Hi! Yes, there is. Python scripts are fine, as are shell scripts. Switching to Ansible gives you much more, however:
* Consistency: Happens the same way every time
* Predictability: No need to worry about the "how"; just the "what"
* Auditable: Combine with git version control, everything is in the open, and others can read it easily; it's all YAML.
* (Relatively) Rapid deployment: No need to do major re-code for a new capability
* Less "cognitive load": Edit YAML config, save, run, done.
* Burden of maintenance shift: You no longer worry about the "plumbing"; you only worry about what you need to accomplish
* Idempotency: Only things that need changing are changed; existing items with existing configurations matching the provided configuration are checked, but untouched.
With Ansible, you can create yourself a collection of templates with the base outline of everything you need to get started. You can easily collect Before/After evidence for change control, track it all with git, optionally run the playbooks through Docker (increased auditability and consistency). The platform manages the back-end coding, you worry about the order-of-operations and tasks. You work with Ansible's constructs:
* Here's a list of host objects I made (these are stored in an external variables file)
* Run these objects through a pre-made task loop to collect their current details (e.g.: Name, IP address, list of group membership; or "Host Foo does not exist")
* Run these objects through a loop to add/remove them based on the definition of the items in the list
* Run these objects through the pre-made task again to collect the fact that they're now deleted (or new objects added)
* Publish changes (or Discard all changes, if just want to test)
* Verify policy (if Published); save result of verification
* Install policy (if Published and Verified); Save result of install
* Create zip file of all Before/After evidence
The initial "hard work" was 1-time setup work to design your outline. After that, the only thing you need to do is just define your list of objects (hosts, networks, groups, access rules, custom application sites; whatever). But this shifts your focus; you're no longer banging through Python scripts with the SDK *AND* setting up your input constructs.
I say this next part because you already do Python, so you'll understand it : Ansible natively accepts JSON or YAML as input variables. You don't need to deal with unstructured inputs like CSV or random text files. YAML is your structured data. You can instead shift your focus even further and learn how to transform other data input with JQ (or feel free to write another Python script) to emit structured JSON (or, hilariously, transform data back to CSV for "some people" to read). Data transformation becomes your new skill, (random structure to JSON, convert JSON to YAML) because this is your input vector for Ansible. Pair that with your playbook template, and run it.
*Self-promotion*: Check my signature below for a YouTube series I've made that tells you everything you need to know to get started with Ansible and Check Point. Feel free to PM or e-mail me with any questions! I also have GitHub repo setup that you can clone that gets you started with the template design described in the series.
https://github.com/duanetoler/edge-case-ansible-series/
(Edit: add idempotency above)
