Connections

This section will teach users how to connect to their device whichever way they want.

Single Connection

In this scenario, users want to connect to their device using the console or the vty.

Let’s begin with the simplest case:

>>> device
<Device object 'P1' at 0xf71a5f8c>
>>> device.connect()

The device is connected and ready to be used by the Genie infrastructure. As no via was provided, it will try to connect to the default connection, which generally uses the console connection.

Another possibility is using via argument.

>>> device
<Device object 'P1' at 0xf71a5f8c>
>>> device.connect(via='vty1')

Now, it will use the vty1 to connect to the device.

Another option is to use the alias argument. When no alias is provided, it uses the default alias. However, users can provide a specific alias.

>>> device
<Device object 'P1' at 0xf71a5f8c>
>>> device.connect(via='vty1', alias='vty')

>>> device
<Device object 'P1' at 0xf71a5f8c>
>>> device.connect(via='netconf', alias='nc')
>>> device.connect(via='vty1', alias='vty')
>>> device.mapping['yang'] = 'nc'
>>> device.mapping['cli'] = 'vty1'

We have added a mapping attribute to the device. This attribute allows Genie to determine which user-defined alias. Now, every cli command used for this device, will use the vty connection. The same concept may be applied for Yang, except the mapping should use the keyword yang instead.

If the more than one connection was made to the device with different alias, then you will need to use mapping. However if only 1 connection is made to the device, then it will automatically use this connection.

Hint

Confused about the alias concept ? Make sure you are familiar with the concept of pyATS connection.

Pool Connection

A pool connection can be used to connect to the device, which allows to send multiple commands at the same time to the device. This improve the performance of learning the feature.

>>> device.start_pool(alias='vty',
                      via='vty1',
                      size='<any number which is supported by your device>')

Once this the pool is started, then passing this device to an Ops object will send all the commands in parallel. This works for all connection type which support multiple connections to the device.

If more than one connection was made to the device with different alias, then you will need to use mapping. Mapping allow to let Genie know which connection for sending the cli commands. However if only 1 connection is made to the device, then it will automatically use this connection.

def.mapping['cli'] = 'vty'