Add error directive to arista_eos show inventory by mjbear · Pull Request #2323 · networktocode/ntc-templates

mjbear · 2026-06-07T02:13:22Z

During review of PR #2322, it was identified the arista_eos_show_inventory did not have Error directives in its States.

This PR adds those Error directives and any patterns required for parsing to pass successfully against current test data.

I've asked @surudhi if she'd test the modified template against more Arista EOS output.

These states already had patterns that matched all lines, so no new patterns needed to be added to them.

Add error directive and patterns to Transceiver state to make parsing pass successfully.

surudhi · 2026-06-10T18:25:24Z

Tested this against real show inventory output from a fleet of ~16 Arista EOS switches spanning many platform families (7010, 7010TX, 7020R, 7060, 7150, 720XP, 7130, 7280SE/SR3/SR3A/DR3A/CR3) and EOS 4.23.8M → 4.35.0F, using textfsm 2.1.0.

Issues found

1. Not Present transceiver slots → Error (Transceiver state)
The transceiver row rule requires 5 fields:

^\s+${PORT}\s+${DESCR}\s+${PID}\s+${SN}\s+${VID} -> Record

but empty slots print only two:

  2    Not Present

so they fall through to ^. -> Error.

2. The System has N storage device(s) section is unhandled → Error (Transceiver state)
There's no Storage state and Transceiver has no exit transition, so this trailing block (present on every device) hits ^. -> Error:

System has 1 storage device
  Mount      Type Model          Serial Number Rev Size (GB)
  ---------- ---- -------------- ------------- --- ---------
  /mnt/flash eMMC <model>        <serial>      0.0 4

3. Subcomponent serial numbers block → Error (Chassis state)
7130-series chassis emit this right after the chassis block; Chassis has no rule for it:

Subcomponent serial numbers
  Component          Serial Number
  ------------------ --------------
  mainboardOtl       <serial>
  mezzanine          <serial>

4. (non-fatal) Split Model/Description tables
On CCS-720XP / some newer SKUs, Model and Description are printed as two separate tables rather than one. This doesn't error but the Chassis state mis-captures PID/DESCR.

Minimal repro

arista_eos_show_inventory_notpresent.raw:

System information
  Model                    Description
  ------------------------ ----------------------------------------------------
  DCS-7060CX2-32S          32x100GbE QSFP & 2xSFP+ switch

  HW Version  Serial Number  Mfg Date   Epoch
  ----------- -------------- ---------- -----
  11.01       AAA00000000    2019-10-21 01.00

System has 2 power supply slots
  Slot Model            Serial Number
  ---- ---------------- ----------------
  1    PWR-500AC-R      BBB00000000

System has 4 fan modules
  Module  Number of Fans  Model            Serial Number
  ------- --------------- ---------------- ----------------
  1       1               FAN-7000-R       N/A

System has 131 ports
  Type               Count
  ------------------ ----
  Management         1

System has 34 switched transceiver slots
  Port Manufacturer     Model            Serial Number    Rev
  ---- ---------------- ---------------- ---------------- ----
  1    Arista Networks  Q28-PC025        CCC00000000-2    A
  2    Not Present

System has 1 storage device
  Mount      Type Model          Serial Number Rev Size (GB)
  ---------- ---- -------------- ------------- --- ---------
  /mnt/flash eMMC Toshiba 008G70 ddd00000      0.0 4

>>> import textfsm
>>> textfsm.TextFSM(open("arista_eos_show_inventory.textfsm")).ParseText(open("...notpresent.raw").read())
textfsm.parser.TextFSMError: State Error raised. Rule Line: 45. Input Line:   2    Not Present

(Remove the 2 Not Present line and it instead errors on System has 1 storage device, same rule line 45.)

Suggested direction

Add a Not Present rule in Transceiver (record PORT with empty optics fields).
Add a Storage state and a Transceiver -> Storage transition on ^\s*System.+storage.
Add a skip/parse path for the Subcomponent serial numbers block in Chassis.
Handle the split Model/Description layout.

