Use net::appliance::session to establish an interactive command-line session with a network appliance. there is special support for moving into "privileged" mode and "configure" mode, along with the ability to send commands to the connected device and retrieve returned output.

built-in commands come from a phrasebook which supports many network device vendors (cisco, hp, etc) or you can install a new phrasebook. most phases of the connection are configurable for different device behaviours.