Getting Structured Data Back from CLI Devices

[Jason Edelman]

Hi Everyone,

As WE ALL KNOW, every new device has its own API.  Since that really doesn't matter since most devices, i.e. IOS, etc. don't have an API, it makes it difficult to get structured data back, i.e. JSON out of old school devices.

I just released an Ansible module that should help a ton....repo is below.

We (all of us here!) just need to come together to build out the proper templates to really see this be something meaningful.  

Repo:

https://github.com/networktocode/ntc-ansible

To add a new command, etc., all you need to do is two things:

1. Create a TextFSM template for a given show command and store it in ntc_templates
2. Add that TextFSM to the index. Device needs to be included within the index as well

https://github.com/networktocode/ntc-ansible/blob/master/contributing.md

Related posts:

http://jedelman.com/home/getting-structured-data-back-from-cli-devices/

http://jedelman.com/home/programmatic-access-to-cli-devices-with-textfsm/

Hope it helps someone out there!

[Michael Kashin]

Amazing work! It's gonna be difficult parsing some complex tables with TextFSM but the majority of them should be fine. So do we follow the normal fork-pull cycle to add our templates?

I'm just thinking it'd also be nice to have a separate testing playbook to try templates on standard inputs and confirm they're working.

[Jason Edelman]

Yes, you can use the fork and pull method, no issues there!  Will be reviewing your PR very soon :)

Regarding being difficult parsing complex tables - remember it's totally up to the user on what data is required post-parse, so *technically* you don't need to parse every attribute from a given command.  For example, you may not need/want every counter from 'show interface', etc.  

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[David Barroso]

Great job Jason. And thank you for making me aware of TextFSM. I see TextFSM as an equivalent of the pyEZ views but for dealing with regexp instead of XML. I have to try TextFSM as that lib could simplify the development of NAPALM : )

[Jason Edelman]

Definitely similar to what Juniper has!  And simplifying the development (and contributions) is what it is all about :)

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[shreya mittal]

Hello everyone, 

I am a beginner in this field and am trying to achieve more or less the same results. My aim is to achieve the results from command to the Flask API i am trying to build.

Can anyone help me with this. It might be really basic for u.

Thankyou in advance 

[shreya mittal]

Hello everyone ... 

Can anyone Help me with the following : 

Calling SSH Script through Flask API ? It will be really a great help to me... I am stuck on this from past 10 days :(

On Friday, August 14, 2015 at 10:01:13 PM UTC+2, Jason Edelman wrote:

[Jason Edelman]

Can you share what you have so far?

Thanks,

Jason

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[shreya mittal]

I have attached the screen shots for what I have so far...

I am able to call SSH script from my Flask API... now I have to try to send an IP address to the SSH Script ... How can I do that ??

On Friday, August 14, 2015 at 10:01:13 PM UTC+2, Jason Edelman wrote: