Quick Start Guide
Quick start instructions to get started with NSO.
Download Your NSO Free Trial Installer and Cisco NEDs
This evaluation copy has been provided under the terms of the Cisco NSO Evaluation License. There are two versions of the NSO installer for macOS and Linux systems, respectively:
Requirements
For development purposes, choose between the following:
Linux for x86_64 or arm64.
macOS Darwin for x86_64 or arm64.
A detailed list of NSO installation requirements can be found in the NSO Installation and Deployment guide.
Installation
Operating System
Cisco NSO can run on macOS or Linux systems. If you are a Windows user (or do not wish to install it natively on your laptop), you can install NSO on a Linux virtual machine or in a container.
If you use Docker, there are pre-built system install images available. See the Containerized NSO guide.
There are NSO Playgrounds available to dive right in and try out examples in a user-friendly browser-based integrated development environment (IDE).
Performing a Local Install
Once you've installed the prereqs and downloaded the NSO installation file for your operating system, you are ready to do your installation:
Open a terminal and navigate to the directory where you downloaded the installer.
Ensure that you have the correct installer binary for your OS,
darwinis for macOS, andlinuxfor Linux distributions.
cd ~/Downloads
ls -l nso*.bin
-rw-r--r--@ 1 user staff 199M Dec 15 11:45 nso-6.0.darwin.x86_64.installer.bin
-rw-r--r--@ 1 user staff 199M Dec 15 11:45 nso-6.0.darwin.x86_64.signed.binIf your file is a signed.bin file, this means that Cisco has digitally signed the file you downloaded, and when you execute it, you'll verify the signature and unpack the
installer.bin. If you have theinstaller.bin, skip down past the signed steps.
Use the sh command to "run" the signed.bin to verify the certificate and extract the installer binary and other files.
sh nso-6.0.darwin.x86_64.signed.bin
# Output
Unpacking...
Verifying signature...
Downloading CA certificate from http://www.cisco.com/security/pki/certs/crcam2.cer ...
Successfully downloaded and verified crcam2.cer.
Downloading SubCA certificate from http://www.cisco.com/security/pki/certs/innerspace.cer ...
Successfully downloaded and verified innerspace.cer.
Successfully verified root, subca and end-entity certificate chain.
Successfully fetched a public key from tailf.cer.
Successfully verified the signature of nso-6.0.darwin.x86_64.installer.bin using tailf.cerIf it all comes back green, you're in good shape and ready to install.
ls -l
# Output
-rw-r--r-- 1 user staff 1.8K Nov 29 06:05 README.signature
-rw-r--r-- 1 user staff 12K Nov 29 06:05 cisco_x509_verify_release.py
-rwxr-xr-x 1 user staff 199M Nov 29 05:55 nso-6.0.darwin.x86_64.installer.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 user staff 256B Nov 29 06:05 nso-6.0.darwin.x86_64.installer.bin.signature
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 user staff 199M Dec 15 11:45 nso-6.0.darwin.x86_64.signed.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 user staff 1.4K Nov 29 06:05 tailf.cerHere is what was unpacked:
The NSO installer
nso-VERSION.OS.ARCH.installer.bin.Signature generated for the NSO image
nso-VERSION.OS.ARCH.installer.bin.signature.An enclosed Cisco-signed
tailf.cerx.509 end-entity certificate containing the public key that is used to verify the signature.README.signaturefile which briefs you on more details on the unpacked content and the steps on "How to run the signature verification program". If you would like to manually verify the signature, please refer to the steps in this file.cisco_x509_verify_release.pypython program that can be used to verify the 3-tier x.509 certificate chain and signature.
First, check out the --help on the installer binary using the sh nso-6.0.darwin.x86_64.installer.bin --help command. Notice the two options for --local-install or --system-install.
sh nso-6.0.darwin.x86_64.installer.bin --help
# Output
This is the NCS installation script.
Usage: ./nso-6.0.darwin.x86_64.installer.bin [--local-install] LocalInstallDir
Installs NCS in the LocalInstallDir directory only.
