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IETF RFC 8040
Last modified on Wednesday, February 1st, 2017
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Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) A. Bierman
Request for Comments: 8040 YumaWorks
Category: Standards Track M. Bjorklund
ISSN: 2070-1721 Tail-f Systems
K. Watsen
Juniper Networks
January 2017
RESTCONF Protocol
 Abstract
This document describes an HTTP-based protocol that provides a
programmatic interface for accessing data defined in YANG, using the
datastore concepts defined in the Network Configuration Protocol
(NETCONF).
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
http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/RFC 8040.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2017 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
(http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
publication of this document. Please review these documents
carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must
include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
described in the Simplified BSD License.
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 1 
RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
Table of Contents
1. Introduction ....................................................5
1.1. Terminology ................................................5
1.1.1. NETCONF .............................................6
1.1.2. HTTP ................................................6
1.1.3. YANG ................................................7
1.1.4. NETCONF Notifications ...............................7
1.1.5. Terms ...............................................8
1.1.6. URI Template and Examples ..........................10
1.1.7. Tree Diagrams ......................................11
1.2. Subset of NETCONF Functionality ...........................11
1.3. Data-Model-Driven API .....................................12
1.4. Coexistence with NETCONF ..................................13
1.5. RESTCONF Extensibility ....................................14
2. Transport Protocol .............................................15
2.1. Integrity and Confidentiality .............................15
2.2. HTTPS with X.509v3 Certificates ...........................16
2.3. Certificate Validation ....................................16
2.4. Authenticated Server Identity .............................16
2.5. Authenticated Client Identity .............................16
3. Resources ......................................................17
3.1. Root Resource Discovery ...................................18
3.2. RESTCONF Media Types ......................................20
3.3. API Resource ..............................................20
3.3.1. {+restconf}/data ...................................21
3.3.2. {+restconf}/operations .............................22
3.3.3. {+restconf}/yang-library-version ...................22
3.4. Datastore Resource ........................................23
3.4.1. Edit Collision Prevention ..........................23
3.5. Data Resource .............................................24
3.5.1. Timestamp ..........................................25
3.5.2. Entity-Tag .........................................25
3.5.3. Encoding Data Resource Identifiers in the
Request URI ........................................26
3.5.4. Default Handling ...................................29
3.6. Operation Resource ........................................30
3.6.1. Encoding Operation Resource Input Parameters .......31
3.6.2. Encoding Operation Resource Output Parameters ......36
3.6.3. Encoding Operation Resource Errors .................38
3.7. Schema Resource ...........................................40
3.8. Event Stream Resource .....................................41
3.9. "errors" YANG Data Template ...............................41
4. RESTCONF Methods ...............................................42
4.1. OPTIONS ...................................................43
4.2. HEAD ......................................................43
4.3. GET .......................................................43
4.4. POST ......................................................45
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RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
4.4.1. Create Resource Mode ...............................45
4.4.2. Invoke Operation Mode ..............................47
4.5. PUT .......................................................48
4.6. PATCH .....................................................50
4.6.1. Plain Patch ........................................50
4.7. DELETE ....................................................51
4.8. Query Parameters ..........................................52
4.8.1. The "content" Query Parameter ......................54
4.8.2. The "depth" Query Parameter ........................54
4.8.3. The "fields" Query Parameter .......................55
4.8.4. The "filter" Query Parameter .......................56
4.8.5. The "insert" Query Parameter .......................57
4.8.6. The "point" Query Parameter ........................57
4.8.7. The "start-time" Query Parameter ...................58
4.8.8. The "stop-time" Query Parameter ....................58
4.8.9. The "with-defaults" Query Parameter ................59
5. Messages .......................................................60
5.1. Request URI Structure .....................................61
5.2. Message Encoding ..........................................62
5.3. RESTCONF Metadata .........................................63
5.3.1. XML Metadata Encoding Example ......................64
5.3.2. JSON Metadata Encoding Example .....................65
5.4. Return Status .............................................65
5.5. Message Caching ...........................................66
