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Description:

restconfcli 0.1.5

RESTCONF Command Line Interface (restconf-cli)
Introduction
restconf-cli is a command line interface application which interacts with the restconf enabled devices (i.e. iosxe, nxos, nso). This module uses Python Click module for command line interface (CLI) and rich module for the colorful output. It is built on top of Python requests library to make Restconf API calls. Here are the key information for this modules.

Base URL used 'https://<hostname/ip>:/restconf/data/'
Default port used for the Restconf API 443
Default Headers used for Accept and Content-Type are the following.

Accept: application/yang-data+json
Content-Type: application/yang-data+json
Since default headers are using 'application/yang-data+json', therefore, the output will be in following formats for the below type of devices unless specified in the table below.

Device Type
IOSXE
NXOS
NSO

Default Accept Header
application/yang-data+json
application/yang-data+json
application/yang-data+json

Default Content-Type Header
application/yang-data+json
application/yang-data+json
application/yang-data+json

Default Output Format
JSON
XML
JSON

Same for the POST, PUT and PATCH operations, if you do not specify the header fields, it assumes that you are sending the data in the formats mentioned above.

Currently tested/supported on Python 3.8, 3.9 and 3.10

Disclaimer: This module uses Insecure Requests which is not recommended, use
certificates where possible.
Installation
You can download this module from PyPi repository via PIP
To install a module, simply type
pip install restconf-cli

Note: It is also recommended that use the virtual environment for any package you are testing.
(main) expert@expert-cws:~/venvs$ python -m venv .venv
(main) expert@expert-cws:~/venvs$ source .venv/bin/activate
(.venv) expert@expert-cws:~/venvs$ pip install restconf-cli

Usage
Once you have installed the restconf-cli package, you can test this against any Cisco IOSXE, NXOS and NSO device. I have not tested for any other devices, but if you come across any device where this is working or not, feel free to raise an issue or send a pull request.
Let's first explore the documentation
Run restconf-cli --help on the terminal for help text
(.venv) expert@expert-cws:~$ restconf-cli --help
Usage: restconf-cli [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARGS]...

CLI tool to interact with the restconf APIs currently supported for IOSXE,
NXOS and NSO.

This library uses the following root URL for the restconf with port 443 as default port.
https://<hostname/ip>:<port>/restconf/data/

Default Headers for Accept and Content-Type are the following.

Accept: application/yang-data+json
Content-Type: application/yang-data+json

Since default headers are using 'application/yang-data+json',
therefore, you will retrieve the output in following formats
for the below type of devices unless specified for the GET operation.

| Device Type | IOSXE | NXOS | NSO |
| :-------------------: | :--------------------------: | :--------------------------: | :-------------------------: |
| Default Accept | application/yang-data+json | application/yang-data+json | application/yang-data+json |
| Default Content-Type | application/yang-data+json | application/yang-data+json | application/yang-data+json |
| Default Output Format | JSON | XML | JSON |

Same for the POST, PUT and PATCH operation if you do not specify the
header fields, it assumes you are sending the data in the formats
mentioned above.

Disclaimer: This module uses Insecure Requests which is not recommended, use
certificates where possible.

Options:
--help Show this message and exit.

Commands:
DELETE Method to delete the target resource Example: $ restconf-cli...
GET Method to retrieve operational or config data from the devices.
PATCH same as PUT, except if the resource does not exist, the devices...
POST Sends data to the devices to create a new data resource.
PUT Send data to the devices to create or update the data resource.

You can read all the above information, but this is more or less same info which already exist in this readme file. The important key of information here, are the commands, as you can see there are about 5 commands available which are basically CRUD operation for the Restconf API. We can again -h or --help flag to see the information inside each of these commands. Let's check each of them and see what command options are available.
For GET operation command options, simply run restconf-cli GET --help or restconf-cli GET -h
(.venv) expert@expert-cws:~$ restconf-cli GET --help
Usage: restconf-cli GET [OPTIONS]

Method to retrieve operational or config data from the devices.

