Router config export via expect script - username in enable?

Question

I'm working on an Expect script for pulling configuration information from my hosts.

The problem is that some of my hosts (when the enable command is entered) will prompt for both a login and password. This is mostly older HP kit but I've run into it elsewhere as well.

A nested expect statement like the following would do it if it were legal syntax. How can I make this happen?

expect {
  default { send_user "\nEnable Mode Failed - Check Password\n"; exit 1 }
  "*\#" {}
   "*>" {
    send "enable\n"
    expect{
        "Login" {
            send "$username\n"
        }
        default {}
    }
    expect "*assword"
    send "$enablepassword\n"
    expect "*\#"
 }
}

I know I have the syntax only slightly off - I've seen plenty of references that describe using nested expects - but for the life of me I can't quite get it.

Not exactly an answer to your question, but have you considered using Rancid (http://www.shrubbery.net/rancid/)? This does exactly what you're describing (and uses Expect as well). — Teun Vink, Dec 10 '13 at 22:01
@TeunVink thought about it however we already have scripts and a version control process in place. All I'm really looking for is importing the raw information. — Tim Brigham, Dec 10 '13 at 22:03
Ok. You could still take a look at the `hlogin` Expect script to see how they handle this of course. — Teun Vink, Dec 10 '13 at 22:07

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 11 '13 at 00:48

You could write that like this:

exp_internal 1
expect {
    default { send_user "\nEnable Mode Failed - Check Password\n"; exit 1 }
    "*>" {
        send "enable\r"
        expect{
            "Login" {
                send "$username\r"
                exp_continue
            }
            "*assword" {
                send "$enablepassword\r"
            }
        }
        # Now, look back to the outer expect to continue expecting the "#" prompt
        exp_continue
    }
    "*#"
}

use exp_internal 1 to enable debugging
terminate send commands with \r (carriage return is "hitting enter")
exp_continue to loop within the containing expect to keep looking for other patterns.

Thanks Glenn. With a couple small tweaks this did exactly what I needed. — Tim Brigham, Dec 11 '13 at 16:21

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 11 '13 at 16:48

With many thanks to Glenn I have a script that will allow me to pull information from any of my various Cisco or HP devices.

#!/usr/bin/expect -f   
set hostname [lindex $argv 0];
set username [lindex $argv 1];
set password [lindex $argv 2];
set enablepassword [lindex $argv 3];
spawn ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no $username\@$hostname
expect {
    timeout { send_user "\nTimeout Exceeded - Check Host\n"; exit 1 }
    eof { send_user "\nSSH Connection To $hostname Failed\n"; exit 1 }
    "*\#" {}
    "*assword:" {
    send "$password\n"
    }
}
# This allows for handling any of the various HP login screens. 
sleep 5
send " "
sleep 5
send "3\n"
sleep 5        
expect {
    "*>" {
        send "enable\n"
        expect {
            "*ogin" {
                send "$username\n"
            }
        }
        expect {
            "*assword" {
                send "$enablepassword\n"
                exp_continue
            }
            exp_continue
        }
    }
    "*\#" {}
    default { send_user "\nEnable Mode Failed - Check Password\n"; exit 1 }
    }
# Disable paging. This is both the HP and Cisco statements.
send "terminal length 0\n"
send "no page\n"
expect "*\\#"
log_file -noappend ./$hostname
send "show run\n"
expect "#\n"
log_file


send "end\n"
expect "\#"
expect "\#"
send "exit\n"
expect ":~\$"
exit

Router config export via expect script - username in enable?

2 Answers2