Hier Config CLI

A powerful command-line interface tool for network configuration analysis, remediation, and rollback built on top of the Hier Config library.

Overview

hier-config-cli helps network engineers analyze configuration differences, generate remediation commands, prepare rollback procedures, and predict configuration states across multiple network platforms. It's an essential tool for network automation workflows, change management, and configuration compliance.

Key Features

🔄 Remediation Generation: Automatically generate commands to transform running config into intended config
⏮️ Rollback Planning: Create rollback procedures before making changes
🔮 Future State Prediction: Preview the complete configuration after applying changes
🌐 Multi-Platform Support: Works with Cisco, Juniper, Arista, HP, Fortinet, VyOS, and more
📊 Multiple Output Formats: Export as text, JSON, or YAML
🎯 Type-Safe: Fully typed Python code with mypy support
✅ Well-Tested: Comprehensive test suite with high code coverage
📝 Detailed Logging: Verbose and debug modes for troubleshooting

Installation

Via pip (recommended)

pip install hier-config-cli

Via Poetry

poetry add hier-config-cli

From Source

git clone https://github.com/netdevops/hier-config-cli.git
cd hier-config-cli
poetry install

Quick Start

1. List Available Platforms

hier-config-cli list-platforms

Output:

=== Available Platforms ===
  eos
  fortios
  generic
  hp_comware5
  hp_procurve
  ios
  iosxr
  junos
  nxos
  vyos

2. Generate Remediation Configuration

Compare your running configuration with the intended configuration and generate the commands needed to remediate:

hier-config-cli remediation \
  --platform ios \
  --running-config running.conf \
  --generated-config intended.conf

3. Generate Rollback Configuration

Prepare rollback commands before making changes:

hier-config-cli rollback \
  --platform ios \
  --running-config running.conf \
  --generated-config intended.conf

4. Preview Future Configuration

See what the complete configuration will look like after applying changes:

hier-config-cli future \
  --platform ios \
  --running-config running.conf \
  --generated-config intended.conf

Usage Examples

Basic Remediation

hier-config-cli remediation \
  --platform ios \
  --running-config examples/cisco_ios_running.conf \
  --generated-config examples/cisco_ios_intended.conf

Output:

=== Remediation Configuration ===
no hostname router-01
hostname router-01-updated
interface GigabitEthernet0/0
 no description WAN Interface
 description WAN Interface - Updated
interface Vlan20
 description Guest VLAN
 ip address 10.0.20.1 255.255.255.0
router ospf 1
 network 10.0.20.0 0.0.0.255 area 0
ntp server 192.0.2.1

Export to JSON

hier-config-cli remediation \
  --platform ios \
  --running-config running.conf \
  --generated-config intended.conf \
  --format json

Export to YAML

hier-config-cli remediation \
  --platform nxos \
  --running-config running.conf \
  --generated-config intended.conf \
  --format yaml

Save Output to File

hier-config-cli remediation \
  --platform iosxr \
  --running-config running.conf \
  --generated-config intended.conf \
  --output remediation_commands.txt

Enable Verbose Logging

# INFO level logging
hier-config-cli -v remediation \
  --platform ios \
  --running-config running.conf \
  --generated-config intended.conf

# DEBUG level logging
hier-config-cli -vv remediation \
  --platform ios \
  --running-config running.conf \
  --generated-config intended.conf

Commands

`remediation`

Generates the commands needed to transform the running configuration into the intended configuration.

Options:

--platform: Target platform (required) - see list-platforms for options
--running-config: Path to running configuration file (required)
--generated-config: Path to intended/generated configuration file (required)
--format: Output format - text, json, or yaml (default: text)
--output, -o: Write output to file instead of stdout

`rollback`

Generates the commands needed to revert from the intended configuration back to the running configuration. Useful for preparing rollback procedures before making changes.

Options: Same as remediation

`future`

Predicts what the complete configuration will look like after applying the intended configuration to the running configuration.

Options: Same as remediation

`list-platforms`

Lists all supported network platforms.

`version`

Shows the installed version of hier-config-cli.

