Is Your Network Working? Guess No More with Python Testing Powered by pyATS

In Season 2, Talk 6 of NetDevOps Live! we are joined by Siming Yuan and Simon Hart for for a look at how pyATS and Genie can be used to ensure your network is working, whether you're new to automation or an old pro! Full details at bit.ly/2JIhzUv
Presenters:
Siming Yuan / simingy
Simon Hart / netopdevguy
Topics Covered - Time Links
- Introduction
- Agenda 1:40
- pyATS and Genie Recap 2:57
- Cisco Test Automation Ecosystem 6:06
- Why not some other tool? 8:06
- The Open Source Libraries 11:49
- The pyATS execution environment 12:30
- A look at the features and docs 14:06
- Demo Introduction 19:07
- Topology 20:04
- Working with Mock Devices 20:56
- Exploring the Testbed 22:21
- Using Genie CLI to Learn 25:03
- When disaster happens 29:14
- Using Genie Diff 30:44
- Using the Robot Framework 34:15
- The Robot Log 37:47
- Comparing profiles with Robot 39:16
- HTML Log 41:03
- Robot Documentation for Genie 42:28
- Working in Python 43:18
- Exploring the Genie Shell 45:15
- Learning Interfaces 47:25
- Finding differences 52:12
- Executing any command 55:38
- Parsing command output 56:22
- Even more advanced: Network Test Cases 57:24
- HTML Test Logs 1:00:57
- Summary 1:01:27
- Webinar Resources 1:02:33
- Code Exchange Challenge 1:03:26
Episode Description:
Do you get a cold sweat whenever your boss asks "Is there something wrong with the network?" Wouldn't it be great if you could know for sure if it was? As a NetDevOps Engineer writing network test cases will be an important skill, and thankfully Python offers great libraries and frameworks for designing robust test cases for just about anything, including the network.
This session will start with a look at generic test options like PyTest and UnitTest, and then dive into pyATS, the FREE Python test system designed specifically for the network.
NetDevOps Live! is produced by Cisco DevNet. Details can be found at developer.cisco.com/netdevops... and follow NetDevOps Live! on Twitter at / netdevopslive

[@christostz03]

Great presentation !!! Great lab !!!

[@steeple001]

Thank you all for this great intro, Simons Demo proved to be really useful in helping getting pyats working especially with the robot piece, which i was writing manually before. One thing i did find with Genie which is reflected in the robot reports also is that when a compare is done where timestamps are involved you always get a failure as there is always a difference in timestamps.

[@SimingYuan]

hey, I’m on UA-cam!

[@patoco817]

Thanks for the great explanation on pyats and genie!

[@patoco817]

I noticed during the genieCLI demo, the console file was not shown. If anybody encounters genie configuring logging and timeout values on a device, but you do not want this behavior. There is a way to to make genie not run those commands. Below is a link to the issue I opened for that behavior and has the fix at the bottom of the issue.
github.com/CiscoTestAutomation/genielibs/issues/8

[@patoco817]

@Theother Swan Yeah, the first time I ran Genie CLI on our lab devices I was shocked that it made those changes. I have confirmed that no other changes occur than the ones I listed (looking and command history and such). And I have also confirmed that the fix does indeed skipping any configuration from Genie. I would say it is safe to use if you follow the notes in the issue I linked.

[@vardd0505]

@Theother Swan We've modified all our Genie CLI commands to not change any device configuration, and it is part of our newest release. (To be released tomorrow - June 25).
The last 2 commands that are sent is
terminal lenght 0 and terminal width. If you dont want those 2 neither, you can disable it as Patrick O mentioned.
Let us know if any other feedback!

[@pascal0868]

Lost. Lots of glossing over.