Policy Syntax

The policy contains the following fields:

• capture: Contains some simple expressions to evaluate the current network configuration and store the result at variables.
• desiredState: Contains network state yaml with references to capture entries.

Example:

capture:
  default-gw: routes.running.destination=="0.0.0.0/0"
  base-iface: interfaces.name==capture.default-gw.routes.running.0.next-hop-interface
desiredState:
  interfaces:
  - name: br1
    description: DHCP aware Linux bridge to connect a nic that is referenced by a default gateway
    type: linux-bridge
    state: up
    mac-address: "{{ capture.base-iface.interfaces.0.mac-address }}"
    ipv4:
      dhcp: true
      enabled: true
    bridge:
      options:
        stp:
          enabled: false
        port:
        - name: "{{ capture.base-iface.interfaces.0.name }}"

Capture syntax

The capture is a map of capture entries with an identifier as the key that can be referenced with capture.[id]

The map value is a capture entry expression that evaluates the current network state and stores the result.

The following is a semi-formal definition of the capture entry expression:

<letter> ::= "A" | "B" | "C" | "D" | "E" | "F" | "G"
       | "H" | "I" | "J" | "K" | "L" | "M" | "N"
       | "O" | "P" | "Q" | "R" | "S" | "T" | "U"
       | "V" | "W" | "X" | "Y" | "Z" | "a" | "b"
       | "c" | "d" | "e" | "f" | "g" | "h" | "i"
       | "j" | "k" | "l" | "m" | "n" | "o" | "p"
       | "q" | "r" | "s" | "t" | "u" | "v" | "w"
       | "x" | "y" | "z"
<digit> ::= [0-9]
<number> ::= <digit>+
<identity> ::= <letter> ( <digit> | "-" | <letter> )*
<boolean> ::= "true" | "false"
<dot> ::= "."
<path> ::= <identity> ( <dot> ( <identity> | <number> ))*
<string> ::= \" (<all characters>)* \"

<captureid> ::= <identity>
<capturepath> ::= "capture" <dot> <captureid> <path>
<eqoperator> ::= "=="
<eqexpression> ::= <path> <eqoperator> (<string> | <number> | <boolean> | <capturepath>)
<replaceoperator> ::= ":="
<replaceexpression> ::= <path> <replaceoperator> (<string> | <number> | <boolean> | <capturepath>)
<pathexpression> ::= <path>
<expression> ::= <pathexpression> | <eqexpression> | <replaceexpression>
<pipe> ::= "|"
<pipedexpression> ::= <capturepath> <pipe> <expression>

Path <path>

The path expression contains different “steps” separated by dots, each “step” can be a key from a map or the index starting with 0 from a list.

interfaces.name
routes.running.0.next-hop-interface

To reference a capture entry from a path the reserved word capture has to be used followed by a dot and the capture entry name:

capture.default-gw.routes.running.0
capture.primary-nic.interfaces.0.name

Equality filter <eqexpression>

Filter the current state based on specific state values. The filter follows a simple syntax, similar to jsonpath. Values may be explicit or appear as references to other expressions. The resulting output is a full NMState state containing only the filtered values.

interfaces.name == "eth1"
routes.destination == "0.0.0.0/0"
dns.server == "192.168.1.1"
interfaces.name == capture.default-gw.interfaces.0.name

Path filter <pathexpression>

Filter out current state to include only the data matching the <path>

Following is a path filter to filter out everything except the running DNS configuration:

dns-resolver.running

This will create a capture entry with the the following Nmstate

dns-resolver:
  running:
    search:
    - redhat.com
    server:
    - 8.8.8.8

This can be referened later on with:

"{{ capture.[capture name].dns-resolver.running }}"

Replace <replaceexpression>

These commands can replace values from the specified fields at the input NMState and they can reference other capture entries.

routes.running.next-hop-interface := "br1"

Pipe <pipexpression>

When expressions are piped the output from the left expression is passed to the input of the right command.

capture.base-iface-routes | routes.running.next-hop-interface := "br1"

Desired state syntax

The state follows NMState syntax and will include optionally references to capture entries so they can be expanded in-place. capture references have to be enclosed between "{{ and }}" expressions, the desiredState field can be expressed using JSON or YAML.

The only supported expressions are capture entry reference path like the following

capture.base-iface.interfaces.0.mac-address
capture.base-iface.interfaces.0.name

For example to override the routes config from a capture new-routes the following can be specified

routes:
  config: "{{ capture.new-routes.running }}"

Or clone the mac-address from a capture entry primary-nic

interfaces:
- name: br1
  type: linux-bridge
  state: up 
  mac-address: "{{ capture.primary-nic.interfaces.0.mac-address }}"