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Network Configuration
charter-ietf-netconf-13-01

The information below is for an older proposed charter
Document Proposed charter Network Configuration WG (netconf) Snapshot
Title Network Configuration
Last updated 2012-09-13
State Start Chartering/Rechartering (Internal Steering Group/IAB Review) Rechartering
WG State Active
IESG Responsible AD Mahesh Jethanandani
Charter edit AD Benoît Claise
Send notices to (None)

charter-ietf-netconf-13-01

Configuration of networks of devices has become a critical requirement
for operators in today's highly interconnected networks. Large and small operators
alike have developed their own mechanisms or have used vendor specific
mechanisms to transfer configuration data to and from a device and to examine
device state information which may impact the configuration. Each of these
mechanisms may be different in various aspects, such as session establishment,
user authentication, configuration data exchange, and error responses.

The NETCONF protocol has the following characteristics:

  • Provides retrieval mechanisms which can differentiate between
    configuration data and non-configuration data
  • Is extensible enough so that vendors can provide access to all
    configuration data on the device using a single protocol
  • Has a programmatic interface (avoids screen scraping and
    formatting-related changes between releases)
  • Uses an XML-based data representation, that can be easily manipulated
    using non-specialized XML manipulation tools.
  • Supports integration with existing user authentication methods
  • Supports integration with existing configuration database systems
  • Supports multiple (e.g. candidate and running) data-stores to
    optimize configuration preparation and activation
  • Supports network wide configuration transactions (with features such
    as locking and rollback capability)
  • Runs over a secure transport; SSH is mandatory to implement while TLS,
    BEEP, and SOAP are optional transports.
  • Provides support for asynchronous notifications.
  • Supports an Access Control Model and a YANG module for configuring
    the Access Control parameters.
  • Supports a YANG module for System Notifications

The NETCONF protocol is data modeling language independent, but YANG is the
recommended NETCONF modeling language, which introduces advanced language
features for configuration management.

In the current phase of NETCONF's incremental development the
workgroup will focus on following items:

  1. Advance NETCONF over TLS to be in-line with NETCONF 1.1
    (i.e., update RFC 5539).

  2. Based on the implementation, deployment experience and interoperability
    testing, the WG will produce a NETCONF status report.
    The result may be clarifications for RFC6241 and RFC6242 and addressing
    any reported errata.

  3. Since Netconf over BEEP and over SOAP are not deployed
    the WG will write a document that makes those 2 protocols
    (RFC4743 and RFC4744) HISTORIC.

Goals and Milestones:
done - Send with-defaults to IESG for consideration as Proposed Standard
done - WG Last Call on rfc4741bis
done - rfc4741bis to IESG for consideration as Proposed Standard
done - Send rfc4742bis to IESG for consideration as proposed Standard.
done - first WG draft (rev 00) on NACM posted
done - first WG draft (rev 00) on NETCONF specific YANG modules posted
done - WGLC for NACM document
done - WGLC for NETCONF specific notifications document
done - submit NACM document to IESG for consideration as Proposed Standard
done - submit NETCONF specific notifications document to IESG for
consideration as Proposed Standard
Sep 2012 - submit initial WG draft for rfc5539bis
Sep 2012 - submit initial WG draft for making RFC4743 and RFC4744 historic.
Sep 2012 - WGLC for rfc5539bis
Sep 2012 - WGLC for RFC4743 and 4743 to historic
Oct 2012 - submit rfc5539bis to AD/IESG for consideration as Proposed Standard
Oct 2012 - submit request to AD/IESG to make RFC4743 and 4744 historic
Nov 2012 - Collect Implementation/Deployment reports for RFC6241 and 6242
Dec 2012 - Initial I-D for RFC6241/6242 implementation/deployment experience
Jan 2013 - WGLC on RFC6241/6242 implementation/deployment experience
Feb 2013 - possibly submit RFC6241/6242 implementation/deployment experience doc to IESG for publication as Informational RFC.
Mar 2013 - Evaluate if more work needs to be done by NETCONF WG