- NAME
- VERSION
- SYNOPSIS
- DESCRIPTION
- METHODS
- CONFIGURATION
- ASYNCHRONOUS BEHAVIOUR
- DIAGNOSTICS
- INTERNALS
- THANKS
- AUTHOR
NAME
Net::Appliance::Session - Run command-line sessions to network appliances
VERSION
version 4.200003
SYNOPSIS
use Net::Appliance::Session; my $s = Net::Appliance::Session->new({ personality => 'ios', transport => 'SSH', host => 'hostname.example', privileged_paging => 1, # only if using ASA/PIX OS 7+ # and there are other behaviour options, see below }); try { $s->connect({ username => 'username', password => 'loginpass' }); $s->begin_privileged({ password => 'privilegedpass' }); print $s->cmd('show access-list'); $s->end_privileged; } catch { warn "failed to execute command: $_"; } finally { $s->close; };
or, try the bundled
nas helper script (beta feature!):
nas --help
DESCRIPTION.
METHODS
As in the synopsis above, the first step is to create a new instance.
Recommended practice is to wrap all other calls (except
close()) in a
try block, to catch errors (typically time-outs waiting for CLI response). This module exports the
try/catch/finally methods (from Try::Tiny) into your namespace as a simpler alternative to using
eval().
For a full demonstration of usage, see the example script shipped with this distribution.
Net::Appliance::Session->new( \%options )
my $s = Net::Appliance::Session->new({ personality => 'ios', transport => 'SSH', host => 'hostname.example', });
Prepares a new session for you, but will not connect to any device. Some options are required, others optional:
personality => $name(required)
Tells the module which "language" to use when talking to the connected device, for example
iosfor Cisco IOS devices. There's a list of all the supported platforms in the Phrasebook documentation. It's also possible to write new phrasebooks.
transport => $backend(required)
The name of the transport backend used for the session, which may be one of Telnet, SSH, or Serial.
app => $location(required on Windows)
On Windows platforms, you must download the
plink.exeprogram, and pass its location in this parameter.
host => $hostname(required for Telnet and SSH transports)
When using the Telnet and SSH transports, you must provide the IP or host name of the target device in this parameter.
timeout => $seconds
Configures a global default timeout value, in seconds, for interaction with the remote device. The default is 10 seconds. You can also set timeout on a per-command or per-macro call (see below).
connect_options => \%options
Some of the transport backends can take their own options. For example with a serial line connection you might specify the port speed, etc. See the respective manual pages for each transport backend for further details (SSH, Telnet, Serial).
add_library => $directory
If you've added to the built-in phrasebook with your own macros, then use this option to load your new phrasebook file(s). The path here should be the directory within which all your personalities are located, such as:
${directory}/cisco/ios/pb ${directory}/other/device/pb
Usually the phrasebook files are called "
pb" and to the
personalityoption you pass the containing directory name, for example
iosor
devicein the examples shown. See Net::CLI::Interact::Manual::Tutorial for further details.
nci_options => \%options
Should you wish to reconfigure the Net::CLI::Interact instance used inside of
Net::Appliance::Session, perhaps for an option not supported above, this generic setting is available.
connect( \%options )
$s->connect({ username => $myname, password => $mysecret });
To establish a connection to the device, and possibly also log in, call this method. Following a successful connection, paging of device output will be disabled using commands appropriate to the platform. This feature can be suppressed (see "CONFIGURATION", below).
Options available to this method, sometimes required, are:
username => $name
The login username for the device. Whether this is required depends both on how the device is configured, and how you have configured this module to act. If it looks like the device presented a Username prompt. and you don't pass the username a Perl exception will be thrown.
The username is cached within the module for possible use later on when entering "privileged" mode.
password => $secret
The login password for the device. Whether this is required depends both on how the device is configured, and how you have configured this module to act. If it looks like the device presented a Username prompt. and you don't pass the username a Perl exception will be thrown.
The password is cached within the module for possible use later on when entering "privileged" mode.
privileged_password => $secret(optional)
In the situation where you've activated "privileged paging", yet your device uses a different password for privileged mode than login, you'll need to set that other password here.
Otherwise, because the module tries to disable paging, it first goes into privileged mode as you instructed, and fails with the wrong (login) password.
begin_privileged and end_privileged
$s->begin_privileged; # do some work $s->end_privileged;
Once you have connected to the device, change to "privileged" mode by calling the
begin_privileged method. The appropriate command will be issued for your device platform, from the phrasebook. Likewise to exit "privileged" mode call the
end_privileged method.
