pyNetX 1.0.6

NETCONF client with truly async capabilities

pyNetX

pyNetX is a Python library that facilitates both synchronous and asynchronous client-side scripting and application development around the NETCONF protocol. Developed by Sambhu Nampoothiri G, pyNetX provides a modern, efficient interface for interacting with NETCONF-enabled network devices — with truly asynchronous capabilities using non blocking connections.

Current Versions:
Stable: v1.0.6

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Documentation

The full documentation (with detailed API references and more usage examples) is available on the project's GitHub page:
GitHub: https://github.com/jackofsometrades99/pyNetX

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Requirements

• Python: 3.11+
• Build Dependencies: setuptools, wheel, cmake, scikit-build, and pybind11
• System Libraries:
  • libxml2, libxslt (for XML processing)
  • libssh2, tinyxml2, and audit tools (if required, install via your system’s package manager)

Note: On Debian/Ubuntu, you might install the system libraries with:

sudo apt-get install libxml2-dev libxslt1-dev libssh2-dev tinyxml2-dev audit

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Installation

You can install pyNetX in either of the following ways:

1. From PyPI:

   pip install pyNetX
   

2. From Source:

   git clone https://github.com/jackofsometrades99/pyNetX.git
   cd pyNetX
   python setup.py install
   

Examples

Synchronous Usage

Below is an example of how to retrieve a device’s running configuration synchronously:

from pyNetX import NetconfClient

# Create a NETCONF client instance
client = NetconfClient(
    hostname="192.168.1.1",
    port=830,
    username="admin",
    password="admin",
    connect_timeout=30, # CONNECT TIMEOUT FROM CHANNEL. DEFAULT IS 60 SECONDS
    read_timeout=30 # READ TIMEOUT FROM CHANNEL. DEFAULT IS 60 SECONDS
)

# Establish a connection
client.connect_sync()

# Retrieve the running configuration
config = client.get_config(source="running")
print("Running Configuration:")
print(config)

# Disconnect from the device
client.disconnect_sync()

Asynchronous Usage

The asynchronous API methods are provided with an _async suffix and integrate with Python’s asyncio. For example:

import asyncio
from pyNetX import NetconfClient

async def main():
    client = NetconfClient(
        hostname="192.168.1.1",
        port=830,
        username="admin",
        password="admin",
        connect_timeout=30, # CONNECT TIMEOUT FROM CHANNEL. DEFAULT IS 60 SECONDS
        read_timeout=30 # READ TIMEOUT FROM CHANNEL. DEFAULT IS 60 SECONDS
    )
    
    # Asynchronously connect to the device
    await client.connect_async()
    
    # Retrieve configuration asynchronously
    config = await client.get_config_async(source="running")
    print("Running Configuration:")
    print(config)
    
    # Asynchronously disconnect from the device
    await client.disconnect_async()

# Run the asynchronous main function
asyncio.run(main())

API Overview

The main class provided by pyNetX is NetconfClient, which offers both synchronous and asynchronous methods for NETCONF operations.

Synchronous Methods

• connect_sync()
  Establishes a NETCONF session with the target device.

• disconnect_sync()
  Closes the NETCONF session.

• send_rpc_sync(rpc)
  Sends a custom RPC command.

• get_sync(filter="")
  Retrieves device information using an optional filter.

• get_config_sync(source="running", filter="")
  Retrieves the device configuration.

• copy_config_sync(target, source)
  Copies configuration from one datastore to another.

• delete_config_sync(target)
  Deletes configuration from the specified target.

• validate_sync(source="running")
  Validates the configuration.

• edit_config_sync(target, config, do_validate=False)
  Edits the device configuration.

• subscribe_sync(stream="NETCONF", filter="")
  Subscribes to NETCONF notifications.

• receive_notification_sync() Fetches a single received notification from the notification channel.

• lock_sync(target="running") and unlock_sync(target="running")
  Lock and unlock a configuration datastore, respectively.

• commit_sync()
  Commits any configuration changes.

• locked_edit_config_sync(target, config, do_validate=False)
  Performs an edit configuration operation while holding a lock.

Asynchronous Methods

For every synchronous method, there is an asynchronous counterpart that returns an asyncio Future:

• connect_async()
• disconnect_async()
• send_rpc_async(rpc="")
• receive_notification_async()
• get_async(filter="")
• get_config_async(source="running", filter="")
• copy_config_async(target, source)
• delete_config_async(target)
• validate_async(source="running")
• edit_config_async(target, config, do_validate=False)
• subscribe_async(stream="NETCONF", filter="")
• lock_async(target="running")
• unlock_async(target="running")
• commit_async()
• locked_edit_config_async(target, config, do_validate=False)

Common Methods.

These methods can be used in both synchronous and asynchronous operations:

• delete_subscription() Unsubscribe from recieving notifications.

• set_threadpool_size(nThreads) Sets the number of threads in the shared task pool. The default is 4 threads. The number of threads in the pool determines how many tasks or operations can run concurrently. Note that for each device, operations (such as get_async, edit_config_async, etc.) are executed sequentially using a lock to avoid channel corruption. This nThreads value controls the total number of concurrent operations across all clients (devices) in the application. To use this, you can simply:

  import pyNetX
  pyNetX.set_threadpool_size(10)
  

Exception Handling

pyNetX defines custom exceptions to handle various NETCONF-related errors:

• NetconfConnectionRefusedError
  Raised when a connection attempt is refused.

• NetconfAuthError
  Raised when authentication fails.

• NetconfChannelError
  Raised for channel-related errors.

• NetconfException
  The base exception for NETCONF-related issues.