Pre-deployment checks for router and switch configuration, including dangerous commands, duplicate addresses, subnet overlaps, stale references, management-plane risk, and IOS-style security hygiene.
66
80%
Does it follow best practices?
Run evals on this skill
Adds up to 20 points to the overall score
View guide
Risky
Do not use without reviewing
Fix and improve this skill with Tessl
tessl review fix ./skills/network-config-validation/SKILL.mdUse this skill to review network configuration before a change window or before an automation run touches production devices.
Treat config validation as layered evidence, not as a complete parser. Regex checks are useful for pre-flight warnings, but final approval still needs a network engineer to review intent, platform syntax, and rollback steps.
Validate in this order:
import re
DANGEROUS_PATTERNS: list[tuple[re.Pattern[str], str]] = [
(re.compile(r"\breload\b", re.I), "reload causes downtime"),
(re.compile(r"\berase\s+(startup|nvram|flash)", re.I), "erases persistent storage"),
(re.compile(r"\bformat\b", re.I), "formats a device filesystem"),
(re.compile(r"\bno\s+router\s+(bgp|ospf|eigrp)\b", re.I), "removes a routing process"),
(re.compile(r"\bno\s+interface\s+\S+", re.I), "removes interface configuration"),
(re.compile(r"\baaa\s+new-model\b", re.I), "changes authentication behavior"),
(re.compile(r"\bcrypto\s+key\s+(zeroize|generate)\b", re.I), "changes device SSH keys"),
]
def find_dangerous_commands(lines: list[str]) -> list[dict[str, str | int]]:
findings = []
for line_number, line in enumerate(lines, start=1):
stripped = line.strip()
for pattern, reason in DANGEROUS_PATTERNS:
if pattern.search(stripped):
findings.append({
"line": line_number,
"command": stripped,
"reason": reason,
})
return findingsimport ipaddress
import re
from collections import Counter
IP_ADDRESS_RE = re.compile(
r"^\s*ip address\s+"
r"(?P<ip>\d{1,3}(?:\.\d{1,3}){3})\s+"
r"(?P<mask>\d{1,3}(?:\.\d{1,3}){3})\b",
re.I | re.M,
)
def extract_interfaces(config: str) -> list[dict[str, str]]:
results = []
current = None
for line in config.splitlines():
if line.startswith("interface "):
current = line.split(maxsplit=1)[1]
continue
match = IP_ADDRESS_RE.match(line)
if current and match:
ip = match.group("ip")
mask = match.group("mask")
network = ipaddress.ip_interface(f"{ip}/{mask}").network
results.append({"interface": current, "ip": ip, "network": str(network)})
return results
def find_duplicate_ips(config: str) -> list[str]:
ips = [entry["ip"] for entry in extract_interfaces(config)]
counts = Counter(ips)
return sorted(ip for ip, count in counts.items() if count > 1)
def find_subnet_overlaps(config: str) -> list[tuple[str, str]]:
networks = [ipaddress.ip_network(entry["network"]) for entry in extract_interfaces(config)]
overlaps = []
for index, left in enumerate(networks):
for right in networks[index + 1:]:
if left.overlaps(right):
overlaps.append((str(left), str(right)))
return overlapsParse VTY blocks by section so access-class checks do not spill across unrelated lines.
import re
def iter_blocks(config: str, starts_with: str) -> list[str]:
blocks = []
current: list[str] = []
for line in config.splitlines():
if line.startswith(starts_with):
if current:
blocks.append("\n".join(current))
current = [line]
continue
if current:
if line and not line.startswith(" "):
blocks.append("\n".join(current))
current = []
else:
current.append(line)
if current:
blocks.append("\n".join(current))
return blocks
def check_vty_blocks(config: str) -> list[str]:
issues = []
for block in iter_blocks(config, "line vty"):
if re.search(r"transport\s+input\s+.*telnet", block, re.I):
issues.append("VTY allows Telnet; require SSH only.")
if not re.search(r"\baccess-class\s+\S+\s+in\b", block, re.I):
issues.append("VTY block has no inbound access-class source restriction.")
if not re.search(r"\bexec-timeout\s+\d+\s+\d+\b", block, re.I):
issues.append("VTY block has no explicit exec-timeout.")
return issuesSECURITY_PATTERNS = [
(re.compile(r"\bsnmp-server community\s+(public|private)\b", re.I),
"default SNMP community configured"),
(re.compile(r"\bsnmp-server community\s+\S+", re.I),
"SNMPv2 community string configured; prefer SNMPv3 authPriv"),
(re.compile(r"\bip ssh version 1\b", re.I),
"SSH version 1 enabled"),
(re.compile(r"\benable password\b", re.I),
"enable password is present; use enable secret"),
(re.compile(r"\busername\s+\S+\s+password\b", re.I),
"local username uses password instead of secret"),
]
BEST_PRACTICE_PATTERNS = [
(re.compile(r"\bntp server\b", re.I), "NTP server"),
(re.compile(r"\bservice timestamps\b", re.I), "log timestamps"),
(re.compile(r"\blogging\s+\S+", re.I), "logging destination or buffer"),
(re.compile(r"\bsnmp-server group\s+\S+\s+v3\s+priv\b", re.I), "SNMPv3 authPriv group"),
(re.compile(r"\bbanner\s+(login|motd)\b", re.I), "login banner"),
]
def check_security(config: str) -> list[str]:
return [message for pattern, message in SECURITY_PATTERNS if pattern.search(config)]
def check_missing_hygiene(config: str) -> list[str]:
return [
f"Missing {description}"
for pattern, description in BEST_PRACTICE_PATTERNS
if not pattern.search(config)
]Use validation as a blocking gate before Netmiko, NAPALM, Ansible, or vendor API automation pushes a generated config. Fail closed on dangerous commands and credentials. Warn on best-practice gaps that are outside the change scope.
network-config-reviewernetwork-troubleshooternetwork-interface-health754b8dd
If you maintain this skill, you can claim it as your own. Once claimed, you can manage eval scenarios, bundle related skills, attach documentation or rules, and ensure cross-agent compatibility.