Orquesta - an open source automation tool for remote terminal operations

As its name implies (which means orchestra in English), this tool work as a director who indicates instructions to musicians (terminals in this context) and each piece is inside a sheet music (a script here). Well, really working with terminals is less complex, because it's possible to decompose all we require into four basic operations: select network nodes, open connections, send commands and close connections. It's the main idea behind the design.

Motivation

As usual, improvement opportunities arise when tools to work efficiently are missing and fortunately it's something that occurs very often. Keeping this in mind, I was needing a software that meets the following:

Open Source, looking for collaboration and customization

Provide a simple scripting interface to automate boring tasks

Always save the logs, don't know when you'll need it (a golden rule, at least in my job)

Usage

Configuration

Create a file with extension .cfg in the directory cfg that contain for example:

[DEFAULT]
port = 22
protocol = ssh

[foobar]
ip = 127.0.0.1

[foo]
ip = 127.0.0.1
port = 2222 

The DEFAULT section must contain the port (TCP port) and protocol (ssh or telnet) used by default in the nodes defined within the file. Then a section for each node and its respective ip address (version 4 or 6).

Initial window

When the program starts it shows a window like the following, here we select the logs directory, the project name and a group of nodes or terminals defined in the previous cfg file.

Main window

Mainly consist in a text editor where we write the script and a list of nodes (terminals) that can be selected by clicking it or using the sel command (see next section).

Available commands

command	parameters	description
open	none	open selected nodes
sel	list of node names or all	select the nodes in the list
set	var value	create the variable $var
send	text	send text to selected terminals
gsend	text	perform substitution of local variables
inv	none	invert selection
view	none	view selected nodes
close	none	close selected nodes
mainsel	list of node names	avoid the selection of nodes different to the provided in the list
#	text	comment

Keyboard shortcuts

shortcut	action
F1	Execute current line and move to the next (if no errors)
F2	Execute current line
Ctrl + Shift + S	Select all terminals
Ctrl + Shift + D	Unselect all terminals
Ctrl + I	Invert current selection
Ctrl + O	Open selected terminals
Ctrl + Shift + C	Close selected terminals
Ctrl + Alt + T	Open local terminal in current logs path *
Ctrl + Alt + F	Open file explorer in current logs path
Ctrl + E	Exit application
Ctrl + S	Save script
Ctrl + N	New project

* It try to open git-bash as a first option, else cmd by default.

Using templates

Each script could be saved as a template. Just select the menu, write a name and the script would be available the next time the application starts.

Installation

Windows installer

Download here

For developers

git clone https://github.com/ej-f/orquesta.git
cd orquesta
pip install -r requirements.txt
cd orquesta
python orquesta.py

Requirements

• Python 3.4
  • PyQt4 v4.11.3 -> GUI and process
  • pywin32 219 -> windows automation
  • cx_Freeze 4.3.4 -> to create a standalone executable if is needed
• Qt Designer 4.8.6 -> GUI
• Kitty 0.60 -> client (already included in this repository)

Todo

Improvements

• Documentation
• Testing
• Clean up code base, redefine models and data structures

Nice to have features

• Expect-like functionality
• Commands highlight
• Select elements using glob patterns
• Cross platform compatibility
• Automatic script execution