# UniConfig Shell

UniConfig shell is a Command Line Interface for Uniconfig. Accessible over SSH, it allows users to interact with Uniconfig features including:

reading operational data of devices
manipulating device configuration
manipulating configuration templates
manipulating data stored in unistore
invoking device or UniConfig operations
manipulating global UniConfig settings

Uniconfig shell is model driven and thus its interface is mostly auto-generated from YANG schemas (e.g., tree structure of data-nodes or available RPC/action operations).

# Configuration

By default, UniConfig shell is disabled. To enable it, configuration parameter 'cliShell/sshServer/enabled' must be set to 'true' in the 'config/lighty-uniconfig-config.json' file.

All available settings and descriptions are displayed in the following JSON snippet.

UniConfig shell configuration (config/lighty-uniconfig-config.json)
    "cliShell": {
        "sshServer": {
            // Flag that determines if ssh server will be started or not.
            "enabled": false,
            // Port bind to ssh server.
            "port": 2022,
            // IP address bind to ssh server.
            "inetAddress": "127.0.0.1",
            // Basic username + password authentication.
            "usernamePasswordAuth": {
                "username": "admin",
                "password": "secret"
            }
        },
        // Flag that determines if uniconfig-shell provides scrolling of output
        "enableScrolling": false,
        // Number of history items to keep in memory
        "historySize": 500,
        // Number of history items to keep in the history file
        "historyFileSize": 1000
    }

After starting UniConfig, SSH server will listen for connections on port 2022 and loopback interface.

Every command line starts with command prompt that ends with '>' character. Identifier of the command prompt changes based on current shell mode and state of the execution in this mode.
Commands 'exit' and 'quit' appear in all shell modes. Command 'exit' returns state to the parent state, command 'quit' returns state to the nearest parent mode (e.g., configuration mode, root mode, operational show mode). If the current state of shell represents some mode, commands 'quit' and 'exit' have the same effect - returning to the parent mode.
Typed command can be sent to the UniConfig using ENTER key. After that, UniConfig processes the command and may send response to the console depending on the command behaviour. All commands are processed synchronously - user cannot execute multiple commands in parallel in the same SSH session.
CTRL-A and CTRL-E can be used for moving cursor on the current line to the beginning of the line, or the end of the line, respectively.
CTRl-L is used for clearing of the shell screen.
Arrow keys UP/DOWN are used for loading of the previous or more recent command in the command history.
To cancel current line and moving to the blank line, user can use CTRL+C shortcut.
Key TAB can be used for loading of the available suggestions in the current context. By hitting TAB again, user can navigate through suggested commands using arrow keys and select some of them using ENTER. Submode with suggestions can be left using CTRL-E shortcut. Text in the brackets contain description of the next command.

Loading available suggestions under 'show uniconfig iosxr' command
config>show uniconfig iosxr
>                                                                            (output to file)
evpn                                       (Top level configuration containers for EVPN data)
interfaces        (Top level container for interfaces, including configuration
and state data.)
logging                                               (Enclosing container for logging data.)
network-instances                       (The L2, L3, or L2+L3 forwarding instances that are…)
oam                                 (Top level configuration container for ethernet OAM data)
snmp                                    (Enclosing container for snmp interface-specific
data.)
|

If displayed output is longer than the current length of command-line window, output is displayed with scrolling capability. ENTER is used for displaying next line, while SPACE is used for displaying next page. Character 'q' can be used to leave scrolling mode. It is possible to scroll only in the one direction - towards end of output.

# Root mode

Root mode represents initial mode that is available to a user after successful authentication.
Example: login into UniConfig shell:

Connecting to UniConfig shell using SSH client
Connection to 127.0.0.1 closed.
[jtoth@JT-WORK ~]$ ssh admin@127.0.0.1 -p 2022
Password authentication
(admin@127.0.0.1) Password:
uniconfig>

Root mode overview
uniconfig>
configuration-mode      (opening configuration mode)
exit
request                          (execution of RPCs)
show                      (reading data from device)
show-history (show history [max number of commands])

Command 'exit' is used for exiting UniConfig shell interface altogether (disconnecting SSH client).
Example - exiting UniConfig shell:

Leaving UniConfig shell
uniconfig>exit
Console closed. Press any key to exit!
Connection to 127.0.0.1 closed by remote host.
Connection to 127.0.0.1 closed.

