A data model for management of network device configuration heterogeneity

Résumé

The management of the configuration of network devices is a complex process, due to both the number of devices and parameters to take into consideration, and most importantly to the widely varying ways in which such parameters can be queried and modified on each device. Each equipment vendor provides its own command-line interface or management protocol where parameters are structured in a different way, and even multiple equipments from the same vendor may need to be interacted with differently. In this paper, we present a generic data model for configuration information of network devices that takes into account vendor and version heterogeneity. Ultimately, a configuration query engine will allow a user to pinpoint a specific, abstract configuration parameter, and be given the proper sequence of commands to query that parameter on a device of given vendor and operating system version.