Containerlab Packet Capture: Save show Output and a pcap
Built in my home lab: one script pulls show output from an IOL console, captures a ping in the client's network namespace, redacts management IPs, then cleans up.
Python
Python for people who run networks. Articles tagged Python cover the libraries, scripts and patterns used to talk to devices, parse output and automate the boring parts.
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FMC REST API: Change FTD Rules and Deploy with curl and Python
The script saved TCP/8080 in FMC, but FTD still blocked it. This home lab follows the pending policy, measured token expiry, a failed deployment and the Python fix that completed deployment and restored HTTP.
Scapy vs Cisco Layer 2 Defenses: Crafting and Spoofing Packets
Craft spoofed ARP and IP packets with Scapy against a Cisco IOS-XE lab, then watch Dynamic ARP Inspection drop every forgery and name the attacker's real MAC.
Netmiko vs NAPALM vs pyATS: Three Ways to Diff a Cisco Change
Netmiko, NAPALM and pyATS answer "did my change do anything?" at three different layers. Same three IOS-XE 17.18.2 routers, same lab, real captured diffs.
pyATS and Genie: Diff Cisco Operational State, Not Config
Config diffs tell you your text landed. They do not tell you the interface came up. Here is how pyATS and Genie snapshot live operational state, diff it across a change, and prove a rollback was clean, captured against IOS-XE 17.18.2 in CML.
Nornir and NAPALM: Cisco Config Management That Is Actually Idempotent
Nornir gives you the inventory and the concurrency netmiko never had. NAPALM asks the router for the diff instead of guessing in Python. Captured on three IOS-XE 17.18.2 nodes, including the dest_file_system fix nobody documents.
Netmiko Tutorial for Cisco: SSH Automation That Proves It Worked
A netmiko walkthrough built from a live capture against IOS-XE 17.18.2: connect, read, parse with TextFSM, push with send_config_set, then prove whether anything actually changed. Includes the ntc-templates key names that fail silently.