[rancid] How to extend Rancid. Basics.

[Robert Drake]

Not that the capability exists now, but check out NETCONF/YANG for what 
could be and then ask your vendors why they can't make something 
standard.  Some of the big players are involved with it but the problem 
is you're inevitably going to have some big boy gear that supports 
netconf and then 10 shit-tier vendors that never will.

Most ISP's are at least going to have some mission critical gear that 
needs to be backed up that is going to be built by someone in the 
shit-tier category.  I've got some gear from people who build routing 
and switching products and still don't have a "show config/show run" of 
any sort.  Their latest product doesn't have a "show ip interface brief" 
equivalent so you need to either SNMP poll it for interface status, use 
their dumb management console or use the web frontend.

I don't think there will be a good solution within our careers.  It 
would be nice if we could convince vendors that configuration isn't a 
special thing that requires years of careful study in manuals then 
specialized testing per platform.  The problems are that certifications 
make the vendors money and keep us locked in to their products, which 
are generally all just thin software shells around the same set of chips 
the other guy is using.

On 8/2/2015 10:50 AM, Alan McKinnon wrote:
> You'd have a regex on the left (no other descriptive language comes
> close to a regex) and an action on the right. The trouble is, that
> action can only be a code snippet, and this opens a world of hurt.
>
> I'm glad you've opened this topic as I've tried to find ways to solve
> it, and like you I figure there must be an easier way. But every time a
> good solution trips up on real life requirements...
>
> If you have a viable and well-thought out idea, I'm all ears. I've
> looked for years and haven't found one. But it won't be the first time I
> overlook something:-)