NETCONF XML Processors

Process NETCONF replies on the worker before result serialization. These options are available on get, get-config, edit-config, and get-schema. Capability discovery returns lists rather than XML and does not expose XML processors.

Supported Processors

NFCLI option	Python argument	Output	Purpose
xmltodict	xmltodict=True	Nested dictionary	Parse an XML reply using Nornir-Salt load_xml and the xmltodict library.
xpath EXPRESSION	xpath="EXPRESSION"	XML string	Select XML elements locally using XPath. Namespaces are removed before selection.
xml-flake PATTERN	xml_flake="PATTERN"	Flat dictionary	Flatten XML and select dictionary keys using a case-sensitive glob pattern.

The outer worker and host result structure is preserved. Each processor changes only the operation payload. add_details=True retains execution metadata around that payload; to_dict=False changes result serialization, not XML conversion.

Convert XML to a Dictionary

CLIPython

nf# nornir netconf get-config xmltodict FL ceos-spine-1

from norfab.core.nfapi import NorFab

with NorFab(inventory="inventory.yaml") as nf:
    client = nf.make_client()
    result = client.run_job(
        "nornir", "netconf_get_config",
        kwargs={"FL": ["ceos-spine-1"], "xmltodict": True},
    )
    print(result)

Conversion preserves XML names and prefixes. Attributes normally use @ keys, text alongside attributes uses #text, and repeated elements become lists. Empty elements can become None. Conversion does not provide a normalized cross-vendor schema; dictionary shape depends on the device reply.

Select XML Elements with XPath

The local xpath processor operates on the reply after retrieval. It differs from filter_xpath, which asks the device to filter data before sending it. Local XPath does not require the device XPath capability. NorFab removes XML namespaces and enables parser recovery for this processor.

CLIPython

nf# nornir netconf get xpath "//hostname" FL ceos-spine-1

result = client.run_job(
    "nornir", "netconf_get",
    kwargs={"FL": ["ceos-spine-1"], "xpath": "//hostname"},
)

Use expressions that select elements. Nornir-Salt serializes selected elements back to XML; scalar expressions such as count(...), text nodes, and attribute selections are not supported by this wrapper. Several matches produce multiple XML fragments; no matches produce an empty string.

Extract Flat Values with XML Flake

xml-flake means XML flattened key filter. It parses XML, flattens nested paths into dictionary keys, and selects matching keys. It returns dictionary values, not XML fragments. For example, *hostname* selects paths containing hostname.

CLIPython

nf# nornir netconf get-config xml-flake *hostname* FL ceos-spine-1

result = client.run_job(
    "nornir", "netconf_get_config",
    kwargs={"FL": ["ceos-spine-1"], "xml_flake": "*hostname*"},
)

Patterns match flattened paths, not values. Use *in-octets* to select matching interface counter paths when the device reply includes those counters. No matching paths returns an empty dictionary.

Combine XPath and Dictionary Conversion

XML shortcuts execute in this order: xml_flake, xpath, then xmltodict, regardless of argument order. Use xml_flake alone: it produces a dictionary, which cannot be parsed again as XML by XPath or xmltodict.

XPath can precede xmltodict when it selects exactly one element, yielding a single valid XML document:

CLIPython

nf# nornir netconf get xpath "(//hostname)[1]" xmltodict FL ceos-spine-1

result = client.run_job(
    "nornir", "netconf_get",
    kwargs={
        "FL": ["ceos-spine-1"],
        "xpath": "(//hostname)[1]",
        "xmltodict": True,
    },
)

For a matching hostname element, the operation payload is {"hostname": "ceos-spine-1"}. Empty XPath output or multiple top-level fragments cannot be parsed by xmltodict. A get-schema reply may contain YANG text inside its XML wrapper; conversion does not parse the YANG language.

Notes

• These processors work on data returned by the device; they do not reduce network transfer size. Use subtree or server-side XPath filters for that.
• XPath requires lxml; dictionary conversion and XML flake require xmltodict.
• Failed host operations are skipped by Nornir-Salt DataProcessor. Processor errors appear in task details; inspect add_details=True when diagnosing them.
• Common file saving and diff options remain available. Saved results reflect processor output.