Network visualization and automation

Network automation and orchestration is the latest phase in the evolution of IP and optical networks. Over the last few years, network engineers have created a variety of libraries and softwares to help them with the management, configuration and automation of huge networks made of hundreds of thousands of network devices (e.g. routers, switches, antenna…).

In this talk, I will introduce NetDim, a vendor-neutral software for network modeling and automation based on the standard Python library for GUI programming: tkinter.

I will start the presentation with an introduction to network visualization, and show how tkinter can be used to implement graph drawing algorithms, as well as a full-on Geographic Information System (GIS), allowing one to place network devices on a world map at their GPS coordinates.

I will then discuss the whys and wherefores of network automation, and show how to automatically generate and push scripts to a network device via SSH or Telnet.

More details about NetDim on github (https://github.com/mintoo/NetDim) and on this website (http://netdim.fr)