6. Notifications ..................................................66
6.1. Server Support ............................................66
6.2. Event Streams .............................................67
6.3. Subscribing to Receive Notifications ......................68
6.3.1. NETCONF Event Stream ...............................70
6.4. Receiving Event Notifications .............................70
7. Error Reporting ................................................73
7.1. Error Response Message ....................................75
8. RESTCONF Module ................................................79
9. RESTCONF Monitoring ............................................85
9.1. restconf-state/capabilities ...............................86
9.1.1. Query Parameter URIs ...............................87
9.1.2. The "defaults" Protocol Capability URI .............87
9.2. restconf-state/streams ....................................88
9.3. RESTCONF Monitoring Module ................................89
10. YANG Module Library ...........................................93
10.1. modules-state/module .....................................93
11. IANA Considerations ...........................................94
11.1. The "restconf" Relation Type .............................94
11.2. Registrations for New URIs and YANG Modules ..............94
11.3. Media Types ..............................................95
11.3.1. Media Type "application/yang-data+xml" ............95
11.3.2. Media Type "application/yang-data+json" ...........96
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RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
11.4. RESTCONF Capability URNs .................................97
11.5. Registration of "restconf" URN Sub-namespace .............98
12. Security Considerations .......................................99
13. References ...................................................100
13.1. Normative References ....................................100
13.2. Informative References ..................................104
Appendix A. Example YANG Module ..................................105
A.1. "example-jukebox" YANG Module .............................106
Appendix B. RESTCONF Message Examples ............................112
B.1. Resource Retrieval Examples ...............................112
B.1.1. Retrieve the Top-Level API Resource ...................112
B.1.2. Retrieve the Server Module Information ................114
B.1.3. Retrieve the Server Capability Information ............117
B.2. Data Resource and Datastore Resource Examples .............118
B.2.1. Create New Data Resources .............................118
B.2.2. Detect Datastore Resource Entity-Tag Change ...........119
B.2.3. Edit a Datastore Resource .............................121
B.2.4. Replace a Datastore Resource ..........................122
B.2.5. Edit a Data Resource ..................................122
B.3. Query Parameter Examples ..................................123
B.3.1. "content" Parameter ...................................123
B.3.2. "depth" Parameter .....................................126
B.3.3. "fields" Parameter ....................................130
B.3.4. "insert" Parameter ....................................132
B.3.5. "point" Parameter .....................................133
B.3.6. "filter" Parameter ....................................134
B.3.7. "start-time" Parameter ................................134
B.3.8. "stop-time" Parameter .................................135
B.3.9. "with-defaults" Parameter .............................135
Acknowledgements .................................................137
Authors' Addresses ...............................................137
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RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
1. Introduction
There is a need for standard mechanisms to allow Web applications to
access the configuration data, state data, data-model-specific Remote
Procedure Call (RPC) operations, and event notifications within a
networking device, in a modular and extensible manner.
This document defines a protocol based on HTTP [RFC 7230] called
"RESTCONF", for configuring data defined in YANG version 1 [RFC 6020]
or YANG version 1.1 [RFC 7950], using the datastore concepts defined
in the Network Configuration Protocol (NETCONF) [RFC 6241].
NETCONF defines configuration datastores and a set of Create, Read,
Update, Delete (CRUD) operations that can be used to access these
datastores. NETCONF also defines a protocol for invoking these
operations. The YANG language defines the syntax and semantics of
datastore content, configuration, state data, RPC operations, and
event notifications.
RESTCONF uses HTTP methods to provide CRUD operations on a conceptual
datastore containing YANG-defined data, which is compatible with a
server that implements NETCONF datastores.
If a RESTCONF server is co-located with a NETCONF server, then there
are protocol interactions with the NETCONF protocol; these
interactions are described in Section 1.4. The RESTCONF server MAY
provide access to specific datastores using operation resources, as
described in Section 3.6. The RESTCONF protocol does not specify any
mandatory operation resources. The semantics of each operation
resource determine if and how datastores are accessed.
Configuration data and state data are exposed as resources that can
be retrieved with the GET method. Resources representing
configuration data can be modified with the DELETE, PATCH, POST, and
PUT methods. Data is encoded with either XML [W3C.REC-xml-20081126]
or JSON [RFC 7159].
Data-model-specific RPC operations defined with the YANG "rpc" or
"action" statements can be invoked with the POST method. Data-model-
specific event notifications defined with the YANG "notification"
statement can be accessed.
1.1. Terminology
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC 2119].
