Useful Methods¶

These methods are the most commonly used and can be called on any object in a configuration tree.

Configuration Methods¶

Modify the configuration tree or the live device with these methods.

C: Changes the pan-os-python configuration tree
L: Connects to a live device (firewall or Panorama) via the API
M: Modifies the live device by making a change to the device’s configuration
B: Bulk operation modifies more than one object in a single API call

Method	C	L	M	B	Description
`add()`	✅				Add an object as a child of this object
`extend()`	✅				Add a list of objects as children
`insert()`	✅				Insert an object as a child at an index
`pop()`	✅				Remove a child object at an index
`remove()`	✅				Remove a child object from this object
`remove_by_name()`	✅				Remove a child object by its name
`removeall()`	✅				Remove all children of this object
`refresh()`		✅			Set params of object from live device
`refreshall()`		✅			Pull all children from the live device
`refresh_variable()`		✅			Set a single param from the live device
`create()`		✅	✅		Push object to the live device (nd)
`apply()`		✅	✅		Push object to the live device (d)
`update()`		✅	✅		Push single object param to live device
`delete()`	✅	✅	✅		Delete from live device and config tree
`rename()`	✅	✅	✅		Rename on live device and config tree
`move()`	✅	✅	✅		Reorder on live device and config tree
`create_similar()`		✅	✅	✅	Push objects of this type to live device (nd)
`apply_similar()`		✅	✅	✅	Push objects of this type to live device (d)
`delete_similar()`		✅	✅	✅	Delete objects of this type from live device

(d): Destructive - Method overwrites an object on the live device with the same name
(nd): Non-destructive - Method combines object with one on live device with the same name

Navigation Methods¶

These methods help you locate objects and information in an existing configuration tree. These are commonly used when you have used refreshall to pull a lot of nested objects and you’re either looking for a specific object or aggregate stats on the objects.

Method	Description
`find()`	Return object by name and type
`findall()`	Return all objects of a type
`find_index()`	Return the index of a child object
`find_or_create()`	Return object by name and type, creates object if not in config tree
`findall_or_create()`	Return all objects of type, creates an object if none exist
`nearest_pandevice()`	Return the nearest parent Firewall or Panorama object in tree
`panorama()`	Return the nearest parent Panorama object
`devicegroup()`	Return the nearest parent DeviceGroup object
`vsys`	Return the vsys that contains this object

Informational Methods¶

These methods provide information about an object in the configuration tree.

Method	Description
`about()`	Return all the params set on this object and their values
`equal()`	Test if two objects are equal and return a boolean
`xpath()`	Return the XPath of this object
`element()`	Return the XML of this object as an ElementTree
`element_str()`	Return the XML of this object as a string
`hierarchy_info()`	Return hierarchical information about this object

Device Methods¶

These methods can be called on a PanDevice object (a Firewall or Panorama), but not on any other PanObject.

Method	Description
`refresh_system_info()`	Return and retain important information about the device
`commit()`	Trigger a commit on a Firewall or Panorama
`commit_all()`	Trigger a configuration push from Panorama to the Firewalls
`syncjob()`	Wait for a job on the device to finish
`refresh_devices()`	Pull all the devices attached to Panorama as Firewall objects
`op()`	Execute an operational command
`watch_op()`	Same as ‘op’, then watch for a specific result

There are many other convenience methods available. They’re all documented in the PanDevice class.