Subject: WG Action: RECHARTER: Network Configuration (netconf)

From: IESG Secretary <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 2011 09:59:15 -0700 (PDT)

The Network Configuration (netconf) working group in the Operations and 
Management Area Area of the IETF has been rechartered.  For additional 
information, please contact the Area Directors or the working group 
Chairs.

Network Configuration (netconf)
--------------------------------------
Current Status: Active Working Group

 Chairs:
     Bert Wijnen <[email-masked]>
     Mehmet Ersue <[email-masked]>

 Operations and Management Area Directors:
     Dan Romascanu <[email-masked]>
     Ronald Bonica <[email-masked]>

 Operations and Management Area Advisor:
     Dan Romascanu <[email-masked]>

 Security Advisor:
     Tim Polk <[email-masked]>

 Mailing Lists:
     General Discussion: [email-masked]
     To Subscribe:       [email-masked]
        or:              https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/netconf
     Archive:            http://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/netconf/

Description of Working Group:

  Configuration of networks of devices has become a critical requirement
  for operators in today's highly interoperable networks. Operators from
  large to small have developed their own mechanisms or used vendor
  specific mechanisms to transfer configuration data to and from a
  device, and for examining device state information which may impact
  the configuration. Each of these mechanisms may be different in
  various aspects, such as session establishment, user authentication,
  configuration data exchange, and error responses.

  The NETCONF Working Group has produced a protocol suitable for
  network configuration, with the following characteristics:

  - Provides retrieval mechanisms which can differentiate between
    configuration data and non-configuration data
  - Is extensible enough so that vendors can provide access to all
    configuration data on the device using a single protocol
  - Has a programmatic interface (avoids screen scraping and
    formatting-related changes between releases)
  - Uses an XML-based data representation, that can be easily 
    manipulated
    using non-specialized XML manipulation tools.
  - Supports integration with existing user authentication methods
  - Supports integration with existing configuration database systems
  - Supports multiple (e.g. candidate and running) data-stores to
    optimize configuration preparation and activation 
  - Supports network wide configuration transactions (with features such
    as locking and rollback capability)
  - Runs over a secure transport; SSH is mandatory to implement while 
    TLS, BEEP, and SOAP are optional transports.
  - Provides support for asynchronous notifications.

  The NETCONF protocol has been designed independent of the data 
  modeling language.  The IETF recommends to use YANG as the NETCONF  
  modeling language, which introduces advanced language features for 
  configuration management.

  In the current phase of the incremental development of NETCONF the
  workgroup will focus on following items:

  1. Netconf Access Control Model (NACM) Requirements and Solution.
  
     There is a need for standard mechanisms to restrict 
     NETCONF protocol access for particular users to a pre-  
     configured (by operator) subset of all available NETCONF
     operations and content. 

     The WG will produce a document which identifies the access 
     control requirements specific to the NETCONF protocol, as 
     defined in [4741bis].  This document will also provide a 
     standard YANG data model which addresses these 
     requirements. 
 
     It is possible that the WG will not reach solution consensus
     on every possible requirement identified in the document.
     In this case, it is expected that the solution will evolve
     over time to meet the the remaining unmet requirements.

  2. The NETCONF server may want to notify interested clients about
     particular NETCONF protocol/server events.  The WG will work on
     a NETCONF specific YANG module(s) to define suitable
     notifications.

  3. As implementation and deployment experience gained with the
     NETCONF monitoring data model, the WG may revise the NETCONF
     monitoring data model to add additional objects that can be used
     to check the status of the server and to discover additional
     information about the server implementation. The WG may choose
     to revise the NETCONF monitoring data model.

Goals and Milestones:
  done     - Send with-defaults to IESG for consideration as Proposed 
             Standard
  done     - WG Last Call on rfc4741bis
  done     - rfc4741bis to IESG for consideration as Proposed Standard
  done     - Send rfc4742bis to IESG for consideration as proposed 
             Standard.
  done     - first WG draft (rev 00) on NACM posted
  done     - first WG draft (rev 00) on NETCONF specific YANG modules 
             posted
  Jul 2011 - WGLC for NACM document
  Jul 2011 - WGLC for NETCONF specific notifications document
  Sep 2011 - (if needed last) WGLC for NACM document
  Sep 2011 - (if needed last) WGLC for NETCONF specific notifications 
             document
  Oct 2011 - submit NACM document to IESG for consideration as Proposed 
             Standard
  Oct 2011 - submit NETCONF specific notifications  document to IESG for 
             consideration as Proposed Standard