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1.1.1. NETCONF
The following terms are defined in [RFC 6241]:
o candidate configuration datastore
o configuration data
o datastore
o configuration datastore
o running configuration datastore
o startup configuration datastore
o state data
o user
1.1.2. HTTP
The following terms are defined in [RFC 3986]:
o fragment
o path
o query
The following terms are defined in [RFC 7230]:
o header field
o message-body
o request-line
o request URI
o status-line
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The following terms are defined in [RFC 7231]:
o method
o request
o resource
The following term is defined in [RFC 7232]:
o entity-tag
1.1.3. YANG
The following terms are defined in [RFC 7950]:
o action
o container
o data node
o key leaf
o leaf
o leaf-list
o list
o mandatory node
o ordered-by user
o presence container
o RPC operation
o top-level data node
1.1.4. NETCONF Notifications
The following term is defined in [RFC 5277]:
o notification replay
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RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
1.1.5. Terms
The following terms are used within this document:
o API resource: the resource that models the RESTCONF root resource
and the sub-resources to access YANG-defined content. It is
defined with the YANG data template named "yang-api" in the
"ietf-restconf" module.
o client: a RESTCONF client.
o data resource: a resource that models a YANG data node. It is
defined with YANG data definition statements.
o datastore resource: the resource that models a programmatic
interface using NETCONF datastore concepts. By default, RESTCONF
methods access a unified view of the underlying datastore
implementation on the server. It is defined as a sub-resource
within the API resource.
o edit operation: a RESTCONF operation on a data resource using
either a POST, PUT, PATCH, or DELETE method. This is not the same
as the NETCONF edit operation (i.e., one of the values for the
"nc:operation" attribute: "create", "replace", "merge", "delete",
or "remove").
o event stream resource: a resource that represents an SSE
(Server-Sent Events) event stream. The content consists of text
using the media type "text/event-stream", as defined by the SSE
specification [W3C.REC-eventsource-20150203]. Event stream
contents are described in Section 3.8.
o media type: HTTP uses Internet media types [RFC 2046] in the
"Content-Type" and "Accept" header fields in order to provide open
and extensible data typing and type negotiation.
o NETCONF client: a client that implements the NETCONF protocol.
Called "client" in [RFC 6241].
o NETCONF server: a server that implements the NETCONF protocol.
Called "server" in [RFC 6241].
o operation: the conceptual RESTCONF operation for a message,
derived from the HTTP method, request URI, header fields, and
message-body.
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RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
o operation resource: a resource that models a data-model-specific
operation that is in turn defined with a YANG "rpc" or "action"
statement. It is invoked with the POST method.
o patch: a PATCH method on the target datastore or data resource.
The media type of the message-body content will identify the patch
type in use.
o plain patch: a specific media type for use with the PATCH method;
see Section 4.6.1. It can be used for simple "merge" edit
operations. It is specified by a request Content-Type of
"application/yang-data+xml" or "application/yang-data+json".
o query parameter: a parameter (and its value, if any), encoded
within the query component of the request URI.
o resource type: one of the RESTCONF resource classes defined in
this document. One of "api", "datastore", "data", "operation",
"schema", or "event stream".
o RESTCONF capability: an optional RESTCONF protocol feature that is
advertised by a particular server if the feature is supported on
that server. The feature is identified by an IANA-registered
NETCONF Capability URI and advertised with an entry in the
"capability" leaf-list defined in Section 9.3.
o RESTCONF client: a client that implements the RESTCONF protocol.
o RESTCONF server: a server that implements the RESTCONF protocol.
o retrieval request: a request using the GET or HEAD methods.
o schema resource: a resource that is used by the client to retrieve
a YANG schema with the GET method. It has a representation with
the media type "application/yang".
o server: a RESTCONF server.
o "stream" list: the set of data resource instances that describe
the event stream resources available from the server. This
information is defined in the "ietf-restconf-monitoring" module as
the "stream" list. It can be retrieved using the target resource
"{+restconf}/data/ietf-restconf-monitoring:restconf-state/streams/
stream". The "stream" list contains information about each
stream, such as the URL to retrieve the event stream data.
o stream resource: an event stream resource.
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RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
o target resource: the resource that is associated with a particular
message, identified by the "path" component of the request URI.
o yang-data extension: a YANG external statement that conforms to
the "yang-data" extension statement, found in Section 8. The
yang-data extension is used to define YANG data structures that
are meant to be used as YANG data templates. These data
structures are not intended to be implemented as part of a
configuration datastore or as an operational state within the
server, so normal YANG data definition statements cannot be used.
o YANG data template: a schema for modeling protocol message
components as conceptual data structures using YANG. This allows
the messages to be defined in an encoding-independent manner.
