C or C++ Programmers API for IOS/CATOS

[mrjoeguest]

Does anyone know if there is a C/C++ Programmers API for Cisco IOS/CATOS? If so, can you point me in the right direction? I want to write a program to query our switches and routers to get information from them and save it to a file from time to time but I can't seem to find any info on Cisco's site about programmer's APIs except a bunch of useless XML crap. Does anyone have any experience using C/C++ to get info from Cisco routers and switches?

[a-vazquez]

I don't think there is any API for the Cisco IOS or the CAT OS and also it is not recommended to do this. It may damage the router.

[mrjoeguest]

Please explain to me how any software can damage hardware.

[cdwyer]

You might want to try using SNMP. C/C++ probably have SNMP libraries that you could use to get information from the routers and switches.

[mrjoeguest]

Thanks. I've already done this with SNMP. The problem is that SNMP is slow. Its okay for querying one device but when you want to query say 200 devices a couple of times an hour you need something fast. SNMP does not cut it.