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NetWarden - network automation controller

This is the repository for the code written live on the streams. This controller is going to be built over many streams.
The goal of this project is to build a network automation controller using state-of-the-art technologies: Python asyncio / FastAPI web framework / RESTCONF/NETCONF / Vue.JS.
Unlike other open-source NMS/controllers (e.g. eNMS), this project is not planned to be released on PyPi and maintained. Instead, it is a sample code to show what is possible and how hard/easy it is to build your custom network controller from scratch.

License

Please note that this application is AGPLv3 licensed.

Controller functions

Once finished, controller should be able to do the following (wishlist):

  • Display overview of the inventory
  • Gather some operational statistics from the whole network on-demand
  • Make configuration changes either high-level services or some low-level details
  • Perform network testing on schedule or on-demand to verify the network health
  • Provision new devices (ZTP)
  • Manage software images on the devices

Usage

Installation

You need:

  • Python 3.8+
  • (optional) poetry to install dependencies
  • (optional) go-task to simplify running of the commands
  • Node.js (tested on v15.8.0) + yarn
  • Lab with IOS-XE network devices (controller has capability to be extended with more NOSes, but tests are done only for IOS-XE)
  • NetBox instance with lab devices populated (they must contain: site, management interface with primary IP address, platform slug: "cisco_iosxe")

Backend installation

In the backend folder, create Python virtual environment and install dependencies:

cd backend
rm -rf .venv
python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -U pip setuptools
pip install -r requirements.txt
cd ..

Frontend installation

In the frontend folder, install Node.js dependencies:

cd frontend
rm -rf node_modules
yarn install
cd ..

If you are using poetry and go-task, then simply do task install in the root folder to install both

Configuration

Change the following parameters in backend/settings.toml:

  • [default.device] section, username and password to access network devices
  • [development.netbox] section, host and token to access NetBox instance
  • (optional) [default] section, domain_name - will be appended to device name and site

Running

  1. Make sure that the NetBox instance is running
  2. To start backend, execute this in backend folder:
    .venv/bin/uvicorn netwarden.app:app --host 0.0.0.0 --port 5000 --reload
    Backend is accessible at http://localhost:5000, openapi docs are available at http://localhost:5000/api/docs
    Alternatively, if you are using poetry and go-task, you can execute task backend in the project root directory
  3. To start frontend, execute this in frontend folder:
    yarn serve --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000
    Frontend is accessible at http://localhost:8000
    Alternatively, if you are using go-task, you can execute task frontend in the project root directory.

Currently, the following features have been implemented:

  • inventory list with some general information about the devices + serial/sw version pulled from the devices
  • network topology built based on LLDP