Introducing new Cisco IOS module for agentless device management

[Ben Ford]

Puppet has launched the agentless Cisco IOS module for Network Devices that can be downloaded from the Puppet Forge. This module gives networking teams an easy way to manage Cisco Catalyst Switches with Puppet without the need to install an agent on the devices.

This improvement of Puppet agentless approach is another step in the direction of expanding the type of resources that can be managed with Puppet, offering Operations and Network teams the option to standardize on one tool.

Cisco IOS Catalyst module use cases:

• Extend the use of Puppet to network and legacy devices, like Cisco switches, without the need to install an agent on the device;
• Scale automation across various Cisco network devices to reduce time management, downtime, and configuration errors of a manual approach;
• Ensure switches configurations remain in the desired state at all times without having to worry about drift or unauthorized changes that lead to errors and downtime.

The module requires the Resource API which can be downloaded from the Puppet Forge. The Cisco IOS module uses the agentless Puppet Device, which acts as a proxy node to request certificates, collect facts, retrieve and apply catalogs and store reports. The ReadMe for the module provides sample manifests for retrieving existing configuration data and setting new configuration data.