Currently, only username/password single-user authentication is supported according to configuration in the 'config/lighty-uniconfig-config.json'.

# Accessing sub-modes

Root mode acts as a gateway for opening configuration, show, and request operational modes.
Example - switching into Configuration mode:

Opening configuration mode
uniconfig>configuration-mode
config>

# Show command history

Command 'show-history' is used for displaying list of N last invoked commands.
Example - show executed last 5 commands:

Show history
config>show-history 5
----- History of commands -----
10-05-2022 14:48:14 : configuration-mode
10-05-2022 14:48:16 : request
10-05-2022 14:48:17 : exitr
10-05-2022 14:48:18 : exit
10-05-2022 14:48:24 : show-history 5

This command is also available from the Configuration mode.

List of invoked commands are persisted across UniConfig restarts and SSH connections.

# Configuration mode

Configuration mode provides access to:

CRUD operations on top of persisted uniconfig, unistore and template nodes.
CRUD operations on top of persisted UniConfig settings.
UniConfig RPC operations such as commit or calculate-diff.

After opening Configuration mode, a new UniConfig transaction is created. All operations that are invoked from the configuration mode are executed in scope of created transaction.
Transaction is automatically closed after leaving the Configuration mode ('exit' or 'quit' command).
If user invokes 'commit' or 'checked-commit', transaction is automatically refreshed (user stays in the configuration mode with a newly created transaction).

Configuration mode overview
config>
others
delete                                     (delete operation)
exit                                  (return to parent mode)
quit                                    (return to root mode)
request                                   (execution of RPCs)
set                                           (set operation)
show                                         (show operation)
show-history          (show history [max number of commands])
aliases
diff (alias for 'request calculate-diff target-nodes/node *')

# Show configuration

Show operation can be used to display selected subtrees.
Subtree path can be constructed interactively with help of shell suggestions / auto-completion mechanism. Construction of the path works the same way in the Show, Delete, and Set operations.
Example - displaying configuration of selected container:

Show operation: available topologies or root configuration containers
config>show
settings            (settings)   uniconfig (uniconfig topology)
template   (template topology)   unistore   (unistore topology)

Show operation: selection of installed node
config>show uniconfig
nodes
iosxr    iosxr2

Show operation: selection of root data container
config>show uniconfig iosxr
>                                                                            (output to file)
evpn                                       (Top level configuration containers for EVPN data)
interfaces        (Top level container for interfaces, including configuration
and state data.)
logging                                               (Enclosing container for logging data.)
network-instances                       (The L2, L3, or L2+L3 forwarding instances that are…)
oam                                 (Top level configuration container for ethernet OAM data)
snmp                                    (Enclosing container for snmp interface-specific
data.)

Show operation: selection of interface id
config>show uniconfig iosxr interfaces interface
>     (output to file)   GigabitEthernet0/0/0/2   MgmtEth0/0/CPU0/0
GigabitEthernet0/0/0/0   GigabitEthernet0/0/0/3   |               (pipe)
GigabitEthernet0/0/0/1   GigabitEthernet0/0/0/4

Show operation: invocation of command
config>show uniconfig iosxr interfaces interface GigabitEthernet0/0/0/0 config
{
  "type": "iana-if-type:ethernetCsmacd",
  "enabled": false,
  "name": "GigabitEthernet0/0/0/0"
}

# Delete configuration

Delete operation removes a selected subtree.
Example - removal of a container:

Construction of path with help from suggestions
config>delete uniconfig iosxr
evpn                                       (Top level configuration containers for EVPN data)
interfaces        (Top level container for interfaces, including configuration
and state data.)
logging                                               (Enclosing container for logging data.)
network-instances                       (The L2, L3, or L2+L3 forwarding instances that are…)
oam                                 (Top level configuration container for ethernet OAM data)
snmp                                    (Enclosing container for snmp interface-specific
data.)

