Network Automation with NETCONF

A Flask web application for managing Cisco and Huawei routers over NETCONF. It lets you register devices, pull live interface state, and push interface configuration changes (description, IP address, admin state) through a browser UI no manual CLI/SSH needed.

▶️ Demo: LinkedIn post

Features

• Router inventory add, edit, and delete routers (name, IP address, vendor/technology, NETCONF connection profile), stored in SQLite.
• Interface reporting connect to every registered router over NETCONF, pull interface state (admin/oper status, description, MAC address, speed, IP/mask) and cache it in the database for fast browsing.
• Interface editing edit an interface's description, IP/mask, and admin state from the UI; the change is rendered into a vendor-specific NETCONF edit-config payload (via Jinja2 templates) and pushed to the device, then the local cache is refreshed with the device's confirmed state.
• Multi-vendor support Cisco IOS-XE (ietf-interfaces / native YANG models) and Huawei VRP (huawei-ifm / huawei-system YANG models), each with its own NETCONF query filter and config template.
• Reactive UI without a JS framework server-rendered partials swapped in with htmx, so tables/forms update without full page reloads.

Tech stack

Layer	Technology
Backend	Python, Flask, Flask-WTF
NETCONF client	ncclient, xmltodict
Config templating	Jinja2 (utils/gen_conf_template)
Database	SQLite (database/database.db)
Frontend	Jinja2 templates, htmx, jQuery / jQuery UI

Project structure

app.py                          # Flask routes / application entry point
database/
  database-schema.sql           # routers_info + interfaces table definitions
  database.db                   # SQLite database file
  db_functions.py                # raw SQL helpers (select/insert/update/delete)
utils/
  forms.py                       # Flask-WTF "add router" form
  get_interfaces.py              # NETCONF <get> calls + XML parsing per vendor
  configure_interface.py         # NETCONF <edit-config> call
  cirde_to_mask.py               # CIDR <-> dotted-decimal netmask conversion
  bandwidth.py                   # bandwidth unit conversion helpers
  ping_devices.py                # TCP reachability check helper
  gen_conf_template/
    template_generator.py        # renders vendor-specific edit-config XML
    templates/
      interface_config_csr100v.jinja  # Cisco CSR1000v interface template
      interface_config_cx600.jinja    # Huawei CX600 interface template
  router_config/                 # sample full-device configs used in the lab (CSR1000v, CX600)
templates/                       # Jinja2 pages + htmx partials (hx-*.html)
static/                          # CSS, JS (htmx/jQuery), diagram, demo videos

Data model

• routers_info: id, router_name, router_ipaddress, router_technology, netconf_connection
• interfaces: router_name, interface_name, description, admin_state, operation_state, mac_address, speed, ipaddress, mask, router_technology

Getting started

Prerequisites

• Python 3.11+
• One or more Cisco IOS-XE / Huawei VRP devices (physical or virtual, e.g. CSR1000v / CX600) with NETCONF enabled and reachable from where you run the app
• Vendor NETCONF ports: Cisco typically 830, Huawei typically 22

Install

pip install flask flask-wtf wtforms ncclient xmltodict jinja2

No requirements.txt is currently checked in install the packages above, or generate one with pip freeze > requirements.txt once your environment is set up.

Run

python app.py

Flask will start in debug mode on the default port. Open the app in your browser and:

1. Go to Routers info and add your routers (name, IP, vendor, NETCONF connection type).
2. Go to Interfaces and click get interfaces info to pull live state from every router via NETCONF.
3. Click a row's edit action to change an interface's description/IP/admin state the app builds the vendor-specific NETCONF payload and applies it to the device.

Configuration notes

• NETCONF credentials and per-vendor ports/connection names are currently hardcoded in app.py / utils/get_interfaces.py / utils/configure_interface.py (e.g. username="lahcen", password="Netconf@2021"). Before using this against real infrastructure, move these into environment variables or a config file instead of source code.
• SQL queries in app.py / database/db_functions.py are built with plain string interpolation. If you expose this app beyond a trusted lab environment, switch to parameterized queries to avoid SQL injection.
• Flask-SECRET_KEY is also hardcoded in app.py replace it with a value from the environment in any non-lab deployment.

Architecture diagram

An editable draw.io diagram of the app flow is available at static/diagram.drawio.