Default header for the requests are 'application/yang-data+json'

Example:

# Display output on the terminal
$ restconf-cli GET -u developer -n sandbox-iosxe-latest-1.cisco.com \
-p Cisco-IOS-XE-native:native/version \
-a application/yang-data+json \
-c application/yang-data+json

# Display output on the terminal and save the output on a file defined with --output or -o flag
$ restconf-cli GET -u developer -n sandbox-iosxe-latest-1.cisco.com \
-p Cisco-IOS-XE-native:native/interface \
-o output.json

Options:
-o, --output FILENAME Output will be written to a file
-c, --content-type TEXT Content-Type header for restconf api, default is
application/yang-data+json

-a, --accept TEXT Accept header for restconf api, default is
application/yang-data+json

-pn, --port INTEGER Port number for restconf api, default is 443
-p, --path TEXT Path for restconf api call [required]
--password TEXT Password for restconf api
-u, --username TEXT Username for restconf api [required]
-n, --hostname TEXT Device hostname or IP address for the restconf API
[required]

-h, --help Show this message and exit.

For POST operation command options, run restconf-cli POST --help or restconf-cli POST -h
(.venv) expert@expert-cws:~$ restconf-cli POST -h
Usage: restconf-cli POST [OPTIONS]

Sends data to the devices to create a new data resource.

Example:

# Configure via raw data for POST operation
$ restconf-cli POST -u developer -n sandbox-iosxe-latest-1.cisco.com \
-p ietf-interfaces:interfaces \
-d '{
"interface":[
{
"name":"Loopback999",
"description":"created by python click - POST",
"type":"iana-if-type:softwareLoopback",
"enabled":true,
"ietf-ip:ipv4":{
"address":[
{
"ip":"10.0.1.10",
"netmask":"255.255.255.255"
}
]
}
}
]
}'

# Configure from file for POST operation
$ restconf-cli POST -u developer \
-n sandbox-iosxe-latest-1.cisco.com \
-p ietf-interfaces:interfaces -ff interface.json

Options:
-ff, --from-file FILENAME Read the playload from file for POST operation
-d, --data TEXT Playload to be sent for POST, PUT and PATCH
methods

-c, --content-type TEXT Content-Type header for restconf api, default is
application/yang-data+json

-a, --accept TEXT Accept header for restconf api, default is
application/yang-data+json

-pn, --port INTEGER Port number for restconf api, default is 443
-p, --path TEXT Path for restconf api call [required]
--password TEXT Password for restconf api
-u, --username TEXT Username for restconf api [required]
-n, --hostname TEXT Device hostname or IP address for the restconf
API [required]

-h, --help Show this message and exit.

For PUT operation command options, run restconf-cli PUT --help or restconf-cli PUT -h
(.venv) expert@expert-cws:~$ restconf-cli PUT -h
Usage: restconf-cli PUT [OPTIONS]

Send data to the devices to create or update the data resource.

Example:

# Configure via raw data for PUT operation
$ restconf-cli PUT -u developer -n sandbox-iosxe-latest-1.cisco.com \
-p ietf-interfaces:interfaces \
-d '{
"interface":[
{
"name":"Loopback999",
"description":"created by python click - PUT",
"type":"iana-if-type:softwareLoopback",
"enabled":true,
"ietf-ip:ipv4":{
"address":[
{
"ip":"10.0.1.10",
"netmask":"255.255.255.255"
}
]
}
}
]
}'

# Configure from file for PUT operation
$ restconf-cli PUT -u developer \
-n sandbox-iosxe-latest-1.cisco.com \
-p ietf-interfaces:interfaces/interface=Loopback999 -ff interface.json

Options:
-ff, --from-file FILENAME Read the playload from file for PUT operation
-d, --data TEXT Playload to be sent for POST, PUT and PATCH
methods

-c, --content-type TEXT Content-Type header for restconf api, default is
application/yang-data+json

-a, --accept TEXT Accept header for restconf api, default is
application/yang-data+json

-pn, --port INTEGER Port number for restconf api, default is 443
-p, --path TEXT Path for restconf api call [required]
--password TEXT Password for restconf api
-u, --username TEXT Username for restconf api [required]
-n, --hostname TEXT Device hostname or IP address for the restconf
API [required]

-h, --help Show this message and exit.

For PATCH operation command options, run restconf-cli PATCH --help or restconf-cli PATCH -h
(.venv) expert@expert-cws:~$ restconf-cli PATCH -h
Usage: restconf-cli PATCH [OPTIONS]

same as PUT, except if the resource does not exist, the devices MUST NOT
create one.

Example:

# Configure via raw data for PATCH operation
$ restconf-cli PATCH -u developer -n sandbox-iosxe-latest-1.cisco.com \
-p ietf-interfaces:interfaces \
-d '{
"interface":[
{
"name":"Loopback999",
"description":"created by python click - PATCH",
"type":"iana-if-type:softwareLoopback",
"enabled":true,
"ietf-ip:ipv4":{
"address":[
{
"ip":"10.0.1.10",
"netmask":"255.255.255.255"
}
]
}
}
]
}'

# Configure from file for PATCH operation
$ restconf-cli PATCH -u developer \
-n sandbox-iosxe-latest-1.cisco.com \
-p ietf-interfaces:interfaces/interface=Loopback999 -ff interface.json

Options:
-ff, --from-file FILENAME Read the playload from file for PATCH operation
-d, --data TEXT Playload to be sent for POST, PUT and PATCH
methods

-c, --content-type TEXT Content-Type header for restconf api, default is
application/yang-data+json

-a, --accept TEXT Accept header for restconf api, default is
application/yang-data+json

-pn, --port INTEGER Port number for restconf api, default is 443
-p, --path TEXT Path for restconf api call [required]
--password TEXT Password for restconf api
-u, --username TEXT Username for restconf api [required]
-n, --hostname TEXT Device hostname or IP address for the restconf
API [required]

-h, --help Show this message and exit.

For DELETE operation command options, run restconf-cli DELETE --help or restconf-cli DELETE -h
(.venv) expert@expert-cws:~$ restconf-cli DELETE -h
Usage: restconf-cli DELETE [OPTIONS]

Method to delete the target resource

Example:

$ restconf-cli DELETE -u developer -n sandbox-iosxe-latest-1.cisco.com \
-p ietf-interfaces:interfaces/interface=Loopback999

Options:
-n, --hostname TEXT Device hostname or IP address for the restconf API
[required]

-u, --username TEXT Username for restconf api [required]
--password TEXT Password for restconf api
-p, --path TEXT Path for restconf api call [required]
-pn, --port INTEGER Port number for restconf api, default is 443
-a, --accept TEXT Accept header for restconf api, default is
application/yang-data+json

-c, --content-type TEXT Content-Type header for restconf api, default is
application/yang-data+json

-h, --help Show this message and exit.

Notice there are some examples mentioned in the above output for every command, we will explore these in the next section.
Examples
For the sake of testing, I am going to use Cisco Always-on IOSXE device sandbox-iosxe-latest-1.cisco.com which uses the 443 default port for Restconf and both Accept and Content-type headers are application/yang-data+json, which makes our CLI command earsier as these options are default for restconf-cli.
restconf-cli GET -u developer -n sandbox-iosxe-latest-1.cisco.com -p Cisco-IOS-XE-native:native/version

(.venv) expert@expert-cws:~$ restconf-cli GET -u developer -n sandbox-iosxe-latest-1.cisco.com -p Cisco-IOS-XE-native:native/version
Password:
{
"Cisco-IOS-XE-native:version": "17.3"
}

Status: 200 OK

The output will be colorful as restconf-cli cli uses the rich module to print colorful output.
For more examples, please check the examples folder.
Issues
Please raise an issue or pull request if you find something wrong with this module.
Authors
Muhammad Rafi
References
https://click.palletsprojects.com/en/8.1.x/
https://click.palletsprojects.com/en/7.x/changelog/#version-7-1-2