Delete 'config' container under 'network-instance' with key value 'default'
config>delete uniconfig iosxr network-instances network-instance default config
config>

Verify state of 'network-instance'
config>show uniconfig iosxr network-instances network-instance default
{
  "name": "default",
  "protocols": {
    "protocol": [
      {
        "identifier": "frinx-openconfig-policy-types:STATIC",
        "name": "default",
        "config": {
          "identifier": "frinx-openconfig-policy-types:STATIC",
          "name": "default"
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

# Set configuration

Set operation can be used for:

Setting value of a single leaf.
Setting values of multiple leaves in a single shell operation.
Setting list of values for a leaf-list.
Replacing the whole subtree using a JSON snippet.

Example - setting value of a single leaf:

Providing datatype hints at selected leaf
config>set uniconfig iosxr lacp config system-priority
(type: uint16, constraints: [Range: [[0..65535]]])

Setting value of LACP 'system-priority' to '100'
config>set uniconfig iosxr lacp config system-priority 100
config>

Displaying changed LACP configuration
config>show uniconfig iosxr lacp config
{
  "system-priority": 100
}

Example - setting values of multiple leaves: under 'hold-time' container:

Displaying hint for value of the leaf 'up'
config>set uniconfig iosxr interfaces interface GigabitEthernet0/0/0/0 hold-time config up
(type: uint32, constraints: [Range: [[0..4294967295]]])

Setting value of the leaf 'up' and displaying hint for value of the leaf 'down'
config>set uniconfig iosxr interfaces interface GigabitEthernet0/0/0/0 hold-time config up 20 down
(type: uint32, constraints: [Range: [[0..4294967295]]])

Setting values of the leaves 'up' and 'down'
config>set uniconfig iosxr interfaces interface GigabitEthernet0/0/0/0 hold-time config up 20 down 15
config>

Verification of the 'hold-time' configuration
config>show uniconfig iosxr interfaces interface GigabitEthernet0/0/0/0 hold-time
{
  "config": {
    "up": 20,
    "down": 15
  }
}

JSON snippet can be written to a selected data-tree node by entering 'json' sub-mode. In the 'json' su-mode, user can type multiple lines that must represent a well-formed JSON document. At the end, user can confirm the set operation using pattern 'w!' + newline or to cancel the set operation with 'q!' + newline pattern.
Example - replacing configuration of an interface using a JSON snippet:

Replacing 'config' container under interface using provided JSON snippet
config>set uniconfig iosxr interfaces interface GigabitEthernet0/0/0/1 config json
{
>   "config": {
>     "type": "iana-if-type:ethernetCsmacd",
>     "enabled": true,
>     "name": "GigabitEthernet0/0/0/1"
>   }
> }
w!

Verification of Set operation
config>show uniconfig iosxr interfaces interface GigabitEthernet0/0/0/1
{
  "name": "GigabitEthernet0/0/0/1",
    "config": {
    "type": "iana-if-type:ethernetCsmacd",
    "enabled": true,
    "name": "GigabitEthernet0/0/0/1"
  }
}

Example - leaving 'json' sub-mode without execution of Set operation:

Cancellation of the Set operation and leaving 'json' sub-mode
config>set uniconfig iosxr interfaces interface GigabitEthernet0/0/0/1 config json
{
>   "config": {
>     "type": "iana-if-type:ethernetCsmacd",
>     "enabled": true,
>     "name": "GigabitEthernet0/0/0/1"
>   }
> }
q!

Verification of the cancelled Set operation
config>show uniconfig iosxr interfaces interface GigabitEthernet0/0/0/1
{
  "name": "GigabitEthernet0/0/0/1",
  "config": {
    "type": "iana-if-type:ethernetCsmacd",
    "enabled": false,
    "name": "GigabitEthernet0/0/0/1"
  }
}

# Execute UniConfig operation

Command 'request' is used to execute UniConfig operations such as 'commit' or 'calculate-diff' in the UniConfig transaction.
User can fill in input parameters and values interactively or via provided JSON snippet.

