<s>
The	O
Network	B-Protocol
Configuration	I-Protocol
Protocol	I-Protocol
(	O
NETCONF	B-Protocol
)	O
is	O
a	O
network	O
management	O
protocol	O
developed	O
and	O
standardized	O
by	O
the	O
IETF	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
developed	O
in	O
the	O
NETCONF	B-Protocol
working	O
group	O
and	O
published	O
in	O
December	O
2006	O
as	O
RFC	O
4741	O
and	O
later	O
revised	O
in	O
June	O
2011	O
and	O
published	O
as	O
RFC	O
6241	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
NETCONF	B-Protocol
protocol	O
specification	O
is	O
an	O
Internet	O
Standards	O
Track	O
document	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
NETCONF	B-Protocol
provides	O
mechanisms	O
to	O
install	O
,	O
manipulate	O
,	O
and	O
delete	O
the	O
configuration	O
of	O
network	O
devices	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Its	O
operations	O
are	O
realized	O
on	O
top	O
of	O
a	O
simple	O
Remote	B-Operating_System
Procedure	I-Operating_System
Call	I-Operating_System
(	O
RPC	O
)	O
layer	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
NETCONF	B-Protocol
protocol	O
uses	O
an	O
Extensible	B-Protocol
Markup	I-Protocol
Language	I-Protocol
(	O
XML	B-Protocol
)	O
based	O
data	O
encoding	O
for	O
the	O
configuration	O
data	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
the	O
protocol	O
messages	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
NETCONF	B-Protocol
protocol	O
can	O
be	O
conceptually	O
partitioned	O
into	O
four	O
layers	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Messages	O
layer	O
provides	O
a	O
mechanism	O
for	O
encoding	O
remote	B-Operating_System
procedure	I-Operating_System
calls	I-Operating_System
(	O
RPCs	O
)	O
and	O
notifications	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
NETCONF	B-Protocol
protocol	O
has	O
been	O
implemented	O
in	O
network	O
devices	O
such	O
as	O
routers	O
and	O
switches	O
by	O
some	O
major	O
equipment	O
vendors	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
One	O
particular	O
strength	O
of	O
NETCONF	B-Protocol
is	O
its	O
support	O
for	O
robust	O
configuration	O
change	O
using	O
transactions	O
involving	O
a	O
number	O
of	O
devices	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
IETF	O
developed	O
the	O
Simple	B-Protocol
Network	I-Protocol
Management	I-Protocol
Protocol	I-Protocol
(	O
SNMP	B-Protocol
)	O
in	O
the	O
late	O
1980s	O
and	O
it	O
proved	O
to	O
be	O
a	O
very	O
popular	O
network	O
management	O
protocol	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
early	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
21st	O
century	O
it	O
became	O
apparent	O
that	O
in	O
spite	O
of	O
what	O
was	O
originally	O
intended	O
,	O
SNMP	B-Protocol
was	O
not	O
being	O
used	O
to	O
configure	O
network	O
equipment	O
,	O
but	O
was	O
mainly	O
being	O
used	O
for	O
network	O
monitoring	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
turned	O
out	O
that	O
each	O
network	O
operator	O
was	O
primarily	O
using	O
a	O
different	O
proprietary	O
command	B-Application
line	I-Application
interface	I-Application
(	O
CLI	O
)	O
to	O
configure	O
their	O
devices	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
had	O
a	O
number	O
of	O
features	O
that	O
the	O
operators	O
liked	O
,	O
including	O
the	O
fact	O
that	O
it	O
was	O
text-based	O
,	O
as	O
opposed	O
to	O
the	O
BER-encoded	O
SNMP	B-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
addition	O
,	O
many	O
equipment	O
vendors	O
did	O
not	O
provide	O
the	O
option	O
to	O
completely	O
configure	O
their	O
devices	O
via	O
SNMP	B-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
operators	O
generally	O
liked	O
to	O
write	O
scripts	O
to	O
help	O
manage	O
their	O
boxes	O
,	O
they	O
found	O
the	O
SNMP	B-Protocol
CLI	O
lacking	O
in	O
a	O
number	O
of	O
ways	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Around	O
this	O
same	O
time	O
,	O
Juniper	O