This is convenient for test and development purposes.
Usage: ./nso-6.0.darwin.x86_64.installer.bin --system-install [--install-dir InstallDir]
[--config-dir ConfigDir] [--run-dir RunDir] [--log-dir LogDir]
[--run-as-user User] [--keep-ncs-setup] [--non-interactive]
Does a system install of NCS, suitable for deployment.
Static files are installed in InstallDir/ncs-<vsn>.
The first time --system-install is used, the ConfigDir,
RunDir, and LogDir directories are also created and
populated for config files, run-time state files, and log files,
respectively, and an init script for start of NCS at system boot
and user profile scripts are installed. Defaults are:
InstallDir - /opt/ncs
ConfigDir - /etc/ncs
RunDir - /var/opt/ncs
LogDir - /var/log/ncs
By default, the system install will run NCS as the root user.
If the --run-as-user option is given, the system install will
instead run NCS as the given user. The user will be created if
it does not already exist.
If the --non-interactive option is given, the installer will
proceed with potentially disruptive changes (e.g. modifying or
removing existing files) without asking for confirmation.For the installation directory or LocalInstallDir, the recommendation is to install it into your $HOME directory in a folder called ~/nso-VERSION. So if our version is 6.0, our directory will be ~/nso-6.0.
Run the installer with the argument --local-install ~/nso-6.0 to install it into your home directory.
sh nso-6.0.darwin.x86_64.installer.bin --local-install ~/nso-6.0
# Output
INFO Using temporary directory /var/folders/90/n5sbctr922336_0jrzhb54400000gn/T//ncs_installer.93831 to stage NCS installation bundle
INFO Unpacked ncs-6.0 in /Users/user/nso-6.0
INFO Found and unpacked corresponding DOCUMENTATION_PACKAGE
INFO Found and unpacked corresponding EXAMPLE_PACKAGE
INFO Found and unpacked corresponding JAVA_PACKAGE
INFO Generating default SSH hostkey (this may take some time)
INFO SSH hostkey generated
INFO Environment set-up generated in /Users/user/nso-6.0/ncsrc
INFO NSO installation script finished
INFO Found and unpacked corresponding NETSIM_PACKAGE
INFO NCS installation completeThat's it. NSO is installed.
Exploring the Installation
Before we start up NSO, let's just look at what we have.
Go ahead and cd into the new installation directory.
cd ~/nso-6.0Documentation
Note: Links to the online version of the NSO Guides and NSO Extension API Reference documentation.
Along with the binaries, NSO installs a full set of documentation available in the doc/ folder in ~/nso-6.0.
ls -l doc/
drwxr-xr-x 5 user staff 160B Nov 29 05:19 api/
drwxr-xr-x 14 user staff 448B Nov 29 05:19 html/
-rw-r--r-- 1 user staff 202B Nov 29 05:19 index.html
drwxr-xr-x 17 user staff 544B Nov 29 05:19 pdf/Feel free to open up the index.html file in your favorite browser and poke around (you can use the open command in the terminal to open the file). You'll find installation, admin, user, development, and more guides available for you to jump right into.
Examples
An NSO Local Install also comes with A LOT of examples of a variety of different types of ways you can use NSO. Many of these touch on advanced topics, but there are plenty of basic ones as well. Here are the high-level directories of examples in ~/nso-6.0/examples.ncs
ls -l examples.ncs/
# Output
-rw-r--r-- 1 user staff 1.0K Nov 29 05:17 README
drwxr-xr-x 4 user staff 128B Nov 29 04:50 datacenter/
drwxr-xr-x 3 user staff 96B Nov 29 04:50 generic-ned/
drwxr-xr-x 4 user staff 128B Nov 29 04:50 getting-started/
drwxr-xr-x 7 user staff 224B Nov 29 04:50 service-provider/
drwxr-xr-x 3 user staff 96B Nov 29 04:50 snmp-ned/
drwxr-xr-x 11 user staff 352B Nov 29 05:17 snmp-notification-receiver/
drwxr-xr-x 5 user staff 160B Nov 29 04:50 web-server-farm/NEDs or Network Element Drivers
In order to "talk to" the network, NSO uses NEDs as device drivers for different device types. Cisco has NEDs for hundreds of different devices available for customers, and several are included in the installer in the ~/nso-6.0/packages/neds directory.
