RE: Thoughts on NetConf Requirements

[Andy Bierman <abierman@cisco.com>]

At 12:16 PM 6/11/2003, Hunkins, Andrew wrote:
>All,
>
>Some clarification on software architecture would help me understand the
>current discussion better.  Maybe it would help others too.
>
>At what layer is NetConf supposed to support?  I like the following
>stack:
>
>DATA ACCESS LAYER: Common objects to interface with device databases of
>configuration settings.
>
>DEVICE LOGIC & VALIDATION LAYER: Device Logic and validation enforces
>correct propagation/transformation of data to all devices.  Allows
>multiple "smart" UIs.
>
>MANAGEMENT & SYNCHRONIZATION LAYER: Management functions - create,
>delete, modify, bulk changes, etc. - along with scheduling & sync rules.
>Allows intelligent integration with other management framework areas:
>fault, accounting, performance & security.
>
>OPEN API LAYER: API Layer gives common access to management & sync
>layer.  Integrates with other management applications who are consumers
>or change requesters.
>
>USER INTERFACE LAYER: Multiple UI's support multiple users with
>different provisioning needs. Look and feel is individually controlled
>to provide differentiation and branding flexibility.
>
>
>I thought NetConf was providing/describing the Data Access Layer.  The
>underlying protocols to support it could be a variety of choices for a
>variety of reasons.
>
>But I've also heard some interest in the "higher level" layers.
>
>Is this view of system management application layers useful?  If so, I
>think it is a real problem to try to combine the layers.  It becomes too
>complex and you can't plug different layers together to achieve
>interoperability.
>
>Thoughts?

I think netconf focuses mostly on what you call the 
management and synchronization layer.  The device
implicitly supplies the device logic and validation 
layer and the data access layer in order to fulfill
the protocol operation requests at the management layer.

I'm not sure I like this stack too much.  The first two
layers are never really directly exposed in network devices.
It's not clear to me that the open API layer is independent
of the management layer.  

How do all these layers relate to the layering specified
in the xmlconf draft:

          Layer                      Example
         +-------------+      +-----------------------------+
         |   Content   |      |     Configuration data      |
         +-------------+      +-----------------------------+
                |                           |
         +-------------+      +-----------------------------+
         | Operations  |      | <get-config>, <edit-config> |
         +-------------+      +-----------------------------+
                |                           |
         +-------------+      +-----------------------------+
         |     RPC     |      |    <rpc>, <rpc-reply>       |
         +-------------+      +-----------------------------+
                |                           |
         +-------------+      +-----------------------------+
         |  Transport  |      |   BEEP, SSH, SSL, Console   |
         +-------------+      +-----------------------------+

It seems to me that these layers are the focus of netconf,
except that actual data models for standard configuration
data are outside the scope of the WG.


>-Andrew
>
>Andrew Hunkins
>+1 (612) 204-3605
>ahunkins@unimax.com

Andy


--
to unsubscribe send a message to netconf-request@ops.ietf.org with
the word 'unsubscribe' in a single line as the message text body.
archive: <http://ops.ietf.org/lists/netconf/>