Network Automation Platform — Phase 2 Roadmap

Vision

The current stack solves the "last mile" problem — serial console access via a REST API. Phase 2 transforms it into a professional-grade automation platform: structured device interaction, parallel fleet operations, live topology graphing, and packet-level diagnostics, all served over local HTTPS with no external cloud dependencies.

Target Architecture

Tool Integration Map

Data Flow by Operation Type

Tool Reference

Netmiko — Session Management Priority: High

Replaces the current shell=True subshell with a structured connection handler. Handles prompt detection, output parsing, and timing natively — eliminating fixed sleep delays and the shell injection risk in the current implementation.

from netmiko import ConnectHandler

device = {
    "device_type": "cisco_ios_telnet",
    "host": "127.0.0.1",
    "port": 2301,
}

with ConnectHandler(**device) as conn:
    output = conn.send_command("show ip interface brief")
    print(output)

Nornir — Parallel Fleet Execution Priority: High

Runs tasks across all 10 routers simultaneously. A fleet-wide poll that currently takes 40+ seconds sequentially completes in under 5 seconds with Nornir.

from nornir import InitNornir
from nornir_netmiko.tasks import netmiko_send_command
from nornir_utils.plugins.functions import print_result

nr = InitNornir(config_file="config.yaml")
result = nr.run(
    task=netmiko_send_command,
    command_string="show ip interface brief"
)
print_result(result)

NAPALM — Multi-Vendor Abstraction Priority: Medium

Provides a unified API for retrieving structured data from network devices — Python dicts instead of raw CLI text. Works on top of Netmiko for Cisco IOS.

from napalm import get_network_driver

driver = get_network_driver("ios")
device = driver("127.0.0.1", "admin", "password",
                optional_args={"port": 2301})
device.open()

facts      = device.get_facts()
interfaces = device.get_interfaces()
bgp        = device.get_bgp_neighbors()

device.close()

NetworkX — Topology Graph Priority: Medium

Builds a live, queryable graph of the router fleet. Detects topology changes, calculates shortest paths, and provides the data layer for visualisation and AI-driven network analysis.

import networkx as nx

G = nx.Graph()
G.add_nodes_from(["R1", "R2", "R3", "R4", "Hub"])
G.add_edges_from([
    ("Hub", "R1"), ("Hub", "R2"),
    ("Hub", "R3"), ("Hub", "R4"),
])

path       = nx.shortest_path(G, source="R1", target="R4")
centrality = nx.betweenness_centrality(G)

Scapy — Packet Analysis Priority: Low

Enables low-level network testing — custom ICMP probes, TCP session inspection, DSCP marking verification, and traffic capture.

from scapy.all import IP, ICMP, sr1

packet   = IP(dst="192.168.2.1", ttl=64) / ICMP()
response = sr1(packet, timeout=2, verbose=0)

if response:
    print(f"Reply from {response.src}  TTL: {response.ttl}")

Nginx — Local HTTPS Priority: Medium

Replaces the Cloudflare Tunnel with self-hosted SSL termination. Fully offline, no external dependency, persistent across reboots.

server {
    listen              443 ssl;
    ssl_certificate     /etc/nginx/ssl/lab.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/nginx/ssl/lab.key;

    location / {
        proxy_pass         http://127.0.0.1:8080;
        proxy_set_header   Host $host;
        proxy_set_header   X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
    }
}

Implementation Phases