Supported Platforms

Platform	Code	Description
Cisco IOS	`ios`	Cisco IOS routers and switches
Cisco NX-OS	`nxos`	Cisco Nexus switches
Cisco IOS XR	`iosxr`	Cisco IOS XR routers
Arista EOS	`eos`	Arista switches
Juniper JunOS	`junos`	Juniper routers and switches
VyOS	`vyos`	VyOS routers
Fortinet FortiOS	`fortios`	Fortinet firewalls
HP Comware5	`hp_comware5`	HP Comware5 switches
HP ProCurve	`hp_procurve`	HP ProCurve switches
Generic	`generic`	Generic/unknown platform

Integration Examples

With Nornir

from nornir import InitNornir
from nornir.core.task import Task
import subprocess

def generate_remediation(task: Task) -> None:
    """Generate remediation for a device."""
    result = subprocess.run(
        [
            "hier-config-cli",
            "remediation",
            "--platform", task.host.platform,
            "--running-config", f"configs/{task.host.name}_running.conf",
            "--generated-config", f"configs/{task.host.name}_intended.conf",
            "--output", f"remediation/{task.host.name}_remediation.txt",
        ],
        capture_output=True,
        text=True,
    )
    return result.stdout

nr = InitNornir(config_file="config.yaml")
results = nr.run(task=generate_remediation)

With Ansible

- name: Generate configuration remediation
  hosts: network_devices
  tasks:
    - name: Run hier-config-cli remediation
      command: >
        hier-config-cli remediation
        --platform {{ platform }}
        --running-config /tmp/{{ inventory_hostname }}_running.conf
        --generated-config /tmp/{{ inventory_hostname }}_intended.conf
        --output /tmp/{{ inventory_hostname }}_remediation.txt
      register: remediation_result

    - name: Display remediation
      debug:
        msg: "{{ remediation_result.stdout }}"

In CI/CD Pipeline

# .github/workflows/config-validation.yml
name: Validate Network Configs

on: [push, pull_request]

jobs:
  validate:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Set up Python
        uses: actions/setup-python@v5
        with:
          python-version: '3.11'

      - name: Install hier-config-cli
        run: pip install hier-config-cli

      - name: Generate remediation
        run: |
          hier-config-cli remediation \
            --platform ios \
            --running-config prod/running.conf \
            --generated-config staging/intended.conf \
            --output remediation.txt

      - name: Upload remediation
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: remediation-config
          path: remediation.txt

Development

Prerequisites

Python 3.9 or higher
Poetry (for dependency management)

Setup Development Environment

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/netdevops/hier-config-cli.git
cd hier-config-cli

# Install dependencies
poetry install

# Activate virtual environment
poetry shell

Running Tests

# Run all tests
pytest

# Run with coverage
pytest --cov=hier_config_cli --cov-report=html

# Run specific test file
pytest tests/test_cli.py

# Run with verbose output
pytest -v

Code Quality

# Format code with black
black src/ tests/

# Lint with ruff
ruff check src/ tests/

# Type check with mypy
mypy src/

# Run all quality checks
black src/ tests/ && ruff check src/ tests/ && mypy src/ && pytest

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for details on:

Code of conduct
Development workflow
Pull request process
Coding standards

Security

For security issues, please see SECURITY.md for our security policy and how to report vulnerabilities.

Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md for a detailed list of changes between versions.

License

This project is licensed under the Apache License 2.0 - see the LICENSE file for details.

Links

Documentation: https://github.com/netdevops/hier-config-cli
PyPI: https://pypi.org/project/hier-config-cli/
Issues: https://github.com/netdevops/hier-config-cli/issues
Hier Config Library: https://github.com/netdevops/hier_config

Acknowledgments

Built on top of the excellent Hier Config library by James Williams and contributors.

Support

📫 Open an issue: GitHub Issues
💬 Discussions: GitHub Discussions
📧 Email: james.williams@packetgeek.net

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 19 Commits
.github/workflows		.github/workflows
docs		docs
examples		examples
src/hier_config_cli		src/hier_config_cli
tests		tests
.editorconfig		.editorconfig
.gitignore		.gitignore
.readthedocs.yaml		.readthedocs.yaml
CHANGELOG.md		CHANGELOG.md
CONTRIBUTING.md		CONTRIBUTING.md
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
SECURITY.md		SECURITY.md
mkdocs.yml		mkdocs.yml
poetry.lock		poetry.lock
pyproject.toml		pyproject.toml

License

netdevops/hier-config-cli

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Hier Config CLI

Overview

Key Features

Installation

Via pip (recommended)

Via Poetry

From Source

Quick Start

1. List Available Platforms

2. Generate Remediation Configuration

3. Generate Rollback Configuration

4. Preview Future Configuration

Usage Examples

Basic Remediation

Export to JSON

Export to YAML

Save Output to File

Enable Verbose Logging

Commands

remediation

rollback

future

list-platforms

version

Supported Platforms

Integration Examples

With Nornir

With Ansible

In CI/CD Pipeline

Development

Prerequisites

Setup Development Environment

Running Tests

Code Quality

Contributing

Security

Changelog

License

Links

Acknowledgments

Support

About

Resources

License

Contributing

Security policy

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