Quickstart

Batchscanner is a script to batch-scan and/or query and/or configure multiple Siklu Communications radios via their CLI (SSH) interface. It operates over a user-defined range of IP addresses and/or networks, and supports the following actions:

  • scan: For each IP address, identify if the device is a Siklu radio, and if so what kind. Information is extracted from the SSH banner (if one exists) and/or from the CLI prompt.

  • show: executes CLI ‘show’ commands to extract key metrics from each radios (e.g., link up/down).

  • script: executes a sequence of commands read from text file.

  • set_tod: configure the date and time of the radios based on that of the computer.

Actions can be applied to specific types of radios, according to the following classification:

  • EH: Etherhaul radios

  • BU: Classic MultiHaul base units (BUs)

  • TU: Classic MultiHul terminal units (TUs)

  • TG: MultiHaul TG radios. For these radios, there is a further option for batchscanner to action over remote Client Nodes (CNs) (which may not have unique IP addresses).

Results are written to text and/or csv files.

Batchscanner is currently released as a command-line script / executable. The program collects some parameters via command-line argument and text files, and then calls the main batchscanner API.

Installation

As a standalone (executable) script

This option does not require a Python environment set up.

  1. Download one of the following zip files based on your OS:

  2. Extract the zip file to your local drive

As a Python script

$ pip install batchscanner-siklu

Note

You might like to copy the files: config.toml, sikssh_config.toml, and network.txt from the Lib/site-packages/batchscanner directory (in your Python environment) to your working directory - as templates, then edit them as required.

Usage

  1. Use a standard text editor to edit the default network file network.txt to specify the range of IP addresses, and log-in credentials to the radio. Alternatively, create a new file and refer to it with the -c option (below).

  2. If required, use a standard text editor to edit the default program configuration file config.toml. Alternatively, create a new file and refer to it with the -p option (below).

  3. Run the program:

    Usage: batchscanner [-h] [-a {scan,show,script,set_tod}] [-n NETWORK_FILENAME] [-c CONFIG_FILENAME]

options:
    -h, --help            Show this help message and exit
    -a {scan,show,script,set_tod}
              Action for batchscanner to take (default: show). One of:
                  scan: scan the network and identify which IP address is a Siklu radio;
                  show: extract key metrics from radios (parsed outputs of 'show' commands);
                  script: execute a script: send list of commands read from text file;
                  set_tod: set date and time.
    -n NETWORK_FILENAME   Mandatory filename specifying the Network (range of IP addresses to scan and login credentials.
              Default: 'network.txt'
    -c CONFIG_FILENAME    Optional configuration file for overriding default program parameters.
              Default: 'config.toml'

Network file

The range of IP addresses is specified as a text file, with the following format:

  • Username and password to log into the radios

  • A range of IP addresses, described by any number of the following (which can be mixed and matched):

    • A single IP address

    • A range of IP addresses: start and end addresses, separated by a hyphen

    • A subnet with a forward slash denoting the number of subnet bits.

Example content of network file defining a total of 1 + 200 + 252 IP addresses:
username = admin
password = admin
192.168.0.1
10.11.12.1 - 10.11.12.200
10.10.10.0/24

Further details available here.

Config file

The configuration file (simple TOML format) may be used to override the default program parameters. For a list of these parameters and their respective meanings, refer to the Parameters section run_batch().

Example content of configuration file:
 batch_size = 1000                     # Number of IP addresses in single batch (results saved after each batch)
 script_filename = 'script.txt'        # filename containing list of commands to send to radio (applicable only if action='script')
 include_eh = true                     # If true, action EtherHaul radios
 include_bu = true                     # If true, action MultiHaul BU radios
 include_tu = true                     # If true, action MultiHaul TU radios
 include_tg = true                     # If true, action MultiHaul TG radios
 include_tg_remote_cns = false         # If true, action all remote CNs (applicable only to TG DNs)
 multiprocessing_flag = true           # If true, Run concurrently (much faster running time)
 multiprocessing_num_processes = 50    # Number of processes to run concurrently
 output_directory = 'output'           # Results are written to this directory
 save_show_tg_per_radio = false        # If true, save also parsed 'show' output per radio (applicable only to TG)
 save_show_tg_per_radio_raw = false    # If true, save aso the raw (unparsed) 'show' output per radio (applicable only to TG)
 time_shift = 0                        # Number of hours to add to computer time when configuring date/time (applicable only if action='set_tod')