Netconf and XML !

illusion_rox · ‎08-17-2009

hi all, can someone tell me that in order to run netconf do i also have to learn XML, referring to the doc below

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/ios/12_2sr/12_2sra/feature/guide/srnetcon.html#wp1063896

It seems that i must know XML in lot depth to grasp this stuff, kindly guide me

Joe Clarke · ‎08-17-2009

Yes. In particular, you will need to be familiar with XML concepts such as the schema, document validation, and document well-formedness.

I particularly enjoyed O'Reilly's resources on XML. I have XML in a Nutshell in my library, and now O'Reilly has the XML.com site (http://www.xml.com/).

XML is just a good thing to know in general. Many of the new Cisco device families are embracing XML for management, and it is regularly used to share data across applications, and on the web (e.g. the Web 2.0 technologies).

illusion_rox · ‎08-17-2009

Dear Sir, may be i am asking too much so kindly dont mind but can you give a quick review as to why xml is being used for this purpose ? i thought it has to do with web pages and alike. I tried reading xml introduction but i still didnt get any particular reason as to why netconf kinda of a thing will be needing xml ??

Joe Clarke · ‎08-18-2009

XML is probably the most commonly used data description language. Since NETCONF is an RFC standard, it had to employee something that was open, and powerful enough to describe the configuration objects for multiple vendors. XML was the logical choice. XML for the web is only one of its MANY uses. You will find it's used as a way of encapsulating data to be shared between a number of applications. For example, the EEM RPC example I mentioned to you earlier uses XML to encapsulate the RPC requests and replies (must like NETCONF).