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ciscoconfparse parses, audits, queries, builds, and modifies Cisco IOS configurations.
The latest copy of the docs are archived on the web
ciscoconfparse needs Python versions 2.6, 2.7 or 3.2+; the OS should not matter. If you want to run it under a Python virtualenv, it's been heavily tested in that environment as well.
The best way to get ciscoconfparse is with setuptools or pip. If you already have setuptools, you can install as usual:
# Substitute whatever ciscoconfparse version you like... easy_install -U ciscoconfparse==1.1.9
Alternatively you can install into Python2.x with pip:
pip install --upgrade ciscoconfparse
Use pip3 for Python3.x...
pip3 install --upgrade ciscoconfparse
Otherwise download it from PyPi, extract it and run the setup.py script:
python setup.py install
If you're interested in the source, you can always pull from the github repo or bitbucket repo:
From github:
git clone git://github.com//mpenning/ciscoconfparse
From bitbucket:
hg init hg clone https://bitbucket.org/mpenning/ciscoconfparse
ciscoconfparse is licensed GPLv3; Copyright David Michael Pennington, 2007-2014.
The ipaddr module is distributed with ciscoconfparse to facilitate unit
tests. ipaddr uses the ASF License 2.0; ipaddr is part of the Python
standard library, starting in Python 3.3 (it's called ipaddress in Python3).
- QUESTION: I want to use ciscoconfparse with Python3; is that safe? ANSWER: As long as you're using Python 3.2 or higher, it's safe. I test every release against Python 3.2+.
- QUESTION: Some of the code in the documentation looks different than what I'm used to seeing. Did you change something? ANSWER: Yes, starting around ciscoconfparse v0.9.10 I introducted more methods directly on
IOSConfigLine()objects; going forward, these methods are the preferred way to use ciscoconfparse. Please start using the new methods shown in the example, since they're faster, and you type much less code this way. - QUESTION: ciscoconfparse saved me a lot of time, I want to give money. Do you have a donation link? ANSWER: I love getting emails like this; helping people get their jobs done is why I wrote the module. However, I'm not accepting donations.
- QUESTION: Is there a way to use this module with perl? ANSWER: Yes, I do this myself. Install the python package as you normally would and import it into perl with
Inline.pmandInline::Pythonfrom CPAN. - QUESTION: When I use
find_children("interface GigabitEthernet3/2"), I'm getting all interfaces beginning with 3/2, including 3/21, 3/22, 3/23 and 3/24. How can I limit my results? ANSWER: There are two ways... the simplest is to use the 'exactmatch' option...find_children("interface GigabitEthernet3/2", exactmatch=True). Another way is to utilize regex expansion that is native to many methods...find_children("interface GigabitEthernet3/2$")
- Dive into Python3 is a good way to learn Python
- Team CYMRU has a Secure IOS Template, which is especially useful for external-facing routers / switches
- Cisco's Guide to hardening IOS devices
Please report any suggestions, bug reports, or annoyances with ciscoconfparse through the github bug tracker.
If you're having problems with general python issues, consider searching for a solution on Stack Overflow. If you can't find a solution for your problem or need more help, you can ask a question.
If you're having problems with your Cisco devices, you can open a case with Cisco TAC; if you prefer crowd-sourcing, you can ask on the Stack Exchange Network Engineering site.
ciscoconfparse is developed with mercurial, and pushed to bitbucket. hg-git keeps github repo and bitbucket in sync, so it shouldn't matter if you just want to fork the github repo.
I use the Travis CI project to continuously test ciscoconfparse on Python versions 2.6 through 3.4.
Click the image below for details; the current build status is:
ciscoconfparse was written by David Michael Pennington (mike [~at~] pennington [/dot] net).
Special thanks:
- Thanks to David Muir Sharnoff for his suggestion about making a special case for IOS banners.
- Thanks to Alan Cownie for his API suggestions.
- Sola Dei Gloria.