In this part 2 of my API adventure, I will be looking at repeating what we did Part 1 via SoapUI, but this time in python using the suds library. If you haven’t read that yet, then really, please go back and do that. This will not be wildly useful otherwise. Getting SOAP-y with Python suds Yeah I went there… So, we have a process that allows us to programatically look stuff up.

Ick, I know. Python has long been the language of choice for engineers looking to make their day go that little bit quicker or easier. With deepening skill levels, more and more complex repetitive tasks can be disected and segmented into functions and reuable code, such that a competent scripting engineer can go from blank page to automated process in a matter of hours in most cases. It is for this reason that I sit here to write this - an advocacy for ALL Cisco engineers to down tools and spend however long you need to get good at this.

This is one of those posts that I will constantly refer back to… ;) In my day job it’s clear to me that we need to automate more and more of the dumb day to day stuff. One of those things is Leavers and Starters on our phone system. We employ Cisco CallManager, much like the rest of the world, and if you have ever spent any time with it, you will know that its VASTLY over-complicated to manage.

Oh how the world has changed since I started out in the wonderful trade. We used to have VLANs and subnets; switches, routers and firewalls. People would moan things didn’t work and we did a traceroute to figure out why. We would bash out a fix, and if it broke, we would bash out another. It was the wild west, and that was fun. Cowboy hats were standard issue. Then along came the bad guys, and with them, the policy doctors.

This is the first in what will no doubt be a many part series on deploying IPv6. This is a problem I have had to overcome recently, and still to this day I battle with the implementation subtleties. If you find yourself in my shoes, I hope you find this helpful. So, firstly, you need to consider your architecture. Mine, I am reliably told is totally wrong. I use ASAs as routers in the campus.

…for the renegade master! Blogging is once again on my radar. Why I will never know, but I guess I have missed having the outlet of shouting into the massive empty room that is the interwebs. Its cathartic. I am actually sitting here quite happily nodding along to Fatboy Slim now. Those were the days. So, you know what really grinds my gears (no, not Lindsay Lohan), not having enough compute.