how to perform netmiko.send_command_timing() method on napalm?

[teliahuseyinturhan]

Hi everybody, I'm a beginner on network automation. Basically, I am trying to use napalm library to create a ethernet loopback on a cisco device. But I have an issue at some point after editing the interface, which is running this command
device.cli(['ethernet loopback start .... ', 'yes']).
It gives a ReadTimeout error, because, I think it can't escape from ios_cli. The suggestion to fix is:

1. Explicitly set your pattern using the expect_string argument.
2. Increase the read_timeout to a larger value. You can also look at the Netmiko session_log or debug log for more information.

But napalm.cli() method doesn't accept expect_string argument.
I can perform same task using netmiko library with this set of commands

net_connect.send_command_timing('ethernet loopback start ....')
net_connect.send_command_timing('yes')

Netmiko.send_command_timing() method helps me as it requires a confirmation for the device to proceed This is an intrusive loopback and the packets matched with the service will not be able to pass through. Continue? (yes/[no]):.

How can I accomplish same task (steps) using napalm.cli() method? Thanks in advance.

[ktbyers]

.cli() doesn't support that.

I would just do the following:

# napalm_obj.device is the Netmiko connection object
netmiko_conn = napalm_obj.device
netmiko_conn.send_command_timing(...)

# or, alternatively
netmiko_conn.send_command(cmd, expect_string="whatever")

[teliahuseyinturhan]

Thanks for response. As I mentioned in the question I have no issue to perform this task using netmiko library using either option you recommended.
And I'm convinced that I cannot accomplish the task using Napalm, so I will not be spending more time on that. Thanks again for the support.

[ktbyers]

@teliahuseyinturhan Above, I am showing you how to use it via NAPALM i.e. NAPALM drivers that use Netmiko give you direct access to the Netmiko connection object.

[teliahuseyinturhan]

It perfectly works in both way as netmiko_conn = napalm_obj.device or netmiko_conn = napalm_obj._netmiko_device even though it shows this warning before running the script
"send_command_timing" is not a known member of "None" Pylance [reportOptionalMemberAccess].

But as I said it solved my issue. Thanks again for all your support.