Example - execution of UniConfig RPCs in the scope of open UniConfig transaction:

Displaying available 'commit' RPC parameters
config>request commit
>                                                                            (output to file)
do-rollback (Controls whether to roll back successfully configured devices in case of failu…)
do-validate (Option to enable/disable validation at commit. Default value is true - validate)
json                                                                             (JSON input)
target-nodes/node
|                                                                                      (pipe)

Execution of 'calculate-diff' RPC with 1 argument - target node
config>request calculate-diff target-nodes/node iosxr
{
  "node-results": {
    "node-result": [
      {
        "node-id": "iosxr",
        "status": "complete",
        "created-data": [
          {
            "path": "/network-topology:network-topology/topology=uniconfig/node=iosxr/frinx-uniconfig-topology:configuration/frinx-openconfig-system:system",
            "data": "{
              "frinx-openconfig-system:system": {
                "frinx-huawei-global-config-extension:banner": {
                  "config": {
                    "banner-text": "Test banner"
                  }
                }
              }
            }"
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  },
  "overall-status": "complete"
}

Displaying available 'sync-from-network' RPC paramaters:
config>request sync-from-network
>                                                                            (output to file)
check-timestamp (Perform timestamp comparison(last known to Uniconfig vs current timestamp …)
json                                                                             (JSON input)
target-nodes/node
|                                                                                      (pipe)

Execution of 'sync-from-network' RPC with 2 arguments - target node and 'check-timestamp' flag
config>request sync-from-network check-timestamp true target-nodes/node iosxr
{
  "node-results": {
    "node-result": [
      {
        "node-id": "iosxr",
        "status": "complete"
      }
    ]
  },
  "overall-status": "complete"
}

# Show operational mode

Show mode allows users to:

Display operational data of UniConfig itself - e.g., logging status, list of open transactions, or list of acquired subscriptions.
Display operational data of network devices.

Overview of Show operational mode
show>
others
cli                    (reading data from CLI device)
exit                          (return to parent mode)
logging-status               (reading logging status)
netconf            (reading data from NETCONF device)
netconf-subscriptions (reading netconf subscriptions)
notifications                 (reading notifications)
quit                            (return to root mode)
show-history  (show history [max number of commands])
snapshots-metadata       (reading snapshots metadata)
transaction-log             (reading transaction log)
transactions               (reading transaction data)
aliases
lbr      (alias for 'logging-status broker restconf')

After opening Show mode, a new UniConfig transaction is opened. Transaction is closed after leaving this mode.

Opening Show operational mode
uniconfig>show
show>

Example - displaying configuration of selected subtree:

Display configuration of GigabitEthernet0/0/0/0 interface
show>cli iosxr interfaces(frinx-openconfig-interfaces) interface GigabitEthernet0/0/0/0
{
  "name": "GigabitEthernet0/0/0/0",
  "config": {
    "type": "iana-if-type:ethernetCsmacd",
    "enabled": false,
    "name": "GigabitEthernet0/0/0/0"
  }
}

Example - displaying selected system configuration:

Display list of open UniConfig transactions
show>transactions transaction-data
[
  {
    "transaction-id": "5d9c8819-5b05-4c7a-b7e5-3c84478aeeb0",
    "idle-timeout": 300,
    "last-access-time": "2022-May-16 07:02:31.501 +0000",
    "hard-timeout": 1800,
    "creation-time": "2022-May-16 07:02:31.501 +0000"
  },
  {
    "transaction-id": "80091b4b-5432-41cd-9277-1b18ae77b45f",
    "idle-timeout": 300,
    "last-access-time": "2022-May-16 07:02:42.747 +0000",
    "hard-timeout": 1800,
    "creation-time": "2022-May-16 07:02:42.747 +0000"
  }
]

# Request operational mode

Request mode allows users to:

Invoke selected UniConfig requests that read or alter UniConfig settings.
Invoke RPCs or actions that are provided by network devices or other southbound mount-points.

User can fill in input parameters and values interactively or via provided JSON snippet.
After opening Request mode, a new UniConfif transaction is open. Transaction is closed after leaving this mode.

