Automation and Programmability is Domain 6 of the CCNA 200-301 exam: 10% of your score, and the only domain most candidates never touch with their hands. The PingLabz CCNA Automation Labs fix that. Seven labs take you from a bare Alpine Linux node to a working automation host that reads the network with Python, pushes configuration with Netmiko, speaks REST to a live controller, runs Ansible playbooks, and finishes with a config backup and drift detection tool you will want to keep. The series is part of the PingLabz lab library, and like every PingLabz lab, every command output was captured from a real running lab. No fabricated CLI, anywhere.
Everything runs in Cisco Modeling Labs Free. The topology is the standard five-node PingLabz base (three IOS XE 17.18 routers, one managed switch, one Alpine host), plus an unmanaged switch and a NAT external connector, neither of which counts toward CML Free's five-node limit. The Alpine node is the star this time: you turn it into the automation host that manages everything else.
The labs
| Lab | What you build | Blueprint | Access |
|---|---|---|---|
| auto-01: Build Your First Network Automation Host | Alpine host with dual-homed networking, Python + Netmiko, SSH to R1, first script | 6.1 | Free |
| auto-02: Reading the Network with Netmiko | One script interrogating all four devices; the device-loop pattern | 6.1 | Pro |
| auto-03: Pushing Config with Netmiko | Programmatic config mode: push, verify, save across three routers | 6.1 | Pro |
| auto-04: JSON and Structured Data | JSON-driven inventory; JSON vs XML vs YAML; machine-readable facts | 6.7 | Pro |
| auto-05: REST APIs Hands-On | 401s, bearer tokens, and authenticated GETs against your own CML controller; RESTCONF exam reference | 6.5 | Pro |
| auto-06: Ansible for CCNA | Inventory, ad-hoc modules, a backup playbook, and idempotence made visible | 6.6 | Pro |
| auto-07: Capstone, Config Backup and Drift Detection | A golden-config drift detector with unified diffs and alarm-ready exit codes | 6.1-6.7 | Pro |
Take them in order. auto-01 is free with no signup and builds the host every later lab assumes. Labs auto-02 through auto-07 are part of PingLabz Pro ($4.99/month or $49.99/year, covering the whole lab library).
The concept side of Domain 6
Three blueprint topics in this domain are architecture rather than keyboard work, and they are covered here and inside the labs where they fit naturally.
Controller-based networking and SDN (6.2, 6.3)
Traditional networks distribute their control plane: every router computes its own routing table and every switch learns its own MACs, which is exactly what you watch happening in the rest of the PingLabz library. Controller-based networking centralizes that intelligence: a controller holds the topology-wide view and pushes policy down, splitting the control plane (decisions) from the data plane (forwarding). The northbound interface is how operators and scripts talk to the controller (REST APIs, like the one you drive in auto-05); the southbound interface is how the controller talks to devices (SSH/CLI, NETCONF, OpenFlow in classic SDN literature). When the exam asks what goes where, anchor on that: north faces people and programs, south faces hardware.
Cisco Catalyst Center and AI-driven operations (6.4)
Cisco Catalyst Center (formerly DNA Center) is the productized version of that controller idea for enterprise campuses: device discovery, golden-image management, configuration templates, policy-based automation, and assurance analytics that baseline what normal looks like and flag deviations. If that last clause sounds familiar, it should: it is the drift-detection concept you build by hand in auto-07, scaled up and given a dashboard. Understand your sixty-line version and the exam's questions about Catalyst Center's intent-based networking become recognition, not memorization.
Why IOL and RESTCONF do not mix (honest platform note)
The IOL images that make this topology light enough for CML Free do not ship the YANG subsystem, so RESTCONF and NETCONF are not configurable on these routers. Rather than fake the output, auto-05 teaches REST mechanics against the CML controller's genuinely RESTful API and gives you the RESTCONF syntax as clearly-labeled exam reference. If you later want live RESTCONF, a single Catalyst 8000V in CML Personal is the standard path; nothing else in this series changes.
What you need
- Cisco Modeling Labs Free with the IOL reference images. New to CML? The free quick-start lab gets you installed in about 30 minutes.
- The series topology .yaml, downloadable inside each lab. Import once; the whole series runs on it.
- No prior Python. Scripts are short, complete, and explained line by line. If you can read an IOS config, you can read these.
Credentials throughout: routers and switch use pinglabz / PingLabz!23 (enable Cisco@123); the Alpine host uses CML's default cisco / cisco.
Where this fits in your CCNA prep
Do the CCNA Labs first if you are starting out; this series assumes you can read interface configs and navigate IOS without thinking about it. Automation pairs naturally with the Troubleshooting Labs (a drift detector is a fault-localization tool wearing different clothes) and makes a satisfying final act before the Mega Lab capstone. Exam-wise, Domain 6 is 10% of the test; ten hands-on hours here converts those questions from guesswork into banked points.
Start free: Lab auto-01, Build Your First Network Automation Host.