Sometimes authentication is required to enter "privileged" mode. In that case, the module defaults to using the username and password first passed in the
connect method. However to either override those or set them in case they were not passed to
connect, use either or both of the following options to
begin_privileged:
$s->begin_privileged({ username => $myname, password => $mysecret });
begin_configure and end_configure
$s->begin_configure; # make some changes $s->end_configure;
To enter "configuration" mode for your device platform, call the
begin_configure method. This checks you are already in "privileged" mode, as the module assumes this is necessary. If it isn't necessary then see "CONFIGURATION" below to modify this behaviour. Likewise to exit "configure" mode, call the
end_configure method.
cmd( $command )
my $config = $s->cmd('show running-config'); my @interfaces = $s->cmd('show interfaces brief');
Execute a single command statement on the connected device. The statement is executed verbatim on the device, with a newline appended.
In scalar context the response is returned as a single string. In list context the gathered response is returned as a list of lines. In both cases your local platform's newline character will end all lines.
You can also call the
last_response method which returns the same data with the same contextual behaviour.
This method accepts a hashref of options following the
$command, which can include a
timeout value to permit long running commands to have all their output gathered.
To handle more complicated interactions, for example commands which prompt for confirmation or optional parameters, you should use a Macro. These are set up in the phrasebook and issued via the
$s->macro($name) method call. See the Phrasebook and Cookbook manual pages for further details.
If you receive response text with a "mangled" copy of the issued command at the start, then it's likely you need to set the terminal width. This prevents the connected device from line-wrapping long commands. Issue something like:
$s->begin_privileged; $s->cmd('terminal width 510');
$s->close;
Once you have finished work with the device, call this method. It attempts to back out of any "privileged" or "configuration" mode you've entered, re-enable paging (unless suppressed) and then disconnect.
If a macro named
"disconnect" exists in the loaded phrasebook then it's called just before disconnection. This allows you to issue a command such as
"exit" to cleanly log out.
CONFIGURATION
Each of the entries below may either be passed as a parameter in the options to the
new method, or called as a method in its own right and passed the appropriate setting. If doing the latter, it should be before you call the
connect method.
- do_login
Defaults to true. Pass a zero (false) to disable logging in to the device with a username and password, should you get a command prompt immediately upon connection.
- do_privileged_mode
Defaults to true. If on connecting to the device your user is immediately in "privieleged" mode, then set this to zero (false), which permits immediate access to "configure" mode.
- do_configure_mode
Defaults to true. If you set this to zero (false), the module assumes you're in "configure" mode immediately upon entering "privileged" mode. I can't think why this would be useful but you never know.
- do_paging
Defaults to true. Pass a zero (false) to disable the post-login reconfiguration of a device which avoids paged command output. If you cleanly
closethe device connection then paging is re-enabled. Use this option to suppress these steps.
- privileged_paging
Defaults to false. On some series of devices, in particular the Cisco ASA and PIXOS7+ you must be in privileged mode in order to alter the pager. If that is the case for your device, call this method with a true value to instruct the module to better manage the situation.
- pager_enable_lines
Defaults to 24. The command issued to re-enable paging (on disconnect) typically takes a parameter which is the number of lines per page. If you want a different value, set it in this option.
- pager_disable_lines
Defaults to zero. The command issued to disable paging typically takes a parameter which is the number of lines per page (zero begin to disable paging). If your device uses a different number here, set it in this option.
- wake_up
When first connecting to the device, the most common scenario is that a Username (or some other) prompt is shown. However if no output is forthcoming and nothing matches, the "enter" key is pressed, in the hope of triggering the display of a new prompt. This is typically most useful on Serial connected devices.
Set this configuration option to zero to suppress this behaviour, or to the number of times "enter" should be pressed and output waited for. The default is to press "enter" once.
ASYNCHRONOUS BEHAVIOUR
The standard, and recommended way to use this module is as above, whereby the application is blocked waiting for command response. It's also possible to send a command, and separately return to ask for output at a later time.
$s->say('show clock');
This will send the command
show clock to the connected device, followed by a newline character.
$s->gather();
This will gather and return output, with similar behaviour to
cmd(), above. That is, it blocks waiting for output and a prompt, will timeout, and accepts the same options.
You can still use
last_response after calling
gather, however be aware that the command (from
say) may be echoed at the start of the output, depending on device and connection transport.
DIAGNOSTICS
To see a log of all the processes within this module, and a copy of all data sent to and received from the device, call the following method:
$s->set_global_log_at('notice');
In place of
notice you can have other log levels (e.g.
debug for more, or
info for less), and via the embedded Logger at
$s->nci->logger it's possible to finely control the diagnostics.
INTERNALS
See Net::CLI::Interact.
THANKS
Over several years I have received many patches and suggestions for improvement from users of this module. My heartfelt thanks to all, for their contributions.
AUTHOR
Oliver Gorwits <oliver@cpan.org>
This software is copyright (c) 2014 by Oliver Gorwits.
This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.