Cisco Config Builder SaaS

Production-ready network device configuration management platform.

Overview

Cisco Config Builder is a web-based SaaS for managing Cisco device configurations through an intuitive GUI. Build, validate, and deploy network configs to devices securely via SSH.

Key Features

• 🎨 Intuitive configuration builder GUI
• ✅ Real-time configuration validation
• 📊 Live CLI preview
• 🔒 Secure SSH push with confirmation
• 📝 Complete audit logging
• 🔄 Rollback capability
• 🧪 Dry-run mode

Tech Stack

• Backend: FastAPI + SQLAlchemy + PostgreSQL
• Frontend: React + TypeScript
• Network: Netmiko + SSH
• Auth: JWT
• DevOps: Docker + Docker Compose

Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Docker & Docker Compose
• Python 3.11+ (for local development)
• Node.js 20+ (for local development)

Development Setup

# Backend
cd backend
python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
export DATABASE_URL="postgresql://cisco_user:cisco_pass@localhost:5432/cisco_builder"
python run.py

# Frontend (new terminal)
cd frontend
npm install
npm run dev

# Database (PostgreSQL)
# Use docker-compose from docker/ folder or install PostgreSQL locally
docker-compose -f docker/docker-compose.yml up postgres

Production Deployment

# Build and run all services
./startup.sh

# Or manually:
docker-compose -f docker/docker-compose.yml up -d

Architecture

Backend Structure

backend/
├── app/
│   ├── core/          # Config, database, security
│   ├── models/        # SQLAlchemy ORM models
│   ├── schemas/       # Pydantic request/response schemas
│   ├── routers/       # API endpoints (auth, projects, devices, etc.)
│   ├── cli/           # CLI generation engine
│   ├── validation/    # Config validator
│   ├── ssh/           # Netmiko SSH executor
│   └── main.py        # FastAPI app
├── tests/             # Unit and integration tests
└── requirements.txt

Frontend Structure

frontend/
├── src/
│   ├── components/    # React components (wizard, preview, modals)
│   ├── pages/         # Page components
│   ├── services/      # API client
│   ├── hooks/         # Custom hooks
│   ├── types/         # TypeScript types
│   └── styles/        # Global styles
└── package.json

API Documentation

Authentication

POST /api/v1/auth/register
POST /api/v1/auth/login

Projects

GET /api/v1/projects
POST /api/v1/projects
GET /api/v1/projects/{id}
PUT /api/v1/projects/{id}
DELETE /api/v1/projects/{id}

Devices

GET /api/v1/devices
POST /api/v1/devices
GET /api/v1/devices/{id}
PUT /api/v1/devices/{id}
DELETE /api/v1/devices/{id}

Configurations

GET /api/v1/configurations
POST /api/v1/configurations
GET /api/v1/configurations/{id}
PUT /api/v1/configurations/{id}
POST /api/v1/configurations/{id}/validate
POST /api/v1/configurations/{id}/generate
POST /api/v1/configurations/{id}/push

Full OpenAPI documentation available at: http://localhost:8000/api/v1/docs

Security Model

Credentials

• Never stored plaintext - Use encryption (Fernet) for in-transit encryption only
• SSH credentials passed at push time - Not stored in database
• Optional encrypted storage for trusted environments (Vault recommended)

Access Control

• JWT-based authentication
• Per-project ownership
• User isolation

Audit Trail

• All push operations logged to push_logs table
• Timestamps, usernames, commands, device output
• Pre-push backup (running-config)
• Rollback metadata

SSH Safety

• Dry-run mode (validation only)
• Explicit confirmation required before push
• Connection timeout: 30s
• Command preview before execution
• Device output logged

Configuration Data Model

Example config_data JSON:

{
  "hostname": "SWITCH-01",
  "vlans": [
    {"id": 10, "name": "USERS"},
    {"id": 20, "name": "SERVERS"}
  ],
  "interfaces": [
    {
      "name": "GigabitEthernet0/1",
      "description": "Access Port",
      "type": "access",
      "vlan": 10,
      "enabled": true
    },
    {
      "name": "GigabitEthernet0/24",
      "description": "Uplink",
      "type": "trunk",
      "trunk_vlans": [10, 20],
      "enabled": true
    }
  ],
  "routes": [
    {
      "destination": "10.0.0.0/24",
      "gateway": "192.168.1.1",
      "metric": 1
    }
  ]
}

Validation Engine

The validator checks for:

• ✅ VLAN ID range (1-4094)
• ✅ No duplicate VLANs
• ✅ Interface VLAN references
• ✅ IP address overlaps
• ✅ NAT configuration completeness
• ⚠️ Warnings for trunk VLAN mismatches, missing ACL rules, etc.

Netmiko Integration

Supported device types:

• cisco_ios - IOS devices
• cisco_xe - IOS-XE devices
• cisco_xr - IOS-XR devices

Commands executed in order:

1. Backup running-config (optional)
2. Execute configuration commands
3. Verify success
4. Save to startup-config
5. Log to audit trail

Testing

# Run tests
cd backend
pytest

# With coverage
pytest --cov=app tests/

Roadmap

MVP (Current)

• ✅ Basic device management
• ✅ VLAN, interface, routing config
• ✅ CLI generation
• ✅ Validation
• ✅ SSH push

V1

• Multi-device batch operations
• Config templates & macros
• CCNA/CCNP lab presets
• IPv6 support
• Export to PDF/TXT
• Config diff/history
• Role-based access (RBAC)

V2

• Multi-vendor support (Juniper, Arista, etc.)
• API-driven config sync
• Slack/Teams integration
• Advanced scheduling
• Terraform export

License

Proprietary - Cisco Config Builder SaaS

Support

For issues, questions, or feature requests:

• 📧 support@ciscoconfigbuilder.io
• 🐛 GitHub Issues
• 💬 Community Slack

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