The Pycontrol Shell Edition package builds on the pycontrol2 library provided by F5 for use with their suite of BIGIP network devices.

It contains some command line utilities to help administrators and developers gather information from and alter the configuration of their BIGIP devices.

This library grows on an as-needed basis. There are features missing because I haven't needed them and no one else has asked or submitted a patch, so don't be shy.

This package uses the Python Keyring library to securely manage credentials. If you're on Gnome, it should securely store passwords in your Gnome keychain. KDE users should automatically use KWallet, and similar native configurations for Windows and OS X users.

It's tempting to drop credentials into a plain text configuration file or script, and I hope that the inclusion of Keyring support will help you stay secure.

Folks who use BIGIP devices typically have multiple environments: test and prod, data center A and data center B, etc. The configuration file supports multiple environments and a default_environment option. All commands support an --environment (-e) option as well.

I use BIGIP devices that are in an Active/Standby configuration. The pycontrolshed library is capable of logging into all configured devices in an environment and return the active device to the calling program.

It's really slow, especially when upgrading over 100 application servers.

I'm a developer with a limited access account on the devices at my day job, so I am not authorized to use the SSH interface.