No entries found for NCS

[steven.crutchley]

Hi guys and gals,

I'm a first time NSO and user and am following the README files in the `examples.ncs/getting-started/` folders.

I've started a very basic lab and, as per the instructions, started NSO but I'm not showing any devices as being managed:

user@user-virtual-machine:~/nso-5.3/examples.ncs/getting-started/using-ncs/1-simulated-cisco-ios$ ncs-netsim create-network /home/user/nso-5.3/packages/neds/cisco-ios-cli-3.8 3 c
DEVICE c0 CREATED
DEVICE c1 CREATED
DEVICE c2 CREATED
user@user-virtual-machine:~/nso-5.3/examples.ncs/getting-started/using-ncs/1-simulated-cisco-ios$ ncs-setup --netsim-dir ./netsim --dest .
Using netsim dir ./netsim
user@user-virtual-machine:~/nso-5.3/examples.ncs/getting-started/using-ncs/1-simulated-cisco-ios$ ncs
user@user-virtual-machine:~/nso-5.3/examples.ncs/getting-started/using-ncs/1-simulated-cisco-ios$ ncs_cli -u admin

admin connected from ********* using ssh on user-virtual-machine
admin@ncs> show packages
packages package cisco-ios-cli-3.0
 package-version 3.0.0.4
 description     "NED package for Cisco IOS"
 ncs-min-version [ 3.0.2 ]
 directory       ./state/packages-in-use/1/cisco-ios-cli-3.0
 component upgrade-ned-id
  upgrade java-class-name com.tailf.packages.ned.ios.UpgradeNedId
 component cisco-ios
  ned cli ned-id  cisco-ios-cli-3.0
  ned cli java-class-name com.tailf.packages.ned.ios.IOSNedCli
  ned device vendor Cisco
NAME      VALUE
---------------------
show-tag  interface

 build-info date "2019-11-29 11:17:04"
 build-info file cisco-ios-cli-3.0-source-3.0.0.4.tar.gz
 build-info arch .darwin.x86_64
 build-info java "compiled Java class data, version 50.0 (Java 1.6)"
 build-info package name cisco-ios-cli-3.0
 build-info package version 3.0.0.4
 build-info package ref 3.0.0.4
 build-info package sha1 This_Is_An_Example_NED
 build-info ncs version 5.3_HEAD
 build-info ncs sha1 This_NED_should_not_be_used
 oper-status java-uninitialized
[ok][2020-01-31 19:26:56]
admin@ncs> show configuration devices device
No entries found.
[ok][2020-01-31 19:27:03]
admin@ncs>

Now the whole This_NED_should_not_be_used line is a bit of a red flag to me. Based on what I've read on other forums, the NED isn't supported for this version? Is that right?

If that is the problem... the logical next question is how I get my hands on the ones that enable me to run through the tutorials and learn the system. 

If it isn't the problem, does anyone know that the problem could be? 

Thanks in advance and apologies if I'm asking this in the wrong forum. I'm new to this tech but keen to get my teeth stuck in. 

Cheers,

Steve

[yfherzog]

Hi,

The NEDs shipped with NSO are intended to be used along with the example shipped with NSO.

They are perfectly good for that, and the examples are built around them.

Having said that, they are not intended to be used towards real devices.

For the issue you're facing...

Creating the netsim devices, only creates the process that NSO can later connects to. You'd then need to tell NSO how to connect to the netsim devices.

You can do it manually, but netsim also provides you a shortcut for that.

You can find an example in the NSO user guide under section "Using Netsim".

In short, navigate to the directory where you ran the netsim commands, and while NSO and the netsim devices are up, do the following:

ncs-netsim ncs-xml-init > devices.xml
ncs_load -l -m devices.xml

The first command generates an XML configurations that can be used in order to onboard the netsim devices.

The second one loads those configs to NSO.

Once you did that, you should be able to see the devices in NSO.

If this is not working, trying following the example on the user guide (you should have all documentation under the NSO installation directory).

