netconf_client

netconf_client

The netconf_client is a script written to grab telemetry data using netconf, it uses the ncclient library.

To use it, install the dependencies needed

pip install -r requirements.txt

Usage

╰─ python main.py -h
usage: main.py [-h] [--device_settings DEVICE_SETTINGS] (--xml_filter XML_FILTER | --xpath_filter XPATH_FILTER)

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  --device_settings DEVICE_SETTINGS
                        Device Settings in json fomat. Eg. 'netconf_devices_settings.json'
  --xml_filter XML_FILTER
                        Netconf Filter to apply in xml format. Eg. 'cisco_xe_ietf-interfaces.xml'
  --xpath_filter XPATH_FILTER
                        Netconf Filter to apply in xpath. Formats: <xpath> OR <namespace>:<xpath> Eg. 'interfaces/interface' OR 'http://cisco.com/ns/yang/Cisco-IOS-XE-interfaces-oper:interfaces/interface' xpath is used as
                        ID internally.

For example

python main.py --device_settings=cat8000v-1_settings.json --xml_filter=Cisco-IOS-XE-memory-oper.xml

python3 main.py --device_settings=cat8000v-0_settings.json --xpath_filter=http://cisco.com/ns/yang/Cisco-IOS-XE-isis-oper:/isis-oper-data/isis-instance

Once the script finishes, it will print the result. This is enough for working with telegraf as an exec plugin, but might not be for your use case.

Operations

Currently only uses the GET operation to retrieve data.

Ways to retrieve data

Relative and absolute paths are supported to define device or filters files.

Define your devices

Under the devices directory create a json file. Follow the structure defined of the existing files. Don't add or remove fields, these are used to build a netconf_device object

xml filter

You need to specify an xml file with the filter you want to use and the --xml_filter option when calling the script.

For example:

• --xml_filter=cisco_xe_ietf-interfaces.xml

The script supports relative and absolute paths. Default directory is the filter directory, place your xml files there if you don't want to deal with absolute or relative paths.

xpath

xpath can be use with the following formats:

• --xpath_filter=<xpath>
• --xpath_filter=<namespace>:<xpath>

For example:

--xpath_filter=interfaces/interface
--xpath_filter=http://cisco.com/ns/yang/Cisco-IOS-XE-interfaces-oper:interfaces/interface

The xpath filter is used as ID internally.

Netconf Filters

At the time of writting it parses the output of the following netconf filters:

• ietf-interfaces
• Cisco-IOS-XE-interfaces-oper
• Cisco-IOS-XE-memory-oper
• Cisco-IOS-XE-isis-oper

If using the --xml_filter option, you can find the xml used under the filter directory.

The python code that parses the RPC reply is found under the parsers directory

Adding a Parser

If you want to add your own parser. You need to:

• Create a parser under the parsers directory
  • You parser must implement the Parser class. See an existing parser for an example
• Add your new parser to the factory file under the match statement.
  • If using a xml file, use the file name as ID, including the .xml extension.
  • If using xpath, use the whole xpath expression.