Mastering Python Networking - Third Edition: Your one-stop solution to using Python for network automation, programmability, and DevOps 3rd ed. Edition

This is a great read. I recommend it 100%. Additionally, I want to mention how accommodating the publisher was when I lost my book. I never got around to requesting the PDF when I had the physical copy and only realized it once I had forgotten my book on the train ride home. I quickly reached out to them and provided my invoice and the turnaround for the digital request was almost instantaneous. I would consider purchasing more books from them any time!!!

Eric Chou is a genius. This book is extremely well written and very useful - for the people who do the things he explains how to do. However, the number of people who do that kind of stuff is very, very small. If you understand OSPF, BGP, EGP, and maybe VIRL (look up VIRL and see if you are interested in it), then buy the book. If these are cryptic acronyms, then buy a different book because Eric's book goes into gory detail about how to automate such things. You will sleep better knowing that there are people who do know how to do these things, and thanks in part to Eric's book, do it so well you don't need to know. If you are working on a router at 3 AM, then definitely buy the book because you are doing something wrong - this book *will* help you.

I have been a network engineer for years now and I needed to get up to speed on automation as quickly and efficiently as possible. I wanted a reference book that got right to the meat of what I needed to know. This is that book. It was recommended to me by another network engineer and I was so impressed with it that I took him out for a couple of beers for his willingness to bring this book to my attention. It is a book that you will be glad you have in your home technical library because you will reference it time and time again. My boss was so impressed with the new skills I learned from this book that he referenced my mastery of automation in my latest review and then compensated me accordingly.

A bit beyond my capabilities but a good reference for an experienced programmer

First off, I'll be honest. I haven't read the entire book yet, but that's because it is 500+ pages. However, even if you just look at the table of contents, you know that you're getting your money's worth.The book starts out with the customary review of Python and basic networking concepts. Then it jumps into working w/ legacy network devices in a command line interface using a variety of Python libraries, and follows that up by talking about higher-level interaction through device APIs.Several chapters cover automation via Ansible framework, Jinja2 templating, and custom modules. A valuable chapter is network security using Python, such as Scapy, syslog searching, and automation of admin work using Python.A nice touch is the inclusion of data visualization. It is common for books to focus on command line output or text-based files, maybe at most creating tables. Visualization is commonly left to web site development, such as making a web page to create a network dashboard. Being able to generate graphs and charts is handy, especially when you want to create presentations or show other people what the network is doing.The last few chapters delve into cloud services, version control, continuous integration, and test-driven development. These topics are commonly relegated to separate books or other media, so it's nice to get them in one place, especially for people who may not have ever dealt with them before. I suspect a number of network engineers aren't familiar w/ the DevOps process, so having a crash course in current best-practices can be helpful.Overall, this is a very comprehensive book and even if you are just curious about how to work with networks beyond the basic Python sockets, this is a valuable resource.

There's a ton of moving pieces in the network automation world, from libraries and orchestration frameworks, sources of truth and continuous deployment of changes. This book covers a wide range of these topics, along with context of the current state of network automation, to allow the reader to hit the ground running and bringing significant time savings and reliability to network operations.A pattern that I see in each topic Eric covers is that he explains the "why" along with the "how", so readers can get an idea of the philosophy behind each tool to make sure that usage is idiomatic and they're not fighting against the grain.As a big fan of Scapy, I think Eric's intro to the tool is clear and provides some high value tools with short code examples. When you get the foundations right on such a powerful library, the possibilities are endless and this chapter guides the reader in the right direction.I also loved the chapters about Ansible! I don't use Ansible in my environment currently, so having a guide that goes beyond "Hello World" with real device examples covering templates, variables, and all the little details that I need to actually use this in my network is incredibly helpful.

I was fortunate enough to be allowed to tech review the book for Eric on the 1st edition, and what a treat that was! I learned a great deal of things from reviewing the content and personally verifying all the labs. To see Eric continuing to evolve this book and adding new, high value and practical contents that are really helpful for the network engineer community, is really a delight. I got the 3rd edition and immediately started reading the ElasticStack chapter, b/c it applies to what I am currently doing. This shows that his contents, and his industry knowledge about what devops practices is useful for the networking community, is unparalleled. High recommended, as always!