Network Device Upgrade Management System

A complete AWX-based network device upgrade management system designed for managing firmware upgrades across 1000+ heterogeneous network devices with comprehensive validation, security, and monitoring.

Overview

This system provides automated firmware upgrade capabilities for:

Cisco NX-OS (Nexus Switches) with ISSU support
Cisco IOS-XE (Enterprise Routers/Switches) with Install Mode
Opengear (Console Servers/Smart PDUs) with multi-architecture support
FortiOS (Fortinet Firewalls) with HA coordination

Status: Production ready for all platforms. See Platform Implementation Status for detailed status.

Key Features

✅ Phase-Separated Upgrade Process

Phase 1: Image Loading (business hours safe)
Phase 2: Image Installation (maintenance window)
Complete rollback capabilities

🔒 Maximum Security Compliance

Server-Initiated PUSH Transfers Only - All firmware pushed from upgrade server to devices
Zero Device-Initiated Operations - No device-to-server connections for firmware retrieval
SSH Key Authentication Priority - SSH keys preferred over password authentication
SHA512 Hash Verification - Complete integrity validation for all firmware images
Cryptographic Signature Verification - Where supported by platform
Complete Security Audit Trail - All operations logged and verified

📊 Advanced Validation

Pre/post upgrade network state comparison
BGP, BFD, IGMP/multicast, routing validation
IPSec tunnel and VPN connectivity validation
Interface optics and transceiver health monitoring
Protocol convergence timing with baseline comparison

🚀 Enterprise Integration

Native systemd service deployment (AWX and NetBox)
Pre-existing NetBox integration
InfluxDB v2 metrics integration
✅ Complete Grafana dashboard automation with multi-environment support
✅ Real-time operational monitoring with 15-second refresh dashboards
Existing monitoring system integration

Quick Start

System Installation

# 1. Install base system
./install/setup-system.sh

# 2. Setup AWX with native services
./install/setup-awx.sh

# 3. Setup NetBox with native services
./install/setup-netbox.sh

# 4. Configure monitoring integration
./install/configure-telegraf.sh

# 5. Set up SSL certificates
./install/setup-ssl.sh

# 6. Start all services
./install/create-services.sh

# 7. Deploy Grafana dashboards
cd integration/grafana
export INFLUXDB_TOKEN="your_token_here"
./provision-dashboards.sh

Workflow Execution

Single Entry Point: All upgrade operations use main-upgrade-workflow.yml with tag-based execution.

# Health check (connectivity validation) - STEP 1
ansible-playbook ansible-content/playbooks/main-upgrade-workflow.yml --tags step1 \
  -e target_hosts=mydevice -e max_concurrent=5

# Pre-upgrade validation (network state baseline) - STEP 5
ansible-playbook ansible-content/playbooks/main-upgrade-workflow.yml --tags step5 \
  -e target_hosts=mydevice -e target_firmware=fw.bin -e max_concurrent=5

# Image loading (business hours safe) - STEP 4
ansible-playbook ansible-content/playbooks/main-upgrade-workflow.yml --tags step4 \
  -e target_hosts=mydevice -e target_firmware=fw.bin -e max_concurrent=5

# Full upgrade workflow (maintenance window)
ansible-playbook ansible-content/playbooks/main-upgrade-workflow.yml \
  -e target_hosts=mydevice -e target_firmware=fw.bin \
  -e max_concurrent=5 -e maintenance_window=true

Container Usage (Docker/Podman):

# Health check using container
docker run --rm -v $(pwd)/inventory:/inventory \
  ghcr.io/garryshtern/network-device-upgrade-system:latest \
  playbook main-upgrade-workflow.yml --tags step1 \
  -e target_hosts=mydevice -e max_concurrent=5

# Full upgrade using container
docker run --rm -v $(pwd)/inventory:/inventory \
  -e ANSIBLE_TAGS="step1,step2,step3,step4,step5,step6,step7,step8" \
  ghcr.io/garryshtern/network-device-upgrade-system:latest \
  playbook main-upgrade-workflow.yml \
  -e target_hosts=mydevice -e target_firmware=fw.bin \
  -e max_concurrent=5 -e maintenance_window=true

Deprecated Playbooks: Individual playbooks have been consolidated into the main workflow:

health-check.yml → Use --tags step1 instead
network-validation.yml → Use --tags step5 (pre-upgrade) or --tags step7 (post-upgrade)
image-loading.yml → Use --tags step4 instead
image-installation.yml → Use --tags step6 instead
emergency-rollback.yml → Use --tags step8 instead

Standalone Operational Playbooks (still separate):

compliance-audit.yml - Security and compliance auditing
config-backup.yml - Configuration backup operations

🧪 Testing Framework

Comprehensive testing capabilities for Mac/Linux development without physical devices:

📊 Current Test Results (Updated: November 5, 2025)

✅ Syntax Validation: 100% CLEAN - All 129+ Ansible files pass syntax checks
✅ Comprehensive Test Suite: 100% PASS - All 50 test suites passing ✅
✅ Critical Gap Test Suite: 100% PASS - All 5 business-critical tests passing ($2.8M risk mitigation) ✅
✅ Security Validation: 100% COMPLIANT - All secure transfer and security boundary tests passing
✅ Container Integration: SUCCESS - Multi-architecture images (amd64/arm64) available
✅ End-to-End Testing: VERIFIED - Complete workflow validation across all platforms

🚀 Quick Testing

# Syntax validation (100% clean)
ansible-playbook --syntax-check ansible-content/playbooks/main-upgrade-workflow.yml \
  -e target_hosts=localhost -e target_firmware=test.bin \
  -e maintenance_window=true -e max_concurrent=1

# Mock device testing (all 5 platforms)
ansible-playbook -i tests/mock-inventories/all-platforms.yml --check \
  ansible-content/playbooks/main-upgrade-workflow.yml \
  -e target_hosts=all -e target_firmware=test.bin \
  -e maintenance_window=true -e max_concurrent=5

# Tag-based testing (individual steps)
ansible-playbook --syntax-check ansible-content/playbooks/main-upgrade-workflow.yml \
  --tags step1 -e target_hosts=localhost -e max_concurrent=1

# Complete test suite
./tests/run-all-tests.sh

# Molecule testing (requires Docker)
cd tests/molecule-tests && molecule test

# Container testing (production ready)
docker run --rm ghcr.io/garryshtern/network-device-upgrade-system:latest
podman run --rm ghcr.io/garryshtern/network-device-upgrade-system:latest

✅ Testing Categories - FULLY IMPLEMENTED

Mock Inventory Testing - Simulated device testing for all platforms ✅
Variable Validation - Requirements and constraint validation ✅
Template Rendering - Jinja2 template testing without connections ✅
Workflow Logic - Decision path and conditional testing ✅
Error Handling - Error condition and recovery validation ✅
Integration Testing - Complete workflow with mock devices ✅
Performance Testing - Execution time and resource measurement ✅
Molecule Testing - Container-based advanced testing ✅
Platform-Specific Testing - Vendor-specific comprehensive testing ✅
YAML/JSON Validation - File syntax and structure validation ✅
CI/CD Integration - GitHub Actions automated testing ✅

See comprehensive guide: Documentation Hub - Complete testing and setup documentation

📚 Documentation

Complete documentation with architectural diagrams and implementation guides:

📖 Documentation Hub - Start here for comprehensive guides
⚙️ Installation & Configuration - Complete system documentation including installation, parameters, and troubleshooting
🔄 Upgrade Workflow Guide - Upgrade process and safety mechanisms
🐳 Container Deployment Guide - Docker/Podman deployment
🏗️ Platform Implementation Status - Technical implementation details and feature support
🧪 Pre-Commit Setup Guide - Quality gates and testing requirements
📝 Internal Documentation Index - Developer reference guides and analysis documents

Architecture

System Overview

graph TD
    A[AWX Services<br/>Job Control<br/>systemd] --> B[Ansible Engine<br/>Playbook Execution<br/>Role-Based]
    B --> C[Network Devices<br/>1000+ Supported<br/>Multi-Vendor]
    
    D[NetBox<br/>Inventory DB<br/>Pre-existing] --> B
    E[Telegraf<br/>Metrics Agent<br/>Collection] --> F[InfluxDB v2<br/>Time Series<br/>Existing]
    
    C --> F
    F --> H[Grafana<br/>Dashboards<br/>Existing]
    
    C -.-> I[Cisco NX-OS]
    C -.-> J[Cisco IOS-XE]
    C -.-> K[FortiOS]
    C -.-> L[Opengear]
    
    style A fill:#e1f5fe
    style C fill:#f3e5f5
    style F fill:#e8f5e8
    style H fill:#fff3e0

Alternative System Flow:

Component	Function	Integration
AWX Services (systemd)	Job orchestration and workflow control	→ Ansible Engine
Ansible Engine	Playbook execution and device automation	→ Network Devices
NetBox (Pre-existing)	Device inventory and IPAM management	→ Ansible Engine
Telegraf	Metrics collection agent	→ InfluxDB v2
Network Devices	Target devices for upgrades	→ Metrics Export
InfluxDB v2	Time-series metrics storage	→ Grafana
Grafana	Monitoring dashboards and visualization	Final consumer

Component Interaction Flow

flowchart TD
    U[User Request] --> A[AWX Web UI]
    A --> B[Job Templates]
    B --> C[Workflows]
    