ls -l
# Output
drwxr-xr-x 13 user staff 416B Nov 29 05:17 a10-acos-cli-3.0/
drwxr-xr-x 12 user staff 384B Nov 29 05:17 alu-sr-cli-3.4/
drwxr-xr-x 13 user staff 416B Nov 29 05:17 cisco-asa-cli-6.6/
drwxr-xr-x 12 user staff 384B Nov 29 05:17 cisco-ios-cli-3.0/
drwxr-xr-x 12 user staff 384B Nov 29 05:17 cisco-ios-cli-3.8/
drwxr-xr-x 13 user staff 416B Nov 29 05:17 cisco-iosxr-cli-3.0/
drwxr-xr-x 13 user staff 416B Nov 29 05:17 cisco-iosxr-cli-3.5/
drwxr-xr-x 13 user staff 416B Nov 29 05:17 cisco-nx-cli-3.0/
drwxr-xr-x 13 user staff 416B Nov 29 05:17 dell-ftos-cli-3.0/
drwxr-xr-x 10 user staff 320B Nov 29 05:17 juniper-junos-nc-3.0/Here you can see there are NEDs for Cisco ASA, IOS, IOS XR, and NX-OS. Also included are NEDs for other vendors including Juniper JunOS, A10, ALU, and Dell.
Note: The NEDs included in the installer are intended for evaluation, demonstration, and use with the
examples.ncsthat are also included. These are not the latest versions available, and often don't have all the features available in production NEDs.
Installing New NED Versions
Cisco also makes additional versions of some NEDs available on DevNet for evaluation and non-production use. You can find them with the NSO downloads (scroll up!).
Note: The specific file names and versions you download maybe different from this guide. Update the paths appropriately.
Like the NSO installer, the NEDs are
signed.binfiles that need to be run to validate the download and extract the new code.First, find the downloaded files - change to the working directory where your downloads are:
Note: The filenames indicate which version of NSO the NEDs are pre-compiled for (in this case NSO 6.0), and the version of the NED.
cd ~/Downloads/
ls -l ncs*.bin
# Output
-rw-r--r--@ 1 user staff 9708091 Dec 18 12:05 ncs-6.0-cisco-asa-6.16-freetrial.signed.bin
-rw-r--r--@ 1 user staff 51233042 Dec 18 12:06 ncs-6.0-cisco-ios-6.88-freetrial.signed.bin
-rw-r--r--@ 1 user staff 39292052 Dec 18 12:06 ncs-6.0-cisco-iosxr-7.43-freetrial.signed.bin
-rw-r--r--@ 1 user staff 8400190 Dec 18 12:05 ncs-6.0-cisco-nx-5.23.6-freetrial.signed.binUse the
shcommand to "run" thesigned.binto verify the certificate and extract the NEDtar.gzand other files. Repeat for all files.
sh ncs-6.0-cisco-nx-5.23.6.signed.binOutput:
Unpacking...
Verifying signature...
Downloading CA certificate from http://www.cisco.com/security/pki/certs/crcam2.cer ...
Successfully downloaded and verified crcam2.cer.
Downloading SubCA certificate from http://www.cisco.com/security/pki/certs/innerspace.cer ...
Successfully downloaded and verified innerspace.cer.
Successfully verified root, subca and end-entity certificate chain.
Successfully fetched a public key from tailf.cer.
