Justin Barbara - Mastering C++ Network Automation: Run Automation across Configuration Management, Container Orchestration, Kubernetes, and Cloud Networking

This book is an in-depth guide for network administrators, cloud architects, and container and Kubernetes administrators who want to learn how to automate networking tasks in C++. From setting up a network automation environment to automating configuration management and working with containers and container orchestration tools such as Kubernetes, the book covers a wide range of topics.The first section of the book covers the fundamentals of automation scripting and testing. Readers will learn how to create successful automation scripts and test them to ensure they perform properly. The next section describes how to set up a network automation environment. This includes configuring network devices, servers, and other components required for automation. The readers will learn about the various protocols as well as how to use Ansible to automate the configuration management of these devices. It covers containerization and container orchestration systems such as Docker and Kubernetes. Readers will learn how to use tools such as Docker Compose and Kubernetes to automate workload management and deployment.The final section of the book focuses on cloud networking. The readers will learn how to handle network resources in cloud systems such as AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure. Readers get to work with tools and services available for cloud networking automation, best practices and how to use them in their regular cloud networking operations.One of the significant benefits of using C++ for network programming is its low-level access to the operating system. C++ provides direct access to system-level APIs, which allows developers to develop efficient and high-performance network applications. C++ supports low-level socket programming, which is essential for developing network applications that require high-performance and low latency.C++ is also a highly portable language that can be used on various platforms. This means that network applications developed in C++ can run on multiple platforms, including Windows, Linux, and macOS. The portability of C++ is due to its compatibility with different operating systems and hardware architectures. This feature makes C++ an ideal choice for developing cross-platform network applications.C++ also provides robust support for multithreading, which is essential for developing high-performance network applications. Multithreading allows developers to write applications that can handle multiple connections simultaneously. This is important for network applications that require high throughput and low latency. C++ also provides libraries like std::thread that allow developers to write multithreaded applications quickly and easily.In addition to network programming, C++ is also a suitable language for network automation. Network automation involves automating repetitive network-related tasks, such as configuration management, monitoring, and testing. C++ provides a wide range of libraries and tools that can be used for network automation. For example, C++ provides libraries like Boost.PropertyTree that allow developers to read and write configuration files easily. C++ also provides tools like Boost.Test that allow developers to write automated tests for network applications.Key Learnings:Setting up GNS3, Eclipse IDE, cpp-netlib, Boost, OpenSSL, and zlib librariesConfigure the ports, hosts, and servers using C++ scriptingWriting, testing, and validating network automation scripts in both, test and production environmentBuilding docker images, running containers, and managing container deploymentsUsing Ansible for server provisioning, automated system identification and managing auto-updatesAutomating container scheduling, service discovery, and load balancingSetting up Kubernetes cluster, Nginx ingress, implementing service mesh, and automating firewall configurationWorking with AWS, Azure and Google Cloud Networking Services for Cloud Automation