Most network engineers have been there. You're making the same configuration change across 50 devices. Manually. Again. It's the kind of work that eats your afternoon and tests your patience.
Network automation changes that equation completely. It takes the repetitive, error-prone tasks off your plate. You stop being a human script runner and start being someone who builds systems that do the running for you.
But where do you actually begin? That question stops a lot of people. The good news is that you don't need to master everything at once. These 8 network automation tasks for anyone to get started will give you a clear, practical path forward. Work through them in order. Each one builds on the last.
Build Your Toolkit
Before you write a single line of automation, you need the right tools in place. Think of this as setting up your workshop before you start building furniture. Trying to automate without a proper toolkit creates more problems than it solves.
Python is the language of choice for most network automation work. It's readable, well-supported, and has a massive library ecosystem built for networking. Install it first. Then add Ansible, which handles device configuration through simple, human-readable playbooks. Git comes next, giving you version control so you can track every change you make.
Nornir is worth adding too. It's a Python automation framework built specifically for network tasks. Finally, set up a code editor like VS Code. With the right extensions, it speeds up your workflow significantly.
Don't rush past this stage. A clean, well-organized toolkit makes everything else easier.
Vault Your Credentials
This step doesn't get nearly enough attention. Storing credentials badly is one of the most common mistakes in early automation work. Hardcoding passwords into scripts feels harmless when you're testing. It becomes a serious problem fast.
Ansible Vault is a practical starting point. It encrypts sensitive data within your playbooks. You can also use HashiCorp Vault for more advanced secret management across multiple tools and teams. Environment variables offer another lightweight approach for local development.
The rule is simple: never store credentials in plain text. Not in scripts. Not in config files. Not in version control. One accidental commit to a public repository can expose credentials to anyone. Build the right habits now, before bad ones take hold.
Record Your Inventory
Automation needs to know what it's working with. Without a proper inventory, your scripts are essentially flying blind. Recording your inventory is the step that gives your automation a map.
Start by documenting every device in your network. Capture hostnames, IP addresses, device types, operating systems, and roles. A simple spreadsheet works at the beginning. As your environment grows, tools like NetBox become far more powerful. NetBox acts as a source of truth for your entire infrastructure.
Structure matters here. Group devices by type, location, or function. Ansible reads inventory files and uses those groups to target the right devices at the right time. An organized inventory is the difference between automation that runs cleanly and automation that causes chaos.
Establish Secure Connectivity
Your automation tools need a reliable, secure way to talk to your devices. Without this, nothing else works. Establishing secure connectivity is the bridge between your toolkit and your network.
SSH is the standard protocol for most network devices. Make sure it's enabled and configured consistently across your infrastructure. Key-based authentication is far better than passwords alone. Generate SSH keys, distribute them to your devices, and remove the dependency on manual password entry.
APIs are increasingly common on modern network equipment. REST APIs allow your scripts to interact with devices programmatically. If your devices support NETCONF or RESTCONF, those are worth exploring too. The goal is a consistent, secure channel. Every automation task you run depends on it.
Gather Information
Before you can automate changes, you need to understand the current state of your network. Gathering information is where that understanding starts. Think of it as taking inventory of what's actually happening out there.
Use Python with libraries like Netmiko or Napalm to pull data from devices. Run show commands programmatically. Collect interface statuses, routing tables, hardware details, and more. Doing this manually across dozens of devices is exhausting. Automation makes it instant.
Regular data gathering also supports monitoring and troubleshooting. When something breaks, having baseline data helps you spot what changed. Build scripts that run on a schedule and store results. Over time, you'll have a rich picture of how your network behaves.
Build Data Models
Raw data from devices is useful, but unstructured data is hard to work with at scale. Building data models gives your information a consistent shape. It's what turns gathered data into something actionable.
Why Structure Matters
Structure matters because consistency makes automation predictable. When every device returns data in a standardized format, your scripts don't need to handle exceptions constantly. Data models define what a device record looks like, what fields it contains, and what format those fields follow.
YANG models are a formal approach to this in the networking world. They define the structure of configuration and operational data. You don't need to master YANG immediately, but understanding what it does helps. At a simpler level, Python dictionaries and JSON structures work well for early-stage data modeling.
Practical Application
Practical application of data models often starts with something small. Pick one device type and define what a clean data record looks like for it. What fields matter? What format makes the most sense? Build your scripts to always produce that format. Once that pattern is established, expanding it to other device types becomes straightforward.
Create Template Intent
Configuration templates are one of the most powerful concepts in network automation. A template captures your intent. It says, "This is what a correctly configured device should look like." Then automation applies that intent consistently at scale.
Using Jinja2
Jinja2 is the go-to templating engine in the Python and Ansible ecosystem. It lets you write a base configuration with variables in place of specific values. The hostname, IP address, and VLAN IDs become placeholders. When you render the template, those placeholders get filled with real values from your inventory or data model.
This approach separates the structure of a configuration from the specifics. Change a value in one place and every device that uses that template reflects the update. That's a huge shift from editing configs by hand, device by device.
Keeping Templates Maintainable
Keeping templates maintainable requires discipline. Keep them focused. One template per device role works better than one enormous template trying to cover everything. Store templates in Git alongside your playbooks and scripts. Review them regularly. Networks evolve, and templates that made sense a year ago may not reflect current standards.
Establish Idempotent Configurations
Idempotency is one of those concepts that sounds academic but matters enormously in practice. An idempotent operation produces the same result no matter how many times you run it. Applied to network automation, this means your scripts can run repeatedly without causing unintended changes.
What Idempotency Looks Like
What idempotency looks like in practice is straightforward. If a configuration is already correct, the script does nothing. If it's missing or wrong, the script fixes it. You never accidentally overwrite a setting that's already right. You never create duplicate entries. The network stays in the desired state.
Ansible is built with idempotency in mind. Many of its modules check the current state before making any changes. Napalm also supports this approach for network device configurations. Getting comfortable with these tools makes idempotent automation the default, not the exception.
Why This Matters Long-Term
Why this matters long-term comes down to reliability. Automation you can run safely at any time is automation you can trust. You can schedule it. You can run it in response to events. You stop worrying about the side effects of running a script twice. That's a level of confidence that manual processes can never offer.
Conclusion
Network automation isn't something you master in a weekend. But you don't need to master it all at once. These 8 network automation tasks for anyone to get started give you a sequence that actually works. Build your toolkit. Protect your credentials. Know your inventory. Secure your connections. Gather data. Model it. Template your intent. Make your configs idempotent.
Each task is manageable on its own. Together, they create something powerful. Start with the first one this week. You'll be surprised how quickly momentum builds once you take that initial step.