Each YANG data template is defined with the "yang-data" extension,
found in Section 8. Representations of instances conforming to a
particular YANG data template can be defined for YANG. The XML
representation is defined in YANG version 1.1 [RFC 7950] and
supported with the "application/yang-data+xml" media type. The
JSON representation is defined in "JSON Encoding of Data Modeled
with YANG" [RFC 7951] and supported with the
"application/yang-data+json" media type.
1.1.6. URI Template and Examples
Throughout this document, the URI template [RFC 6570] syntax
"{+restconf}" is used to refer to the RESTCONF root resource outside
of an example. See Section 3.1 for details.
For simplicity, all of the examples in this document use "/restconf"
as the discovered RESTCONF API root path. Many of the examples
throughout the document are based on the "example-jukebox" YANG
module defined in Appendix A.1.
Many protocol header lines and message-body text within examples
throughout the document are split into multiple lines for display
purposes only. When a line ends with a backslash ("\") as the last
character, the line is wrapped for display purposes. It is to be
considered to be joined to the next line by deleting the backslash,
the following line break, and the leading whitespace of the
next line.
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RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
1.1.7. Tree Diagrams
A simplified graphical representation of the data model is used in
this document. The meanings of the symbols in these diagrams are as
follows:
o Brackets "[" and "]" enclose list keys.
o Abbreviations before data node names: "rw" means configuration
data (read-write), "ro" means state data (read-only), and "x"
means operation resource (executable).
o Symbols after data node names: "?" means an optional node, "!"
means a presence container, and "*" denotes a list and leaf-list.
o Parentheses enclose choice and case nodes, and case nodes are also
marked with a colon (":").
o Ellipsis ("...") stands for contents of subtrees that are not
shown.
1.2. Subset of NETCONF Functionality
RESTCONF does not need to mirror the full functionality of the
NETCONF protocol, but it does need to be compatible with NETCONF.
RESTCONF achieves this by implementing a subset of the interaction
capabilities provided by the NETCONF protocol -- for instance, by
eliminating datastores and explicit locking.
RESTCONF uses HTTP methods to implement the equivalent of NETCONF
operations, enabling basic CRUD operations on a hierarchy of
conceptual resources.
The HTTP POST, PUT, PATCH, and DELETE methods are used to edit data
resources represented by YANG data models. These basic edit
operations allow the running configuration to be altered by a
RESTCONF client.
RESTCONF is not intended to replace NETCONF, but rather to provide an
HTTP interface that follows Representational State Transfer (REST)
principles [REST-Dissertation] and is compatible with the NETCONF
datastore model.
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RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
1.3. Data-Model-Driven API
RESTCONF combines the simplicity of HTTP with the predictability and
automation potential of a schema-driven API. Knowing the YANG
modules used by the server, a client can derive all management
resource URLs and the proper structure of all RESTCONF requests and
responses. This strategy obviates the need for responses provided by
the server to contain Hypermedia as the Engine of Application State
(HATEOAS) links, originally described in Roy Fielding's doctoral
dissertation [REST-Dissertation], because the client can determine
the links it needs from the YANG modules.
RESTCONF utilizes the YANG library [RFC 7895] to allow a client to
discover the YANG module conformance information for the server, in
case the client wants to use it.
The server can optionally support the retrieval of the YANG modules
it uses, as identified in its YANG library. See Section 3.7 for
details.
The URIs for data-model-specific RPC operations and datastore content
are predictable, based on the YANG module definitions.
The RESTCONF protocol operates on a conceptual datastore defined with
the YANG data modeling language. The server lists each YANG module
it supports using the "ietf-yang-library" YANG module defined in
[RFC 7895]. The server MUST implement the "ietf-yang-library" module,
which MUST identify all of the YANG modules used by the server, in
the "modules-state/module" list. The conceptual datastore contents,
data-model-specific RPC operations, and event notifications are
identified by this set of YANG modules.
The classification of data as configuration data or non-configuration
data is derived from the YANG "config" statement. Behavior related
to the ordering of data is derived from the YANG "ordered-by"
statement. Non-configuration data is also called "state data".
The RESTCONF datastore editing model is simple and direct, similar to
the behavior of the :writable-running capability in NETCONF. Each
RESTCONF edit of a data resource within the datastore resource is
activated upon successful completion of the edit.
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RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
1.4. Coexistence with NETCONF
RESTCONF can be implemented on a device that supports the NETCONF
protocol.
