NetConf

 NETCONF provides mechanisms to install, manipulate, and delete the configuration of network devices. 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 has been implemented in network devices such as routers and switches by some major equipment vendors.

Operations:

The base protocol defines the following protocol operations:

Operation	Description
	Retrieve running configuration and device state information
	Retrieve all or part of a specified configuration datastore
	Edit a configuration datastore by creating, deleting, merging or replacing content
	Copy an entire configuration datastore to another configuration datastore
	Delete a configuration datastore
	Lock an entire configuration datastore of a device
	Release a configuration datastore lock previously obtained with the operation
	Request graceful termination of a NETCONF session
	Force the termination of a NETCONF session

Message

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

• RPC invocations ( messages),
• RPC results ( messages), and
• event notifications ( messages).

Every NETCONF message is a well-formed XML document. An RPC result is linked to an RPC invocation by a message-id attribute. NETCONF messages can be pipelined, i.e., a client can invoke multiple RPCs without having to wait for RPC result messages first.

Secure Transport

NETCONF messages are exchanged using secure transports. A secure transport must provide authentication, data integrity, confidentiality, and replay protection. Secure transport is mandatory for NETCONF. Options are: SSH defines a secure transport using TLS.