Package: nornir-csv
nornir_csvUse CSV files as a Nornir Inventory source with hosts, groups and defaults.
This can be used as an equivalent to the Simple Inventory plugin but
using CSV files instead of YAML. This does not generate any new files,
but instead reads host data from three files:hosts.csvgroups.csvdefaults.csvInstallationInstall thepackagefrom PyPi with pip.pip install nornir-csvUsageSince this is an external plugin for Nornir 3.0+, it must be registered
before usage. The main project file must therefore contain something similar to:fromnornirimportInitNornirfromnornir_csv.plugins.inventoryimportCsvInventoryfromnornir.core.plugins.inventoryimportInventoryPluginRegisterInventoryPluginRegister.register("CsvInventoryPlugin",CsvInventory)nr=InitNornir(config_file='sample_config.yaml')By default, the plugin will look for the files hosts.csv, groups.csv and defaults.csv inside the
./inventory/ directory, but the directory can be changed by specifying the plugin optioninventory_dir_path. A sample file such as below can be used:inventory:plugin:CsvInventoryPluginoptions:inventory_dir_path:/path/to/inventory/dir/runner:plugin:threadedoptions:num_workers:20The name of the csv files to be read for hosts, groups and defaults can also be customized by setting the optionshosts_file,groups_fileanddefaults_file, respectively. These should correspond to the file's basenames (no paths) with extension, if any.CSV SyntaxHostsThehosts_filefollows a specific syntax to make it nornir-compatible, see sample below:name,hostname,username,password,port,platform,groups,custom_var
R1,192.168.122.10,cisco,cisco,22,cisco_ios,core main,foo
R2,192.168.122.20,cisco,cisco,22,cisco_xr,,barNote that name, hostname, username, password, port, platform and groups are nornir
base attributes. This means they are hosts attributes directly, such thatnr.inventory.hosts['R1'].passwordwill yield the return value of 'cisco' as expected. Any custom variables that are
added will be put inside the 'data' dictionary on the target host. Sonr.inventory.hosts['R1'].data['custom_var']will return 'foo'.Notice also that to specify the list of groups to which a host belongs the list must be
specified one group at a time, separated by spaces. In the csv above, R1 belongs to the
groups 'core' and 'main'. A hosts file is mandatory.GroupsThegroups_fileis optional. It can be used to set
default values for the base attributes of each host (for example, if every host of the same
group uses the same credentials). Any attributes that are non-base attributes will
be added to the 'data' container inside the generated group, similar to how it
behaves with hosts. If no groups are specified in the csv file, hosts can still be assigned
to groups but these will hold no data.name,username,password,dns_server
core,cisco,cisco,8.8.8.8
main,,,,Notice that the groups csv does not have any mandatory fields other than name.DefaultsThedefaults_filespecifies any default variables. This file is also free-form, but is only
composed of two lines: a header with the name of the variable and a second line with
its value. The defaults file is optional.message_of_the_day,foo,port
hello world!,bar,22Connection Options (Experimental)Connection options can be defined using CSV syntax on a separate file,options_file.
The default name for the file is 'connection_options.csv'. CSV syntax can be used to
specify connection options for all connectivity plugins as you would using YAML. As
usual, attributes that do not map to nornir base attributes will be put inside
the 'extras' dictionary for the ConnectionOptions object; this is the behaviour
you'd usually need.Even if you can define connection options for several plugins at once, it is
recommended to only define one set of connection options at a time (i.e. only napalm,
only netmiko or only scrapli), as some configurations can potentially conflict
with each other.name,ssh_strict,ssh_config_file,hostkey_verify
netmiko,False,~/.ssh/config,False
napalm,True,~/.ssh/config,TrueWriting Changes back to CSVIt may be possible you want to update your inventory programatically after running some
tests. During execution, all the hosts on your inventory are available and can be appended
data in their 'data' dictionaries. You can also create new hosts and add existing ones to
groups from within your Python code. In all of these cases, you can use thewritestatic method to dump the whole inventory back to Csv.fromnornirimportInitNornirfromnornir.core.inventoryimportHost,Groupfromnornir_csv.plugins.inventoryimportCsvInventoryfromnornir.core.plugins.inventoryimportInventoryPluginRegisterInventoryPluginRegister.register("CsvInventoryPlugin",CsvInventory)nr=InitNornir(config_file='sample_config.yaml')# Adding more data to existing inventorynr.inventory.hosts['R1'].data['status']='up'nr.inventory.hosts['R2'].groups.append(Group(name='mygroup'))nr.inventory.hosts['R3']=Host(name='R3')# Writing data back to CSV format.CsvInventory.write(dest_file='./inventory/hosts.csv',inventory=nr.inventory)This will result in a new hosts file:name,hostname,username,password,port,platform,groups,custom_var,status
R1,192.168.122.10,cisco,cisco,22,cisco_ios,core main,foo,up
R2,192.168.122.20,cisco,cisco,22,cisco_xr,mygroup,bar,
R3,,,,,,,,