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Eljay's avatar
Eljay
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Mar 07, 2023

Python code using Parallel-SSH library to connect to F5 BigIP

Hi, I'm trying to use Parallel-SSH (Python library) to connect to F5 BigIP. s = SSHClient(<host>,user=<username>, password=<password>, timeout=5, num_retries=1) res = s.run_command("uname") ...
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JRahm's avatar
JRahm
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For anyone else trying to get this to work on Mac...first:

  1. brew install cmake
  2. (In a venv) pip install ssh2-python
  3. (In a venv) pip install parallel-ssh

Will post back on details if I can get it talking to BIG-IP. Just took a minute to get through the pip errors for this module.

UPDATE: Got it working. Works with password or key file if you copied your ssh keys to BIG-IP.

from pssh.clients import ParallelSSHClient

hosts = ['ltm1.test.local', 'ltm2.test.local']
#client = ParallelSSHClient(hosts, user='root', password='default')
client = ParallelSSHClient(hosts, user='root', pkey='/Users/justme/.ssh/id_rsa')
cmd = 'tmsh list ltm pool'

output = client.run_command(cmd)
for host_out in output:
    for line in host_out.stdout:
        print(line)

### One output for brevity ###
/Users/justme/PycharmProjects/playground/venv/bin/python /Users/justme/PycharmProjects/playground/sshtest.py 
ltm pool nginx-pool {
    members {
        172.16.102.5:http {
            address 172.16.102.5
            session monitor-enabled
            state up
        }
    }
    monitor http
}

Process finished with exit code 0

 

Eljay's avatar
Eljay
Icon for Cirrus rankCirrus
Mar 09, 2023

Thanks, JRahm. Now I see that I wasn't crystal clear, I was using the single host client in Parallel-SSH. See examples for both single and multi host here: https://pypi.org/project/parallel-ssh/ 

I can adapt my code to this solution as well. But I still wonder if it's a problem with the single host client in the Parallel-SSH library.

Here's an example that works in Paramiko:

from  paramiko.client import SSHClient

p = SSHClient()
p.load_system_host_keys()
p.connect('<IP>', username=<username>, password=<password>)
stdin, stdout, stderr = p.exec_command('uname')
print(stdout.read().decode())

And here's the code using single host client in Parallel-SSH that fails:

import pssh.exceptions
from pssh.clients import SSHClient

s = SSHClient('<IP>',user=<username>, password=<password>, timeout=5, num_retries=1)
res = s.run_command("uname")
print(res)
for line in res.stdout:
    print(line)

 

  • JRahm's avatar
    JRahm
    Icon for Admin rankAdmin
    Mar 09, 2023

    Hi Eljay ... This also works just fine for me (both with key or password):

    from pssh.clients import SSHClient

host = 'ltm15.test.local'
s = SSHClient(host, user='root', password='default')
# s = SSHClient(host, user='root', pkey='/Users/justme/.ssh/id_rsa')
cmd = 'tmsh list ltm pool'

res = s.run_command(cmd)
print(res)
for line in res.stdout:
    print(line)

    Output:

    /Users/justme/PycharmProjects/playground/venv/bin/python /Users/justme/PycharmProjects/playground/sshtest.py 
	host=ltm15.test.local
	alias=None
	exit_code=None
	channel=<ssh2.channel.Channel object at 0x107c46ef0>
	exception=None
	encoding=utf-8
	read_timeout=None
ltm pool nginx-pool {
    members {
        172.16.102.5:http {
            address 172.16.102.5
            session monitor-enabled
            state up
        }
    }
    monitor http
}

Process finished with exit code 0

    My versions:

    • python: 3.11.2
    • ssh-python: 1.0.0
    • ssh2-python: 1.0.0
    • parallel-ssh: 2.12.0
    • BIG-IP: 15.1.8.1

     

    • Eljay's avatar
      Eljay
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      Mar 13, 2023

      Thanks, JRahm. There's hardly any difference between your and my code.
      My Python version is 3.9, the libraries are the same as yours and I have tested toward BigIP v151.5.1, v15.1.6 (Eng hotfix) and v16.1.x. Still the same problem. I'll try to upgrade Python and reinstall the libraries.

      • JRahm's avatar
        JRahm
        Icon for Admin rankAdmin
        Mar 15, 2023

        any luck? Wondering if you're using root or an alternative account?