Re: FW: NetCOnf WG Charter

[ned.freed@mrochek.com]

> This is the revised charter with the candidate WG chairs.
> Changes are marked with a | bar in left margin. So nothing
> fancy. We basically approved this WG at last Telechat
> (at the retreat). If anyone has comments on the chairs,
> pls let me know.

This version fixes the problem I reported. Thanks.

				Ned

> Secrerariat,
> Since I am still talking with the candidate chairs, this is
> not yet ready to be announced. Hopefully we can finalize it
> by the end of the week.

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

>   Network Configuration (netconf)
>   -------------------------------

>   Current Status: Proposed Working Group

>   Chair(s):

>   Andy Bierman <abierman@cisco.com>
>   Simon Leinen <simon@limmat.switch.ch>

>   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:

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

>   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 their own mechanims 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.

>   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 <Transport-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 take the XMLCONF Configuration Protocol
>   <draft-enns-xmlconf-spec-00.txt> as a starting point.

>   Goals and Milestones:

>   MAY 03    Working Group formed
>   JUL 03    Submit initial Netconf Protocol draft
>   AUG 03    Submit initial Netconf over <transport-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
>             <transport-TBD> draft
>   MAR 04    Submit final version of the Netconf Protocol draft
>             to the IESG
>   APR 04    Submit final version of the Netconf over <transport-TBD>
>             draft to the IESG

> Internet Drafts

> Request for Comments