Systems and methods for preprocessing automated network device configuration generation templates

A system comprising:

• at least one processor;
• and
• a memory coupled with the at least one processor and storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, configure the at least one processor to:
• receive a template usable to generate configuration lines for at least one network device;
• interpret a preprocess file including a specification to request at least one server-side feature enabling execution of at least one server-side function with which to obtain information for the template, the information being usable to generate the configuration lines and external to the template, wherein:
• the at least one server-side feature includes a plurality of subfeatures that granularly define the at least one server-side feature,
• the specification includes at least one indication specifying a first subfeature, associated with a particular granularity, to be requested of the plurality of subfeatures, and
• the at least one indication specifying the first subfeature comprises at least one of the following:
• a level of granularity, conditional logic for the at least one indication, or a filter for the at least one indication;
• obtain the information, wherein the obtaining includes executing a request for the at least one server-side feature;
• inject a subset of the obtained information into the template based on a particular granularity in the specification for accessing or filtering results of executing the request for the at least one server-side feature;
• and
• generate the configuration lines based on the template having the subset of the obtained information.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a computing system, configure the at least one processor to:

• receive a template usable to generate configuration lines for at least one network device;
• interpret a preprocess file including a specification to request at least one server-side feature enabling execution of at least one server-side function with which to obtain information for the template, the information being usable to generate the configuration lines and external to the template, wherein:
• the at least one server-side feature includes a plurality of subfeatures that granularly define the at least one server-side feature,
• the specification includes at least one indication specifying a first subfeature, associated with a particular granularity, to be requested of the plurality of subfeatures, and
• the at least one indication specifying the first subfeature comprises at least one of the following:
• a level of granularity, conditional logic for the at least one indication, or a filter for the at least one indication;
• obtain the information, wherein the obtaining includes executing a request for the at least one server-side feature;
• inject a subset of the obtained information into the template based on a particular granularity in the specification for accessing or filtering results of executing the request for the at least one server-side feature;
• and
• generate the configuration lines based on the template having the subset of the obtained information.