Arista Warrior

Chapter 29. CloudVision

CloudVision is a framework that will allow a pile of cool management features in the future. For now, it gives you the ability to instant message (IM) commands to your switch, after which the switch sends its response (if any) back to you with another IM.

When I tell people that they can IM commands to their Arista switches without having to log in to them, I get mixed reactions ranging from nerdy appreciation for a cool feature that they never even considered a possibility, to outright horror that such a thing might exist. Personally, I think it’s one of the coolest features I’ve ever seen, but it’s rare that I recommend its use. That said, in the right environment, it could be an amazing tool that can make your life much easier. Let’s take a look and see how such a powerful feature could be put to good use.

Description

CloudVision is an extension to EOS (as of version 4.9.3.2) that allows the switch to participate in XMPP-based near real-time messaging. XMPP is a protocol commonly used for open source client/server chat, and is defined in RFC 3920, entitled Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP). The RFC has this to say about XMPP:

While XMPP provides a generalized, extensible framework for exchanging
XML data, it is used mainly for the purpose of building instant
messaging and presence applications that meet the requirements of RFC
2779 (Instant Messaging / Presence Protocol Requirements).

One or more XMPP servers are required for CloudVision to ...