pyIOSXR: Python library to manage devices running IOS-XR using the XML agent

pyIOSXR is a Python library that facilitates communication with Cisco devices running IOS-XR through the XML agent. Initially was developed by Elisa Jasinska @fooelisa and integrated in NAPALM. It is now maintained by Mircea Ulinic @mirceaulinic

Requirements

• netmiko >= 0.5.2

• lxml >= 3.4.2

• IOS-XR >= 5.1.0

Install

Install via pip:

pip install pyIOSXR

For upgrade:

pip install --upgrade pyIOSXR

Usage

Firstly make sure that the XML agent is properly enabled on the device:

# xml agent tty iteration off

Documentation

Connect and lock config

Connect to an IOS-XR device and auto-lock config:

>>> from pyIOSXR import IOSXR
>>> device = IOSXR(hostname='lab001', username='ejasinska', password='passwd', port=22, timeout=120)
>>> device.open()

Connect without auto-lock

Connect to an IOS-XR device withoug locking the config:

>>> from pyIOSXR import IOSXR
>>> device = IOSXR(hostname='lab001', username='ejasinska', password='passwd', port=22, timeout=120, lock=False)
>>> device.open()

Lock and unlock manually

If we connected to the device without locking the config, we might want to lock/unlock it later:
>>> device.lock()
>>> ...
>>> device.unlock()

Load and Compare Config

Load a candidate configuration from a file and show the diff that is going to be applied when committing the config:

>>> device.load_candidate_config(filename='unit/test/config.txt')
>>> device.compare_config()
---
+++
@@ -704,0 +705,3 @@
+interface TenGigE0/0/0/21
+ description testing-xml-from-file
+!

Get current loaded candidate config

Get the currently pending changes from the candidate configuration loaded by load_candidate_config(). candidate can be merged with the current running configuration by applying the "merge" keyword

>>> device.get_candidate_config(merge=False, formal=False)
!! IOS XR Configuration 5.2.2
interface GigabitEthernet0/0/0/0
 description test
!
end

Discard Candidate Config

If an already loaded configuration should be discarded without committing it, call discard_config():

>>> device.discard_config()
>>> device.compare_config()
>>>

Load, Compare and Merge Config

If you want to commit the loaded configuration and merge it with the existing configuration, call commit_config(): (comment and label is optional parameters)

>>> device.load_candidate_config(filename='unit/test/other_config.txt')
>>> device.compare_config()
---
+++
@@ -704,0 +705,3 @@
+interface TenGigE0/0/0/21
+ description testing-xml-from-the-other-file
+!
>>> device.commit_config(label='my label', comment='my comment')

Merge Config with Timer based autorollback

If you want to commit the loaded configuration with a timed autorollback that needs to be confirmed use the confirmed= keyword on the commit, parameters is seconds to wait before autorollback, values from 30 to 300sec. when using confirmed= you need to do another commit_config() without parameters within the time spesified to acknowledge the commit or else it rolls back your changes. (comment and label are optional parameters)

>>> device.load_candidate_config(filename='unit/test/other_config.txt')
>>> device.commit_config(label='my label', comment='my comment', confirmed=30)
.... Code to do checks etc ....
>>> device.commit_config()

Commit Replace Config

If you would rather commit the config by replacing the existing configuration, call commit_replace_config(): (comment and label is optional parameters)

>>> device.load_candidate_config(filename='unit/test/full_config.txt')
>>> device.compare_replace_config()
>>> device.commit_replace_config(label='my label', comment='my comment')

Rollback Config

After a previous commit, rollback() will return to the configuration prior to the commit:

>>> device.rollback()

Running Show Commands

Any show command can be executed in the following fashion, with the command embedded into the call:

>>> device.show_bgp_summary()
...
>>> device.show_interfaces()
...
>>> device.show_interfaces("GigabitEthernet0/0/0/0")
...
>>> device.show_controller("GigabitEthernet0/0/0/0", "phy")
...
>>> device.show_configuration(config=True)

Running XML Commands

An arbitrary XML command can be executed with the command:

>>> device.make_rpc_call("<Get><Operational><LLDP><NodeTable></NodeTable></LLDP></Operational></Get>")
...

Close Connection

Call close() to close the connection to the device:

>>> device.close()

Debugging Connection

Log the communication between pyIOSXR and the router to any file-like like stdout, or an actual file:

>>> from pyIOSXR import IOSXR
>>> import sys
>>> device=IOSXR(hostname="router", username="cisco", password="cisco", port=22, timeout=120, logfile=sys.stdout)

OR

>>> from pyIOSXR import IOSXR
>>> import sys
>>> file = open("logfile.log")
>>> device=IOSXR(hostname="router", username="cisco", password="cisco", port=22, timeout=120, logfile=file)

Thanks

A special thanks to David Barroso! The first versions were entirely based on David's pyEOS, which is a wrapper around Arista's eAPI for EOS.

Also, many thanks go out to Brady Walsh, without whom staying sane while digging through Cisco docs and XML would have been impossible.

License

Copyright 2015 Netflix, Inc. Copyright 2016 BigWave IT

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0: http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0