C
C
SSH to a Cisco Switch - Processing "More" Responses
See more SSH Examples
Demonstrates connecting to a Cisco switch, entering privileged mode with the ena command, and running a command whose response is paged. Each page ends with --More-- and requires a SPACE character to request the next page.
Note: QuickShell allocates a PTY, which is what a network device console expects. The device presents an interactive prompt, and each command's output is read up to the next prompt.
Background: Paged output is the console equivalent of a pager like
more, and a client must reproduce the keypress a human would make. Matching a set of patterns is what makes this tractable: each read ends either at the device prompt (output complete) or at --More-- (another page waiting), and the code branches accordingly. Note the prompt pattern includes the device name rather than a bare #, because that character also appears inside configuration text and would otherwise match far too early.Chilkat C Downloads
#include <C_CkSsh.h>
#include <C_CkStringArray.h>
#include <C_CkStringBuilder.h>
void ChilkatSample(void)
{
BOOL success;
HCkSsh ssh;
int port;
const char *password;
int channelNum;
BOOL caseSensitive;
const char *received;
const char *enablePassword;
HCkStringArray saMatch;
HCkStringBuilder sbReceived;
BOOL moreComing;
const char *pageText;
success = FALSE;
// This example requires the Chilkat API to have been previously unlocked.
// See Global Unlock Sample for sample code.
// Demonstrates connecting to a Cisco switch, entering privileged mode, and running a command
// whose response is paged -- each page ends with "--More--" and requires a SPACE character to
// request the next page.
ssh = CkSsh_Create();
port = 22;
success = CkSsh_Connect(ssh,"172.16.16.100",port);
if (success == FALSE) {
printf("%s\n",CkSsh_lastErrorText(ssh));
CkSsh_Dispose(ssh);
return;
}
// Normally you would not hard-code the password in source. You should instead obtain it
// from an interactive prompt, environment variable, or a secrets vault.
password = "mySshPassword";
success = CkSsh_AuthenticatePw(ssh,"mySshLogin",password);
if (success == FALSE) {
printf("%s\n",CkSsh_lastErrorText(ssh));
CkSsh_Dispose(ssh);
return;
}
channelNum = CkSsh_QuickShell(ssh);
if (channelNum < 0) {
printf("%s\n",CkSsh_lastErrorText(ssh));
CkSsh_Dispose(ssh);
return;
}
// IMPORTANT: Set a read timeout before receiving until a match. ReadTimeoutMs defaults to 0,
// which means no limit -- without it, this call waits forever if the received data never
// contains a match.
CkSsh_putReadTimeoutMs(ssh,15000);
caseSensitive = TRUE;
// In unprivileged mode the switch prompt ends with ">".
success = CkSsh_ChannelReceiveUntilMatch(ssh,channelNum,">","utf-8",caseSensitive);
if (success == FALSE) {
printf("%s\n",CkSsh_lastErrorText(ssh));
CkSsh_Dispose(ssh);
return;
}
received = CkSsh_getReceivedText(ssh,channelNum,"utf-8");
if (CkSsh_getLastMethodSuccess(ssh) == FALSE) {
printf("%s\n",CkSsh_lastErrorText(ssh));
CkSsh_Dispose(ssh);
return;
}
printf("%s\n",received);
// Send "ena" to enter privileged mode. Cisco devices expect a bare CR to terminate a command.
success = CkSsh_ChannelSendString(ssh,channelNum,"ena\r","utf-8");
if (success == FALSE) {
printf("%s\n",CkSsh_lastErrorText(ssh));
CkSsh_Dispose(ssh);
return;
}
success = CkSsh_ChannelReceiveUntilMatch(ssh,channelNum,"Password:","utf-8",caseSensitive);
if (success == FALSE) {
printf("%s\n",CkSsh_lastErrorText(ssh));
CkSsh_Dispose(ssh);
return;
}
received = CkSsh_getReceivedText(ssh,channelNum,"utf-8");
if (CkSsh_getLastMethodSuccess(ssh) == FALSE) {
printf("%s\n",CkSsh_lastErrorText(ssh));
CkSsh_Dispose(ssh);
return;
}
printf("%s\n",received);
// The enable password is separate from the login password, and likewise should come from a
// secure source rather than being hard-coded.
enablePassword = "myEnablePassword";
success = CkSsh_ChannelSendString(ssh,channelNum,enablePassword,"utf-8");
if (success == FALSE) {
printf("%s\n",CkSsh_lastErrorText(ssh));
CkSsh_Dispose(ssh);
return;
}
success = CkSsh_ChannelSendString(ssh,channelNum,"\r","utf-8");
if (success == FALSE) {
printf("%s\n",CkSsh_lastErrorText(ssh));
CkSsh_Dispose(ssh);
return;
}
// In privileged mode the prompt ends with "#" instead of ">".
success = CkSsh_ChannelReceiveUntilMatch(ssh,channelNum,"#","utf-8",caseSensitive);
if (success == FALSE) {
printf("%s\n",CkSsh_lastErrorText(ssh));
CkSsh_Dispose(ssh);
return;
}
received = CkSsh_getReceivedText(ssh,channelNum,"utf-8");
if (CkSsh_getLastMethodSuccess(ssh) == FALSE) {
printf("%s\n",CkSsh_lastErrorText(ssh));
CkSsh_Dispose(ssh);
return;
}
printf("%s\n",received);
// Run a command whose output is delivered a page at a time.
success = CkSsh_ChannelSendString(ssh,channelNum,"show running-config\r","utf-8");
if (success == FALSE) {
printf("%s\n",CkSsh_lastErrorText(ssh));
CkSsh_Dispose(ssh);
return;
}
// Each read ends either at the device prompt (output complete) or at "--More--" (another page
// is waiting). Match the full prompt rather than a bare "#", because "#" also appears inside
// configuration text and would match too early.
saMatch = CkStringArray_Create();
CkStringArray_Append(saMatch,"MySwitchName#");
CkStringArray_Append(saMatch,"--More--");
sbReceived = CkStringBuilder_Create();
moreComing = TRUE;
while (moreComing) {
success = CkSsh_ChannelReceiveUntilMatchN(ssh,channelNum,saMatch,"utf-8",caseSensitive);
if (success == FALSE) {
printf("%s\n",CkSsh_lastErrorText(ssh));
CkSsh_Dispose(ssh);
CkStringArray_Dispose(saMatch);
CkStringBuilder_Dispose(sbReceived);
return;
}
CkStringBuilder_Clear(sbReceived);
pageText = CkSsh_getReceivedText(ssh,channelNum,"utf-8");
if (CkSsh_getLastMethodSuccess(ssh) == FALSE) {
printf("%s\n",CkSsh_lastErrorText(ssh));
CkSsh_Dispose(ssh);
CkStringArray_Dispose(saMatch);
CkStringBuilder_Dispose(sbReceived);
return;
}
CkStringBuilder_Append(sbReceived,pageText);
printf("%s\n",pageText);
// If this page ended with "--More--", send a SPACE to request the next page.
moreComing = CkStringBuilder_Contains(sbReceived,"--More--",caseSensitive);
if (moreComing) {
success = CkSsh_ChannelSendString(ssh,channelNum," ","utf-8");
if (success == FALSE) {
printf("%s\n",CkSsh_lastErrorText(ssh));
CkSsh_Dispose(ssh);
CkStringArray_Dispose(saMatch);
CkStringBuilder_Dispose(sbReceived);
return;
}
}
}
CkSsh_Disconnect(ssh);
CkSsh_Dispose(ssh);
CkStringArray_Dispose(saMatch);
CkStringBuilder_Dispose(sbReceived);
}