In case somebody's interested in a tool that does the kind of thing you describe re: network devices after reading your comment I thought it might be helpful to

In case somebody's interested in a tool that does the kind of thing you describe re: network devices after reading your comment I thought it might be helpful to include a link RANCID: http://www.shrubbery.net/rancid/ http://www.shrubbery.net/rancid/ Silly backronym name aside, RANCID is a very handy tool and uses expect to do a lot of the 'dirty work'.