The following figure shows the system components if a RESTCONF server
is co-located with a NETCONF server:
+-----------+ +-----------------+
| Web app | <-------> | |
+-----------+ RESTCONF | network device |
| |
+-----------+ | +-----------+ |
| NETCONF | <-------> | | datastore | |
| Client | NETCONF | | | |
+-----------+ | +-----------+ |
+-----------------+
The following figure shows the system components if a RESTCONF server
is implemented in a device that does not have a NETCONF server:
+-----------+ +-----------------+
| Web app | <-------> | |
+-----------+ RESTCONF | network device |
| |
+-----------------+
There are interactions between the NETCONF protocol and RESTCONF
protocol related to edit operations. It is possible that locks are
in use on a RESTCONF server, even though RESTCONF cannot manipulate
locks. In such a case, the RESTCONF protocol will not be granted
write access to data resources within a datastore.
If the NETCONF server supports :writable-running, all edits to
configuration nodes in {+restconf}/data are performed in the running
configuration datastore. The URI template "{+restconf}" is defined
in Section 1.1.6.
Otherwise, if the device supports :candidate, all edits to
configuration nodes in {+restconf}/data are performed in the
candidate configuration datastore. The candidate MUST be
automatically committed to running immediately after each successful
edit. Any edits from other sources that are in the candidate
datastore will also be committed. If a confirmed commit procedure is
in progress by any NETCONF client, then any new commit will act as
the confirming commit. If the NETCONF server is expecting a
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RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
"persist-id" parameter to complete the confirmed commit procedure,
then the RESTCONF edit operation MUST fail with a "409 Conflict"
status-line. The error-tag "in-use" is used in this case.
If the NETCONF server supports :startup, the RESTCONF server MUST
automatically update the non-volatile startup configuration
datastore, after the "running" datastore has been altered as a
consequence of a RESTCONF edit operation.
If a datastore that would be modified by a RESTCONF operation has an
active lock from a NETCONF client, the RESTCONF edit operation MUST
fail with a "409 Conflict" status-line. The error-tag value "in-use"
is returned in this case.
1.5. RESTCONF Extensibility
There are two extensibility mechanisms built into RESTCONF:
o protocol version
o optional capabilities
This document defines version 1 of the RESTCONF protocol. If a
future version of this protocol is defined, then that document will
specify how the new version of RESTCONF is identified. It is
expected that a different RESTCONF root resource will be used, which
will be located using a different link relation (see Section 3.1).
The server will advertise all protocol versions that it supports in
its host-meta data.
In this example, the server supports both RESTCONF version 1 and a
fictitious version 2.
The client might send the following:
GET /.well-known/host-meta HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Accept: application/xrd+xml
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RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
The server might respond as follows:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/xrd+xml
Content-Length: nnn
<XRD xmlns='http://docs.oasis-open.org/ns/xri/xrd-1.0'>
<Link rel='restconf' href='/restconf'/>
<Link rel='restconf2' href='/restconf2'/>
</XRD>
RESTCONF also supports a server-defined list of optional
capabilities, which are listed by a server using the
"ietf-restconf-monitoring" module defined in Section 9.3. This
document defines several query parameters in Section 4.8. Each
optional parameter has a corresponding capability URI, defined in
Section 9.1.1, that is advertised by the server if supported.
The "capability" leaf-list can identify any sort of server extension.
Currently, this extension mechanism is used to identify optional
query parameters that are supported, but it is not limited to that
purpose. For example, the "defaults" URI defined in Section 9.1.2
specifies a mandatory URI identifying server default-handling
behavior.
A new sub-resource type could be identified with a capability if it
is optional to implement. Mandatory protocol features and new
resource types require a new revision of the RESTCONF protocol.
2. Transport Protocol
2.1. Integrity and Confidentiality
HTTP [RFC 7230] is an application-layer protocol that may be layered
on any reliable transport-layer protocol. RESTCONF is defined on top
of HTTP, but due to the sensitive nature of the information conveyed,
RESTCONF requires that the transport-layer protocol provide both data
integrity and confidentiality. A RESTCONF server MUST support the
Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol [RFC 5246] and SHOULD adhere
to [RFC 7525]. The RESTCONF protocol MUST NOT be used over HTTP
without using the TLS protocol.