[steven.crutchley]

Hi there,

Thanks for the response. I quickly did what you suggested and I get the below error message:

user@user-virtual-machine:~/nso-5.3/examples.ncs/getting-started/using-ncs/1-simulated-cisco-ios$ ncs-netsim create-network /home/user/nso-5.3/packages/neds/cisco-ios-cli-3.8 3 c

DEVICE c0 CREATED
DEVICE c1 CREATED
DEVICE c2 CREATED
user@user-virtual-machine:~/nso-5.3/examples.ncs/getting-started/using-ncs/1-simulated-cisco-ios$ ncs-netsim start
DEVICE c0 OK STARTED
DEVICE c1 OK STARTED
DEVICE c2 OK STARTED
user@user-virtual-machine:~/nso-5.3/examples.ncs/getting-started/using-ncs/1-simulated-cisco-ios$
user@user-virtual-machine:~/nso-5.3/examples.ncs/getting-started/using-ncs/1-simulated-cisco-ios$ ncs-setup --netsim-dir ./netsim --dest .
Using netsim dir ./netsim
user@user-virtual-machine:~/nso-5.3/examples.ncs/getting-started/using-ncs/1-simulated-cisco-ios$ ncs
user@user-virtual-machine:~/nso-5.3/examples.ncs/getting-started/using-ncs/1-simulated-cisco-ios$ ncs-netsim ncs-xml-init > devices.xml
user@user-virtual-machine:~/nso-5.3/examples.ncs/getting-started/using-ncs/1-simulated-cisco-ios$ ls
devices.xml  ncs-cdb   ncs-java-vm.log    netsim    README      README.netsim  state
logs         ncs.conf  ncs-python-vm.log  packages  README.ncs  scripts
user@user-virtual-machine:~/nso-5.3/examples.ncs/getting-started/using-ncs/1-simulated-cisco-ios$ ncs_load -l -m devices.xml
ncs_load: 638: maapi_apply_trans_flags(sock, tid, 0, aflags) failed: bad keyref (14): illegal reference /ncs:devices/device{c0}/authgroup
user@user-virtual-machine:~/nso-5.3/examples.ncs/getting-started/using-ncs/1-simulated-cisco-ios$ ncs_cli -u admin

admin connected from ************* using ssh on user-virtual-machine
admin@ncs> show configuration devices device
No entries found.
[ok][2020-02-02 13:13:50]
admin@ncs>

I will read through the using netsim today and report back but if the error is something obvious that I can quickly fix then let me know. Thanks again :)

-Steve

[steven.crutchley]

OK so I've read the using netsim section at the end of the user guide but unfortunately I'm still stuck. 

I'm following the getting started guide to the letter and having to do this level of troubleshooting for a beginner tough.

So this devices.xml is what exactly? An xml formatted 'show run' of the configured devices? 

If I log into these devices I can get the following:

user@user-virtual-machine:~/nso-5.3/examples.ncs/getting-started/using-ncs/1-simulated-cisco-ios$ ncs-netsim cli-i c0

admin connected from *********** using ssh on user-virtual-machine
c0> enable
c0# show running-config | include neighbor
 neighbor 1.2.3.4 remote-as 1
 neighbor 1.2.3.4 ebgp-multihop 3
 neighbor 2.3.4.5 remote-as 1
 neighbor 2.3.4.5 activate
 neighbor 2.3.4.5 capability orf prefix-list both
 neighbor 2.3.4.5 weight 300
c0#

Where did these neighbor IPs come from? How is the topology connected? Or is this randomly generated config? 

The xml file can't be a formatted output of 'show run' since the neighbor IPs are not in the xml.

user@user-virtual-machine:~/nso-5.3/examples.ncs/getting-started/using-ncs/1-simulated-cisco-ios$ cat devices.xml | grep 1.2.3.4
user@user-virtual-machine:~/nso-5.3/examples.ncs/getting-started/using-ncs/1-simulated-cisco-ios$

So I'm struggling to understand the concept here... I create a simulated network (using `ncs-netsim create-network $NCS_DIR/packages/neds/cisco-ios-cli-3.0 3 c`). The config for these devices is, auto-generated? And the xml isn't the config but something else?

I then try to start ncs, but it can't read the config because the auth group is invalid? My understanding was that YAML based models dictate the format of the client devices... but I'm not sure where to find these YAML files?

If I delete the <authgroup>default</authgroup> section I get the following message:

user@user-virtual-machine:~/nso-5.3/examples.ncs/getting-started/using-ncs/1-simulated-cisco-ios$ ncs_load -l -m devices.xml
user@user-virtual-machine:~/nso-5.3/examples.ncs/getting-started/using-ncs/1-simulated-cisco-ios$ 41): /ncs:devices/device{c0}/device-type/cli : A CLI device must have a authgroup.
user@user-virtual-machine:~/nso-5.3/examples.ncs/getting-started/using-ncs/1-simulated-cisco-ios$

Can anyone help with this?

