Configure driver options

Use the itential_driver_options attribute to configure advanced driver-specific settings for broker services. Driver options enable you to tune connection behavior, adjust timeouts, enable debugging, and optimize performance.

For information about broker services, see Device broker support.

When to use driver options

Use driver options to adjust timeouts for slow devices, optimize performance for fast connections, enable debugging and session logging, configure SSH parameters, or handle devices with non-standard behavior.

Most operations work without driver options. Use them only when default settings don’t meet your requirements.

How driver options work

Specify driver options in the itential_driver_options attribute within inventory node attributes. The system only uses options for the driver specified in itential_driver.

Basic structure

1 {
2   "itential_driver_options": {
3     "netmiko": {
4       "timeout": 120,
5       "global_delay_factor": 2
6     }
7   }
8 }

Example in inventory context

1 {
2   "inventory": {
3     "inventoryNodes": [
4       {
5         "name": "slow-device",
6         "attributes": {
7           "itential_host": "10.1.1.1",
8           "itential_user": "admin",
9           "itential_password": "password",
10           "itential_platform": "cisco_ios",
11           "itential_driver": "netmiko",
12           "itential_driver_options": {
13             "netmiko": {
14               "timeout": 180,
15               "global_delay_factor": 3
16             }
17           }
18         }
19       }
20     ]
21   }
22 }

Netmiko driver options

The netmiko driver supports the following options in itential_driver_options.netmiko.

Connection and timing

Option	Type	Default	Description
`timeout`	integer	100	Overall connection timeout (seconds)
`session_timeout`	integer	60	Session-level timeout (seconds)
`auth_timeout`	integer	-	Authentication timeout (seconds)
`banner_timeout`	integer	15	Login banner timeout (seconds)
`conn_timeout`	integer	10	Initial TCP connection timeout (seconds)
`blocking_timeout`	integer	20	Blocking operations timeout (seconds)

Performance and behavior

Option	Type	Default	Description
`fast_cli`	boolean	false	Disable command echo verification for faster execution
`global_delay_factor`	float	1.0	Multiplier for all delays (higher for slow devices)
`delay_factor_compat`	float	-	Compatibility delay factor for specific platforms

fast_cli mode may miss errors or incomplete output. Test thoroughly before using in production.

Connection options

Option	Type	Default	Description
`keepalive`	integer	0	SSH keepalive interval (seconds, 0=disabled)
`allow_auto_change`	boolean	false	Allow driver to auto-detect device type
`encoding`	string	’utf-8’	Character encoding for device communication
`auto_connect`	boolean	true	Automatically establish connection on creation

SSH configuration

Option	Type	Default	Description
`disabled_algorithms`	dict	-	SSH algorithms to disable (format: `{"pubkeys": ["rsa-sha2-256"]}`)
`allow_agent`	boolean	false	Use SSH agent for authentication
`system_host_keys`	boolean	false	Load system host keys
`alt_host_keys`	boolean	false	Use alternative host key file
`alt_key_file`	string	”	Path to alternative host key file

Debugging and logging

Option	Type	Default	Description
`verbose`	boolean	false	Enable verbose output for debugging
`session_log`	string	-	Path to log file for session output
`session_log_record_writes`	boolean	false	Record write operations in session log
`session_log_file_mode`	string	’write’	File mode for session log (‘write’ or ‘append’)

Terminal settings

Option	Type	Default	Description
`serial_settings`	dict	-	Serial port settings (format: `{"baudrate": 9600}`)
`global_cmd_verify`	boolean	-	Verify all commands succeed
`read_timeout_override`	float	-	Override default read timeout

Not all options work with all device platforms. See the netmiko documentation for platform-specific compatibility.

Scrapli driver options

The scrapli driver supports the following options in itential_driver_options.scrapli.

Connection and timing

Option	Type	Default	Description
`timeout_socket`	float	15.0	Socket connection timeout (seconds)
`timeout_transport`	float	30.0	Transport operations timeout (seconds)
`timeout_ops`	float	30.0	Individual operations timeout (seconds)

Performance and behavior

Option	Type	Default	Description
`comms_return_char`	string	’\n’	Character to send after each command
`comms_prompt_pattern`	string	-	Regex pattern for device prompt detection

SSH configuration

Option	Type	Default	Description
`ssh_config_file`	string	-	Path to SSH config file
`ssh_known_hosts_file`	string	-	Path to SSH known_hosts file
`transport`	string	’system’	SSH transport (‘system’, ‘paramiko’, ‘ssh2’, ‘telnet’)

Terminal settings

Option	Type	Default	Description
`comms_ansi`	boolean	false	Enable ANSI escape sequence handling
`auth_strict_key`	boolean	true	Enforce strict host key checking
`auth_bypass`	boolean	false	Skip authentication (test environments only)

Only use auth_bypass in test environments.