NETCONF WG proposal

["Wijnen, Bert (Bert)" <bwijnen@lucent.com>]

We have this topic on the agenda for the IESG telechat this
coming Thursday. I had assumed that IESG secretariat would 
forward to IESG and IAB, but (after retunring from my 5 day
vacation) I do not see it so quickly in my inbox.

So, just to make sure that all IESG and IAB members see it,
I have attached it below.

Thanks,
Bert 

-----Original Message-----
From: Wijnen, Bert (Bert) 
Sent: woensdag 9 april 2003 11:49
To: Iesg-Secretary (E-mail)
Cc: Randy Bush (E-mail)
Subject: Agenda topic for telechat


Jacqueline, 
Pls put the WG charter for a proposed new WG on the IESG
telechat of April 17th.

I assume you will send an IESG/IAB review message to the
IAB and IESG list, so that IAB can also comment if they
want to.

Thanks,
Bert 
----------------------

Status: Proposed new WG

Network Configuration WG (netconf)

Chair(s):  

???
???

Operations and Management Area Directors:

Randy Bush  <randy@psg.com>
Bert Wijnen <bwijnen@lucent.com>

Operation and Management Area Advisor:

Bert Wijnen <bwijnen@lucent.com>

Mailing Lists:  [ed. these will change to netconf*]

General Discussion: xmlconf@ops.ietf.org
To Subscribe:       xmlconf-request@ops.ietf.org
 in msg body:       subscribe
Archive:            http://ops.ietf.org/lists/xmlconf

Description of Working Group:

Configuration of networks of 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.

The Netconf Working Group is chartered to produce a protocol
suitable for network configuration, with the following
characteristics:

   - Provides retrieval mechanisms which can differentiate between 
     configuration data and non-configuration data
   - Is extensible enough that vendors will provide access
     to all configuration data on the device using a single protocol
   - Has a programmatic interface (avoids screen scraping
     and formatting-related changes between releases)
   - Uses a textual data representation, that can be easily 
     manipulated using non-specialized text manipulation tools.
   - Supports integration with existing user authentication methods
   - Supports integration with existing configuration database systems
   - Supports network wide configuration transactions (with features
     such as locking and rollback capability)
   - Is as transport-independent as possible
   - Provides support for asynchronous notifications

The Netconf protocol will use XML for data encoding purposes,
because XML is a widely deployed standard which is supported
by a large number of applications. XML also supports
hierarchical data structures and multiple character sets.

The Netconf protocol should be independent of the data definition
language and data models used to describe configuration and
state data. However, the authorization model used in the protocol 
is dependent on the data model.  Although these issues must be 
fully addressed to develop standard data models, only a small part 
of this work will be initially addressed. This group will specify 
requirements for standard data models in order to fully support the 
Netconf protocol, such as:

   - identification of principals, such as user names or
     distinguished names
   - mechanism to distinguish configuration from 
     non-configuration data
   - XML namespace conventions
   - XML usage guidelines

It should be possible to transport the Netconf protocol using 
several different protocols.  The group will select at least
one suitable transport mechanism, and define a mapping for
the selected protocol(s).

The initial work will be restricted to the following items:

   - Netconf Protocol Specification, which defines the
     operational model, protocol operations, transaction model, 
     data model requirements, security requirements, and transport 
     layer requirements.

   - Netconf over <TBD> Specification, which defines how the
     Netconf protocol is used with the transport protocol
     selected by the group.  There will be a document of
     this type for each selected transport protocol.

The working group will base its work on the XMLCONF Configuration 
Protocol <draft-enns-xmlconf-spec-00.txt>.

Goals and Milestones:

  MAY 03    Working Group formed
  JUL 03    Submit initial Netconf Protocol draft
  AUG 03    Submit initial Netconf over <TBD> draft
  DEC 03    Begin Working Group Last Call for the Netconf Protocol
            draft
  JAN 04    Begin Working Group Last Call for the Netconf over
            <TBD> draft
  MAR 04    Submit final version of the Netconf Protocol draft
            to the IESG
  APR 04    Submit final version of the Netconf over <TBD> draft
            to the IESG

Internet Drafts

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