[rancid] sorting output from custom commands...

[Jon Peatfield]

On Wed, 29 Sep 2010, john heasley wrote:

> Wed, Sep 29, 2010 at 01:45:45AM +0100, Jon Peatfield:
>>  CDP neighbors information
>>
>>   Port : 1
>>   Device ID : SEP001FCA369E19
>>   Address Type : IP
>>   Address      : 172.18.18.179
>>   Platform     : SIP11.8-5-3SCisco IP Phone 7911
>>   Capability   :
>>   Device Port  : Port 1
>>   Version      : SIP11.8-5-3SCisco IP Phone 7911
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>   Port : 1
>>   Device ID : 01 ac 12 12 b3
>>   Address Type : IP
>>   Address      : 172.18.18.179
>>   Platform     : Cisco IP Phone 7911G,V5, SIP11.8-5-3S
>>   Capability   : Switch
>>   Device Port  : 001FCA369E19:P1
>>   Version      : Cisco IP Phone 7911G,V5, SIP11.8-5-3S
>
> though this looks legitimate; some of the phones have two device.  i'd
> keep track of the port's seen (or just last port) and skip duplicates.
>
>> 	if (/^\s*Port\s*:\s*(.*)/) {
>> 	    my $newport=$1;
> if port == lastport
> read until ^$
> else
> read, processhistory, until ^$

I may be misunderstanding you, but that sounds like you are suggesting 
skipping all but the first device-id for each port.

Since the multiple device-ids on a port are listed in an apparently random 
order (but the order stays until the device is unplugged or reset), just 
reporting the first device on a port will cause reporting flaps (just like 
I was getting by not sorting them).

The current code I'm testing seems to give the answers I want though it 
does assume that all devices for port P will be consecutive in the 
output...

There is another thing I do plan to fix which is that for a few seconds 
after a handset is plugged in we get a 3rd device-id reported - apparently 
a fixed device-id for all handsets.  Presumably this is a quirk of the 
data that these Cisco handsets send in their first cdp frame, or the HP 
not understanding something.

I plan to simply filter those out since the information isn't useful to me 
and we only see them if rancid happens to poll the switch right after a 
handset is connected.

I'll be happy to contribute what I end up with if anyone else wants this.

  -- Jon