Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) M. Bjorklund
Request for Comments: 8343 Tail-f Systems
Obsoletes: 7223 March 2018
Category: Standards Track
ISSN: 2070-1721
A YANG Data Model for Interface Management
Abstract
This document defines a YANG data model for the management of network
interfaces. It is expected that interface-type-specific data models
augment the generic interfaces data model defined in this document.
The data model includes definitions for configuration and system
state (status information and counters for the collection of
statistics).
The YANG data model in this document conforms to the Network
Management Datastore Architecture (NMDA) defined in RFC 8342.
This document obsoletes RFC 7223.
Status of This Memo
This is an Internet Standards Track document.
This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
(IETF). It represents the consensus of the IETF community. It has
received public review and has been approved for publication by the
Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG). Further information on
Internet Standards is available in Section 2 of RFC 7841.
Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8343.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2018 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction ....................................................31.1. Summary of Changes from RFC 7223 ...........................31.2. Terminology ................................................31.3. Tree Diagrams ..............................................42. Objectives ......................................................53. Interfaces Data Model ...........................................53.1. The Interface List .........................................63.2. Interface References .......................................83.3. Interface Layering .........................................84. Relationship to the IF-MIB ......................................95. Interfaces YANG Module .........................................106. IANA Considerations ............................................347. Security Considerations ........................................358. References .....................................................368.1. Normative References ......................................368.2. Informative References ....................................37Appendix A. Example: Ethernet Interface Module ...................38Appendix B. Example: Ethernet Bonding Interface Module ...........39Appendix C. Example: VLAN Interface Module .......................40Appendix D. Example: NETCONF <get-config> Reply ..................41Appendix E. Example: NETCONF <get-data> Reply ....................42Appendix F. Examples: Interface Naming Schemes ...................44F.1. Router with Restricted Interface Names ....................44F.2. Router with Arbitrary Interface Names .....................45F.3. Ethernet Switch with Restricted Interface Names ...........46F.4. Generic Host with Restricted Interface Names ..............47F.5. Generic Host with Arbitrary Interface Names ...............48
Acknowledgments ...................................................49
Author's Address ..................................................49
1. Introduction
This document defines a YANG data model [RFC7950] for the management
of network interfaces. It is expected that interface-type-specific
data models will augment the generic interfaces data model defined in
this document.
Network interfaces are central to the management of many Internet
protocols. Thus, it is important to establish a common data model
for how interfaces are identified, configured, and monitored.
The data model includes configuration data and state data (status
information and counters for the collection of statistics).
This version of the interfaces data model supports the Network
Management Datastore Architecture (NMDA) [RFC8342].
1.1. Summary of Changes from RFC 7223
The "/interfaces-state" subtree with "config false" data nodes is
deprecated. All "config false" data nodes are now present in the
"/interfaces" subtree.
Servers that do not implement NMDA, or that wish to support clients
that do not implement NMDA, MAY implement the deprecated
"/interfaces-state" tree.
1.2. Terminology
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
"OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in
BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all
capitals, as shown here.
The following terms are used within this document:
o system-controlled interface: An interface is said to be system-
controlled if the system creates and deletes the interface
independently of what has been explicitly configured. Examples
are interfaces representing physical hardware that appear and
disappear when hardware (e.g., a line card or hot-pluggable
wireless interface) is added or removed. System-controlled
interfaces may also appear if a certain functionality is enabled
(e.g., a loopback interface might appear if the IP protocol stack
is enabled).
o user-controlled interface: An interface is said to be user-
controlled if the creation of the interface is controlled by
adding explicit interface configuration to the intended
configuration and the removal of the interface is controlled by
removing explicit interface configuration from the intended
configuration. Examples are VLAN interfaces configured on a
system-controlled Ethernet interface.
