Rick Donato

Introduction Recently someone asked: Is there a way to fetch CVE (vulnerability) data for platforms like Cisco, Palo Alto, and Fortinet in a programmatic way, so we can integrate it into a solution we’re building? The short answer: yes—and one of the best ways to do this is

🐍 Python Tip: When working with large numbers, Python lets you use underscores (_) to enhance readability. Here is an example: 👇 ❌ # Difficult to read: gigabit = 1000000000 ten_gigabit = 10000000000 ✅ # Easier to read with underscores (_): gigabit = 1_000_000_000 ten_gigabit = 10_000_000_000 print(f"{gigabit=}\n{ten_gigabit=

🐍 Python DX Tip: Save time when running scripts by using `uv run` to automatically activate your virtual environment. Example below 👇 ❌ Manually activating the virtual environment source .venv/bin/activate ./nr_backup_configs.py ✅ Automatically activate the virtual environment before running the script uv run nr_backup_configs.py Until next

pyATS Tip: Use Genie Diff to compare structured data and easily identify differences. It works with dictionaries, including structured output from Genie Parse and Genie Learn. Below is an example of using Genie Diff to compare the results of a Genie Parse command: from genie.utils.diff import Diff from

⚡Looking to advertise with Packet Coders? Explore our sponsorship program over at: packetcoders.io/sponsorship Packet Coders Membership Exciting things are happening in our network automation membership! Here's a TL;DR: 🚀 Upcoming Events ➜ Enterprise Network Automation with Cisco DNA Center (20th Jan) ➜ Docker 101: Architecture and Containers Explained

🐍 Python Tip: Speed up your Python package installs by up to 100x using uv, a drop-in replacement for pip. # Using pip ❌ pip install -r requirements.txt pip install netmiko # Using uv - faster by up to 100x ✅ pip install uv uv pip install -r requirements.txt uv pip install netmiko

Git Tip: git checkout allows you to restore a single file to a previous version without affecting the rest of your project. For example: git checkout--. Full example below: # View the commit history of a specific file. git log -- path/to/file # Restore a specific file to its state

Git Tip: Skip --set-upstream! Set the upstream branch automatically using the push.default config. Heres an example: # Before: Manually setting upstream git push --set-upstream origin apples # Configuration to set upstream automatically git config --global push.default current # After: Just push, and Git sets the upstream automatically git push

Jinja Tip! Use selectattr to filter a list of dictionaries based on a matching condition. # Input data interfaces: - { device: 'spine1', interface: 'GigabitEthernet0/0', ip: '10.1.1.1' } - { device: 'spine1', interface: 'GigabitEthernet0/1', ip: '10.1.2.