Service Manual

Smart Scripting supports running a script either from the Dell Networking OS CLI or directly from a UNIX

shell. You can run scripts periodically, based on events, at boot up or after the switch is initialized. In

addition, you can run scripts in the foreground or background and display the progress of a script. If

required, you can cancel, stop, or resume scripts.

Smart Scripting allows you to automate common management and maintenance tasks, such as:

• Building visibility and/or discovery programs.

• Creating custom logging.

• Reporting configuration information.

• Reporting switch memory usage, configured virtual local area networks (VLANs), and other operation

and configuration parameters.

• Creating custom APIs for external applications to access the switch.

• Automating custom provisioning of network devices to support server virtualization.

For example, you can automate any of the following tasks:

• Monitor the configuration of switch ports to verify that no change occurs and generate an alarm if a

configuration change is detected as part of a cloud-computing deployment.

• Stage CLI command requests received from a customer. If a link flaps, the command completion

status is held in the script so you can see when the management plane reconnects.

• Generate time-based reports to receive updates on network status on a periodic basis.

• Query an external, configuration management database on a remote server to retrieve information on

port operation and reconfigure switch ports based on the data received.

• Apply additional time-based access-control lists (ACLs) to limit after hours access.

• Monitor network requests; for example, find a specified MAC address or generate a health-check

heartbeat.

• Create a simple menu of options that a non-network administrator can use to create requests to send

to the network.

Smart Scripting consolidates management data inside a switch and sends it to management consoles,

databases, or applications — reducing polling and network traffic. For example, you can use a script as

part of a cloud-computing deployment to detect when the network has changed, query a database

server for configuration management database (CMDB) information, and ultimately apply network

changes based on the data.

Download the Smart Scripting Package

Download the Smart Scripts package from the Dell Networking OS website.

The Smart Script filenames are:

• SMARTSCRIPTS-P-9.8.0.0.tar.gz for S4810, S4820T, and S5000

• SMARTSCRIPTS-I-9.8.0.0.tar.gz for S6000, Z9500

• SMARTSCRIPTS-M-9.8.0.0.tar.gz for MXL Switch

To download the SmartScript package to a dedicated location, use one of the following methods: TFTP,

FTP, Flash, or NFSMount.

The Smart Scripting package includes the following files and functionality:

• Dell Smartscript Utilities supports Perl, Python, and Ruby APIs.

Smart Scripting