Netman

Netman is a unified REST API that provides vendor-agnostic network automation. It abstracts the vendor-specific bits and leaves you with a clean and simplified API.

Python code usage

switch_factory = SwitchFactory(MemoryStorage(), ThreadingLockFactory())
switch = switch_factory.get_anonymous_switch(
    model="cisco", 
    hostname="hostname_or_ip", 
    username="username", 
    password="password", 
)

switch.add_vlan(1000, name="myvlan")

REST API usage

First, start the service

tox
.tox/py27/bin/python netman/main.py
 * Running on http://127.0.0.1:5000/ (Press CTRL+C to quit)

Then you can access it by http

curl -X POST http://127.0.0.1:5000/switches/hostname_or_ip/vlans -d '{"number": 1000, "name": "myvlan"}' 
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" 
    -H "Netman-model: cisco" 
    -H "Netman-username: username" 
    -H "Netman-password: password"

Disaggregated mode

Netman supports a disaggregated mode. This is a special mode of operation where netman will use a remote netman server to access the network equipment. This mode is particularly useful in the case where your network equipment is not available to your main netman server. You can start a server somewhere, let's say at 192.168.1.1, running netman as described above. And use the proxy like this for direct code usage :

switch_factory = SwitchFactory(MemoryStorage(), ThreadingLockFactory())
switch = switch_factory.get_anonymous_switch(
    model="cisco", 
    hostname="hostname_or_ip", 
    username="username", 
    password="password", 
    netman_server="http://192.168.1.1")

switch.add_vlan(1000, name="myvlan")

Or when invoked using the REST API, you can call the main server and provide the proxy netman server to be used.

curl -X POST http://127.0.0.1:5000/switches/hostname_or_ip/vlans -d '{"number": 1000, "name": "myvlan"}' 
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" 
    -H "Netman-model: cisco" 
    -H "Netman-username: username" 
    -H "Netman-password: password"
    -H "Netman-Proxy-Server: http://192.168.1.1"

Docker usage

From your computer, start a Netman container and a fake-switch container in order to mock a switch Netman will configure.

$ docker-compose up -d

Create a Vlan

curl -X POST http://localhost:32771/switches/netman_tsr1.yul1.example.net_1/vlans -d '{"number": 1000, "name": "myvlan"}' 
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" 
    -H "Netman-model: cisco" 
    -H "Netman-username: root" 
    -H "Netman-password: root"

Get information of an existing Vlan

curl -X GET http://localhost:32771/switches/netman_tsr1.yul1.example.net_1/vlans/1000 
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" 
    -H "Netman-model: cisco" 
    -H "Netman-username: root" 
    -H "Netman-password: root"