Using Paramiko and Netmiko libraries for SSH and telnet connections

The Paramiko and Netmiko libraries are two popular Python libraries for SSH and Telnet connections to network devices. Here’s a brief overview of each library:

Paramiko: Paramiko is a Python library for SSH protocol implementation. It provides an interface for communicating with network devices using the SSH protocol. You can use Paramiko to establish an SSH connection to a network device, execute commands, and retrieve the output.

Here’s an example of using Paramiko to establish an SSH connection and execute a command:

import paramiko

ssh = paramiko.SSHClient()
ssh.set_missing_host_key_policy(paramiko.AutoAddPolicy())
ssh.connect('192.168.1.1', username='admin', password='password')

stdin, stdout, stderr = ssh.exec_command('show interfaces')
print(stdout.read().decode())

ssh.close()

In this example, we import the paramiko library, create an SSH client object, and use it to connect to a network device. We then execute the show interfaces command on the device and print the output.

Netmiko: Netmiko is a multi-vendor library that simplifies SSH connections to network devices. It provides a consistent interface for communicating with different types of network devices, including routers, switches, and firewalls. Netmiko is built on top of Paramiko and provides additional functionality such as sending configuration commands.

Here’s an example of using Netmiko to establish an SSH connection and execute a command:

from netmiko import ConnectHandler

device = {
    'device_type': 'cisco_ios',
    'ip': '192.168.1.1',
    'username': 'admin',
    'password': 'password'
}

connection = ConnectHandler(**device)
output = connection.send_command('show interfaces')
print(output)

connection.disconnect()

In this example, we import the ConnectHandler class from the netmiko library, create a dictionary with device information, and use it to connect to a network device. We then execute the show interfaces command on the device and print the output.

Both Paramiko and Netmiko provide an easy-to-use interface for establishing SSH and Telnet connections to network devices using Python. By using these libraries, you can automate network configuration tasks and improve the efficiency of network management.

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