Flexible_Network

This is a Python Project that aims to make network automation with Python more flexible

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👉 Deprecated in favor of Flexible-Network [ Better performance / cleaner code / better features ]

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Drive

Automating network devices with Python isn't really flexible because you're dealing with a dump device (only returns output, no STDERR, no exit_code .. only output) ... which makes automating them a bit of static task

• So the main Idea of this project is give you the same feeling as automating Linux machines. by returning different information upon executing a command on a network device, (e.g STDOUT, STDERR, EXIT_CODE) among others
  • That is possible by detecting errors when executing commands on network devices
• The above concept gave a lot of flexibility to add more features

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Why should we use this Project while we can use Ansible for network automation !

Ansible provides good means for network automation, it is idempotent, gathers facts, & supports config backups as well among other features

But the question should be Python vs. Ansible for network automation and this is a controversy topic as each is suitable for different use cases

This project aims to improve the way we use python for network automation. ✋

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Features

• Ability to detect errors when executing commands on network devices [Sample output]
  • Default behaviour is to abort if an error was encountered
• Returns different outputs as the result of commands (STDOUT, STDERR, EXIT_CODE) which you can use with python conditions
• Ability to search in a command output using Regular Expressions.
• Ability to ask for confirmation before executing a particular command [Sample Output]
• Ability to backup config locally (at any point of time within your script) [Sample Output]
• List tasks with backups (Keeps the state of backups) [Sample output]
• Print commands outputs
• Print commands output in Json [Sample Output]
• print messages with different levels (colors) i.e info, warning, alert

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Supported Vendors

• Cisco
• Huawei (Needs some work)
• Others to be added later

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To be done

• supports groups in the hosts file (In other words using the same mechanism Ansible uses for the inventory)
• Support Backup restore (Still thinking)

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Installation

pip3 install FlexibleNetwork

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Build the library From source

git clone https://github.com/eslam-gomaa/Flexible_Network.git

cd Flexible_Network

python3.6 setup.py bdist_wheel
pip3.6 install Flexible_Network/dist/FlexibleNetwork-*.whl

NOTE -- The code was tested with Python 3.6

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Usage

1. Create an empty Python script; Sample Script
2. Import needed classes

from FlexibleNetwork import SSH_Connection
from FlexibleNetwork import inventory

# This 'hosts' variable returns a dict i,e  {hosts: [host1, host2], hosts_number: N}
hosts = inventory.text_file()

3. Loop over the hosts in the hosts['hosts'] variable & start use the provided methods
4. Write your code using the available methods -- Example
5. Run your script as a CLI

python3.6 <your script>.py -h

*Example

python3.6 Example-2.py -f hosts.txt --task 'Day 4' --comment 'Some checks & taking backups of some devices'
# --task is important

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Methods Documentation

execute()

Execute commands on the network device

Method options

Option	Description	Default Value
cmd	Command to run on the network device
cmd_from_file	File to load commands from (will be run as 1 command)
print_stdout	Print the output	False
print_json	Print the output in Json format	False
ask_for_confirmation	Ask for information before running specific command	False
search	keyword to search in the command's output (using Regular Expressions)	None
exit_on_fail	Abort if got an error while executing the command	True

execute_from_file()

Loads commands from a file & executes them 1 by 1

NOTE running each line 1 by 1 will detect the error faster

Method options

Option	Description	Default Value
file	Specify the file to load commands from (each line will run seperately)
print_stdout	Print the output	False
print_json	Print the output in Json format	False
ask_for_confirmation	Ask for information before running specific command	False
search	keyword to search in the command's output (using Regular Expressions)	None
exit_on_fail	Abort if got an error while executing the command	True

print()

Print messages with different levels

🟢 Info

🟡 warning

🔴 alert

Method options

Option	Description	Default Value	Options
msg	The message to print
level	The print level (Each level has different color)	'info'	'info', 'warning', 'alert'

backup_config()

Take backup from the configuration of the device & store it locally

Method options

Option	Description	Default Value
Comment	Comment for the backup

close()

Close the SSH Connection with the device

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Access configurations backups

NOTE -- If you used the backup_config method within your script, the state of your task will be stored

NOTE -- Currently the state of backups is stored in a Json file in the current direction.

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• List the tasks

python3.6 Example-2.py --list

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• Filter the tasks with date

# Date format --> day-month-year
python3.6 Example-2.py --list --filter_date 11-10-2021

• Show the backups of a task

python3.6 Example-2.py --show Day-4__11-10-2021-09-32-01

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Screenshoots

Output of a Example-2.py

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