Mastering C++ Network Automation

Mastering C++ Network Automation

Run Automation across Configuration Management, Container Orchestration, Kubernetes, and Cloud Networking

Justin Barbara

Content

Preface

Chapter 1: C++ Basics for Networks

Capability of C++ for Networks

Overview

Why C++ for Networks?

Data Types of C++

Boolean Data Type

Character Data Type

Integer Data Types

Floating-Point Data Types

Void Data Type

Enumeration Data Type

Pointer Data Type

Array Data Type

Structure Data Type

Union Data Type

C++ Loops

For Loop

While Loop

Do-While Loop

Loop Control Statements

Nested Loops

Functions in C++

Defining a Function

Calling a Function

Default Parameters

Function Overloading

Recursive Functions

Passing Arrays to Functions

Chapter 2: C++ Advanced for Networks

C++ File Handling

File I/O Operations

Opening File

Reading Data From File

Appending To File

Truncating a File

Error Handling

C++ Modules

Overview

What Are Modules?

Creating  Module

Exporting Symbols

Importing Module

Compilation and Linking

Advantages of Modules

My First C++ Script

Summary

Chapter 3: Preparing Network Automation Setup

Elements of Network Automation Lab

Physical Infrastructure

Network Automation Software

Scripting Languages

Test and Monitoring Tools

Data Analysis and Visualization Tools

Setting Up GNS3 Network Simulator

Install Dependencies

Install GNS3

Install Dynamips

Install C++ Libraries

Configure GNS3

Create Network Topology

Configure C++ Support in Network Devices

Test Network Topologies

Installing and Configuring C++

Install C++ Compiler

Create C++ Program

Compile C++ Program

Run C++ Program

Incorporate C++ in Network Automation Lab

Installing Eclipse IDE

Download Eclipse IDE

Install Eclipse IDE

Run Eclipse IDE

Install Required Plugins

Create Project

Write and Run Code

Configure cpp-netlib, Boost, OpenSSL, and zlib

Install Required Libraries

Download cpp-netlib

Extract cpp-netlib

Build cpp-netlib

Test cpp-netlib

Configuring Ports

Import Libraries

Define Port Number and IP Address

Open Connection

Send Configuration Commands

Receive Response

Close Connection

Configuring Hosts (Multiple)

Import Libraries

Define Host IP Address

Open Connection

Send Configuration Commands

Receive Response

Close Connection

Configuring Servers

Import Libraries

Define Server IP Address and Port

Create Server Object

Accept Incoming Connections

Receive Configuration Commands

Process Command

Send Response

Close Connection

Configuring Encryption for Networks

Import Libraries

Initialize OpenSSL

Define SSL Context

Load SSL Certificates

Create SSL Socket

Accept SSL Connection

Receive Encrypted Data

Decrypt Data

Send Encrypted Data

Close SSL Connection

Testing Complete Automation Setup

Testing Simulator

Testing Installed Libraries

Testing Ports

Testing Hosts

Testing Servers

Summary

Chapter 4: Script, Test, and Validate Network Automation

Understanding Network Automation Scripts

Overview

Networking APIs and Libraries

Data Structures and Algorithms

Object-Oriented Programming

Multithreading

Error Handling

C++ Network Automation Scripting Process

Define Objective

Plan and Design Script

Choose Libraries and APIs

Write Script

Test Script

Validate Script

Document Script

Define C++ Variables for Automation

Open C++ IDE

Create New C++ Project

Define Variables

Assign Values to Variables

Use Variables in Script

Run Script

Writing C++ Automation Scripts

Include Necessary Libraries

Define Variables and Objects

Perform Network Automation Tasks

Handle Errors and Exceptions

Close Network Connection

Testing C++ Scripts in Test Environment

Set Up a Test Environment

Compile C++ Code

Execute C++ Code

Debugging

Test Edge Cases

Integration Testing

Validation Testing

Debugging Errors and Issues

Reproduce Error

Use Debugging Tools

Analyze Error Messages

Use Print Statements

Modify Code

Test Modified Code

Repeat Process

Validating Automation Scripts in Production

Develop Validation Plan

Create Test Environment

Run Validation Test Cases

Monitor and Analyze Results

Troubleshoot any Issues

Document Validation Results

Deploy C++ Code

Summary

Chapter 5: Automating Configuration Management

Understanding Configuration Management

Overview

Benefits of Managing Configurations

New Server Provisioning with Ansible

Install Ansible

Create An Inventory File

Create Playbook

Run Playbook

Verify Results

Automate System Settings

Define System Settings to Automate

Import Necessary Libraries

Define Variables

Write Automation Code

Test and Validate Automation Code

Deploy Automation Code

Modify Base Configurations with C++

Include Necessary Headers

Define Configuration Files

Open Configuration Files for Editing

Write New Configurations to Files

Modify Base Configurations With Ansible

Install Ansible on Control Machine

Create Ansible Playbook to Modify Configurations

Run Ansible Playbook on Target Machine(S)