The following terms are defined in [RFC8342] and are not redefined
here:
o client
o server
o configuration
o system state
o operational state
o intended configuration
o running configuration datastore
o operational state datastore
The following terms are defined in [RFC7950] and are not redefined
here:
o augment
o data model
o data node
1.3. Tree Diagrams
Tree diagrams used in this document follow the notation defined in
[RFC8340].
2. Objectives
This section describes some of the design objectives for the model
presented in Section 5.
o It is recognized that existing implementations will have to map
the interface data model defined in this memo to their proprietary
native data model. To facilitate such mappings, the data model
should be simple.
o The data model should be suitable for new implementations to use
as is, without requiring a mapping to a different native model.
o References to interfaces should be as simple as possible,
preferably by using a single leafref.
o The mapping to ifIndex [RFC2863] used by the Simple Network
Management Protocol (SNMP) to identify interfaces must be clear.
o The model must support interface layering: both (1) simple
layering, where one interface is layered on top of exactly one
other interface, and (2) more complex scenarios, where one
interface results from the aggregation of N other interfaces or
when N interfaces are multiplexed over one other interface.
o The data model should support the pre-provisioning of interface
configuration; that is, it should be possible to configure an
interface whose physical interface hardware is not present on the
device. It is recommended that devices that support dynamic
addition and removal of physical interfaces also support
pre-provisioning.
o The data model should support physical interfaces as well as
logical interfaces.
o The data model should include read-only counters in order to
gather statistics for sent and received octets and packets,
received packets with errors, and packets that could not be sent
due to errors.
3. Interfaces Data Model
This document defines the YANG module "ietf-interfaces", which has
the following structure, excluding the deprecated "/interfaces-state"
subtree:
module: ietf-interfaces
+--rw interfaces
+--rw interface* [name]
+--rw name string
+--rw description? string
+--rw type identityref
+--rw enabled? boolean
+--rw link-up-down-trap-enable? enumeration {if-mib}?
+--ro admin-status enumeration {if-mib}?
+--ro oper-status enumeration
+--ro last-change? yang:date-and-time
+--ro if-index int32 {if-mib}?
+--ro phys-address? yang:phys-address
+--ro higher-layer-if* interface-ref
+--ro lower-layer-if* interface-ref
+--ro speed? yang:gauge64
+--ro statistics
+--ro discontinuity-time yang:date-and-time
+--ro in-octets? yang:counter64
+--ro in-unicast-pkts? yang:counter64
+--ro in-broadcast-pkts? yang:counter64
+--ro in-multicast-pkts? yang:counter64
+--ro in-discards? yang:counter32
+--ro in-errors? yang:counter32
+--ro in-unknown-protos? yang:counter32
+--ro out-octets? yang:counter64
+--ro out-unicast-pkts? yang:counter64
+--ro out-broadcast-pkts? yang:counter64
+--ro out-multicast-pkts? yang:counter64
+--ro out-discards? yang:counter32
+--ro out-errors? yang:counter32
3.1. The Interface List
The data model for interfaces presented in this document uses a flat
list of interfaces ("/interfaces/interface"). Each interface in the
list is identified by its name. Furthermore, each interface has a
mandatory "type" leaf.
The "iana-if-type" module [RFC7224] defines YANG identities for the
interface types in the IANA-maintained "ifType definitions" registry.
It is expected that interface-type-specific data models augment the
interface list and possibly use the "type" leaf to make the
augmentation conditional.
As an example of such an interface-type-specific augmentation,
consider this YANG snippet. For a more complete example, see
Appendix A.
import interfaces {
prefix "if";
}
import iana-if-type {
prefix ianaift;
}
augment "/if:interfaces/if:interface" {
when "if:type = 'ianaift:ethernetCsmacd'";
container ethernet {
leaf duplex {
...
}
}
}
For system-controlled interfaces, the "name" is the device-specific
name of the interface.