Networks	O
had	O
been	O
using	O
an	O
XML-based	O
network	O
management	O
approach	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Collectively	O
,	O
these	O
two	O
events	O
led	O
the	O
IETF	O
in	O
May	O
2003	O
to	O
the	O
creation	O
of	O
the	O
NETCONF	B-Protocol
working	O
group	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
working	O
group	O
was	O
chartered	O
to	O
work	O
on	O
a	O
network	B-Protocol
configuration	I-Protocol
protocol	I-Protocol
,	O
which	O
would	O
better	O
align	O
with	O
the	O
needs	O
of	O
network	O
operators	O
and	O
equipment	O
vendors	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
first	O
version	O
of	O
the	O
base	O
NETCONF	B-Protocol
protocol	O
was	O
published	O
as	O
RFC	O
4741	O
in	O
December	O
2006	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
revised	O
version	O
of	O
the	O
base	O
NETCONF	B-Protocol
protocol	O
was	O
published	O
as	O
RFC	O
6241	O
in	O
June	O
2011	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
content	O
of	O
NETCONF	B-Protocol
operations	O
is	O
well-formed	O
XML	B-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
Subsequently	O
,	O
support	O
for	O
encoding	O
in	O
JavaScript	B-General_Concept
Object	I-General_Concept
Notation	I-General_Concept
(	O
JSON	B-General_Concept
)	O
was	O
also	O
added	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
NETMOD	O
working	O
group	O
has	O
completed	O
work	O
to	O
define	O
a	O
"	O
human-friendly	O
"	O
modeling	O
language	O
for	O
defining	O
the	O
semantics	O
of	O
operational	O
data	O
,	O
configuration	O
data	O
,	O
notifications	O
,	O
and	O
operations	O
,	O
called	O
YANG	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
YANG	B-Application
is	O
defined	O
in	O
RFC	O
6020	O
(	O
version	O
1	O
)	O
and	O
RFC	O
7950	O
(	O
version	O
1.1	O
)	O
,	O
and	O
is	O
accompanied	O
by	O
the	O
"	O
Common	O
YANG	B-Application
Data	O
Types	O
"	O
found	O
in	O
RFC	O
6991	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
During	O
the	O
summer	O
of	O
2010	O
,	O
the	O
NETMOD	O
working	O
group	O
was	O
re-chartered	O
to	O
work	O
on	O
core	O
configuration	O
models	O
(	O
system	O
,	O
interface	O
,	O
and	O
routing	O
)	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
work	O
on	O
compatibility	O
with	O
the	O
SNMP	B-Protocol
modeling	O
language	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Basic	O
NETCONF	B-Protocol
functionality	O
can	O
be	O
extended	O
by	O
the	O
definition	O
of	O
NETCONF	B-Protocol
capabilities	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
also	O
defines	O
the	O
:interleave	O
capability	O
,	O
which	O
when	O
supported	O
with	O
the	O
basic	O
:notification	O
capability	O
facilitates	O
the	O
processing	O
of	O
other	O
NETCONF	B-Protocol
operations	O
while	O
the	O
subscription	O
is	O
active	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
capability	O
to	O
monitor	O
the	O
NETCONF	B-Protocol
protocol	O
is	O
defined	O
in	O
RFC	O
6022	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
document	O
contains	O
a	O
data	O
model	O
including	O
information	O
about	O
NETCONF	B-Protocol
datastores	O
,	O
sessions	O
,	O
locks	O
,	O
and	O
statistics	O
that	O
facilitates	O
the	O
management	O
of	O
a	O
NETCONF	B-Protocol
server	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
also	O
defines	O
methods	O
for	O
NETCONF	B-Protocol
clients	O
to	O
discover	O
data	O
models	O
supported	O
by	O
a	O
NETCONF	B-Protocol
server	O
and	O
defines	O
the	O
<get-schema>	O
operation	O
to	O
retrieve	O
them	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Every	O
NETCONF	B-Protocol
message	O
is	O
a	O
well-formed	O
XML	B-Protocol
document	I-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
NETCONF	B-Protocol
messages	O
can	O
be	O
pipelined	O
,	O
i.e.	O
,	O
a	O
client	O
can	O
invoke	O
multiple	O
RPCs	O
without	O
having	O
to	O
wait	O
for	O
RPC	O
result	O
messages	O
first	O
.	O
</s>
