[netconf] RESTCONF RFC8040 questions

[Oleg Olivson <[e-mail]>]

Hi,
I'm working on product which is using RESTCONF and YANGs as configuration interface and I'm struggling trying to understand concepts which are lying behind data modification using RESTCONF.
Would you be so kind to explain why certain requests are made in a way they're made?

In RFC8040 https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8040#appendix-B.2 there are some examples of using RESTCONF, I'll be using same model in questions.
There is an example of adding a resource to list:

POST /restconf/data/example-jukebox:jukebox/library HTTP/1.1
      Host: example.com<http://example.com>
      Content-Type: application/yang-data+json

      {
        "example-jukebox:artist" : [
          {
            "name" : "Foo Fighters"
          }
        ]
      }

Can it be done in way below?

POST /restconf/data/example-jukebox:jukebox/library/artist HTTP/1.1
      Host: example.com<http://example.com>
      Content-Type: application/yang-data+json

      {
            "example-jukebox:name" : "Foo Fighters"
          }

RFC says that target URI in POST should point to parent container of resource to be added, wouldn't it be "artist" in that case and why? When doing resource modification, there's certain ambiguity in requests:

PATCH /restconf/data/example-jukebox:jukebox/\
          library/artist=Foo%20Fighters/album=Wasting%20Light/\
          genre HTTP/1.1
      Host: example.com<http://example.com>
      If-Unmodified-Since: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
      Content-Type: application/yang-data+json

      { "example-jukebox:genre" : "example-jukebox:alternative" }

"genre" work must occur twice: as part of URI and as top key of payload. Why such ambiguity take place? Since JSON is not limited to objects, can it be reduced to view below?

PATCH /restconf/data/example-jukebox:jukebox/\
          library/artist=Foo%20Fighters/album=Wasting%20Light/\
          genre HTTP/1.1
      Host: example.com<http://example.com>
      If-Unmodified-Since: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
      Content-Type: application/yang-data+json

      "example-jukebox:alternative"






Taking into account mentioned difference between POST and PUT|PATCH requests, is there a rules that define which URL<->Body relation to use issuing each type of request?


Hope you won't be bothered with these questions and answering them won't take much of your time.
With gratitude for work you've done in those RFC.



_

OLEG OLIVSON

Software Developer



T [phone]

O.Olivson@<mailto:[e-mail]>falconvsystems.com<mailto:[e-mail]>



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