Test Base Configurations with Google Test

Automate System Identification

Identify Systems using C++

Identify Systems using Ansible

Automate System Patches and Updates

Install Ansible

Create Ansible Playbook

Execute Ansible Playbook

Automate Playbook with C++

Schedule C++ Script

Identify Unstable/Non-Compliant Configurations

Define Configuration Baseline

Use Ansible or Puppet to Collect Configuration Data

Parse Collected Data with C++

Generate Report

Remediate Non-Compliant Configurations

Sample Program

Summary

Chapter 6: Working with Docker and Containers

Exploring Docker and Containers

Overview

Role of C++ in Containerization

Benefits of C++ For Docker and Containers

Types of Docker Networks

Bridge Network

Host Network

Overlay Network

Macvlan Network

Install and Configure Docker

Install Docker

Test Docker Installation

Configure Docker for C++

Test Docker Container

Build Docker Images

Create Dockerfile

Build Docker Image

Run Docker Container

Run Containers

Automate Running Containers

Install Docker SDK for C++

Include Docker SDK in C++ Project

Write C++ Code to Start and Stop Containers

Build and Run C++ Project

Manage Container Networks

Default Network

Custom Network

External Network

Overlay Network

Docker Network Commands

How to Use Docker Commands

Summary

Chapter 7: Container Orchestration and Workload Automation

Understanding Container Scheduling

What is Service Discovery?

DNS-Based Service Discovery

Client-Side Service Discovery

Server-Side Service Discovery

Process of Service Discovery Automation

Install and Configure Consul

Create Service

Register Service

Discover Service

Communicate With Service

Using C++ to Automate Service Discovery

Install Consul

Register Services

Query Services

Sample Program to Query Registered Services using Boost.Asio

Define Environment Variables

Write Service Discovery Script

Build Project

Start Containers

Test Service Discovery

Clean Up

Necessity of Load Balancers

Working Principles

Benefits of Load Balancing

Automatng Load Balancing Management

Add or Remove Servers from Load Balancer

Install Necessary Libraries and Tools

Define Variables

Connect to Load Balancer API

Retrieve Server Information

Calculate Performance Metrics

Check Performance Metrics

Add or Remove Servers from Load Balancer

Repeat Process

Sample Program

Configure Load Balancing Algorithms

Automate Setting Up SSL Certificates

Include The Necessary Headers

Initialize Ssl Library

Putting Function into Action

Purpose of Container Storage

Manage Container Storage

Create Container with Data Volume

Start Container

Container Performance

Methods

Monitor Container Performance with Docker API

Automate Rolling Updates

Install Docker C++ SDK

Implement Automation Script

Step-By-Step Illustration of Program

Summary

Chapter 8: Kubernetes Automation

Importance of Kubernetes Cluster

Features of Kubernetes

Applications of Kubernetes

Procedure to Setup Kubernetes Cluster

Choose Platform

Install Kubernetes

Configure Cluster

Deploy Applications

Monitor and Manage Cluster

Using Kubectl to Setup Kubernetes Cluster

Install Required Packages

Initialize Kubernetes Master Node

Configure kubectl

Join Worker Nodes to Cluster

Verify Cluster Setup

Understanding Ingress Controllers

Deploy Ingress Controllers

Choose Ingress Controller

Deploy Ingress Controller

Create Service for Ingress Controller

Define Ingress Resource

Verify Ingress Resource

Deploy Ngnix on Kubernetes

Choose Nginx

Deploy Nginx

Create Service for Nginx

Define Nginx Resource

Verify Ngnix Resource

Understanding Service Mesh

Implement Service Mesh with C++

Install Istio

Deploy Microservices

Define Istio Gateway

Define Istio Virtual Service

Define Istio Destination Rule

Configure Sidecar Proxy

Test Service Mesh

Kubernetes Integration

Procedure to Integrate K8s with Existing Infrastructure

Sample Program to Integrate Kubernetes with C++

Summary

Chapter 9: Administering AWS Cloud Networking

Explore AWS Networking Services

Amazon VPC

AWS Direct Connect

Amazon Route 53

Elastic Load Balancing

AWS Transit Gateway

Amazon Elastic Network Interface

Amazon Elastic File System

Popularity of Amazon VPC

Create Amazon VPC

Sample Program to create VPC

Using IPv6 in VPC

Open Amazon VPC Console

Enable IPv6 for VPC

Configure Subnets

Configure Network Interfaces

Verify IPv6 Connectivity

AWS Network Interfaces (ENI, ENA, EFA)

Elastic Network Interface (ENI)

Elastic Network Adapter (ENA)

Elastic Fabric Adapter (EFA)

