Config Collector Guide

Collect running configurations from one device or your entire inventory.

What It Does

• Connects to each device
• Runs show running-config (Cisco) or admin display-config (Nokia)
• Saves the config to a file or prints it as JSON

Quick Start

Collect from one device

python -m netops.collect.config \
  --host 10.0.0.1 \
  --vendor cisco_ios \
  --user admin \
  --password 'secret'

Output:

✅ 10.0.0.1: 347 lines collected

Collect from your entire inventory

python -m netops.collect.config \
  --inventory my-inventory.yaml

Collect from a specific group

python -m netops.collect.config \
  --inventory my-inventory.yaml \
  --group core

This only connects to devices in the core group.

Step-by-Step: Daily Config Backup

Step 1: Make a backup folder

mkdir -p /var/backups/network

Step 2: Run the collector with --output

python -m netops.collect.config \
  --inventory my-inventory.yaml \
  --output /var/backups/network/

What happens: - Connects to each device in your inventory - Saves each config as <ip>_<timestamp>.cfg - Prints a summary

✅ 10.0.0.1 → /var/backups/network/10.0.0.1_20260323-140000.cfg (347 lines)
✅ 10.0.0.2 → /var/backups/network/10.0.0.2_20260323-140005.cfg (512 lines)
❌ 10.0.1.1: Connection timed out

Step 3: Automate it with cron (optional)

# Edit crontab
crontab -e

# Add this line to run every night at 2am
0 2 * * * cd /path/to/netops-toolkit && .venv/bin/python -m netops.collect.config --inventory my-inventory.yaml --output /var/backups/network/ >> /var/log/netops-backup.log 2>&1

JSON Output

For scripting or piping to other tools:

python -m netops.collect.config \
  --inventory my-inventory.yaml \
  --group routers \
  --json

Output:

[
  {
    "host": "10.0.0.1",
    "device_type": "cisco_ios",
    "collected_at": "2026-03-23T14:00:00+00:00",
    "success": true,
    "config": "!\nversion 15.7\n...",
    "lines": 347
  }
]

You can pipe this to jq for filtering:

# Show only failed devices
python -m netops.collect.config -i inv.yaml --json | jq '.[] | select(.success == false)'

# Count lines per device
python -m netops.collect.config -i inv.yaml --json | jq '.[] | "\(.host): \(.lines) lines"'

All Options

Option	Short	What It Does
--inventory	-i	Inventory file (YAML or JSON)
--group	-g	Only target this group
--host		Single device IP/hostname
--vendor		Device type (default: cisco_ios)
--user	-u	Username
--password	-p	Password (or use NETOPS_PASSWORD env var)
--transport		ssh or telnet (default: ssh)
--output	-o	Directory to save config files
--json		Print JSON to stdout

Troubleshooting

Problem	Fix
Authentication failed	Check username/password. Try connecting manually with SSH first.
Connection timed out	Check IP is reachable (ping). Check port (SSH=22, Telnet=23). Firewall?
No matching key exchange	Old device with weak crypto. Try adding --transport ssh2 or use Telnet.
Command not found	Wrong vendor type. A Nokia device won't understand show running-config.
Empty config	Some devices need enable mode. Set enable_password in inventory.