How to collect the output of CLI commands periodically using Tera Term script

For requirements where periodic CLI output information collection is needed from Firewall/Panorama, Tera Term scripts can be used to collect the relevant info without manual intervention. 
 

• Palo Alto Firewalls or Panorama
• Windows PC that can access the Palo Alto firewall or Panorama using SSH
• TeraTerm application (An open-source, free terminal emulator)

1. Run the Tera Term software on the Windows PC. 
2. Start an SSH connection to the Firewall/Panorama and authenticate using the login credentials. (Make sure the login account has enough permissions to run the show commands)
3. Log the session output to a file using the "File" Tab. 
4. Then navigate to the Control > Macro.
5. Select the script file that was created. Once done, the firewall will start executing the commands in the TeraTerm script file as configured in the script. 
6. A separate window will automatically open with options "Pause" and "End" which can be used accordingly to stop or pause the script execution.

Sample Script:

• The below script is to collect the dataplane performance outputs from the firewall every 5 seconds.
• Adjust the "pause" timer to adjust the frequency of data collection.

i=0
sendln 'set cli pager off'
sendln 'show system info'
:continue

i=i+1
sendln 'show clock'
sendln 'show session info'
sendln 'show running resource-monitor second last 60'
sendln 'show running resource-monitor minute last 10'
sendln 'debug dataplane pool statistics'
sendln 'show running resource-monitor ingress-backlogs'
sendln 'show counter global filter delta yes'
sendln 'debug dataplane pow performance all'

pause 5

goto continue

end

• To send a CLI command that includes a symbol such as a pipe symbol ( | ), use " ... " (double quotation mark) to include the entire CLI syntax to avoid encountering invalid syntax during the script execution. 

sendln "show counter global filter delta yes | match pkt_recv"

Note: Teraterm can be downloaded from many sites. Try using valid sites such as "https://download.cnet.com/".

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