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XML-based Network Management

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Title: XML-based Network Management


1
XML-based Network Management
  • Rob Enns
  • rpe_at_juniper.net

2
Introduction
  • Routers are complex devices that are hard to
    manage remotely
  • Traditional management methods are SNMP and
    expect, their strengths and weaknesses are
    well-known
  • Operators and network management software vendors
    demand a secure, stable method to manage routers
  • Want network-oriented solutions, not single-box
    ones
  • XML is an alternative with exciting possibilities

3
XML
  • Extensible Markup Language
  • XML is a generally self-describing data format
  • Application reads data, parses it, and knows
    exactly what each constituent part of the data
    means
  • An XML document is a text file with structure
  • Easy to understand
  • Easy to parse
  • Easy to debug
  • Widely implemented standard
  • http//www.w3c.org/xml

4
Why XML?
  • Network devices are good at generating large
    amounts of hierarchical data
  • Device configurations
  • Routing tables
  • Interface hierarchies
  • Billing records
  • XML is good at describing hierarchical data in a
    standard way

5
XML Elements
  • Six main constructs
  • Open tags lttaggt
  • Close tags lt/taggt
  • Data lttaggtdatalt/taggt
  • Empty tags lttag/gt
  • Attributes lttag foobar googar/gt
  • Namespaces

lthomegt ltaddressgt123 Main Streetlt/addressgt
ltnetwork xmlnsns2my.identifying.stringgt
ltns2addressgt10.0.0.1lt/ns2addressgt
lt/networkgt lt/homegt
6
XML Example
  • lt?xml version"1.0" encoding"UTF-8"?gt
  • ltroutegt
  • ltdestinationgt10.3.1.1/32lt/destinationgt
  • ltroute-entrygt
  • ltcurrent-active/gt
  • ltprotocol-namegtBGPlt/protocol-namegt
  • ltpreferencegt170lt/preferencegt
  • ltage seconds"1749"gt002909lt/agegt
  • ltlocal-preferencegt100lt/local-prefe
    rencegt
  • ltlearned-fromgt10.17.136.2lt/learned
    -fromgt
  • ltas-pathgt1403 170 39 Ilt/as-pathgt
  • ltnhgt
  • ltselected-next-hop/gt
  • lttogt192.168.1.254lt/togt
  • ltviagtge-0/0/0.0lt/viagt
  • lt/nhgt
  • lt/route-entrygt
  • lt/routegt

7
Advantages of XML
  • Handles forward and backward compatibility
  • Widely available tools
  • Widely implemented standard
  • http//www.w3c.org/xml

8
DTDs and XML Schemas
  • XML data definition tools
  • Document Type Definitions (DTDs)
  • Lists the elements that may appear in an XML
    document and their relationships to one another
  • XML Schemas
  • Defines content and semantics in addition to
    element relationships
  • Simple and complex data types, value ranges,
    match expressions, documentation

9
XSL
  • XML Stylesheet Language
  • Originally intended for rendering XML
  • Powerful enough for generic transformations
  • Two branches of the technology
  • XSLT XSL Transformations
  • XML-gtXML transformations
  • Add additional information
  • Remove uninteresting elements or attributes
  • Rearrange hierarchies, sort elements, lots of
    party tricks
  • XSL-FO XSL Formating Objects
  • Render XML into XHTML or PDF

10
XSL Functionality
XSLT Stylesheet
ltTDgt MTU ltxslvalue-of./gt lt/TDgt
XML Input Document
XML Output Document
ltmtugt 1500 lt/mtugt
XSLT Processor
ltTDgt MTU 1500 lt/TDgt
XSLT can make XML, XHTML, Text, SVG, XSLT
11
XPath
  • A standard for describing parts of XML documents
  • Uses Unix-like path expressions
  • Basic expression and function support
  • Used by XSL
  • Select the serial number of every chassis
    component
  • /chassis-inventory/chassis/chassis-module/serial-n
    umber
  • Select every chassis component with a temperature
    attribute greater than 40 degrees
  • chassis-module_at_temperature gt 40
  • Get the status of power supply B
  • chassis-modulename"Power Supply B"/status

12
Using XML for Network Management
  • Network Monitoring
  • Device Configuration
  • Network Provisioning
  • Fault diagnosis

13
Network Monitoring
  • Applications periodically fetch operational
    content
  • Compare against historical data using XML diff
    tools, or transform data into a more appropriate
    format using XSLT
  • Use XSL to render output
  • Web page (XSLT)
  • Email (XSLT)
  • Report PDF (XSL-FO)
  • Example Collecting hardware inventory

14
Hardware Inventory
. . . . . . .
  • Retrieve inventory data from network

Router A
Router Z
XSL Transformation
  • Transform data into format required by inventory
    DB
  • Add data to inventory DB

Inventory DB
15
Device Configuration
  • Configuration is exposed in XML elements
  • For example

ltconfigurationgt ltprotocolsgt ltbgpgt
ltgroupgt
ltnamegtlocallt/namegt ltneighborgt
ltnamegt10.0.0.1lt/namegt
ltlocal-addressgt10.0.0.2lt/local-addre
ssgt lt/neighborgt
lt/groupgt lt/bgpgt lt/protocolsgt lt/configu
rationgt
16
Device Configuration
  • Represent device configurations in XML
  • Configurations become malleable data, can be
    manipulated using standard tools
  • Add/delete/change configuration using XSL
    transformations
  • Store and retrieve configuration from an XML
    database

17
Network Provisioning
  • Avoid writing multiple vendor-specific
    configuration parsers
  • Use XSLT to translate from vendor-neutral
    configuration to a vendor-specific configuration
    for each device
  • XML Schemas can provide data types, value ranges,
    regex matches, help information for vendor
    configuration
  • Enables provisioning tools to partially validate
    configuration before uploading to device

18
Network Provisioning
Vendor-independent configuration
Device-specific Configuration
Customer DB
XSL Transformation
Interface DB
Policy DB
Router(s)
19
Diagnosing Faults
  • Everyone has 5 commands to run when logging on
    to a sick router
  • Diagnose problems with network by running XSL
    scripts over XML output
  • XSL is a powerful tool
  • Inspect results from multiple commands
  • Discard normal output
  • Focus on abnormal situations
  • Use SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics (XML)) to graph
    historical values for data visualization
  • Target multiple routers

20
Summary
  • Choosing XML simplifies application development
  • Widely available tools and information
  • Easy to understand text format
  • Larger talent pool of engineers
  • Offers a reliable alternative to Expect scripts
  • XMLs self-describing nature prevents problems
    with variations in CLI output
  • Enhances Interoperability
  • XML is a standard method of exchanging
    information between programs
  • Adopted by many industries eCommerce,
    databases, networking, etc.

21
Thank you!
  • http//www.juniper.net
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