General.Enter command

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This activity allows you to issue a series of CLI commands to the selected devices as if you were typing them from the normal command line prompt (or Enable mode if that option is checked).

CatTools automatically performs the following functions for this activity:

1.	Login to the device

2.	Handles any terminal display window length issues

3.	Optionally enter enable or privileged mode

4.	Enter the specified commands in sequence and wait for a valid response

5.	Optionally Log each command entered and the device response to a text log file

6.	Allows you to control whether to continue or stop if errors occur

7.	Disconnect from the device

The Time, devices, and Email tabs for this Activity operate in exactly the same way as for all other Activities.

Options

List of commands to be entered into the device (Max 10,000 chrs):

This field is where you enter the specific commands to be sent to the selected device(s).

Examples of some CLI commands that can be entered:
(On a Cisco router)
Clear counters
Clear interface

(On a Cisco Catalyst CatOS switch)
Set Port 1/1 disable
Set Port 2/12-24 enable

Each command must be entered on a separate line. If you enter a blank line between commands then this will be sent just as if you pressed enter in a telnet session.

There is a limit on the size of this field, which is 10,000 characters. This gives you considerable room for putting together quite sophisticated configuration changes.


Or, read commands from file:

This option is preceded by a check-box and is followed by a normal path/filename entry field.

(This option and the one above it are mutually exclusive. If you check the box then the commands field is deactivated, and the commands are only read from the text file you specify here.)

The rules for entering commands in the text file are the same as they are for entering them in the commands list. Every line is read as a command to be entered in the devices config mode. A blank line between commands is read as an <Enter>.

The major difference between the two methods is that the text file doesn't have a limit on the number of characters like the command list does.

Within the commands, you can use a number of variables that are replaced by actual values when the commands are presented to the device. See the section Command Variables for a list of variables you can use.

Enter commands in enable mode:
Selecting this check box tells CatTools to enter enable mode bfore entering any of the commands to the device.

Save device output to file:
Selecting this check box tells CatTools to write file of all output from the device to the file specified in the filename field. It is checked by default, and the default filename is based on the device name and the date.

This is basically a device-specific record of each time the activity runs. All output from the device is recorded in the text file, exactly as it would appear in a telnet session.

Each device selected creates its own unique output file based on the %DeviceName% and %DateISO% variables.

See the section Filename Variables for a list of variables you can use.

The following options are all check boxes and all are checked by default.
Overwrite existing capture file:
Overwrites the file created by the output from the last run of this Activity. If unchecked, the file is appended, but a new file is created each time the date changes.

Answer [yes] to any confirmation prompts:
Some commands have confirmations prompts ("are you sure? Y or N") – so the program will automatically answer them in the affirmative, on the assumption that if you entered the commands you actually want them to be executed. If this option is unchecked, then the activity will enter an "n" in response to any confirmation requests.

Stop on error:
Stops the activity immediately if any error occurs when a command is sent to the device.