Network Configuration BOF (netconf)

Monday, March 17 at 0900-1130
==============================

CHAIR:	Andy Bierman <abierman@cisco.com>
        Randy Bush <randy@psg.com>

AGENDA:
        Agenda bashing           :  5 minutes
        NetConf Scope Discussion : 25 minutes
        XMLCONF I-D presentation : 35 minutes
        XMLCONF I-D Q&A          : 40 minutes
        Next Steps               : 15 minutes

FULL DESCRIPTION:

Configuration of networking devices has become a critical requirement for
operators in today's highly interoperable networks. Operators from large
to small have developed or used vendor specific mechanisms to transfer
configuration data to and from a device and for examining 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.
Utilities built upon tools such as Perl and "Expect" are used to control
devices via the CLI, but are prone to failure due to the instability
and lack of uniformity inherent in a CLI.


Investigations conducted within the IETF, at OPS area meetings and
in an IAB workshop over the past two years have identified operator
requirements for a standard configuration protocol that:


        - Provides a clear separation of configuration data
                from non-configuration data
        - Is extensible enough that vendors will provide access
                to all configuration data on the box from a
                single protocol
        - Has a programmatic interface (avoids screen scraping
                and formatting-related changes between releases)
        - Uses a data representation that is easily manipulated
                using non-specialized text manipulation tools
                (perl, awk, etc.)
        - Supports integration with existing user authentication
                methods, such as RADIUS
        - Can be easily integrated with existing configuration
                database systems, such as RANCID
        - Provides support for multi-box configuration transactions
                (with locking and rollback capability)


This BOF will focus on discussion of a protocol for the management
of network device configuration that meets many of the operator
requirements identified through these efforts.  A draft that may
serve as a useful starting point for this work can be found
at http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-enns-xmlconf-spec-00.txt.


This BOF will discuss whether a working group should be chartered
to develop a configuration protocol with the properties described
above.