Implementation of NETCONF Protocol

Abstract

The first version of SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) was created in 1988 by IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) as a standard for network management. However, SNMPv1 (and its newer versions 2, 2c and 3) since its beginning has been used mainly only for the network monitoring and very rarely for the configuration of network devices (routers and switches) with its SET commands. Since the beginning of computer networking, the configuration of network devices (routers and switches) has been usually performed by using the vendors' operating systems and their non-standard user CLI (Command Line Interface). This has proven to be a very complex and ineffective solution, especially with fast development and more complexity in the computer networking area. To solve these issues, IETF standard organization created in 2006 the NETCONF protocol in order to define the standard solution for command-oriented CLI user interface for the configuration of network devices of different vendors. Today, more than ten years after the creation of the NETCONF standard there is the question about the actual acceptance of NETCONF protocol in current networks and about the actual maturity of NETCONF standard. The scope of this paper is to compare three ways of configuring the network devices: non standard CLI, standards SNMP and NETCONF.