Successfully verified the signature of ncs-6.0-cisco-nx-5.23.6.tar.gz using tailf.cerYou now have three tarballs (
.tar.gz) files. These are compressed versions of the NEDs.
ls -l ncs*.tar.gzOutput:
-rw-r--r-- 1 user staff 9704896 Dec 12 21:11 ncs-6.0-cisco-asa-6.16.tar.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 user staff 51260488 Dec 13 22:58 ncs-6.0-cisco-ios-6.88.tar.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 user staff 39305257 Oct 7 17:47 ncs-6.0-cisco-iosxr-7.43.tar.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 user staff 8409288 Dec 18 09:09 ncs-6.0-cisco-nx-5.23.6.tar.gzNavigate to the
packages/nedsdirectory for your local install.
cd ~/nso-6.0/packages/nedsWhile in
~/nso-6.0/packages/nedsdirectory, extract the tarballs into this directory using thetarcommand with the path to where the compressed NED is located:
Update the path and file name for the NED versions you downloaded
tar -zxvf ~/Downloads/ncs-6.0-cisco-nx-5.23.6.tar.g
tar -zxvf ~/Downloads/ncs-6.0-cisco-ios-6.88.tar.gz
tar -zxvf ~/Downloads/ncs-6.0-cisco-iosxr-7.43.tar.gz
tar -zxvf ~/Downloads/ncs-6.0-17:47-6.16.tar.gzHere is a sample list of the newer NEDs extracted along with the ones bundled with the installation:
drwxr-xr-x 13 user staff 416 Nov 29 05:17 a10-acos-cli-3.0
drwxr-xr-x 12 user staff 384 Nov 29 05:17 alu-sr-cli-3.4
drwxr-xr-x 13 user staff 416 Nov 29 05:17 cisco-asa-cli-6.6
drwxr-xr-x 13 user staff 416 Dec 12 21:11 cisco-asa-cli-6.7
drwxr-xr-x 12 user staff 384 Nov 29 05:17 cisco-ios-cli-3.0
drwxr-xr-x 12 user staff 384 Nov 29 05:17 cisco-ios-cli-3.8
drwxr-xr-x 13 user staff 416 Dec 13 22:58 cisco-ios-cli-6.42
drwxr-xr-x 13 user staff 416 Nov 29 05:17 cisco-iosxr-cli-3.0
drwxr-xr-x 13 user staff 416 Nov 29 05:17 cisco-iosxr-cli-3.5
drwxr-xr-x 13 user staff 448 Oct 7 14:46 cisco-iosxr-cli-7.4
drwxr-xr-x 13 user staff 416 Nov 29 05:17 cisco-nx-cli-3.0
drwxr-xr-x 14 user staff 448 Dec 18 09:09 cisco-nx-cli-5.13
drwxr-xr-x 13 user staff 416 Nov 29 05:17 dell-ftos-cli-3.0
drwxr-xr-x 10 user staff 320 Nov 29 05:17 juniper-junos-nc-3.0And now you have the newer NED versions available, as well as the demo/evaluation versions included with NSO itself!
ncsrc
ncsrcThe last thing to note is the files ncsrc and ncsrc.tsch. These are shell scripts for bash and tsch that set up your PATH and other environment variables for NSO. Depending on your shell, you will need source this file before starting your NSO work.
# NOTE your path may be different, double check!
$ source $HOME/nso-6.0/ncsrcMost users add source ~/nso-6.0/ncsrc to their ~/.bash_profile, but you can just do it manually when you want it. Once it has been "sourced" you have access to all the NSO executable commands - which start with ncs.
ncs {TAB} {TAB}
# Output
ncs ncs-maapi ncs-project ncs-start-python-vm ncs_cmd ncs_load
ncs-backup ncs-make-package ncs-setup ncs-uninstall ncs_conf_tool ncsc
ncs-collect-tech-report ncs-netsim ncs-start-java-vm ncs_cli ncs_crypto_keys Creating an Instance of NSO
A NSO Local Install unpacks and prepares your system to run NSO, but doesn't actually start it up. A Local Install allows the engineer to create an NSO "instance" tied to a project, which you have not done yet.
If you are familiar with Python, you can think of this like creating a Python virtual environment after installing Python. Within this NSO instance, you will have different inventory, configuration, and code.
