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STC Ansible

This is an experimental Ansible plugin to configure Spirent Test Center data models and execute tests.

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Requirements

This STC Ansible module requires a recent version (>=2.5) of the Ansible client.

This STC Ansible module can be used to remote configure an STC Lab Server.

Configuration of STC-web is currently not supported.

Installation

First, you need to install Python dependencies for the Ansible client:

pip install -r requirements.txt

Running an STC Ansible Playbook

There are several example playbooks in the playbooks folder. To run all of them, just use make play, and it will create an STC session for each of the playbooks. (You can also use make debug to run ansible with extra verbose output).

Ansible Configuration

Inventory

In your inventory (inventory.ini), declare the STC Lab Servers you want the Ansible playbook to connect to:

[labservers]
my-labserver-1 ansible_host=10.61.67.200

[labservers:vars]
ansible_connection=paramiko
ansible_host_key_checking=no
ansible_user=admin
ansible_ssh_pass=spirent
ansible_ssh_common_args=/bin/ssh
ansible_paramiko_pty=no

Note that ansible_paramiko_pty MUST be set to no as it will otherwise fail to connect to the STC Lab Server.

Ansible STC Module

If you want to use the STC module outside of this direction, you will need to copy the content of the module_utils and library into the folder from which you are running your Ansible playbook.

Let's Make an STC Ansible Playbook

Basic STC Ansible Actions

The stc Ansible module makes it possible to execute one of the following 8 actions:

action description
create_session or session. Attach to an existing session. If the session does not exsit, a new session is created. If the session exists, the data model is first reset to the default data model.
attach_session Attach to an existing session. If the session does not exisit, the script will fail.
delete_session Deletes a specific session or few sessions specified.
delete_all_sessions Deletes all the existing sessions.
load Loads a predefined XML data model. Note that the model must first be copied to the target STC Lab Server using the copy module. Check the datamodel-loader.yaml playbook for reference.
create Creates a new object in the data model.
config Configures an existing object in the data model.
perform Perform a command against the data model.
delete Deletes an object in the data model.
get Returns the value of a given attribute of one or more objects - this can be used for instance to check results
wait Waits for one of several object attribute to become a specific value (eg wait for the attritube BlockState of the PPPoE object PppoeClientBlockConfig to become CONNECTING )
download Download files such as bll.log, bll.session.log, etc...

Create or Attach to a Session

The first task of the playbook must be to attach to an STC session:

- name: Create session
  stc: 
    action: session
    user: ansible
    name: datamodel-loader

There are two optional parameters: kill_existing and reset_existing: If the session already exists on the server, it will respectively be first killed, or reset (using the ResetConfig command)

Attach to a Session

Attach to an existing session. If the session doen't exist, the playbook will fail.

- name: Attach session
  stc: 
    action: attach_session
    user: ansible
    name: Session1

Delete Sessions

Deletes the sessions specified under name. The optional parameter user can be specified when specific user created sessions need to be deleted.

- name: Delete session
  stc: 
    action: delete_session
    user: ansible
    name: Session1
- name: Delete session
  stc: 
    action: delete_session
    user: ansible
    name: Session1, Session 2, Session3

Deletes all the existing sessions in the connected lab server.

- name: Delete session
  stc: 
    action: delete_all_sessions

Create a Few Ports

You can then declare your own emulated device:

- name: Create the base ports
  stc: 
    action: create
    objects: 
      - project: 
          - port: 
              location: "//(Offline)/1/1"
              name: Port 1

          - port: 
              location: "//(Offline)/2/1"
              name: Port 2

The STC Ansible module has a special iterator construct, which can be used to create several objects in an iterative way. For that, you only need to define the count property under stc. You can then use the keyword ${item} as a template. The item will be replace with the values from 1 to count.

- name: Create the 18 ports
  stc: 
    count: 18
    action: create
    objects: 
      - project: 
          - port: 
              location: "//(Offline)/1/${item}"
              name: "Port ${item}"

This will create 18 ports with the names ["Port 1".... "Port 18"], located at "//(Offline)/1/1" ... "//(Offline)/1/18".

Create a Few Emulated Devices - Easiest Way

Once the ports are created, the next step is to create the emulated device. The easiest solution is to use the perform Create Device Command task, which takes care of creating the interface stack:

  name: create 20 device-blocks of 50 emulated devices each
  register: result
  stc: 
    action: perform
    command: DeviceCreate
    properties: 
      ParentList:  ref:/project
      CreateCount: 20
      DeviceCount: 50
      Port: ref:/port[@Name='Port 1']
      IfStack: Ipv4If PppIf PppoeIf EthIIIf
      IfCount: '1 1 1 1'
      name: "Device ${item}"

Note the ref:/port[@Name='Port 1']. This is a special construct (called a reference, which is a subset of the xpath standard), which allows the task to reference another object in the data model. If the object does not exist, an exception is raised and the playbook stops.

