Automate Cisco switch backup using Python

This python script reads the device information from a csv file and fetches its configuration via telnet session and save to specified location.

CSV Template:

deviceIp,userName,password 
192.168.1.1,admin,secretpwd 
192.168.1.2,admin,secretpwd2

The script initiates telnet session with the device along with userId and password to login into enable mode and executes “show run” command to fetch the configuration

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Python code to fetch switch configuration:

import telnetlib as tel
import csv
import datetime
import os


#Declaration
#path of the csv file
#deviceFilePath = "D:/Script/DeviceIp.csv"
#path to save the backup files
#directoryLocation = "D:/Script/"


#Methods
###This method initiate telnet connection to devices
def Initiate_Telnet(indexCount, hostIP, userId, passwd, directoryLocation):
    commands_ShowConfig = "sh run"
    commands_terminalLength = "terminal length 0"
    response = os.system("ping -n 1 -w 700 " + hostIP)
    if response == 0:
        try:
            #connecting to host device
            telConnection = tel.Telnet(hostIP, timeout=2)

            #sending username value and password value
            uName = telConnection.read_until('Username:'.encode('utf-8'), timeout=5)
            telConnection.write(userId.encode('utf-8') + b"\n")
            uPass = telConnection.read_until('Password:'.encode('utf-8'), timeout=5)
            telConnection.write(passwd.encode('utf-8') + b"\n")

            #checking for "#"
            telConnection.write(b"\n")
            mode = telConnection.read_until('#'.encode('utf-8'), timeout=5)
            #x = b' \r\nBZPDAMG0204#'
            mode = str(mode.decode('utf-8'))

            if(mode[-1] == "#"):
                #sending terminal length command to get full configuration
                telConnection.write(commands_terminalLength.encode('utf-8') + b"\n")
                telConnection.write(commands_ShowConfig.encode('utf-8') + b"\n")
            elif(mode[-1] == ":"):
                outputData = b"Password Wrong"
            elif(mode[-1] == ">"):
                outputData = b"Not Enable Mode"


            #sending terminal length command to get full configuration
            #telConnection.write(commands_terminalLength.encode('utf-8') + b"\n")
            #telConnection.write(commands_ShowConfig.encode('utf-8') + b"\n")

            #read till end, so passing a string which may not appear in the configuration
            outputData = telConnection.read_until('stringNotInConfiguration'.encode('utf-8'), timeout=5)

            #close telnet connection
            telConnection.close()
        except:
            outputData = b"telnet not available"
    else:
        outputData = b"Host not pinging"

    #exporting the data to text file and close file
    Write_Info_toFile(directoryLocation, hostIP, outputData)

    return (indexCount, hostIP)
#end Initiate_Telnet


###This method writes info to file
def Write_Info_toFile(directory, fileName, dataString):
    datestring = datetime.datetime.now()
    datestring = str(datestring).replace(':','_').replace('-','_').replace(' ','__').split('.')[0]
    
    #exporting the data to text file and close file
    dataString = dataString.decode('utf-8')
    
    #validation
    if(dataString == "telnet not available"):
        text_file = open(directory + "Log_backup_.txt", "a+")
        dataString = fileName + " " + dataString + "\n"
    elif(dataString == "Host not pinging"):
        text_file = open(directory + "Log_backup_.txt", "a+")
        dataString = fileName + " " + dataString + "\n"
    elif(dataString == ""):
        text_file = open(directory + "Log_backup_.txt", "a+")
        dataString = fileName + " Login Failed" + "\n"
    else:
        text_file = open(directory + fileName + "_backup_" + datestring + ".txt", "w")

    text_file.write(dataString)
    text_file.close()
#end Write_Info_toFile

#start function
def Start_Telnet(deviceFilePath = "D:/Script/DeviceIp.csv", directoryLocation = "D:/Script/"):
    with open(deviceFilePath) as csvDeviceDetails:
        csdData = csv.reader(csvDeviceDetails, delimiter=',')
        #print(csdData)
        lineCount = 0
        for (ipAddress, userName, password) in csdData:
            if(lineCount == 0):
                #First entry is heading
                lineCount += 1
            else:
                lineCount += 1
                Initiate_Telnet(0, ipAddress, userName, password, directoryLocation)

Start_Telnet("D:/Script/DeviceIp.csv", "D:/Script/")

Note: This works for switches which has login to “enable mode”, for other modes, extra conditions has to be added.

Hope you liked this article and thank you for reading