Features

The following are key capabilities available from ConfD:

  • Full agent support for NETCONF, the standard for XML-based configuration management
  • Complete on-device management system, including agents and backend system
  • Modular architecture with well-defined APIs between all components
  • XML-based backend system provides NETCONF-like mechanisms to command line and Web interfaces
  • Auto-generated CLI and Web Interfaces that can be extended and customized
  • Fully featured SNMP agent providing a northbound SNMP v1, v2, and v3 interface for element management and monitoring
  • Common PAM-based AAA system for all management agents
  • Scalable implementation that streams XML processing, providing support for very large configurations
  • High-availability using an embedded lightweight XML database
  • Ability to store and retrieve operational and configuration data in a single database
  • NETCONF, CLI, Web UI, and SNMP interfaces can use a single configuration database and share one set of common instrumentation functions
  • Automatic update of the existing configuration database when installing a new version of the management software
  • Automatic conversion of older configurations to adhere to the running version of the management software
  • Implemented as a lean daemon with few library dependencies and efficient use of RAM, Flash, and disk capacity

The newest version of ConfD is version 2.5. The most significant new features in latest releases are:

NETCONF Partial Locking

NETCONF Partial Locking defines a capability-based extension to the NETCONF protocol for locking portions of a configuration datastore. Partial locking provides the ability to allow multiple management sessions to modify the configuration of a managed device in parallel.

This feature is a significant for large multi-service networks where devices must be able to allow conflict-free parallel configuration changes to meet scalability needs.

NETCONF Event Notifications

Support for NETCONF Event Notifications was added to ConfD in version 2.3 but has been improved for this version. NETCONF Event Notifications provides an asynchronous message notification delivery service for the NETCONF protocol. This is an optional capability built on top of the base NETCONF operations that allows a NETCONF client to subscribe to receiving event information from a server. An event is something that happens which may be of interest - a configuration change, a fault, or an external input to the system, for example.