RESTCONF does not require a specific version of HTTP. However, it is
RECOMMENDED that at least HTTP/1.1 [RFC 7230] be supported by all
implementations.
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RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
2.2. HTTPS with X.509v3 Certificates
Given the nearly ubiquitous support for HTTP over TLS [RFC 7230],
RESTCONF implementations MUST support the "https" URI scheme, which
has the IANA-assigned default port 443.
RESTCONF servers MUST present an X.509v3-based certificate when
establishing a TLS connection with a RESTCONF client. The use of
X.509v3-based certificates is consistent with NETCONF over TLS
[RFC 7589].
2.3. Certificate Validation
The RESTCONF client MUST either (1) use X.509 certificate path
validation [RFC 5280] to verify the integrity of the RESTCONF server's
TLS certificate or (2) match the server's TLS certificate with a
certificate obtained by a trusted mechanism (e.g., a pinned
certificate). If X.509 certificate path validation fails and the
presented X.509 certificate does not match a certificate obtained by
a trusted mechanism, the connection MUST be terminated, as described
in Section 7.2.1 of [RFC 5246].
2.4. Authenticated Server Identity
The RESTCONF client MUST check the identity of the server according
to Section 3.1 of [RFC 2818].
2.5. Authenticated Client Identity
The RESTCONF server MUST authenticate client access to any protected
resource. If the RESTCONF client is not authenticated, the server
SHOULD send an HTTP response with a "401 Unauthorized" status-line,
as defined in Section 3.1 of [RFC 7235]. The error-tag value
"access-denied" is used in this case.
To authenticate a client, a RESTCONF server SHOULD require
authentication based on TLS client certificates (Section 7.4.6 of
[RFC 5246]). If certificate-based authentication is not feasible
(e.g., because one cannot build the required PKI for clients), then
HTTP authentication MAY be used. In the latter case, one of the HTTP
authentication schemes defined in the "Hypertext Transfer Protocol
(HTTP) Authentication Scheme Registry" (Section 5.1 in [RFC 7235])
MUST be used.
A server MAY also support the combination of both client certificates
and an HTTP client authentication scheme, with the determination of
how to process this combination left as an implementation decision.
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RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
The RESTCONF client identity derived from the authentication
mechanism used is hereafter known as the "RESTCONF username" and
subject to the NETCONF Access Control Model (NACM) [RFC 6536]. When a
client certificate is presented, the RESTCONF username MUST be
derived using the algorithm defined in Section 7 of [RFC 7589]. For
all other cases, when HTTP authentication is used, the RESTCONF
username MUST be provided by the HTTP authentication scheme used.
3. Resources
The RESTCONF protocol operates on a hierarchy of resources, starting
with the top-level API resource itself (Section 3.1). Each resource
represents a manageable component within the device.
A resource can be considered as a collection of data and the set of
allowed methods on that data. It can contain nested child resources.
The child resource types and the methods allowed on them are specific
to the data model.
A resource has a representation associated with a media type
identifier, as represented by the "Content-Type" header field in the
HTTP response message. A resource has one or more representations,
each associated with a different media type. When a representation
of a resource is sent in an HTTP message, the associated media type
is given in the "Content-Type" header. A resource can contain zero
or more nested resources. A resource can be created and deleted
independently of its parent resource, as long as the parent resource
exists.
The RESTCONF resources are accessed via a set of URIs defined in this
document. The set of YANG modules supported by the server will
determine the data-model-specific RPC operations, top-level data
nodes, and event notification messages supported by the server.
The RESTCONF protocol does not include a data resource discovery
mechanism. Instead, the definitions within the YANG modules
advertised by the server are used to construct an RPC operation or
data resource identifier.
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 17
RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
3.1. Root Resource Discovery
In line with the best practices defined by [RFC 7320], RESTCONF
enables deployments to specify where the RESTCONF API is located.
When first connecting to a RESTCONF server, a RESTCONF client MUST
determine the root of the RESTCONF API. There MUST be exactly one
"restconf" link relation returned by the device.
The client discovers this by getting the "/.well-known/host-meta"
resource ([RFC 6415]) and using the <Link> element containing the
"restconf" attribute:
Example returning /restconf:
The client might send the following:
GET /.well-known/host-meta HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Accept: application/xrd+xml
The server might respond as follows:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/xrd+xml
Content-Length: nnn
<XRD xmlns='http://docs.oasis-open.org/ns/xri/xrd-1.0'>
<Link rel='restconf' href='/restconf'/>
</XRD>
After discovering the RESTCONF API root, the client MUST use this
value as the initial part of the path in the request URI, in any
subsequent request for a RESTCONF resource.