Configure ENI for VPC

Navigate to Amazon VPC Console

Create a Subnet

Create a Security Group

Create ENI

Attach ENI to Instance

Configure ENI

Configure ENA for VPC

Configure EFA For VPC

Connect AWS Services with Private Addresses

Procedure Overview

Using Squid Proxy Server

Amazon Elastic Load Balancing

Types of AWS ELB

Putting AWS ELB into Use

Creating Application Load Balancer using AWS CLI

Setting Up the AWS CLI

Install Python

Install Pip

Install the AWS CLI

Verify the Installation

Configure AWS CLI

Using Amazon Cloudwatch

Setting Up Cloud Monitoring

Summary

Chapter 10: Administering Google Cloud Networking

Exploring GCP Networking Services

Virtual Private Cloud (VPC)

Cloud Load Balancing

Cloud VPN

Cloud Interconnect

Network Security

Network Monitoring

Network Services

Network Connectivity

Setting Up VPC in Google Cloud

Create Virtual Machine in VPC

Create Load Balancer

Create Cloud Storage Bucket

Setting Up VPC Monitoring

Create Subnets

Subnets in Automate Mode

Subnets in Custom Mode

VPC Network Peering

Set Up Connectivity between Two VPC

Add Firewall Rules to VPC

Connect On-Premise Data with Google Cloud

Procedure Overview

Creating Cloud VPN Gateway

Creating Cloud VPN Tunnel

Performing Observability

Setting Up Stackdriver

Google Cloud Load Balancers

Overview

Setting Up Load Balancers

Sample Program to create HTTP Load Balancer

Summary

Chapter 11: Administering Azure Networking

Exploring Azure Networking Services

Virtual Network (VNet)

VPN Gateway

ExpressRoute

Load Balancer

Application Gateway

Azure Firewall

Network Security Groups (NSGs)

Azure Bastion

Azure DNS

Traffic Manager

Popularity of Azure Bastion

Setting Up Remote Desktop Protocol

Create VNet with Azure CLI

Create Public IP

Connect to VM using Azure CLI

Connect to VM using Azure Portal

Setting Up VPN Gateway

Step-By-Step Procedure to Establish VPN

Creating VPN using Azure CLI

Configure Load Balancers

Stages to Configure Azure Load Balancers

Managing Load Balancers

Create Load Balancers using Azure Portal

Azure Firewall Manager

Create an Azure Firewall Manager Instance

Create a Firewall Policy

Assign Policy to a Virtual Network

Monitor and Manage Firewall Policy

Azure Network Watcher for Network Issues

Summary

Preface

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 and how to use them in their regular cloud networking operations.

In this book you will learn how to:

Setting up GNS3, Eclipse IDE, cpp-netlib, Boost, OpenSSL, and zlib libraries

Configure the ports, hosts, and servers using C++ scripting

Writing, testing, and validating network automation scripts in both, test and production environment

Building docker images, running containers, and managing container deployments

Using Ansible for server provisioning, automated system identification and managing auto-updates

Automating container scheduling, service discovery, and load balancing

Setting up Kubernetes cluster, Nginx ingress, implementing service mesh, and automating firewall configuration

Working with AWS, Azure and Google Cloud Networking Services for Cloud Automation

GitforGits

Prerequisites

This is a fantastic desk reference for network administrators, cloud architects, devops engineers, automation engineers wishing to automate networking tasks with C++. It is a must-have book for anyone who wants to keep ahead of the curve in the field of networking automation.

Codes Usage

Are you in need of some helpful code examples to assist you in your programming and documentation? Look no further! Our book offers a wealth of supplemental material, including code examples and exercises.

Not only is this book here to aid you in getting your job done, but you have our permission to use the example code in your programs and documentation. However, please note that if you are reproducing a significant portion of the code, we do require you to contact us for permission.

But don't worry, using several chunks of code from this book in your program or answering a question by citing our book and quoting example code does not require permission. But if you do choose to give credit, an attribution typically includes the title, author, publisher, and ISBN. For example, Mastering C++ Network Automation by Justin Barbara.

If you are unsure whether your intended use of the code examples falls under fair use or the permissions outlined above, please do not hesitate to reach out to us at [email protected]. 

We are happy to assist and clarify any concerns.

Acknowledgement

Justin Barbara expresses his gratitude to all of the other contributors to Rust and work tirelessly to improve the quality of the programming language. Justin would want to express his gratitude to the copywriters, tech editors, and reviewers who helped create a powerful yet simple book that outperforms rust coding in a relatively short period of time. And, lastly to his entire family and friends extending their support to finish the project at the earliest.

Chapter 1: C++ Basics for Networks

Capability of C++ for Network

Overview

C++ is a popular programming language that is widely used for developing network-based applications, including network programming and network automation. C++ provides a rich set of features and libraries that make it easy to develop complex network applications that can run on various operating systems and hardware platforms. In this section, we will discuss the concept of ease of C++ for network programming and network automation.

C++ is a high-level programming language that allows developers to write code in a more structured and object-oriented way. C++ has a rich set of libraries that make it easy to