JNCIA-DevOps study plan

Set up a Python 3 virtual environment with the Junos PyEZ library and Netmiko installed, and verify connectivity to a lab device or virtual Junos VM using a read-only RPC.

Write a Python script that retrieves and prints interface status and configuration facts from a Junos device using PyEZ Table and Config views.

Explain the difference between NETCONF, REST, and Junos XML API transports and identify which port and encoding each uses.

Parse a JSON response from the Junos REST API with Python's json module and extract a specific field from the output.

Use Jinja2 templates to generate Junos configuration snippets from a Python dictionary of variables, including a loop over interface names.

Write a script that applies a configuration change via PyEZ and then verifies the change with a subsequent show command.

Handle errors and exceptions in automation scripts, including connection timeouts and commit failures, and log them to a file.

Describe idempotency and explain why a script that re-applies the same configuration should produce no diff on the second run.

Distinguish declarative versus imperative configuration approaches and map Junos commit model, candidate config, and rollback to those concepts.

Write a YAML inventory of at least three devices and load it into an automation script that iterates over all hosts.

Explain what a configuration drift is and demonstrate detecting drift by comparing rendered intent against the running configuration.

Describe the role of a source of truth and compare a flat-file inventory with a structured data model.

Summarize the CALMS framework and explain how each element maps to a network operations team's daily work.

Describe the three ways of DevOps and give a network-specific example of each, such as automating a change pipeline versus reducing batch size.

Set up a Git repository for network configurations with a branching strategy and a documented pull-request review workflow.

Explain infrastructure as code principles including version control, peer review, automated testing, and reproducible deployments for network devices.

Build a CI pipeline that runs a linter and a configuration syntax check on every commit to a network automation repository.

Write automated tests for a Jinja2 template using rendered-output assertions and run them in the pipeline.

Explain the difference between continuous delivery and continuous integration and identify which gates belong at each stage.

Describe artifact versioning and explain why a tested configuration bundle should be promoted rather than rebuilt per environment.

Add a deployment stage to the pipeline that pushes validated configuration to a lab device and verifies the result with post-change assertions.

Implement a rollback step that restores the previous configuration when post-change verification fails.

Explain canary and blue-green deployment patterns and describe how they apply to network device upgrades or configuration rollouts.

Describe how to securely store device credentials in a CI system using secrets management rather than plaintext variables.

Consume a Junos REST API endpoint from a script to retrieve operational data and format the result as a report.

Explain the role of a REST API gateway and describe how authentication tokens or basic auth are used against Junos devices.

Describe how ChatOps or event-driven automation could replace a manual troubleshooting step in an operations runbook.

Compare the value of monitoring, observability, and telemetry data in a DevOps feedback loop for network infrastructure.

Complete a timed practice assessment covering all five domains and record the score per domain.

Re-review the two domains with the lowest practice scores and rewrite your own summary notes for each.

Explain end to end how a configuration change moves from a developer branch through CI, review, deployment, and verification.

Document a personal troubleshooting checklist for common automation failures such as authentication errors, schema mismatches, and commit conflicts.