Happy to share the full set of anonymized captures across the platform/version matrix if useful for building out the test fixtures.

mjbear · 2026-06-13T22:04:19Z

Tested this against real show inventory output from a fleet of ~16 Arista EOS switches spanning many platform families (7010, 7010TX, 7020R, 7060, 7150, 720XP, 7130, 7280SE/SR3/SR3A/DR3A/CR3) and EOS 4.23.8M → 4.35.0F, using textfsm 2.1.0.

Exactly why I asked if you'd test. 😀
Thank you @surudhi

Issues found

1. Not Present transceiver slots → Error (Transceiver state) The transceiver row rule requires 5 fields:
^\s+${PORT}\s+${DESCR}\s+${PID}\s+${SN}\s+${VID} -> Record
but empty slots print only two:
  2    Not Present
so they fall through to ^. -> Error.

We'll want to match this Not Present line specifically (and essentially discard it -- non captured).

2. The System has N storage device(s) section is unhandled → Error (Transceiver state) There's no Storage state and Transceiver has no exit transition, so this trailing block (present on every device) hits ^. -> Error:
System has 1 storage device
  Mount      Type Model          Serial Number Rev Size (GB)
  ---------- ---- -------------- ------------- --- ---------
  /mnt/flash eMMC <model>        <serial>      0.0 4

Yep, we'll want to add patterns for the storage.

3. Subcomponent serial numbers block → Error (Chassis state) 7130-series chassis emit this right after the chassis block; Chassis has no rule for it:
Subcomponent serial numbers
  Component          Serial Number
  ------------------ --------------
  mainboardOtl       <serial>
  mezzanine          <serial>

Yep, we'll want to add patterns for the subcomponent section.

4. (non-fatal) Split Model/Description tables On CCS-720XP / some newer SKUs, Model and Description are printed as two separate tables rather than one. This doesn't error but the Chassis state mis-captures PID/DESCR.

Rather than have the PID or DESCR broken on newer SKUs we can fix it in this PR. Good.

Minimal repro

arista_eos_show_inventory_notpresent.raw:

System information
  Model                    Description
  ------------------------ ----------------------------------------------------
  DCS-7060CX2-32S          32x100GbE QSFP & 2xSFP+ switch

  HW Version  Serial Number  Mfg Date   Epoch
  ----------- -------------- ---------- -----
  11.01       AAA00000000    2019-10-21 01.00

System has 2 power supply slots
  Slot Model            Serial Number
  ---- ---------------- ----------------
  1    PWR-500AC-R      BBB00000000

System has 4 fan modules
  Module  Number of Fans  Model            Serial Number
  ------- --------------- ---------------- ----------------
  1       1               FAN-7000-R       N/A

System has 131 ports
  Type               Count
  ------------------ ----
  Management         1

System has 34 switched transceiver slots
  Port Manufacturer     Model            Serial Number    Rev
  ---- ---------------- ---------------- ---------------- ----
  1    Arista Networks  Q28-PC025        CCC00000000-2    A
  2    Not Present

System has 1 storage device
  Mount      Type Model          Serial Number Rev Size (GB)
  ---------- ---- -------------- ------------- --- ---------
  /mnt/flash eMMC Toshiba 008G70 ddd00000      0.0 4

>>> import textfsm
>>> textfsm.TextFSM(open("arista_eos_show_inventory.textfsm")).ParseText(open("...notpresent.raw").read())
textfsm.parser.TextFSMError: State Error raised. Rule Line: 45. Input Line:   2    Not Present

(Remove the 2 Not Present line and it instead errors on System has 1 storage device, same rule line 45.)

Suggested direction

* Add a `Not Present` rule in `Transceiver` (record `PORT` with empty optics fields).

* Add a `Storage` state and a `Transceiver -> Storage` transition on `^\s*System.+storage`.

* Add a skip/parse path for the `Subcomponent serial numbers` block in `Chassis`.

* Handle the split Model/Description layout.

Happy to share the full set of anonymized captures across the platform/version matrix if useful for building out the test fixtures.

