This repository contains a few pklimai.junos.kotlin.examples of how you can automate network devices using Kotlin programming language. Specifically, in the provided pklimai.junos.kotlin.examples, Junos OS-based devices and NETCONF protocol are used.
The Q&A below contains some more information.
A: Kotlin is a modern cross-platform programming language. It is statically-typed and has expressive and concise syntax. Many developers consider Kotlin as a natural successor to Java (e.g., according to Google, Kotlin is now the preferred language for Android development). In fact, Kotlin code can be compiled into Java bytecode and executed in JVM; furthermore, complete interoperability with Java code including existing libraries is guaranteed. Kotlin can also compile to JavaScript and native machine code via LLVM but that is a different story.
A: If you want to develop your automation solution using a feature-rich statically typed language (rather than dynamically-typed language like Python or Ruby), you should at least look at Kotlin. The final choice is yours, but generally speaking statically-typed languages allow the compiler to find more programmer's errors at compile-time rather than run-time and should be preferred for larger projects.
A: As noted above, existing Java libraries can be used, as demonstrated in this repository using Juniper Networks' Java NETCONF library. Other protocols such as gRPC can also be used (you are welcome to add an example to this repository, by the way!).
- ParseSystemInfo.kt - Read basic system information from a device.
- LoadConfig.kt - Load set-configuration on the device.
- ExecuteCommand.kt - Execute a CLI command (with some automatic connect/close via an extension function).
- ExecuteCommandParallel.kt - Execute a CLI command on multiple devices in parallel (using coroutines).
- ListInterfacesXPath.kt - Read GE interfaces from a device.
Note: we are using 2.0.0 version of java-netconf released in July 2019. It has some non-backwards-compatible changes to the API compared to version 1.x. Also, the library is only currently available as source code, no compiled version is put in public repository - so you will have to compile it yourself (this is not hard).