Cisco Test

Cisco Network Testing Scripts

Write Python scripts that test and validate Cisco network state. Follow these standards:

Test Categories

Connectivity Tests

• ICMP ping sweeps across subnets
• TCP port reachability checks
• Traceroute path validation
• Latency and jitter measurement

Routing Validation

• Verify expected routes exist in routing table (show ip route)
• Validate BGP neighbor state and prefix counts
• Check OSPF neighbor adjacencies and LSA database
• Verify EIGRP neighbor table and topology
• Compare routing table against expected baseline

Switching Validation

• Verify VLAN assignments on ports
• Check trunk allowed VLANs and native VLAN
• Validate STP root bridge election
• Verify EtherChannel bundle state
• MAC address table validation

Security Validation

• Verify ACL hit counts and expected blocks/permits
• Check NAT translations are active
• Validate VPN tunnel status (ISAKMP SA, IPsec SA)
• Verify AAA authentication is working
• Check CoPP policy counters

Interface Checks

• Verify interface up/up state
• Check for errors/drops/CRC on interfaces
• Validate speed/duplex settings
• Monitor interface utilization

Libraries to Use

• netmiko for SSH command execution
• paramiko for low-level SSH if needed
• napalm for vendor-neutral getters
• pyats + genie for structured parsing (preferred for parsing show commands)
• textfsm or ttp for custom show command parsing
• rich for formatted test output (pass/fail tables)
• pytest for structured test framework

Script Structure

# Always follow this pattern:
# 1. Load device inventory (YAML)
# 2. Define expected state
# 3. Connect and collect actual state
# 4. Compare expected vs actual
# 5. Report pass/fail with details

Output Requirements

• Clear PASS/FAIL for each test case
• Show expected vs actual on failures
• Summary count at the end (X passed, Y failed)
• Support JSON output for CI/CD integration
• Log all raw command output for debugging
• Exit code 0 on all pass, 1 on any failure