Satori/SSHModuleProposal

SSH Module Proposal

Implement an SSH wrapper module to enable logging on to servers so we can do data plane discovery

Interface

>>> from satori import ssh
>>> creds = {"username": "Tobias", "password": "pa$$word"}
>>> client = ssh.connect("123.456.789.11", credentials=creds)  # see signature in implementation section
>>> output = client.remote_execute("sudo echo hello", with_exit_code=True)
>>> print output
{'stdout': 'hello', 'stderr': '', 'exit_code': 0}

Requirements

Support the following login methods:

• • password/username
  • private key/username
  • private key file/username
  • for all the above methods, the module should support using a proxy (i.e. bastion)

Note: basically, support the options as would commonly be used through the ssh command-line.

Primary methods:

• remote_execute: to execute a remote command and return stderr and stdout
• test_connection: to test that a connection can be made

Additionally:

• Implement an instance property, platform_info, that will return the remote host's platform info using (python >=2.4)'s platform module

Implementation

• Use paramiko and extend its SSHClient class. Wrap paramiko to make it simpler to use and understand the code from other parts of satori.
• Accept a password string, private key string, or path to private key file for auth. Paramiko will automatically check in the standard places for ssh keys if nothing else is provided.
• Manage authentication mechanisms, retry authenticating, and prefer SSH keys.
  • Implement/override a connect() method to do this.
• Provide a method, test_connection(), for doing just that.
• Manage connecting and disconnecting when remote_execute() is called. (Lazy load the auth object)
• Attempt to handle password prompts for non-passwordless sudoers
• Attempt to handle hiccups with pty/tty rules by retrying the command with a pty channel if the system responds with "sudo requires a tty" or similar
• Support ssh proxy connections, and create an implementation that provides the same behavior whether connecting through a proxy or connecting to the remote host directly.
• Implement an instance property, platform_info, that will return the remote host's platform info using (python >=2.4)'s platform module

For the platform requirements:

• Remote system requires python>=2.4
• architecture, distro, version
• e.g. Ubuntu 12.04 x86_64 would return
  • {'arch': 'x86_64', 'dist': 'ubuntu', 'version': '12.04'}

 # function signature
 def connect(host, credentials, port=22, timeout=None, proxy=None):
     """Connect to remote host over SSH and return a client connection.
     
     credentials can have:
         username (required)
         password
         private_key
         private_key_file
     proxy can have:
         host (required if proxy supplied)
         username (required if proxy supplied)
         port
         timeout
         password
         private_key
         private_key_file
     """