Configuration Management and Automation Workflows

Below is a sample Git commit history for a network automation repository — the kind of history that would accompany any change to a production network managed as code. Note how every change is authored, reviewed, tested, and deployed through the same pipeline.

That's infrastructure as code (IaC). Every network change is a commit to a Git repository — with an author, a timestamp, a description, and a review trail. No more 'who changed this?' or 'when did we add that VLAN?' — `git log` answers both. And `git revert` can undo any change.

#The IaC Principles#link

• ▪Everything in version control — configs, templates, scripts, variables
• ▪Changes go through review — pull requests before merge
• ▪Tests run automatically — syntax, lint, unit tests
• ▪Deployment is automated — same process every time
• ▪Rollback is trivial — revert the commit, redeploy
• ▪Documentation is the code — comments, READMEs, commit messages

#The CI/CD Pipeline#link

The pipeline stages are: commit → branch → PR → automated tests → peer review → merge → staging deploy → integration tests → production deploy → monitoring. Every step is automated except the peer review and the human decision to merge. The result is that no untested change reaches production, and every change has a documented reason.

#Tooling#link

#Check Your Understanding#link