The networking industry has done a great job of training network engineers to use the command line interface for per-device configuration and training has resulted in an extensive use of manual processes. Even though we’ve included training on how routing and switching protocols work between multiple devices, the training focused on building configurations for individual devices .
The manual processes were not too bad when networks were relatively small. But over time, the size and complexity of corporate networks have grown. We’ve adopted mechanisms to minimize human error, such as change control boards. But we still tend to maintain network configuration data in spreadsheets that must be manually copied or cut and pasted into network configuration templates.