Example - invocation of RPC 'execute-and-read' with typed input parameters:

Displaying available RPCs provided by device 'iosxr'
request>cli iosxr
operations
clear-journal
execute (Simple execution of single or multiple commands on remote terminal. Multiple comma…)
execute-and-expect (Form of the 'execute-and-read' RPC that can contain 'expect(..)' patter…)
execute-and-read (Execution of the sequence of commands specified in the input. These comma…)
execute-and-read-until
read-journal

Displaying available 'execute-and-read' RPC parameters
request>cli iosxr execute-and-read
>                                                                            (output to file)
command        (Input configuration snippet (one or multiple commands separated by newline).)
json                                                                             (JSON input)
wait-for-output-timer (If no output is received during this time, then execute next command…)
|                                                                                      (pipe)

Execution of 'execute-and-read' RPC with two arguments - 'wait-for-output-timer' and 'command'
request>cli iosxr execute-and-read wait-for-output-timer 2 command "show users"
{
   "output": "Mon May 16 07:28:30.405 UTC
   Line            User                 Service  Conns   Idle        Location
*  vty0            cisco                ssh          0  00:00:00     192.168.1.42"
}

Example - execution of the same RPC 'execute-and-read' using input JSON:

Execution of 'execute-and-read' RPC with input JSON snippet:
request>cli iosxr execute-and-read json
  {
>     "input": {
>         "command": "show users",
>         "wait-for-output-timer": 2
>     }
> }
w!
{
   "output": "Mon May 16 07:37:55.256 UTC
   Line            User                 Service  Conns   Idle        Location
*  vty0            cisco                ssh          0  00:00:00     192.168.1.42"
}

UniConfig shell doesn't support interactive typing of input arguments for RPC/action that contains 'list' YANG element. Such operations must be executed using input JSON.

# Pipe operations

UniConfig shell supports pipe operations that are similar to unix shell/bash pipes. When a command is followed by pipe sign: |, output of that command will be passed to a selected pipe operation.

Example:

Execution of grep pipe operation:
config>show uniconfig R1 interface-configurations interface-configuration | grep netmask

    "netmask": "255.255.255.0"

Supported pipe operations are:

grep - shows only lines that match supplied regex
match - same as grep but can be used with optional parameters to show also lines before and after matched line
context-match - same as grep but shows also parent structure
brief - displays root elements in the short table format
hide-empty-data-nodes - hides data nodes without any child node.
hide-attributes - hides attributes of data nodes.

# Redirection of output

Result of a command execution can be redirected to a file using ">" sign followed by file name.

Example

Redirection of output to file
config>show uniconfig R1 interface-configurations interface-configuration act\ GigabitEthernet0/0/0/1 > '/home/output.txt' 

In this case output in console is empty but content of output.txt file could look like this:

Redirection output
{
  "active": "act",
  "interface-name": "GigabitEthernet0/0/0/1",
  "shutdown": [
    null
  ]
}

# Aliases

It is possible to define aliases in UniConfig shell. For this purpose, there is a json file named shell-aliases in the UniConfig distribution. This file can be found under Uniconfig/distribution/packaging/zip/target/uniconfig-x.x.x/config after unpacking of the UniConfig distribution. This file contains some sample aliases.

shell-aliases.json with default samples
/*
Example: "alias": "command1 command2 * command3 *"
Alias name must be a simple word without spaces
Asterisk symbol is a placeholder. We can dynamically add an alias value
*/
{
  "configuration-mode": {
    "diff": "request calculate-diff target-nodes/node *"
  },
  "request": {
    "shh": "show-history"
  },
  "show": {
    "lbr": "logging-status broker restconf"
  }
}

# Aliases creation

It is not possible to create aliases dynamically, only before Uniconfig is started. Creation of aliases has some rules:

Alias name has to be unique and cannot contain whitespaces
Command can contain a wildcard (*). In this case user will be prompted to add value
Alias is only visible in the mode under which it was defined

# Examples

Example - execution of the alias 'diff xr5':

uniconfig>configuration-mode 
config>diff xr5
{
  "node-results": {
    "node-result": [
      {
        "node-id": "xr5",
        "status": "complete"
      }
    ]
  },
  "overall-status": "complete"
}
config>

Example - execution of the alias 'lbr':

uniconfig>show
show>lbr 
{
  "broker-identifier": "restconf",
  "is-logging-broker-enabled": false
}
show>

Example - execution of the alias 'shh':

uniconfig>request
request>show-history 
----- History of commands -----
18-05-2022 14:13:09 : show
18-05-2022 14:13:18 : lbr
18-05-2022 14:17:43 : exit
18-05-2022 14:17:48 : request
18-05-2022 14:17:57 : shcs
18-05-2022 14:18:10 : shcs n1
18-05-2022 14:18:25 : show-history
request>