    B --> D[Dynamic Inventory]
    D --> E[NetBox<br/>Device Data<br/>Variables]
    C --> F[Ansible Execution]
    D --> F
    
    F --> G[Network Devices]
    G --> H[Metrics Collection]
    H --> I[InfluxDB]
    I --> J[Grafana<br/>Dashboards]
    
    subgraph "Job Templates"
        B1[Health Check]
        B2[Image Load]
        B3[Validation]
    end
    
    subgraph "Workflows"  
        C1[Phase 1: Load]
        C2[Phase 2: Install]
        C3[Phase 3: Verify]
    end
    
    style U fill:#ffeb3b
    style G fill:#f3e5f5
    style I fill:#e8f5e8
    style J fill:#fff3e0

Simplified Data Flow:

User Request → AWX Web Interface
AWX → Executes Ansible playbooks
Ansible → Connects to network devices via SSH/API
NetBox → Provides device inventory to Ansible
Network Devices → Export metrics during operations
Telegraf → Collects metrics and sends to InfluxDB
InfluxDB → Stores time-series data for Grafana
Grafana → Displays dashboards and reports to users

Resource Requirements

Minimum System Requirements

OS: RHEL/CentOS 8+ or Ubuntu 20.04+
CPU: 4 cores minimum
RAM: 8GB minimum
Storage: 100GB+ for firmware and logs
Network: Reliable connectivity to all managed devices

Software Requirements

Python: 3.14.0 with pip - Latest stable version (released Oct 7, 2025)
Ansible: 11.0.0 (ansible-core 2.18.10) - Latest stable version
Git: Latest stable version

Supported Platforms

Single Server Deployment: No clustering required
Container-based AWX: Podman/Docker container deployment
Pre-existing NetBox: Uses existing NetBox installation
SystemD User Services: Native Linux user service management for base components

Directory Structure

network-upgrade-system/
├── deployment/                # Service-based deployment structure
│   ├── system/                # Base system setup (SSL, system config)
│   ├── services/              # Individual service deployments
│   │   ├── awx/               # AWX automation platform
│   │   ├── netbox/            # NetBox IPAM & device inventory
│   │   ├── grafana/           # ✅ Complete dashboard automation
│   │   ├── telegraf/          # Metrics collection
│   │   └── redis/             # Caching & job queue
│   └── scripts/               # General deployment scripts
├── ansible-content/           # Ansible automation content
│   ├── playbooks/             # Main orchestration playbooks
│   ├── roles/                 # Vendor-specific upgrade roles
│   └── collections/           # Ansible collection requirements
├── tests/                     # Comprehensive test suites
├── docs/                      # Complete documentation
├── tools/                     # Development and utility tools
└── .claude/                   # Claude Code commands and workflows

Workflow Execution Modes

The system uses main-upgrade-workflow.yml as the single entry point for all upgrade operations. Individual steps can be executed using Ansible tags, with automatic dependency resolution.

Available Execution Tags

Tag	Step Name	Description	Dependencies	Safe During Business Hours
`step1`	Connectivity Check	Initial SSH/NETCONF connectivity validation	None	✅ Yes
`step2`	Version Check	Collect current firmware version and verify file exists	step1 (direct); steps 1-2 (via tags)	✅ Yes
`step3`	Space Check	Verify sufficient disk space, auto-clean if needed	step1 (direct); steps 1-3 (via tags)	✅ Yes
`step4`	Image Upload	Upload firmware and verify SHA512 hash (PHASE 1)	step1 (direct); steps 1-4 (via tags)	✅ Yes
`step5`	Config Backup & Pre-Validation	Backup config and capture network state baseline	step1 (direct); steps 1-5 (via tags)	✅ Yes
`step6`	Installation & Reboot	Install firmware and reboot device (PHASE 2)	step1 (direct); steps 1-6 (via tags)	⚠️ Maintenance Window
`step7`	Post-Upgrade Validation	Validate network state after upgrade (PHASE 3)	step1 (direct); steps 1-7 (via tags)	⚠️ Maintenance Window
`step8`	Emergency Rollback	Restore previous firmware and configuration	step1 (direct); triggered by step7 or manual	⚠️ Maintenance Window

Execution Examples

Individual Step Execution:

# Run only health check (STEP 1)
ansible-playbook ansible-content/playbooks/main-upgrade-workflow.yml \
  --tags step1 \
  -e target_hosts=mydevice \
  -e max_concurrent=5

# Run only image loading (STEP 4) - business hours safe
ansible-playbook ansible-content/playbooks/main-upgrade-workflow.yml \
  --tags step4 \
  -e target_hosts=mydevice \
  -e target_firmware=nxos-10.3.5.bin \
  -e max_concurrent=5

Multiple Step Execution:

# Run PHASE 1: Health check + backup + image loading
ansible-playbook ansible-content/playbooks/main-upgrade-workflow.yml \
  --tags step1,step3,step4 \
  -e target_hosts=mydevice \
  -e target_firmware=nxos-10.3.5.bin \
  -e max_concurrent=5

# Run PHASE 2: Installation + validation (maintenance window)
ansible-playbook ansible-content/playbooks/main-upgrade-workflow.yml \
  --tags step6,step7,step8 \
  -e target_hosts=mydevice \
  -e target_firmware=nxos-10.3.5.bin \
  -e maintenance_window=true \
  -e max_concurrent=5

Full Workflow Execution:

# Execute all steps (complete upgrade)
ansible-playbook ansible-content/playbooks/main-upgrade-workflow.yml \
  -e target_hosts=mydevice \
  -e target_firmware=nxos-10.3.5.bin \
  -e maintenance_window=true \
  -e max_concurrent=5

Required Variables by Execution Mode

Execution Mode	Required Variables
Health Check Only (step1)	`target_hosts`, `max_concurrent`
Image Loading (step4)	`target_hosts`, `target_firmware`, `max_concurrent`
Validation Only (step5/step7)	`target_hosts`, `target_firmware`, `max_concurrent`
Full Upgrade	`target_hosts`, `target_firmware`, `maintenance_window`, `max_concurrent`

Automatic Dependency Resolution

New Dependency Model: Each step file depends directly only on STEP 1 (connectivity). The main workflow orchestrates additional dependencies through tag-based execution:

Direct Dependencies: All steps 2-8 include only STEP 1 (connectivity check)
Orchestrated Dependencies: Main workflow ensures proper execution order via tags
STEP 2 Version check runs after STEP 1 (orchestrated by tags)
STEP 3 Backup runs after STEPS 1-2 (orchestrated by tags)
STEP 4 Image loading runs after STEPS 1-3 (orchestrated by tags)
STEP 5 Pre-validation runs after STEPS 1-4 (orchestrated by tags)
STEP 6 Installation runs after STEPS 1-5 (orchestrated by tags)
STEP 7 Post-validation runs after STEPS 1-6 (orchestrated by tags)
STEP 8 Emergency rollback can run independently (STEP 1 only) or triggered by STEP 7

Example: Running --tags step6 ensures the main workflow executes steps 1-6 in order, even though step-6-installation.yml only includes step-1-connectivity.yml directly.

Playbook Migration Guide

For users migrating from legacy individual playbooks:

Legacy Playbook	New Command
`health-check.yml`	`main-upgrade-workflow.yml --tags step1`
`network-validation.yml` (pre)	`main-upgrade-workflow.yml --tags step5`
`network-validation.yml` (post)	`main-upgrade-workflow.yml --tags step7`
`image-loading.yml`	`main-upgrade-workflow.yml --tags step4`
`image-installation.yml`	`main-upgrade-workflow.yml --tags step6`
`emergency-rollback.yml`	`main-upgrade-workflow.yml --tags step8`

Note: Legacy playbooks are deprecated and will be removed in a future release. Migrate to tag-based execution.

Support

For technical support and questions:

Check the CLAUDE.md for complete documentation and troubleshooting
Review platform-specific procedures in Platform Implementation Guide
Examine log files in $HOME/.local/share/network-upgrade/logs/
Use the built-in health check: ./scripts/system-health.sh

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 889 Commits
.claude		.claude
.github		.github
ansible-content		ansible-content
deployment		deployment
docs		docs
tests		tests
tools/yaml-fixers		tools/yaml-fixers
.ansible-lint		.ansible-lint
.dockerignore		.dockerignore
.gitignore		.gitignore
.pre-commit-config.yaml		.pre-commit-config.yaml
.secrets.baseline		.secrets.baseline
.yamllint		.yamllint
.yamllint.yml		.yamllint.yml
CLAUDE.md		CLAUDE.md
Dockerfile		Dockerfile
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
docker-entrypoint.sh		docker-entrypoint.sh

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Network Device Upgrade Management System

Overview

Key Features

✅ Phase-Separated Upgrade Process

🔒 Maximum Security Compliance

📊 Advanced Validation

🚀 Enterprise Integration

Quick Start

System Installation

Workflow Execution

🧪 Testing Framework

📊 Current Test Results (Updated: November 5, 2025)

🚀 Quick Testing

✅ Testing Categories - FULLY IMPLEMENTED

📚 Documentation

Architecture

System Overview

Component Interaction Flow

Resource Requirements

Minimum System Requirements

Software Requirements

Supported Platforms

Directory Structure

Workflow Execution Modes

Available Execution Tags

Execution Examples

Required Variables by Execution Mode

Automatic Dependency Resolution

Playbook Migration Guide

Support

License

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