If the device supports arbitrarily named user-controlled interfaces,
then the server will advertise the "arbitrary-names" feature. If the
server does not advertise this feature, the names of user-controlled
interfaces MUST match the device's naming scheme. How a client can
learn the naming scheme of such devices is outside the scope of this
document. See Appendices F.1 and F.2 for examples.
When a system-controlled interface is created in the operational
state by the system, the system tries to apply the interface
configuration in the intended configuration with the same name as the
new interface. If no such interface configuration is found, or if
the configured type does not match the real interface type, the
system creates the interface without applying explicit configuration.
When a user-controlled interface is created, the configuration
determines the name of the interface.
Depending on the operating system and the physical attachment point
to which a network interface may be attached or removed, it may be
impossible for an implementation to provide predictable and
consistent names for system-controlled interfaces across insertion/
removal cycles as well as in anticipation of initial insertion. The
ability to provide configurations for such interfaces is therefore
dependent on the implementation and cannot be assumed in all cases.
3.2. Interface References
An interface is identified by its name, which is unique within the
server. This property is captured in the "interface-ref" typedef,
which other YANG modules SHOULD use when they need to reference an
interface.
3.3. Interface Layering
There is no generic mechanism for how an interface is configured to
be layered on top of some other interface. It is expected that
interface-type-specific models define their own data nodes for
interface layering by using "interface-ref" types to reference lower
layers.
Below is an example of a model with such nodes. For a more complete
example, see Appendix B.
import interfaces {
prefix "if";
}
import iana-if-type {
prefix ianaift;
}
augment "/if:interfaces/if:interface" {
when "if:type = 'ianaift:ieee8023adLag'";
leaf-list slave-if {
type if:interface-ref;
must "/if:interfaces/if:interface[if:name = current()]"
+ "/if:type = 'ianaift:ethernetCsmacd'" {
description
"The type of a slave interface must be
'ethernetCsmacd'.";
}
}
// other bonding config params, failover times, etc.
}
While the interface layering is configured in interface-type-specific
models, two generic state data leaf-lists, "higher-layer-if" and
"lower-layer-if", represent a read-only view of the interface
layering hierarchy.
4. Relationship to the IF-MIB
If the device implements the IF-MIB [RFC2863], each entry in the
"/interfaces/interface" list in the operational state is typically
mapped to one ifEntry. The "if-index" leaf MUST contain the value of
the corresponding ifEntry's ifIndex.
In most cases, the "name" of an "/interfaces/interface" entry is
mapped to ifName. The IF-MIB allows two different ifEntries to have
the same ifName. Devices that support this feature and also support
the data model defined in this document cannot have a 1-1 mapping
between the "name" leaf and ifName.
The configured "description" of an "interface" has traditionally been
mapped to ifAlias in some implementations. This document allows this
mapping, but implementers should be aware of the differences in the
value space and persistence for these objects. See the YANG module
definition of the leaf "description" in Section 5 for details.
The IF-MIB also defines the writable object ifPromiscuousMode. Since
this object typically is not implemented as a configuration object by
SNMP agents, it is not mapped to the "ietf-interfaces" module.
The ifMtu object from the IF-MIB is not mapped to the
"ietf-interfaces" module. It is expected that interface-type-
specific YANG modules provide interface-type-specific MTU leafs by
augmenting the "ietf-interfaces" model.
There are a number of counters in the IF-MIB that exist in two
versions: one with 32 bits and one with 64 bits. The 64-bit versions
were added to support high-speed interfaces with a data rate greater
than 20,000,000 bits/second. Today's implementations generally
support such high-speed interfaces; hence, only 64-bit counters are
provided in this data model. Note that the server that implements
this module and an SNMP agent may differ in the time granularity in
which they provide access to the counters. For example, it is common
that SNMP implementations cache counter values for some time.
The objects ifDescr and ifConnectorPresent from the IF-MIB are not
mapped to the "ietf-interfaces" module.
The following table lists the YANG data nodes with corresponding
objects in the IF-MIB.