Genie

Playing around with Genie and pyATS

TODO: few things to fix/update

• Add more comments
• Add a function to the CDP neighbor class that will update my testbed file. (Maybe, but need to figure out a wait to dynamically update my testbed file)
• Add more parsers

What is the difference between pyATS and Genie?

• pyATS

  • define topologies and device/interconnects
  • programmatically interact with various devices
  • write, execute and report on test scripts

• Genie

  • parsers: converting/formatting command output into Pythonic data structures
  • models: OS/platform agnostic Python classes that represents feature/protocol configuration state and operational status
  • triggers & verifications: reusable pool of data-driven testcases

Which one do I use, Genie or pyATS? BOTH

Which one should I use Ansible or Python in combnation with pyATS|Genie? This is up to you. What do you want to use and what are you trying to accomplish?

- CLI - If you are just learning Genie|pyATS, I reccommend playing around with the Genie CLI. The CLI is not as expandable or as powerfull by itself. However, it's a great way to get started in tool.
- Python - This is the most customizable. NEED TO ADD MORE INFO HERE
- Ansible - NEED TO ADD MORE INFO HERE

What are the modes of Genie?

What makes up a pyATS Network test project? - Testbed - YAML Files - Describes network topology - AEtest Testscripts - 1 or more Python Files - Define setup, execution and cleanup of tests - Easypy jobfiles - Python files - Combines testscripts and defines runtime, logging and archives

|--- Testbed.yaml
|---Network_test_projects
|   |---testbed_connections.py
|   |---interface_errors.py
|   |---network_test_job.py
| 

Convenience Commands

pyats create testbed
pyats create project

AEtest Testscript Basics

• Phases
  1. CommonSetup
     • Everything that must be done before your can actually run your test
  2. Testcase(s)
     • This is the actual test you want to run
     • Cleanup might not always need to happen so you may decide to ommit the setup or clean up steps
  3. CommonCleanup
     • This is to cleanup anything you need to clean
• View the example folder

Easypy Jobfiles

• A "job" is a combination of test scripts together for excution
• Each testscript to be run is a "task"
  • Note: taskid is optional and defaults to Task-#
• Each job executions generates single log and archive
• View the example folder

How you would run the job

pyats run job sample2/sample2_job.py --testbed testbedFile.yaml

Protip

Use the following command to view your logs locally:

pyats logs view

^^^ This will give you a HTML file in an easy to read format

Other Notes

• if you do not want to enter config mode enter the following in your testbed connect

  testbed.connect(init_exec_commands=[], init_config_commands=[])

• if you do not want to see all the connection status enter the following into your testbed connect

  testbed.connect(log_stdout=False)

Other Gotcha... DO NOT NAME YOU PYTHON FILE genie.py(bad things will happen)

I found most of the infomation in different video or websites. Below is a list of the locations I gathered data from.

• Siming Yuan - "pyATS & Genie – Beneath the Surface" - https://blogs.cisco.com/developer/pyATS-genie-beneath-the-surface
• Cisco - "Getting Started with pyATS" - https://developer.cisco.com/docs/pyats-getting-started/