Note: This feature is currently in beta and is available only to early adopters.
All Compliance Condition types support three match modes:
Loose
Sequential
Strict
Match mode controls how multiple input lines are matched against the source.
Match Mode | Line order matters | Lines must be consecutive |
|---|---|---|
Loose | No | No |
Sequential | Yes | Yes |
Strict | Yes | Yes |
Reference Source:
The compliance condition examples throughout this article are matching against the following device configuration:
hostname R1 ! interface Ethernet1 description Uplink ip address 10.0.0.1/24 no shutdown ! interface Ethernet2 description LAN ip address 192.168.1.1/24 no shutdown ! interface Loopback0 description Management Loopback ip address 10.255.255.1 255.255.255.255 ! router ospf router-id 1.1.1.1 network 10.0.0.0/24 area 0 !
Note: The Compliance engine can validate MCP automation outputs in addition to device configurations. To validate an automation output, select Source → Mass Config Push Result on the Compliance preset screen. The same condition types and matching principles described in this article apply when evaluating automation output.
"Source contains" condition type:
Loose Mode
Loose mode verifies that all input lines exist somewhere in the source. Their order is ignored, and any content may appear between matching lines in the source.
Example Input 1:
description LAN hostname R1
Result: Condition successful
Although the order of the input lines differs from the source, both lines are present.
Example Input 2:
hostname R1 description WAN
Result: Condition failed
The line description WAN does not exist in the source.
Sequential Mode
Sequential mode requires all input lines to appear in the source in the same order as entered. Additional text/lines may appear between them.
Example Input 1:
interface Ethernet1 ip address 10.0.0.1/24
Result: Condition successful
Both input lines appear in the source in the correct order. The "description Uplink" line between them is ignored.
Example Input 2:
ip address 10.0.0.1/24 interface Ethernet1
Result: Condition failed
The input lines appear in the source in reverse order.
Strict Mode
Strict mode requires input lines to appear consecutively in the source. No additional text/lines may exist between the matching lines in the source.
Example Input 1:
interface Ethernet1 description Uplink ip address 10.0.0.1/24
Result: Condition successful
All three lines appear consecutively in the source.
Example Input 2:
interface Ethernet1 ip address 10.0.0.1/24
Result: Condition failed
The source contains the line "description Uplink" between the two input lines. Strict mode therefore fails.
"Source matches regex" condition type:
The same three match modes apply when using regex matching condition types. Each regular expression in the input is evaluated against lines in the source, and the match mode governs whether the matches must occur in order and whether intervening unmatched lines are permitted.
Loose Mode
router ospf hostname R[0-9]+
Result: Condition successful
This verifies that the device follows the R<number> hostname convention and has OSPF enabled. The two matches are independent, so their order does not matter.
Sequential Mode
(?m)^router ospf$ (?m)^ network [0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+/([0-9]+) area [0-9]+$
Result: Condition successful
This verifies that an OSPF configuration section is followed by an OSPF network statement. Other OSPF configuration, such as a router-id, may appear between the matches.
Strict Mode
(?m)^interface Loopback[0-9]+$ (?m)^ description Management Loopback$ (?m)^ ip address 10\.255\.255\.[0-9]+ 255\.255\.255\.255$
Result: Condition successful
This verifies that a Loopback interface with a variable interface number has the required "Management Loopback" description and uses a /32 address from the 10.255.255.0/24 management subnet.
Choosing the Right Match Mode
Requirement | Recommended match mode |
|---|---|
Required lines can appear anywhere and in any order | Loose |
Required lines must appear in a specific order, but may have other lines between them | Sequential |
Required lines must appear in a specific order with no lines between them | Strict |
Common use cases:
The following are some example scenarios where each match mode is particularly useful:
| Use case | Match mode | Rationale |
|---|---|---|
| Baseline configuration - NTP, AAA, logging... | Loose | Requirements are independent lines scattered across the config, only presence matters |
| Security hardening - telnet disabled, no SNMPv2, management ACLs... | Loose | Independent requirements with no meaningful ordering relative to each other |
| Firewall and ACL rules | Sequential | Rule ordering matters, such as when specific rules must precede broader rules. |
| Route-maps | Sequential | Match and set clauses must appear in a required sequence. |
| Multiline MOTD banner | Strict | The complete banner block must be present and uninterrupted |
| Interface config blocks | Strict | Validate that a required set of interface configuration commands appears together as a consecutive block. |