Create a Few Emulated Devices - Extensive Way

Creating the emulated device can also be done using the create method, but requires configuration of all of the indiviudal properties such as the IP address and Interface stacking:

  name: Create 20 blocks of emulated devices
  stc: 
    action: create
    under: ref:/project
    count: 20
    objects: 
    - emulateddevice: 
        AffiliatedPort: ref:/port[@name='Port ${item}']
        DeviceCount: 50
        name: "Device ${item}"
        PrimaryIf: ref:./Ipv4If
        TopLevelIf: ref:./Ipv4If
        EthIIIf: 
          SourceMac: be:ef:00:00:${item}:00
        Ipv4If: 
          AddrStep: 0.0.0.2
          Address: 10.0.${item}.1
          Gateway: 192.85.1.1
          PrefixLength: 16
          stackedon: ref:./EthIIIf

Reconfiguring a Data Model

Once an object is created, it is possible to update its configuration. The reference object of the updated object must be provided. Since there can be several objects, you usually use a named reference - ref:/EmulatedDevice[@Name= 'Device ${item}'] in this case:

- name: configure the server device block
  stc: 
    action: config
    count: 20
    objects: ref:/EmulatedDevice[@Name= 'Device ${item}']
    properties:
      PppoeClientBlockConfig:
        ConnectRate: 1000
        DisconnectRate: 1000
        Authentication: CHAP_MD5

Loading an XML Data Model

If declaring your own data model is too complex, you can also import an existing XML data model:

- name: Copy the data model
  copy:
    src: asset/datamodel.xml
    dest: /tmp/datamodel.xml

- name: Load a data model
  stc:
    action: load
    datamodel: /tmp/datamodel.xml

Note that you must first copy the data model to the STC Lab Server before you are able to import it.

Attaching to real chassis

In the previous task, the chassis where defined as offline. It is howerver possible to add a list of chassis to the inventory, and reference them in the tasks.

The first step is to declare the chassis in the inventory. For instance, this will add the two chassis 10.61.67.128 and 10.61.67.131 to the playbook.

[labservers]
my-labserver-1 ansible_host=10.61.67.200 chassis = "10.61.67.128 10.61.67.131"

Then, when creating the session, specify the chassis property:

- name: Create a session with predefined chassis
  stc: 
    action: session
    user: ansible
    name: basic_device
    chassis: ""{{ hostvars[inventory_hostname].chassis }}""

The {{ hostvars[inventory_hostname].chassis }} is used to reference to the chassis defined in the inventory. Alternatively, you can directly specify the chassis IP in the task, such chassis: "10.61.67.128 10.61.67.131"

Once the chassis are defined, the session task will automatically connect to them when the session is created. Then, in order to reference the chassis IP address from the task, one can use the keywork ${chassis[0]} ... ${chassis[1]} or even ${chassis[item]}.

- name: Create the base ports
  register: result
  stc: 
    action: create
    objects: 
      - project: 
          - port: 
              location: "//${chassis[0]}/1/1"
              name: Port1

          - port: 
              location: "//${chassis[1]}/1/1"
              name: Port2

Voila, last step is to add a task to attach to the ports:

-
  name: Take the ports online
  stc: 
    action: perform
    command: AttachPorts
    properties:
      RevokeOwner: true
      PortList: ref:/port

Notice the reference ref:/port: It refers to all the port handles.

Defining Multiple ports and names

Multiple ports and names can also be defined by adding the lists of ports and names to the inventory, and then reference them in the tasks.

The first step is to declare the ports and names in the inventory. For instance, this will add 16 ports and names to the playbook.

[labservers]
my-labserver-1 ansible_host=10.61.67.200 chassis = "10.61.67.216 10.61.67.199" ports="//10.61.67.216/1/1-4,7,9-10 //10.61.67.199/1/4-6,9,12-14 //10.61.67.199/2/18-19" names="port[1:5] ethA ethB eth_[8:16]_if"

For ports, the format shall be "//IP/slot/num1-num2,num3". "-" means the port is from num1 to num2. non-continuous number is separated by comma (","). For names, the range is specified by [num1:num2].

For example, ports = "//10.61.67.216/1/1-3,7" means ports = "//10.61.67.216/1/1 //10.61.67.216/1/2 //10.61.67.216/1/3 //10.61.67.216/1/7". names = "port[1:3]" means names = "port1 port2 port3".

Notes: The number of ports and names must be the same, otherwise an error will be reported. This number will be the value of count when creating the ports.

