[rancid] rancid and git

[seph]

Hi all. I'm just starting to look at using rancid to help manage and
monitoring my network configs. I notice that there have been at least
a couple of different sets of patches for using git. Anyone know if
these might get accepted upstream? It seems like they've been around
awhile.

seph

[john heasley]

Post by seph
Hi all. I'm just starting to look at using rancid to help manage and
monitoring my network configs. I notice that there have been at least
a couple of different sets of patches for using git. Anyone know if
these might get accepted upstream? It seems like they've been around
awhile.

i know that its superior for some work loads, but i dont use git and
for rancid which rcs is used doesnt really matter. does the patch work
completely? rancid-cvs, rancid-run, etc.

[seph]

Post by john heasley

Post by seph
Hi all. I'm just starting to look at using rancid to help manage and
monitoring my network configs. I notice that there have been at least
a couple of different sets of patches for using git. Anyone know if
these might get accepted upstream? It seems like they've been around
awhile.

i know that its superior for some work loads, but i dont use git and
for rancid which rcs is used doesnt really matter.

The idea of having the configs pushed into a more central repo where I
can then pull them to my laptop for reading/grepping/etc is
appealing. And that's something git supports better than cvs and svn.

Post by john heasley
does the patch work completely? rancid-cvs, rancid-run, etc.

To be honest, I'm not sure. I've only just started playing with rancid,
and it's pretty complex feeling. I'm not sure I'm going to finish
deploying it, my needs a simple enough that needing to test all that is
less appealing than just writing my own shell script for it.

seph

[Joel Krauska]

Post by seph
The idea of having the configs pushed into a more central repo where I
can then pull them to my laptop for reading/grepping/etc is
appealing. And that's something git supports better than cvs and svn.

how exactly does git support pulling this better than svn?

git clone
vs
svn checkout
?


Personally, I find that rancid is better than a shell script when it
comes to managing lots of devices (>5) and heterogeneous devices (cisco
switches, juniper routers, citrix loadbalancers).

Writing interactive (expect) scripts is no fun. Even in their more
modern implementations (python expect for example).

Rancid already supports tons of hardware for which you would have to
write custom code.

Maybe give DIY a try and then see if you want to reconsider. :)

Cheers,

Joel

[seph]

Post by Joel Krauska

Post by seph
The idea of having the configs pushed into a more central repo where I
can then pull them to my laptop for reading/grepping/etc is
appealing. And that's something git supports better than cvs and svn.

how exactly does git support pulling this better than svn?
git clone
vs
svn checkout
?

I've only just started switching to git from svn. I've been finding it
much cleaner for this sort of thing, but its hard to clearly explain
why.

In svn, I'd need to stick the central repo somewhere, and then do a
bunch of checkin operations on the rancid machine. It would work, but it
would be a little slow, and I'd probably need to do checkouts too, and
handling merges is a little scary and probably requires me to think
hard.

In git, I've been finding the actual process much cleaner. A bunch of
checkins locally, and a simpler push change sets out. Yes it still needs
a central point, but it's been much faster, and just smoother. Way
cleaner merges too.

Sure, it's small things. And rancid doesn't need to support it. But it
seems like there are new patches for this every couple years.

seph

[Joel Krauska]

Post by seph
In git, I've been finding the actual process much cleaner. A bunch of
checkins locally, and a simpler push change sets out. Yes it still needs
a central point, but it's been much faster, and just smoother. Way
cleaner merges too.

My rancid SCM repos are read-only.

Checking in changes to your SCM doesn't apply those changed configs to
your devices. (unless I'm missing something fundamental about rancid)

Yes, git is great for handling complicated merges, but the rancid
process should be the only thing doing 'commits' to the tree so
complicated merges are moot.

There's a git-svn tool which acts as a conduit for svn trees if you
really can't grock svn. But as I say, most of the big git wins won't
apply for a read-only repo.

Are people using the rancid repo to push changes to devices??

Cheers,

Joel