[vleijon · Accepted solution]

So, there are a few things that are a little bit finicky in this example - the main one being that it is not obvious when ncs-setup will automatically pickup the netsim information, the example seems to work okay for me when I run through it. Unfortunately, it can be a little bit tricky recovering in this situation. Fear not, @Jason Belk is working on making better tutorials to get into NSO so this'll be better soon I hope.

Hopefully, if you start over with an empty directory and no ncs or netsim running it'll be smoother. One of the good things about NSO is that you can just create a new directory and start over (just stop netsim and ncs first). 

Regardless of that, I think it is more instructive to not use ncs_load (it is a great tool, but it is not ideal for learning). The error message you get is a little opaque but it complains about there not being an authgroup, an authgroup is an "authorization group" it tells NSO how to connect to a device. 

As for your data question, the initial data for a netsim device is just sample data that is put in there, if you look at netsim/c/c0/cdb/ios.xml that is the xml file that is automatically loaded when a netsim is started. 

The file devices.xml is onboarding information, telling nso what types of devices they are, what their addresses are and which authgroups to use for them. In this case, all very primitive information, but do look through the file it is fairly understandable.

When running the experiment at the ncs-setup stage it should generate the file ncs-cdb/netsim_devices_init.xml that is equivalent to that devices.xml and which should contain relevant information.

Hopefully this helps!

[steven.crutchley]

 Hey,

Thanks for the response. :) I set ncs and net-sim in a new folder and it appears to have worked! Not sure what the issue was with previous folder though. The exact commands I entered are shown below for anyone interested:

user@user-virtual-machine:~/ncs-run$ 
user@user-virtual-machine:~/ncs-run$ cd ..
user@user-virtual-machine:~$ mkdir ncs-run2
user@user-virtual-machine:~$ cd ncs-run2
user@user-virtual-machine:~/ncs-run2$ ncs-netsim create-network $NCS_DIR/packages/neds/cisco-ios-cli-3.0 3 c
DEVICE c0 CREATED
DEVICE c1 CREATED
DEVICE c2 CREATED
user@user-virtual-machine:~/ncs-run2$ ncs-setup --netsim-dir ./netsim --dest .
Using netsim dir ./netsim
user@user-virtual-machine:~/ncs-run2$ ls -a
  .    ..    logs    ncs-cdb   ncs.conf   netsim    packages   README.ncs  README.netsim   scripts    state 
user@user-virtual-machine:~/ncs-run2$ ls ncs-cdb
netsim_devices_init.xml
user@user-virtual-machine:~/ncs-run2$ ncs
user@user-virtual-machine:~/ncs-run2$ ncs_cli -u admin

admin connected from ********* using ssh on user-virtual-machine
admin@ncs> show configuration devices device
device c0 {
    address   127.0.0.1;
    port      10022;
    ssh {
        host-key ssh-rsa {
            key-data "AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAADAQABAAA...npXEnmXecontp";
        }
    }
    authgroup default;
    device-type {
        cli {
            ned-id cisco-ios-cli-3.0;
        }
    }
    state {
 <snip>
admin@ncs> 

I'll keep working through the example and see how I far I get. Interestingly though, I just tried to use `request devices connect` and got connection refused. This was because I hadn't started the netsim devices. I did so and it all seems to be working now but maybe me starting ncs before the running `ncs-netsim start` had something to do with it? I'll have a play and see what I can find out.

Thanks again @vleijon and @yfherzog for the help. Much appreciated. 

[Jason Belk]

Hi!

I was just about to suggest something similar. I think what happened was a disconnect in the tutorial example documentation.

The examples.ncs directory has a number of pre-built examples to walk through. The one you chose already had a directory with Netsim devices existing, when you issued the

ncs-netsim create-network /home/user/nso-5.3/packages/neds/cisco-ios-cli-3.8 3 c

command, it caused a collision with the existing netsims which were already present in that examples directory. I think it tried to create the c0 devices and merge them with the existing ios0 devices which are in there already.

This feedback is very helpful in my efforts to overhaul the tutorial experience. Feel free to reach out to me directly with any other feedback ( jabelk@cisco.com ).

Some other tutorials that might be useful:

https://learninglabs.cisco.com/modules/nso-basics
https://github.com/hpreston/nso-getting-started