Why This Is Worth Reading
After publishing his Git for Networking Engineers series, Tony Mattke has turned his attention to netlab. The opening installment, Install netlab, Build a Lab in Five Minutes, starts with the essential first step: getting a reproducible network lab running quickly.
The article was highlighted by ipSpace.net as the beginning of Mattke’s hands-on exploration of netlab. It is a useful reading path for network engineers who want to move away from one-off, manually assembled test environments.
What Labs as Code Changes
A traditional lab can be difficult to reproduce. Device choices, links, addressing, and configuration steps may exist only in an engineer’s notes—or memory. A labs-as-code approach makes the lab definition part of the engineering workflow.
That creates several practical advantages:
Repeatability: The same lab can be rebuilt for another test or another engineer.
Maintainability: Changes can be reviewed and tracked instead of being applied only through manual clicks or console sessions.
Vendor-neutral thinking: Engineers can focus on the topology and test objective rather than tying the workflow to a single vendor’s management dashboard.
Faster iteration: A lab that is easy to recreate is also easier to modify, discard, and rebuild.
Better collaboration: Lab definitions can follow the same Git-based habits used for other technical artifacts.
The important shift is not merely faster setup. It is treating the test environment as something that can be described, reviewed, and recreated consistently.
A Practical Way to Follow the Series
Mattke’s opening article can serve as the first stage of a simple learning process:
Install netlab and reproduce the initial five-minute lab.
Save the lab definition in Git.
Rebuild it to confirm that the result is repeatable.
Change one element at a time and review the difference.
Document the test objective and expected outcome alongside the lab definition.
This workflow helps turn a temporary sandbox into a maintainable engineering asset. It also reduces the risk that a successful test depends on undocumented manual steps.
Where ConnectMyAssets Fits
netlab addresses the creation of repeatable network labs. ConnectMyAssets complements that work on the operational side by managing multi-vendor network infrastructure on premises.
Once a change has been validated in a lab, relevant ConnectMyAssets modules can support a controlled production workflow:
Dynamic CMDB provides an up-to-date view of the assets that may be affected.
Backup & History preserves configuration versions and provides one-click rollback when required.
Compliance Engine checks configurations against applicable NIS2, ISO 27001, PCI, CISA, or NIST policies.
Automation & ZTP helps execute approved, repeatable infrastructure changes.
Per-asset CVE Tracking and End-of-Life Tracking add operational context when selecting devices or platforms for testing.
This is a complementary operating model, not a claim of built-in integration: netlab helps engineers build and repeat tests, while ConnectMyAssets helps them understand, protect, validate, and manage the real multi-vendor environment.
Source: ipSpace.net