Then, when creating the session, specify the ports and names property:

- name: Create a session with predefined chassis
  stc: 
    action: session
    user: ansible
    name: basic_device
    chassis: "{{ hostvars[inventory_hostname].chassis }}"
    ports: "{{ hostvars[inventory_hostname].ports }}"
    names: "{{ hostvars[inventory_hostname].names }}"

The {{ hostvars[inventory_hostname].ports }} is used to reference to the ports defined in the inventory while {{ hostvars[inventory_hostname].names }} is used to reference to the names. Alternatively, the ports and names can be specified directly in the session task as below:

- name: Create a session with predefined chassis
  stc: 
    action: session
    user: ansible
    name: basic_device
    chassis: "{{ hostvars[inventory_hostname].chassis }}"
    ports: "//${chassis[0]}/1/1-3,6,8 //${chassis[1]}/2/1-3,6-8"
    names: "port[1:4] ethernet2/5 [4:9]_Ethernet1_9"

Once the ports and names are defined in the session task, the keywork ${ports[item]} and ${names[item]} can be used to reference them. An example is given as below:

-
  name: Create the base ports
  stc:
    action: create
    count: 16
    objects:
      - project:
          - port:
              location: ${ports[item]}
              name: ${names[item]}

Adding Tags to Ports, Emulated Devices and Stream blocks

When creating Ports, Emulated Device or Stream blocks, the "tag" can be identified. Multiple tags are separated by SPACE in Ansible. Thus, SPACE is not allowed to define one single tag. Otherwise, it will be treated as multiple tags.

1. Tag Ports

The example below is given by tagging each port with "Server, myPortTag-0" and "Server, myPortTag-1".

-
  name: Create the ports
  stc:
    action: create
    count: 2
    objects:
      - project:
          - port:
              location: ${ports[item]}
              name: ${names[item]}
              tag: "Server myPortTag-$item"
2. Tag Emulated Devices

The example below is given by tagging each Emulated Device with "devTagDhcp, devtag-0" and "devTagDhcp, devtag-1".

-
  name: create 2 block of 5 devices
  stc:
    action: perform
    command: DeviceCreate
    properties:
      ParentList:  ref:/project
      CreateCount: 2
      DeviceCount: 5
      Port: ref:/port[@name='Port1']
      IfStack: Ipv4If PppIf PppoeIf EthIIIf
      IfCount: '1 1 1 1'
      name: "dev-$item"
      tag: "devTagDhcp devtag-$item"
3. Tag Stream blocks

The example below is given by tagging each stream block with "traffMesh, traff-0" and "traffMesh, traff-1".

-
  name: Configure the traffic generator
  stc:
    count: 2
    action: create
    under: ref:/project
    objects:
    - StreamBlock:
        tag: "traffMesh traff-$item"
        EnableStreamOnlyGeneration: true
        TrafficPattern: MESH
        SrcBinding-targets: ref:/EmulatedDevice[@name='dev-$item']/Ipv4If
        DstBinding-targets: ref:/EmulatedDevice[@name!='dev-$item']/Ipv4If
        AffiliationStreamBlockLoadProfile:
          Load: 100

Starting the Traffic

Starting the traffic is as simple as performing a command:

- name: Start the traffic
  stc: 
    action: perform
    command: GeneratorStart
    properties: 
      GeneratorList: ref:/project

Waiting for a condition

When using learned addresses, such as for PPPoE, it can be usefull to wait for all the clients to have their IP address learned. This can be done using the wait command. For instance, this will wait for emulated device PPPoE Client to have all of it's IP resolved:

- name: Wait for the clients to be bound
  stc: 
    action: wait
    objects: ref:/EmulatedDevice[@Name='PPPoE Client']/PppoeClientBlockConfig
    until: BlockState=CONNECTED

Getting and displaying results

Last, once the test is finished, it is possible to get some results from the properties of the result object defined in the data model. The following example get the values of the PppoeServerBlockResults object, and prints it.

- name: Get the binding results
  register: results
  stc:
    action: get
    objects: ref:/EmulatedDevice[@Name='PPPoE Server']/PppoeServerBlockConfig/PppoeServerBlockResults

- debug:
    var: result

Debugging

Debugging can be difficult when using Ansible. To make it easier to troubleshoot your playbook, you can use the STC ansible emulator. For example:

./emulator.py -labserver lab-serverIP-address you-playbook.yaml

More Examples

Check the playbook folder for more examples.

Implementation and Design

The STC Ansible module does not connect directly to the STC Lab Server via the STC REST API. Instead, it first ssh into the STC Lab Server, and then uses the REST API to connect to the BLL.

System Design