Using Python to Telnet into CISCO router and store the output on a machine locally

Question

Im new to python, I managed to telnet into my cisco router using my python codes. I am able to show commands on the screen, but I would like to save the outputs locally on my linux machine, same place where the python script lives.

Any suggestions?

my aim is to store the output locally and then import matplotlib to draw some pretty nifty graphs of bandwidth usages, cpu usages, memory usages and also interface usages.

Answer 1

For what you are looking to do, you should consider using SNMP instead of trying to process the telnet I/O.

You will be able to pull the values off that you are describing and put them in your data storage of choice (text, mysql, etc.)

http://pysnmp.sourceforge.net/

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/ios/12_2/configfun/configuration/guide/fcf014.html

Answer 2

The below script will save your data to a file on the server you are running this script from. File name will be routeroutput. Just input the switch IP, Password and enable password in the code below and run it from your server using python.

It needs an additional module called pexpect. You can download and install it from here https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pexpect/

import pexpect


try:
switchIP= 'x.x.x.x'
switchPassword = 'your-switch-password'
switchEnable= 'your-enable-password'
commandTorun= 'The command you want to run'


telnet = 'telnet ' + switchIP

#Login to the switch
t=pexpect.spawn(telnet)
t.expect('word:')
t.sendline(switchPassword)
t.expect('#')
t.sendline(switchEnable)
t.expect('>')

#Send the command
t.sendline('commandTorun')
t.expect('>')
data =  t.before 

#Closing the Telnet Connection
t.sendline('exit')
t.expect('>')
t.sendline('exit')
t.expect(pexpect.EOF)

#Opening the file and writing the data to it
f = open('routeroutput', 'w')
f.write(data)
f.close()

except Exception, e:
print "The Script failed to login"
print str(e)