Cat 9k Software Project of Sarah-Louise and Antoine

This repository leverages the programability features available on the Cisco Catalyst 9k. It contains multiple On-Box Python example scripts making use of the Guestshell, shows the integration with the Webex Teams api and the use of an external server to leverage the NETCONF protocol and YANG data-models for scalability.

On-Box Python

Use the Embedded Event Manager (EEM) to automatically take actions when a specific event happend on the switch.

Interface states monitoring

• When interface state change, post a message on Webex Teams
• Current interface state is cleary shown on Webex Teams

Configuration change monitoring

• Post a message on Webex Teams when a user modifies the configuration. Script is now able to get the date, time, line mode and user who did the change, and post it into the spark group.

Webex Teams bot

Saving the configuration from Webex Teams

• Adding bot integration (Kitty), who is able to detect message and answer
• Save the configuration from the Webex Teams room. Do @Bot save config and the configuration will be backed up to a TFTP server (parameters on SparkVariables.py)

Getting started

Enabling the Guestshell

We show how to enable the Guestshell on a Catalyst 9300 running IOS-XE 16.8.1a. The first step is to enable the iox feautures with the following command. IOX is the manager that handles guest shell and other 3rd party applications in IOS-XE.

cat9k#conf t
cat9k(config)#iox

Verify that IOX has start up with a show command (takes a few minute to start up)

cat9k#show iox

IOX Infrastructure Summary:
---------------------------
IOX service (CAF)     : RUNNING
IOX service (HA)      : RUNNING
IOX service (IOxman)  : RUNNING
Libvirtd              : RUNNING

By default, the guestshell interface has to be configured in the app-hosting interface. You will need to configure the following process prior to the activation of the Guestshell. Note that we use the DNS server address of Cisco Umbrella in this example (208.67.222.222):

cat9k#conf t
cat9k(config)#interface GigabitEthernet0/0
cat9k(config-if)#vrf forwarding Mgmt-vrf
cat9k(config-if)#ip address dhcp
cat9k(config-if)#speed 1000
cat9k(config-if)#negotiation auto
cat9k(config-if)#end

cat9k#conf t
cat9kconfig)#app-hosting appid guestshell 
cat9k(config-app-hosting)#vnic management guest-interface 0 guest-ipaddress 10.8.0.102 netmask 255.255.255.0 gateway 10.8.0.254 name-server 208.67.222.222
cat9k(config-app-hosting)#end

Guestshell is enabled with an exec command:

cat9k#guestshell enable
Interface will be selected if configured in app-hosting
Please wait for completion
guestshell intalled successfully
Current state is: DEPLOYED
guestshell activated successfully
Current state is: ACTIVATED
guestshell started successfully
Current state is: RUNNING
guestshell enabled successfully

Setting up your Guestshell (recommendations)

cat9k#guestshell
[guestshell@guestshell ~]$ sudo yum install git
[guestshell@guestshell ~]$ sudo yum update -y nss curl libcurl
[guestshell@guestshell ~]$ git clone https://github.com/Catalyst9k-SLA/Cat9k.git

[guestshell@guestshell ~]$ sudo pip install —-upgrade pip
[guestshell@guestshell ~]$ sudo pip install requests
[guestshell@guestshell ~]$ sudo pip install --upgrade setuptools
[guestshell@guestshell ~]$ sudo pip install ciscosparkapi
[guestshell@guestshell ~]$ sudo pip install flask ncclient
[guestshell@guestshell ~]$ sudo pip install nose tornado networkx

Embedded Event Manager applet examples

The EEM is enabled on the switch though EEM applets. Below are two configuration examples for the monitoring of configuration changes and interface states

Configuration changes monitoring

cat9k#config t
cat9k(config)#event manager applet GUESTSHELL-CONFIG-CHANGE-TO-SPARK
cat9k(config-applet)#event syslog pattern "%SYS-5-CONFIG_I: Configured from"
cat9k(config-applet)#action 0.0 cli command "en"
cat9k(config-applet)#action 1.0 info type syslog history
cat9k(config-applet)#action 2.0 info type routername
cat9k(config-applet)#action 3.0 cli command "guestshell run python /home/guestshell/SoftwareProject/Cat9k/Spark/configuration_change.py $_info_syslog_hist_msg_32 $_info_routername"
cat9k(config-applet)#exit
cat9k(config)#exit

Interface states monitoring:

cat9k#config t
cat9k(config)#event manager applet GUESTSHELL-INT-STATE-UPDOWN
cat9k(config-applet)#event syslog pattern "%LINK-3-UPDOWN:"
cat9k(config-applet)#action 0   cli command "enable"
cat9k(config-applet)#action 1.0 info type syslog history
cat9k(config-applet)#action 2.0 info type routername
cat9k(config-applet)#action 3.0 cli command "guestshell run python /home/guestshell/SoftwareProject/Cat9k/Spark/intState_change.py $_info_syslog_hist_msg_32 $_info_routername"
cat9k(config-applet)#exit
cat9k(config)#exit

Adding the listening bot

./ngrok http 8080
cc
# Getting the URL from ngrok
# Take this URL, and add it to SparkVariables.py
# Add '/webhook' at the end of the URL

# Example :
webhook_URL = "https://e18e3287.ngrok.io/webhook"
** Don't forget the "/webhook" at the end **

# Run the below command everytime you have a new URL URL
python postwebhook.py

# To run the listening bot
python webhookapp.py

More info about the Webex Teams Webhooks :

https://developer.ciscospark.com/resource-webhooks.html