Using TCL to load new configs via ftp for ccie lab

Hi all,

Ok I regularly change my configs in my Lab, the only variable that changes is part of the filepath & each router uses its own hostname, eg:

For dmvpn lab

configure replace ftp://192.168.1.251//labs/dmvpn/r1.txt

configure replace ftp://192.168.1.251//labs/dmvpn/r2.txt

configure replace ftp://192.168.1.251//labs/dmvpn/r3.txt

For MPLS lab

configure replace ftp://192.168.1.251//labs/mpls/r1.txt

configure replace ftp://192.168.1.251//labs/mpls/r2.txt

configure replace ftp://192.168.1.251//labs/mpls/r3.txt

Currently is am pasting the string as follows in each device

“configure replace ftp://192.168.1.251//labs/mpls/r”

And then on each of the 20 devices I put the final bit [1.txt|2.txt|3.txt] etc & confirm this on all (the command requires confirmation via “yes”)

Yes this works, but I really am sick of going to every box to do this several times a day, so I have looked to try to make use of TCL to save time:

For my setup I have 20 CSR1000V & 1 windows VM running ftp, wireshark etc.

Base config

My base config on all boxes consists of an IP address, hostname & FTP credentials. After each lab I reset to this via:
configure replace flash:baseconfig.cfg
yes

Load lab

For my scrip lab scrips, all I now need to do is send the following syntax to all devices:

tclsh flash:labconfig.tcl  MPLS.MP.BGP/

yes

TCL Script

So the script on each box is as follows (change the hostname variable on each device).

tclsh
puts [open flash:/labconfig.tcl w] {
 set labname [lindex $argv 0]
 set hostname "r9.txt"
 typeahead "configure replace ftp://192.168.1.251//advanced.technology.labs/${labname}${hostname}"
}
tclquit

Outcome

Now when you run 'tclsh flash:labconfig.tcl  MPLS.MP.BGP/' the CLI will return the output of 'configure replace ftp://192.168.1.251// labs/dmvpn/r9.txt' which allows us as uses to just sent one single command set to every box to load a new lab.

 Granted, there probably is a better way to do this. But with the resources to hand this is all i manged to conjure up. Ultimately it works & hopefully will help another out there in the world!