Writing

Practical essays for practitioners.

Tines, Infoblox, Ansible, Python, and the AI-assisted workflows that actually survive contact with production. 33 essays and counting.

33 essays

"Source of Truth" Is Confusing Network Automation Teams
NETWORK AUTOMATION · 22 MIN

"Source of Truth" Is Confusing Network Automation Teams

The phrase 'source of truth' hides a critical distinction in network automation: intent is what the network should look like, and operational state is what it actually does. Understanding and closing the gap between the two is the real job.

P.E.N.E.: The Prompt Framework I’m Using to Build AI Agents for Network Operations
AI · 28 MIN

P.E.N.E.: The Prompt Framework I’m Using to Build AI Agents for Network Operations

A practical field guide for using the P.E.N.E. framework as an agent behavior contract for NetOps workflows like BGP reviews, firewall audits, alert triage, NetBox drift detection, change planning, and incident summaries.

Tines CE + Cloudflare Tunnels: The Ultimate (Free) Home Lab Automation Power Couple
AUTOMATION · 3 MIN

Tines CE + Cloudflare Tunnels: The Ultimate (Free) Home Lab Automation Power Couple

How to connect a hosted SOAR platform (Tines) to your private network infrastructure using Cloudflare Tunnels for free.

Automating IOC Management with Tines + Infoblox Threat Defense
AUTOMATION · 5 MIN

Automating IOC Management with Tines + Infoblox Threat Defense

If you’ve ever had to manually wrangle external threat intel feeds — CSVs, JSON dumps, or raw text files full of Indicators of Compromise — you know it’s a pain. Some sources send you neat JSON, other

Introducing MCP Servers in Tines — My Hands-On Guide
AUTOMATION · 5 MIN

Introducing MCP Servers in Tines — My Hands-On Guide

When MCP servers launched inside Tines, I had to play with it. This hands-on guide walks through what Model Context Protocol means for automation builders, and exactly how to set one up step by step.

AUTOMATION · DEC 5
AUTOMATION · 2 MIN

Real-Time Data Transformation with AI: Grouping & Analyzing Data Using Automatic Transform!

A quick demo walking through AI-driven automatic transforms in Tines to handle complex data requests in real-time — grouping and analyzing ransomware data from ransomware.live.

My Journey into Automation: From Postman to Curl and Beyond
AUTOMATION JOURNEY · 5 MIN

My Journey into Automation: From Postman to Curl and Beyond

Introduction: The Beginning of Automation Today, I want to take you on a journey that started with curiosity and has become an essential part of my daily workflow. I'm talking about the fascinat

Simplifying and Securing API Authentication in Python with Requests and Keyring
AUTOMATION · 4 MIN

Simplifying and Securing API Authentication in Python with Requests and Keyring

Chatting with my good friend over at Swimlane, Kevin Mata, about ways to secure my Python code that I have credentials stored. He suggested tools like BitWarden, Vault by Hashicorp, and others. But if

The Ultimate Guide to Infoblox DDI WAPI Examples
API · 4 MIN

The Ultimate Guide to Infoblox DDI WAPI Examples

Infoblox DDI API is an extension of the Infoblox DDI solution that provides a RESTful API interface for interacting with the Infoblox DDI system. The Infoblox DDI API allows you to perform various tas

INFOBLOX · SEP 24
INFOBLOX · 1 MIN ↗ Infoblox

Automating DTC creation with Ansible Tasks and Infoblox NIOS

How to automate DNS Traffic Control object creation by converting individual Ansible playbooks into reusable tasks, using Jinja2 templates and the Infoblox Ansible Collection to build DTC servers, pools, and LBDNs.

Getting Started with Infoblox NetMRI BootStrap
AUTOMATION · 2 MIN

Getting Started with Infoblox NetMRI BootStrap

Introduction to NetMRI BootStrap — it allows you to create a local repo on a Windows/Linux machine for all your NetMRI Config Templates, Custom Issues, Lists, and Policy/Rules.

INFOBLOX · MAR 3
INFOBLOX · 1 MIN ↗ Infoblox

Use IPAM to Control NetMRI Discovery Ranges

How to automate syncing newly created networks from Infoblox IPAM to NetMRI for discovery, using Extensible Attributes, a Python script, and scheduled hourly API jobs.

How to search for data in Infoblox via API(WAPI) using Python Module
AUTOMATION · 8 MIN

How to search for data in Infoblox via API(WAPI) using Python Module

Retrieving data from Infoblox via the RESTful API (WAPI) using the requests module and the infoblox-client Python module, with examples for searching networks and hosts.

Office 365 Connectors from Microsoft Teams via Python API
MICROSOFT · 3 MIN

Office 365 Connectors from Microsoft Teams via Python API

I was going to look at creating a Slack Channel with just DNS news for my coworkers but then found out we are going to use Microsoft Teams. Mmmmm M$ Teams, never was a fan of Microsoft but my good bu

Infoblox and Ansible Updating a CNAME via Playbook
ANSIBLE · 3 MIN

Infoblox and Ansible Updating a CNAME via Playbook

How to update a CNAME record in Infoblox using an Ansible Playbook with the URI module — covering GET to retrieve the record reference and PUT to update it.

