Collecting comprehensive switch interface information When working with Juniper EX / QFX switches it is often required to collect comprehensive interface status data. Not any single show command will provide all the details and merging the output of several commands is quite time consuming. On top of this, it can be tricky to find free ports on switches, because unconfigured ports are simply not shown in many commands and the only way to find out available ports is examining the chassis hardware components. In the following article I would like to show you an easy way of collecting such information quickly by using Pretty Good Termina l. PGT is completely free for private use so you don’t need to worry about any costs involved. What the script does As part of the standard installation, PGT contains a sample Visual Script designed for Juniper EX /QFX switches to collect switch interface information. The script will issue the following CLI commands and m
A year ago or so I posted an article on LinkedIn, How to configure 50000+ CPE routers . Now I want to go a step further in scripting and share you my way of using Python for scripting Cisco routers. I show you the software and its usage for large scale scripting deployment because I do believe it is an extremely powerful network scripting tool, and all who face similar challenges might find it a good friend. It is not a commercial, I do use the software every day and I develop Pretty Good Terminal as needed to achieve my goals quicker and simpler in a more & more elegant way. In this article I do not wan to dive deep into scripting details but rather just flash some cool features of PGT worth highlighting. Should you be interested in details, you will find quite detailed descriptions about these features on the website of the software. A Visual Script using Python The software I developed for router mass-configuration has evolved a lot since its first publication an