What is NETCONF ?

What is NETCONF

The NETCONF is a network management protocol which provides mechanisms to install, manipulate, and delete the configuration of network devices.

NETCONF uses a simple RPC-based mechanism to facilitate communication between a client and a server

Its operations are realized on top of a simple Remote Procedure Call (RPC) layer. The NETCONF protocol uses an Extensible Markup Language (XML) based data encoding for the configuration data as well as the protocol messages. The protocol messages are exchanged on top of a secure transport protocol.

The NETCONF protocol can be conceptually partitioned into four layers:

The Content layer consists of configuration data and notification data.
The Operations layer defines a set of base protocol operations to retrieve and edit the configuration data.
The Messages layer provides a mechanism for encoding remote procedure calls (RPCs) and notifications.
The Secure Transport layer provides a secure and reliable transport of messages between a client and a server.
The NETCONF protocol has been implemented in network devices such as routers and switches by some major equipment vendors. One particular strength of NETCONF is its support for robust configuration change using transactions involving a number of devices.

Operations

The base protocol defines the following protocol operations:

OperationDescription
<get>Retrieve running configuration and device state information
<get-config>Retrieve all or part of a specified configuration datastore
<edit-config>Edit a configuration datastore by creating, deleting, merging or replacing content
<copy-config>Copy an entire configuration datastore to another configuration datastore
<delete-config>Delete a configuration datastore
<lock>Lock an entire configuration datastore of a device
<unlock>Release a configuration datastore lock previously obtained with the <lock> operation
<close-session>Request graceful termination of a NETCONF session
<kill-session>Force the termination of a NETCONF session

Messages

The NETCONF messages layer provides a simple, transport-independent framing mechanism for encoding

  • RPC invocations (<rpc> messages),
  • RPC results (<rpc-reply> messages), and
  • event notifications (<notification> messages).