Introduction to Infoblox API (WAPI) using Python
AUTOMATION · 6 MIN

Introduction to Infoblox API (WAPI) using Python

Getting started with the Infoblox WAPI using Python — examples using both the requests module for direct REST API calls and the infoblox-client module to list Grid members.

Infoblox and Ansible creating "DHCP Range" with "templates"
ANSIBLE · 6 MIN

Infoblox and Ansible creating "DHCP Range" with "templates"

Using Ansible to create DHCP Ranges in Infoblox with Network and Range Templates, including how to use the nextavailablenetwork API call and restart services automatically.

SECURITY · MAY 4
SECURITY · 1 MIN ↗ Infoblox

Star Wars Day 2020 – The Galaxy's Most Wanted Cybercriminals

Star Wars characters as creative analogies for real cybersecurity threats — Trojan attacks, data exfiltration, and shadow IoT — with practical security recommendations for enterprises.

Infoblox and Ansible using “nios_next_ip”
ANSIBLE · 9 MIN

Infoblox and Ansible using “nios_next_ip”

“Using nios_next_ip with Ansible and Infoblox to retrieve the next available IP address and auto-create host records, including passing hostnames as command-line variables.”

Infoblox and Ansible using "nios_next_network"
ANSIBLE · 8 MIN

Infoblox and Ansible using "nios_next_network"

Using nios_next_network with Ansible and Infoblox to look up and create single or multiple networks from a container, building on the lookup and nios_network modules.

Infoblox and Ansible getting to know "lookup"
ANSIBLE · 8 MIN

Infoblox and Ansible getting to know "lookup"

Building on the Infoblox and Ansible series — configuring credentials, static hosts, and using the nios lookup module to search host records with full and partial string matching.

Getting started with Infoblox and Ansible
ANSIBLE · 4 MIN

Getting started with Infoblox and Ansible

Why Infoblox and Ansible Infoblox delivers actionable network intelligence to enterprise, government, and service provider customers around the world, as the industry leader in DNS, DHCP, and IP addre

INFOBLOX · JAN 20
INFOBLOX · 1 MIN ↗ Infoblox

Get networks from IPAM and add to NetMRI for Discovery

A Python and API-driven workflow for pulling network ranges from Infoblox IPAM and automatically registering them in NetMRI to keep discovery scopes in sync.

How can I verify if TLS 1.2 is supported on a remote Web Server?
NMAP · 3 MIN

How can I verify if TLS 1.2 is supported on a remote Web Server?

Today I was asked how can you verify if a WebServer is running TLS 1.2? Using NMAP and with script SSL-ENUM-CIPHERS User Summary This script repeatedly initiates SSLv3 / TLS connections, each time tr

Rolling your own SYSLOG and fake SIEM
PYTHON · 4 MIN

Rolling your own SYSLOG and fake SIEM

So I was tasked with developing a way to show customers how Syslog messages are sent to their SIEM. The problem I don't have a SIEM at home 🙂 I decided to fake it some good buddies over at DC7

NETMRI · NOV 19
NETMRI · 1 MIN ↗ Infoblox

Modify Cisco interface description on all Trunking Interfaces

A NetMRI scripting walkthrough for bulk-updating interface descriptions on all Cisco trunking ports across a network, reducing manual CLI work to a single automated job.

INFOBLOX · JUL 30
INFOBLOX · 1 MIN ↗ Infoblox

Getting the next available network from a "/16" or any container

How to use Infoblox WAPI's /request object to atomically retrieve and allocate the next available subnet from any container, combining GET and POST into a single API call.

INFOBLOX · MAY 29
INFOBLOX · 1 MIN ↗ Infoblox

Importing a CSV file into an EA list using Postman

How to use Postman to import CSV data into an Infoblox Extensible Attributes list without Python scripting — retrieve the EA reference, convert CSV to JSON, and update via REST API.

INFOBLOX · MAR 29
INFOBLOX · 1 MIN ↗ Infoblox

What Makes the Infoblox Security EcoSystem so Powerful?

An exploration of how Infoblox's Security EcoSystem enables coordinated threat detection by sharing cyber threat intelligence across security tools, using DNSbot as a case study for RPZ-based blocking and automated alerting.

NETMRI · MAR 8
NETMRI · 1 MIN ↗ Infoblox

5 Python Scripts to get you started in NetMRI

Five practical Python scripting examples for NetMRI — from running commands on devices to making API calls and triggering platform actions — to help network engineers automate common tasks.

NETMRI · FEB 13
NETMRI · 1 MIN ↗ Infoblox

NetMRI – Customized Configuration Collection

How to use the NetMRI REST API with Python and SSH to script custom configuration collection for unsupported devices like SD-WAN routers, enabling change management and policy audits.

NETMRI · OCT 1
NETMRI · 1 MIN ↗ Infoblox

Importing users into NetMRI via the API

A Perl script walkthrough for batch-importing user accounts into NetMRI by reading user data from a file and making API calls to create credentials and profiles automatically.

NETMRI · JUN 28
NETMRI · 1 MIN ↗ Infoblox

NetMRI Scripting: Locating Devices that Have Changed

How to use NetMRI API scripting to identify network devices with configuration changes within a given timeframe — a practical solution for NOC teams needing to quickly compare configs for troubleshooting.