GC Backups using Netconf

[jeffkala]

Use nornir_netconf with Golden Config

1. Create the custom dispatcher and have it importable into the environment. (Very basic example)

import os
from nornir_nautobot.plugins.tasks.dispatcher.default import DispatcherMixin
from nornir.core.exceptions import NornirSubTaskError
from nornir.core.task import Result, Task
from nornir_netconf.plugins.tasks import netconf_get_config
from nornir_nautobot.utils.helpers import make_folder
from netutils.config.clean import clean_config, sanitize_config
from nornir_nautobot.exceptions import NornirNautobotException
import xml.dom.minidom

class NetconfDefault(DispatcherMixin):
    """Custom dispatcher to add Netconf support to GC."""

    @classmethod
    def get_config(  # pylint: disable=R0913,R0914
        cls, task: Task, logger, obj, backup_file: str, remove_lines: list, substitute_lines: list
    ) -> Result:
        """Get the latest configuration from the device using Netconf. Overrides default get_config.

        This use nornir_netconf plugin to get the configuration from the device.

        Args:
            task (Task): Nornir Task.
            logger (logging.Logger): Logger that may be a Nautobot Jobs or Python logger.
            obj (Device): A Nautobot Device Django ORM object instance.
            remove_lines (list): A list of regex lines to remove configurations.
            substitute_lines (list): A list of dictionaries with to remove and replace lines.

        Returns:
            Result: Nornir Result object with a dict as a result containing the running configuration
                { "config: <running configuration> }
        """
        logger.debug(f"Executing get_config for {task.host.name} on {task.host.platform}")
        try:
            result = task.run(
                task=netconf_get_config,
                source="running",
            )
        except NornirSubTaskError as exc:
            error_msg = f"`E1015:` `get_config` method failed with an unexpected issue: `{exc.result.exception}`"
            logger.error(error_msg, extra={"object": obj})
            raise NornirNautobotException(error_msg)

        if result[0].failed:
            return result

        running_config = result[0].result.rpc.data_xml
        running_config = xml.dom.minidom.parseString(running_config).toprettyxml()

        if remove_lines:
            logger.debug("Removing lines from configuration based on `remove_lines` definition")
            running_config = clean_config(running_config, remove_lines)
        if substitute_lines:
            logger.debug("Substitute lines from configuration based on `substitute_lines` definition")
            running_config = sanitize_config(running_config, substitute_lines)

        if backup_file:
            make_folder(os.path.dirname(backup_file))

            with open(backup_file, "w", encoding="utf8") as filehandler:
                filehandler.write(running_config)
        return Result(host=task.host, result={"config": running_config})

2. Make sure any new dependencies are installed.
3. pip install nornir_netconf
4. Add connection options for the connection = netconf per nornir_netconf docs.

        "connection_options": {
            "netconf": {
                "extras": {
                    "hostkey_verify": False,
                    "timeout": 300,
                    "allow_agent": False,
                    "look_for_keys": False,
                    "port": 830,
                    "device_params": {"name": "default"},
                },
            },
        },

5. Most likely you'd want to actually "use_config_context" options set to true so you can set the device_params name key equal to the proper driver. An example of that using a local config context.

{
    "nautobot_plugin_nornir": {
        "connection_options": {
            "netconf": {
                "extras": {
                    "hostkey_verify": False,
                    "timeout": 300,
                    "allow_agent": False,
                    "look_for_keys": False,
                    "port": 830,
                    "device_params": {"name": "iosxe"},
                },
            },
        }
    }
}

"use_config_context": {"secrets": False, "connection_options": True},

6. Update PLUGIN_CONFIG with the dispatcher mapping for netconf

        "custom_dispatcher": {
            "netconf": "parts.custom_stuff_testing.netconf_dispatcher.NetconfDefault",
        },

7. Make sure the platform is set or created called netconf with a network_driver called netconf
8. Run the job to backup the config