# Developing / Testing network\_cli connection methods

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/developing-testing-network-cli-connection-methods/28217>\
**Category:** Ansible Developer\
**Created:** [July 31, 2018, 6:33pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/developing-testing-network-cli-connection-methods/28217 "2018-07-31T18:33:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Anthony\_Koenada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71c47a/32.png) [@Anthony\_Koenada](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Anthony_Koenada)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 6:33pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/developing-testing-network-cli-connection-methods/28217/1 "2018-07-31T18:33:18Z")

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We’re looking to develop and test a network\_cli module for an internal platform at our company.

I have gotten the connection method working by creating the necessary files, as documented in [https://github.com/ansible/community/blob/master/group-network/network\_dev\_network\_cli.rst](https://github.com/ansible/community/blob/master/group-network/network_dev_network_cli.rst)

However this is a bit harder to manage when we’re deploying ansible itself. I’m looking to find out if there’s a method for setting custom paths for these various plugins, specifically the following:

- plugins/terminal/{{ ansible\_network\_os }}.py
- plugins/cliconf/{{ ansible\_network\_os }}.py
- modules/network/{{ ansible\_network\_os }}/{{ ansible\_network\_os }}\_command.py

I tried utilizing the connection\_plugin in ansible.cfg but I don’t believe relates to the files above (at least from my testing)

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**Author:** ![ganeshrn](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/ganeshrn/32/1021_2.png) [@ganeshrn](https://forum.ansible.com/u/ganeshrn)\
**Post date:** [August 1, 2018, 4:10am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/developing-testing-network-cli-connection-methods/28217/2 "2018-08-01T04:10:32Z")

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You can set the plugin path in the configuration fileRefer [https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/reference\_appendices/config.html#default-cliconf-plugin-path](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/reference_appendices/config.html#default-cliconf-plugin-path)

Regards,  
Ganesh