If there's raw output from one device that covers all these cases that would be suitable. Otherwise please provide the anonymized raw data for the unique ones that represent the four findings.

@surudhi If you'd like to create a PR against my branch and submit me a PR (against my fork), I can include your updates into this branch/PR. Let me know if you're interested in this collaboration. Thank you!

Validating the error-directive template against `show inventory` from ~143 in-service EOS switches fleet-wide (AMER/EMEA/APAC, ~80 distinct model+version combinations across the 7010-7500 range, EOS 4.18-4.35) surfaced several real-world layouts that fell through to Error or were mis-parsed: - Trailing whitespace on the "Rev" header line defeated its `$$` anchor (the most common failure, 54 of the 143 captures). - DESCR `(.+)` absorbed inter-column whitespace, so transceiver rows with a blank Rev (third-party optics: FS, PROLABS, ...) were silently mis-mapped (model/serial shifted into the wrong fields). Anchoring DESCR to start non-whitespace (`\S.*`) fixes this without changing any existing capture. - "Not Present" transceiver slots (port + literal only). - Storage device tables after the transceiver section, including the wrapped "Size (GB)" sub-table, multi-device output, and the per-supervisor "Supervisor N:" layout on modular systems. - A second "System has N auxiliary transceiver slots" table following the switched transceiver table (7280DR3A). - 7130 "Subcomponent serial numbers" block in the chassis section. - "System has N card slots" line-card/supervisor module table (7500-series and 7060X6). - Split Model/Description chassis tables on newer SKUs, which previously mis-captured PID/DESCR. Line-card and supervisor modules (card-slot section) are recorded (DESCR=slot, PID=model, VID=HW, SN=serial). Subcomponent, storage, "Not Present", and the chassis/line-card faceplate transceiver rows ("Arista Networks <chassis/linecard>" with no serial, e.g. fixed copper ports) are consumed without records, keeping the row schema focused on present pluggable inventory. Add eight anonymized fixtures covering these layouts; all serial numbers are replaced with length-preserving fakes.

surudhi · 2026-06-16T17:02:31Z

Tested this against real show inventory output from a fleet of ~16 Arista EOS switches spanning many platform families (7010, 7010TX, 7020R, 7060, 7150, 720XP, 7130, 7280SE/SR3/SR3A/DR3A/CR3) and EOS 4.23.8M → 4.35.0F, using textfsm 2.1.0.

Exactly why I asked if you'd test. 😀 Thank you @surudhi
Issues found

1. Not Present transceiver slots → Error (Transceiver state) The transceiver row rule requires 5 fields:
^\s+${PORT}\s+${DESCR}\s+${PID}\s+${SN}\s+${VID} -> Record
but empty slots print only two:
  2    Not Present
so they fall through to ^. -> Error.
We'll want to match this Not Present line specifically (and essentially discard it -- non captured).
2. The System has N storage device(s) section is unhandled → Error (Transceiver state) There's no Storage state and Transceiver has no exit transition, so this trailing block (present on every device) hits ^. -> Error:
System has 1 storage device
  Mount      Type Model          Serial Number Rev Size (GB)
  ---------- ---- -------------- ------------- --- ---------
  /mnt/flash eMMC <model>        <serial>      0.0 4
Yep, we'll want to add patterns for the storage.
3. Subcomponent serial numbers block → Error (Chassis state) 7130-series chassis emit this right after the chassis block; Chassis has no rule for it:
Subcomponent serial numbers
  Component          Serial Number
  ------------------ --------------
  mainboardOtl       <serial>
  mezzanine          <serial>
Yep, we'll want to add patterns for the subcomponent section.

4. (non-fatal) Split Model/Description tables On CCS-720XP / some newer SKUs, Model and Description are printed as two separate tables rather than one. This doesn't error but the Chassis state mis-captures PID/DESCR.

