NETCONF XML Management Protocol and Junos XML API Overview

The NETCONF XML management protocol is an Extensible Markup Language (XML)-based protocol that client applications use to manage the configuration on routing, switching, and security devices. It uses an XML-based data encoding for the configuration data and remote procedure calls (RPCs). The NETCONF protocol defines basic operations that are equivalent to configuration mode commands in the CLI. Applications use the protocol operations to display, edit, and commit configuration statements (among other operations), just as administrators use CLI configuration mode commands to perform those operations.

The Junos XML API is an XML representation of Junos configuration statements and operational mode commands. When the client application manages a Junos device, Junos XML configuration tag elements are the content to which the NETCONF XML protocol operations apply. Junos XML operational tag elements are equivalent in function to operational mode commands in the CLI, which administrators use to retrieve status information for devices running Junos OS.

The NETCONF XML management protocol is described in RFC 6241, Network Configuration Protocol (NETCONF), which is available at https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6241.

Client applications request information and change the configuration on a switch, router, or security device by encoding the request with tag elements from the NETCONF XML management protocol and Junos XML API and sending it to the NETCONF server on the device. On Junos devices, the NETCONF server is integrated into the Junos operating system and does not appear as a separate entry in process listings. The NETCONF server directs the request to the appropriate software modules within the device, encodes the response in NETCONF and Junos XML API tag elements, and returns the result to the client application.

For example, to request information about the status of a device’s interfaces, a client application sends the Junos XML API <get-interface-information> request tag. The NETCONF server gathers the information from the interface process and returns it in the Junos XML API <interface-information> response tag element.

You can use the NETCONF XML management protocol and Junos XML API to configure Junos devices or to request information about the device configuration or operation. You can write client applications to interact with the NETCONF server, and you can also use the NETCONF XML protocol to build custom end-user interfaces for configuration and information retrieval and display, such as a Web browser-based interface.