Network Management: 3 operational Approaches

Important Links:

Starting Point - Cisco DevNet Portal: http://developer.cisco.com
Get access to Cisco hardware for free - Cisco Sandboxes: http://devnetsandbox.cisco.com
johann Network Monitoring Tool only with Device APIs: https://github.com/flopach/johann-network-device-monitoring
Explore YANG models with Cisco YANG Suite: https://github.com/CiscoDevNet/yangsuite/

Python Intro

Open text editor, save as hello-world-py:

print("hello world!")

Run in terminal: python hello-world.py

You don't have Python installed? Use it online: https://www.programiz.com/python-programming/online-compiler/ (it's not possible to install additional packages via pip)

REST API Intro

Requests Python Library

Talk with a REST API via Python. Check the script simple-requests.py.

Postman

Download Cisco Postman collections to use offline or use them online (Postman account required for online use).

#1 Controller based

Try out the Cisco DNA Center APIs

Use Postman or other API tools to get network device data.

DNA Center 2.2 (always on sandbox):

https://sandboxdnac.cisco.com
username: devnetuser
password: Cisco123!

Steps:

Authenticate with username + password to get a token
Use the token for every API call: Insert it in the header with x-auth-token

#2 Configuration Management Software

Ansible

hosts file

#Example Ansible hosts File
#ansible_user -> IOS username
#[floor1] -> name of the group

[all:vars]
ansible_user=developer
ansible_network_os=ios
ansible_connection=network_cli

[floor1]
10.10.20.81
10.10.20.82
10.10.20.83

playbook-change-vlan-int.yaml

---

- name: configure Vlan interface
  hosts: all
  gather_facts: no

  tasks:
        - ios_config:
             lines:
               - description configured via ios_config module
               - ip address 192.168.100.1 255.255.255.0
             before: interface Vlan10

Run the playbook on the hosts:

ansible-playbook playbook-change-vlan-int.yaml

#3 Device APIs NETCONF/RESTCONF

Toolsets:

RESTCONF - Get data from the IOS XE RESTCONF interface

Use the Python scripts:

restconf-getting-started.py
restconf-get-all-interfaces.py
restconf-create-loopback.py (does not work with always-on sandbox, needs to be reserved)

IOS XE (always on sandbox):

CSR1000v Host: sandbox-iosxe-latest-1.cisco.com
SSH Port: 22
NETCONF Port: 830
gRPC Telemetry Port: 57500
RESTCONF Port: 443 (HTTPS)
Username: developer
Password: C1sco12345

NETCONF - Get data from the IOS XE NETCONF interface

Use Postman or the Python script netconf-getting-started.py to get information directly from the device.