Can the APIC DC NED be used with NetSim ?

[juacosta]

I am attempting to create a netsim device for APIC. After running

ncs-netsim create-device ./packages/cisco-apicdc dc-apic

*** The NED package called <./packages/cisco-apicdc/> doesn't have a 
*** netsim directory. ncs-netsim cannot emulate 
*** devices that do not have a netsim directory. 
*** Maybe its a generic NED ?
Try ncs-netsim --help or man ncs-netsim to get usage text

I realized the NED does not includes a netsim directory with the appropriate config files to generate the device.

I am using this NED for NSO 4.7.5:

ncs-4.7.6-cisco-apicdc-3.2.5.tar.gz

[juacosta]

@KJ Rossavik  Any thoughts? Thanks

[vleijon]

Generic NEDs often lack a meaningful netsim, because not much is gained from running them in netsim, since it is not possible to generate the server side of a REST API automatically from the client side.

One workaround is to create a device and then set southbound-locked on the device, this lets you pretend the device is there.

Another alternative, that exists in some NEDs but probably not the apic-dc is to run them as netconf devices in netsim. I have added that myself to the NED in the past, I don't know for sure what the policy is from the NED team, KJ probably knows better.

[rslaski · Accepted solution]

I'm not a big fan of netsim, to say the least - unless you have to have everything running on an 8GB laptop. I alway prefer using "real" devices, even if they are VMs. With this approach I was able to find a number of "NED Errors", which usually mean the NED YANG model is different from what's been implemented on the device.

Regarding APIC (especially if you work for Cisco), there's an ACI Simulator available as a VM. It does not have a data plane at all, however from API management plane perspective, it's 100% compatible with a real software version. You need a license key, and the configuration is not persistent across reboots, but this would be the best approach to test ACI NED without having a real hardware.