Re: [Netconf] Netconf Light or Netconf for constrained devices

[Phil Shafer <[e-mail]>]

[e-mail] writes:
>One of the operator requirements brought out in RFC3535 states:
>
>4. It is necessary to enable operators to concentrate on the
>   configuration of the network as a whole rather than individual
>   devices.
>
>That is most easily achieved if either all network products are from a
>single supplier and managed through their NMS or network products are
>from multiple suppliers managed through a generic "3rd-party" NMS.

I think the key need here is to stop seeing device models as the
target, but to instead model networks at a higher level.  We could
model LAN segments and point-to-point links and assign protocol
features to them (ip prefix, OSPF area) instead of repeating the
same config values for each device in the network.

With appropriate models, error checking become automatic and simple.
Opportunities for errors disappear, as the config values are entered
in a single place (can't set the an inconsistent OSPF area number
if you set it for the LAN segment).  Difficult errors become trivial
(easy to check that every interface connected to a LAN segment fits
into the segment's IP prefix).  Whole classes of impossible-to-find
errors (like misconfiguring the encoding on an unnumbered point-to-point
link) simply vanish.

The NMS would generate generic device-centric configuration that
would be translated into specific device config based on the
make, model, and role of that device.

Thanks,
 Phil