Rather than have the PID or DESCR broken on newer SKUs we can fix it in this PR. Good.
Minimal repro

arista_eos_show_inventory_notpresent.raw:
System information
  Model                    Description
  ------------------------ ----------------------------------------------------
  DCS-7060CX2-32S          32x100GbE QSFP & 2xSFP+ switch

  HW Version  Serial Number  Mfg Date   Epoch
  ----------- -------------- ---------- -----
  11.01       AAA00000000    2019-10-21 01.00

System has 2 power supply slots
  Slot Model            Serial Number
  ---- ---------------- ----------------
  1    PWR-500AC-R      BBB00000000

System has 4 fan modules
  Module  Number of Fans  Model            Serial Number
  ------- --------------- ---------------- ----------------
  1       1               FAN-7000-R       N/A

System has 131 ports
  Type               Count
  ------------------ ----
  Management         1

System has 34 switched transceiver slots
  Port Manufacturer     Model            Serial Number    Rev
  ---- ---------------- ---------------- ---------------- ----
  1    Arista Networks  Q28-PC025        CCC00000000-2    A
  2    Not Present

System has 1 storage device
  Mount      Type Model          Serial Number Rev Size (GB)
  ---------- ---- -------------- ------------- --- ---------
  /mnt/flash eMMC Toshiba 008G70 ddd00000      0.0 4
>>> import textfsm
>>> textfsm.TextFSM(open("arista_eos_show_inventory.textfsm")).ParseText(open("...notpresent.raw").read())
textfsm.parser.TextFSMError: State Error raised. Rule Line: 45. Input Line:   2    Not Present
(Remove the 2 Not Present line and it instead errors on System has 1 storage device, same rule line 45.)

Suggested direction
* Add a `Not Present` rule in `Transceiver` (record `PORT` with empty optics fields).

* Add a `Storage` state and a `Transceiver -> Storage` transition on `^\s*System.+storage`.

* Add a skip/parse path for the `Subcomponent serial numbers` block in `Chassis`.

* Handle the split Model/Description layout.
Happy to share the full set of anonymized captures across the platform/version matrix if useful for building out the test fixtures.
If there's raw output from one device that covers all these cases that would be suitable. Otherwise please provide the anonymized raw data for the unique ones that represent the four findings.

@surudhi If you'd like to create a PR against my branch and submit me a PR (against my fork), I can include your updates into this branch/PR. Let me know if you're interested in this collaboration. Thank you!

@mjbear hi, I just opened mjbear#4 against your fork adding my changes to this template along with raw data + yaml files for the issues I encountered.

Make the separator pattern repeating and more distinct to reduce the chances it accidentally matches an unintended line.

This line was effectively replaced by another contributor instead of changing this line. Removing it.

Reducing duplicate lines to keep test data viable, yet compact.

arista_eos_show_inventory: parse storage, modules, split tables

mjbear added 3 commits June 6, 2026 21:56

Add error directives to states with matched lines

90375bb

These states already had patterns that matched all lines, so no new patterns needed to be added to them.

Add error directive and patterns to Ports state

2bfdd06

Add error directive to Transceiver state

269b86b

Add error directive and patterns to Transceiver state to make parsing pass successfully.

mjbear added the WIP Work in Progress label Jun 7, 2026

mjbear added 5 commits June 21, 2026 16:02

Change dashed separator pattern to repeating

8345a75

Make the separator pattern repeating and more distinct to reduce the chances it accidentally matches an unintended line.

Remove trailing white space from descriptions

418b3b2

Remove unneeded Model line (replaced by another)

6ce0f2d

This line was effectively replaced by another contributor instead of changing this line. Removing it.

Reducing duplicate lines in port-based test data

c9dc58a

Reducing duplicate lines to keep test data viable, yet compact.

Merge pull request #4 from surudhi/error-directive-arista-testing

7aef412

arista_eos_show_inventory: parse storage, modules, split tables

mjbear mentioned this pull request Jul 2, 2026

arista_eos_show_inventory: parse storage, modules, split tables mjbear/ntc-templates#4

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Add error directive to arista_eos show inventory#2323

Add error directive to arista_eos show inventory#2323
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