pyeapi

The pyeapi library is a native Python wrapper for the Arista EOS eAPI. It provides Python language bindings to configure Arista EOS nodes.

Key capabilities include:

• Connectivity: Supports both local (on-box) and remote (off-box) communication with EOS.
• Configuration: Uses standard INI-style configuration files to define nodes and connection profiles.
• Object Model: Provides an API layer for interacting with EOS using native Python objects, which is extensible for custom implementations.

The Python Client for eAPI (pyeapi) is a native Python library wrapper for Arista EOS eAPI. It provides Python language bindings for configuring Arista EOS nodes.

Key capabilities include:

• Communication Modes: Supports both local (on-box) and remote (off-box) communication with EOS.
• Configuration: Uses standard INI-style configuration files to manage multiple nodes and connection profiles.
• API Layer: Provides an extensible API layer for interacting with EOS using native Python objects, making it easier to manage EOS configurations.

The pyeapi library is a Python client for interacting with Arista EOS nodes via the eAPI command API. It supports both local (on-box) and remote (off-box) communication.

Key features include:

• Connection Management: Uses standard INI-style configuration files to define one or more nodes and their connection properties.
• Object-Oriented API: Provides an API layer for building native Python objects to interact with EOS configuration, which is extensible for custom implementations.

Whether you need an eapi.conf file depends on your transport method and whether you are running the script on-box or off-box.

Pyeapi is developed by Arista EOS+ CS and supported by the Arista EOS+ community on a best-effort basis.

• General/Community Support: Contact the development team via email at eosplus-dev@arista.com.
• Premium Support: Customers requiring premium-level support should contact their local Arista account team or email eosplus@arista.com.

Unit tests can be executed without an EOS node. Run the following command from the root of the pyeapi source folder to execute the unit test suite.

make unittest

For running pyeapi scripts directly on the switch (on-box), you can avoid passing credentials if using specific transport methods.

Using Unix Sockets (Preferred)

If EOS 4.14.5+ is used and Unix Sockets are enabled, socket is the default transport and localhost is the default host. No eapi.conf or credentials are required.

Using HTTP Local

Requires an eapi.conf file located at /mnt/flash/eapi.conf. You must also configure the switch to allow local HTTP traffic.

eapi.conf example:

[connection:localhost]
transport: http_local

Switch configuration required:

switch(config)#management http-server
switch(config-mgmt-http-server)#protocol http localhost

To use pyeapi, you must first enable the EOS Command API on your Arista device (supporting HTTP, HTTPS, HTTP Local, or Unix Sockets). Once enabled, you can connect to a node by instantiating a Node object using pyeapi.connect_to(node_name). The node_name must correspond to an entry in your eapi.conf configuration file. If you are running the script on-box with Unix Sockets enabled, you can skip the eapi.conf file creation.

import pyeapi

# Connect to a node defined in your config file
node = pyeapi.connect_to('veos01')

When running scripts from a remote server, you must use an eapi.conf file located in $HOME/.eapi.conf. Authentication via username and password is required.

Note: Do not use the name localhost in your connection description (e.g., [connection:localhost]) for off-box connections; localhost is reserved for on-box methods.

Example configuration:

[connection:veos01]
transport: http
username: paul
password: nottelling

[connection:veos03]
transport: https
username: bob
password: mysecret

[connection:veos04]
host: 192.168.2.10
transport: https
username: admin
password: admin

Config Sessions allow you to group multiple configuration commands into a single operation. This provides atomicity: if an error occurs during the application of the block, you can abort the entire session to prevent partial or invalid configurations from being applied to the device.

To use Config Sessions with pyeapi:

1. Initialize a connection using pyeapi.connect_to().
2. Start a session with node.configure_session().
3. Apply configurations using the .configure() method on your API objects.
4. Either node.commit() to apply the changes or node.abort() to discard them.

import pyeapi
node = pyeapi.connect_to('veos01')

# Start the session
node.configure_session()

# Apply configuration via an API object
vlans = node.api('vlans')
success = vlans.configure(['vlan 100', 'vlan 200'])

if success:
    node.commit()
else:
    node.abort()

Bugs and enhancement requests are tracked via GitHub Issues at https://github.com/arista-eosplus/pyeapi/issues.

For Defect Issues (Bugs)

To help the development team resolve defects, provide as much relevant data as possible, including:

• Steps to reproduce the issue.
• The version of EOS being used.
• The Python version.
• Operating System (OS) details.

For Enhancement Requests

When requesting new features, provide:

• A brief description of the requested enhancement.
• The version of EOS that needs to be supported.