkedIn and professional profiles
- Leveraging the credential in performance reviews and promotions
- Networking with peers through alumni forums
- Accessing advanced automation case studies and playbooks
- Receiving invitations to exclusive industry roundtables
- Using the certification as a stepping stone to SRE or cloud architecture roles
- Building a portfolio of automation achievements
- Speaking confidently about automation ROI in interviews
- Staying updated through member-only content briefings
- Accessing lifetime course updates and community insights
- Planning your next automation initiative with confidence
- Measuring long-term performance gains from implemented systems
- Establishing yourself as a trusted automation authority
- Guiding your organisation toward autonomous infrastructure
- Integrating network automation with Jenkins pipelines
- Using GitLab CI for continuous configuration testing
- Creating pipeline stages: lint, test, stage, approve, deploy
- Fail-fast principles in network change pipelines
- Automated deployment approvals based on test outcomes
- Integrating with Jira and ServiceNow for change tracking
- Using webhooks to trigger automation from ticket updates
- Generating deployment reports after each pipeline run
- Managing environment promotions via pipeline gates
- Securing pipeline credentials with vault integration
- Parallelising deployments across regions
- Rolling back failed deployments automatically
- Monitoring pipeline health and performance metrics
- Training operations teams on pipeline interaction
- Documenting pipeline architecture and dependencies
Module 14: Governance, Documentation, and Knowledge Transfer - Creating automation runbooks with standard operating procedures
- Documenting decision logic behind automation workflows
- Generating topology diagrams from live configurations
- Automating documentation updates after changes
- Using Markdown and static site generators for guides
- Building searchable internal knowledge bases
- Onboarding new engineers with automation training paths
- Conducting internal automation review sessions
- Defining ownership and maintenance responsibilities
- Establishing review cycles for automation scripts
- Managing technical debt in automation code
- Creating version compatibility matrices
- Standardising naming conventions and labelling
- Compliance with internal IT governance policies
- Ensuring operational continuity during staff transitions
- Scaling knowledge beyond a single automation champion
Module 15: Certification, Career Impact, and Next Steps - Preparing your final project: a real-world automation implementation
- Reviewing project against enterprise best practices
- Documenting business impact and technical results
- Submitting for assessment and feedback
- Earning your Certificate of Completion issued by The Art of Service
- Verifying credential authenticity via official portal
- Adding certification to LinkedIn and professional profiles
- Leveraging the credential in performance reviews and promotions
- Networking with peers through alumni forums
- Accessing advanced automation case studies and playbooks
- Receiving invitations to exclusive industry roundtables
- Using the certification as a stepping stone to SRE or cloud architecture roles
- Building a portfolio of automation achievements
- Speaking confidently about automation ROI in interviews
- Staying updated through member-only content briefings
- Accessing lifetime course updates and community insights
- Planning your next automation initiative with confidence
- Measuring long-term performance gains from implemented systems
- Establishing yourself as a trusted automation authority
- Guiding your organisation toward autonomous infrastructure
- Preparing your final project: a real-world automation implementation
- Reviewing project against enterprise best practices
- Documenting business impact and technical results
- Submitting for assessment and feedback
- Earning your Certificate of Completion issued by The Art of Service
- Verifying credential authenticity via official portal
- Adding certification to LinkedIn and professional profiles
- Leveraging the credential in performance reviews and promotions
- Networking with peers through alumni forums
- Accessing advanced automation case studies and playbooks
- Receiving invitations to exclusive industry roundtables
- Using the certification as a stepping stone to SRE or cloud architecture roles
- Building a portfolio of automation achievements
- Speaking confidently about automation ROI in interviews
- Staying updated through member-only content briefings
- Accessing lifetime course updates and community insights
- Planning your next automation initiative with confidence
- Measuring long-term performance gains from implemented systems
- Establishing yourself as a trusted automation authority
- Guiding your organisation toward autonomous infrastructure