Using ncs-setup to Create an NSO Instance
ncs-setup to Create an NSO InstanceOne of the included scripts with an NSO installation is ncs-setup, which makes it very easy to create instances of NSO from a Local Install. You can look at the --help for full details, but the two options we need to know are: * --dest defines the directory where you want to set up NSO (if the directory does not exist, it will be created) * --package defines the NEDs you want to this NSO instance to have installed. You can specify this option multiple times.
Note: NCS is the original name of the NSO product, so many the commands and application features will be prefaced with
ncs. Think ofncsas another name for NSO.
Go ahead and run this command to setup an NSO instance in the current directory with the IOS, NX-OS, IOS-XR, and ASA NEDs, you only need one NED per platform that you want NSO to manage (even though you may have multiple versions in your installer
nedsdirectory).You will want to use the name of the NED folder in
${NCS_DIR}/packages/nedsfor the latest NED version you've got installed for the target platform. You can usetabcomplete after you start typing a path (or just copy and paste, though double check the NED version numbers below match what is currently on the sandbox to avoid a syntax error):ncs-setup --package ~/nso-6.0/packages/neds/cisco-ios-cli-6.44 \ --package ~/nso-6.0/packages/neds/cisco-nx-cli-5.15 \ --package ~/nso-6.0/packages/neds/cisco-iosxr-cli-7.20 \ --package ~/nso-6.0/packages/neds/cisco-asa-cli-6.8 \ --dest nso-instanceIf you check out the
nso-instancedirectory now, you'll find several new files and folders have been created. This guide won't go through them all in detail now, but a couple are handy to know about.ncs.confis the NSO application configuration file. Used to customize aspects of the NSO instance (change ports, enable/disable features, etc.). The defaults are often perfect for projects like this.packages/is the directory that has symlinks to the NEDs that we referenced in the--packagearguments at setup.logs/is the directory that contains all the logs from NSO. This directory is useful when troubleshooting.
$ ls nso-instance/ logs ncs-cdb ncs.conf packages README.ncs scripts state $ ls -l nso-instance/packages/ total 0 lrwxrwxrwx 1 user docker 51 Mar 19 12:44 cisco-asa-cli-6.8 -> /home/user/nso-6.0/packages/neds/cisco-asa-cli-6.8 lrwxrwxrwx 1 user docker 52 Mar 19 12:44 cisco-ios-cli-6.44 -> /home/user/nso-6.0/packages/neds/cisco-ios-cli-6.44 lrwxrwxrwx 1 user docker 54 Mar 19 12:44 cisco-iosxr-cli-7.20 -> /home/user/nso-6.0/packages/neds/cisco-iosxr-cli-7.20 lrwxrwxrwx 1 user docker 51 Mar 19 12:44 cisco-nx-cli-5.15 -> /home/user/nso-6.0/packages/neds/cisco-nx-cli-5.15 $Now you need to "start" your NSO instance. Navigate to the
nso-instancedirectory and type the commandncs. It will take a few seconds to run, and you won't get any explicit output unless there is a problem.
Note: You need to be in the
nso-instancedirectory each time you want to start or stop NSO. If you have multiple instances, you need to navigate to each one to use thencscommand to start or stop each one.
ncsYou can verify that NSO is running by using the
ncs --status | grep statuscommand, which has a large amount of information, so we usegrepto just search for the status:
$ ncs --status | grep status
status: started
db=running id=31 priority=1 path=/ncs:devices/device/live-status-protocol/device-typeNow you should add either some netsim devices (
ncs-netsim -h) or lab devices to NSO and get automating!
Get Started
We recommend that you start with the online version or in the doc directory $HOME/nso-VERSION/doc/pdf/.
There are a lot of examples in the $HOME/nso-VERSION/examples.ncs directory. The examples have a short description in the $HOME/nso-VERSION/examples.ncs/READMEfile. Each example has a README file that explains how to run it.
Sandboxes
If you do not want to download and install Cisco NSO, please check out the NSO Reservable Sandbox on DevNet. There is also an associated tutorial called Learn NSO the Easy Way.
Still Need Help?
There is a lot of material on the NSO Developer Hub, where you also can ask questions about anything NSO-related.
Last updated
Was this helpful?