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Cisco IOS / IOS-XE

This guide explains how Networka works with Cisco IOS and IOS-XE devices: identifiers, supported operations, firmware upgrade/downgrade handling, backups, and sequences.

Quickstart

Run

nw run --platform cisco_iosxe 198.51.100.20 "show version" --interactive-auth

Validate (expected output, trimmed)

Interactive authentication mode enabled
Username: admin
Password: ********
Executing on 198.51.100.20: show version
Cisco IOS XE Software, Version ...
Command completed successfully

Sequence example

nw run switch1 interface_status

Expected output (trimmed):

switch1: step 1/2 ... ok
switch1: step 2/2 ... ok
Sequence completed successfully

Next steps

  • Learn more commands → Running commands
  • Store outputs → Results and Output modes
  • Backups and firmware → Backups
  • Credentials → Environment variables

Troubleshooting

  • Use --interactive-auth for ad-hoc credentials
  • Verify device_type: cisco_iosxe for named devices (use cisco_iosxr for IOS-XR, cisco_nxos for NX-OS)
  • Increase timeouts if devices are slow

Platform identifiers

  • device_type: cisco_iosxe (for IOS-XE and classic IOS devices)
  • device_type: cisco_iosxr (for IOS-XR devices)
  • device_type: cisco_nxos (for NX-OS devices)
  • Platform names: Cisco IOS, Cisco IOS-XE, Cisco IOS-XR, Cisco NX-OS

Important: Scrapli does not have a cisco_ios platform. Use cisco_iosxe for both IOS and IOS-XE devices.

Supported operations

  • Firmware upgrade: yes (nw upgrade) — IOS ext: .bin, .tar; IOS-XE ext: .bin, .pkg
  • Firmware downgrade: yes (nw downgrade) — same as upgrade workflow
  • BIOS upgrade: not applicable for IOS/IOS-XE (nw bios not supported)
  • Configuration backup: yes (nw config-backup or nw backup config)

Firmware management

IOS (classic, monolithic image):

  • Upload image to flash (SCP).
  • Configure boot system flash:<image> after clearing existing boot system lines.
  • Save config and reload with interactive confirmation.

IOS-XE INSTALL mode (preferred):

  • Upload image to flash.
  • install add file flash:<image>
  • install activate file flash:<image> (device reloads)
  • After verifying, install commit to make permanent; install rollback is available for downgrade when supported.

Networka chooses the proper workflow based on device capabilities. If INSTALL commands are not available, IOS-XE falls back to the traditional boot system method.

CLI shortcuts:

  • Upgrade: nw upgrade <device|group> <path/to/image.bin>
  • Downgrade: nw downgrade <device|group> <path/to/older.bin> (or install rollback for IOS-XE when available)

Pre-checks: by default Networka runs the pre_maintenance sequence before firmware actions. Override with --precheck-sequence or skip via --skip-precheck.

Backups

  • Config backup (text): nw config-backup <device|group>
  • Uses show running-config (and optionally other show commands). For Cisco, output is not saved as a remote file by default; Networka captures command output.
  • Comprehensive backup: nw backup comprehensive <device|group>
  • Can include show running-config, show startup-config, show version, show inventory, etc.

You can define/override sequences under config/sequences/cisco_iosxe/common.yml (also applies to many IOS show commands). Device-specific sequences can be set per device in your config.

Built-in command sequences

Common examples you can reference via nw run <device> <sequence-name>:

  • system_info, health_check, interface_status, network_overview, routing_info, security_audit

See file: config/sequences/cisco_iosxe/common.yml for a rich set of examples that work on IOS-XE and often IOS.

Examples

Run commands and sequences:

nw run switch1 "show version"
nw run switch1 interface_status

Firmware and backups:

nw upgrade switch1 ~/images/cat9k_iosxe.17.6.5.SPA.bin
nw downgrade switch1 ~/images/cat9k_iosxe.17.3.7.SPA.bin
nw config-backup switch1 --download=false

Notes and tips

  • Ensure there’s enough flash space before uploads; Networka doesn’t remove old images automatically.
  • After IOS-XE install activate, use install commit when satisfied; install rollback can revert.
  • Prefer SSH transport; interactive reload confirmations are handled by Networka.