In this example, the client would use the path "/restconf" as the
RESTCONF root resource.
Example returning /top/restconf:
The client might send the following:
GET /.well-known/host-meta HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Accept: application/xrd+xml
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The server might respond as follows:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/xrd+xml
Content-Length: nnn
<XRD xmlns='http://docs.oasis-open.org/ns/xri/xrd-1.0'>
<Link rel='restconf' href='/top/restconf'/>
</XRD>
In this example, the client would use the path "/top/restconf" as the
RESTCONF root resource.
The client can now determine the operation resources supported by the
server. In this example, a custom "play" operation is supported:
The client might send the following:
GET /top/restconf/operations HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Accept: application/yang-data+json
The server might respond as follows:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
Server: example-server
Cache-Control: no-cache
Last-Modified: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 16:00:14 GMT
Content-Type: application/yang-data+json
{ "operations" : { "example-jukebox:play" : [null] } }
If the Extensible Resource Descriptor (XRD) contains more than one
link relation, then only the relation named "restconf" is relevant to
this specification.
Note that any given endpoint (host:port) can only support one
RESTCONF server, due to the root resource discovery mechanism. This
limits the number of RESTCONF servers that can run concurrently on a
host, since each server must use a different port.
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3.2. RESTCONF Media Types
The RESTCONF protocol defines two application-specific media types to
identify representations of data that conforms to the schema for a
particular YANG construct.
This document defines media types for XML and JSON serialization
of YANG data. Other documents MAY define other media types for
different serializations of YANG data. The
"application/yang-data+xml" media type is defined in Section 11.3.1.
The "application/yang-data+json" media type is defined in
Section 11.3.2.
3.3. API Resource
The API resource contains the RESTCONF root resource for the RESTCONF
datastore and operation resources. It is the top-level resource
located at {+restconf} and has the media type
"application/yang-data+xml" or "application/yang-data+json".
YANG tree diagram for an API resource:
+---- {+restconf}
+---- data
| ...
+---- operations?
| ...
+--ro yang-library-version string
The "yang-api" YANG data template is defined using the "yang-data"
extension in the "ietf-restconf" module, found in Section 8. It
specifies the structure and syntax of the conceptual child resources
within the API resource.
The API resource can be retrieved with the GET method.
The {+restconf} root resource name used in responses representing the
root of the "ietf-restconf" module MUST identify the "ietf-restconf"
YANG module. For example, a request to GET the root resource
"/restconf" in JSON format will return a representation of the API
resource named "ietf-restconf:restconf".
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This resource has the following child resources:
+----------------------+---------------------------------+
| Child Resource | Description |
+----------------------+---------------------------------+
| data | Contains all data resources |
| operations | Data-model-specific operations |
| yang-library-version | "ietf-yang-library" module date |
+----------------------+---------------------------------+
RESTCONF API Resource
3.3.1. {+restconf}/data
This mandatory resource represents the combined configuration and
state data resources that can be accessed by a client. It cannot be
created or deleted by the client. The datastore resource type is
defined in Section 3.4.
Example:
This example request by the client would retrieve only the
non-configuration data nodes that exist within the "library"
resource, using the "content" query parameter (see Section 4.8.1).
GET /restconf/data/example-jukebox:jukebox/library\
?content=nonconfig HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Accept: application/yang-data+xml
The server might respond as follows:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
Server: example-server
Cache-Control: no-cache
Content-Type: application/yang-data+xml
<library xmlns="https://example.com/ns/example-jukebox">
<artist-count>42</artist-count>
<album-count>59</album-count>
<song-count>374</song-count>
</library>
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RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
3.3.2. {+restconf}/operations
This optional resource is a container that provides access to the
data-model-specific RPC operations supported by the server. The
server MAY omit this resource if no data-model-specific RPC
operations are advertised.
Any data-model-specific RPC operations defined in the YANG modules
advertised by the server MUST be available as child nodes of this
resource.
The access point for each RPC operation is represented as an empty
leaf. If an operation resource is retrieved, the empty leaf
representation is returned by the server.
Operation resources are defined in Section 3.6.
3.3.3. {+restconf}/yang-library-version
This mandatory leaf identifies the revision date of the
"ietf-yang-library" YANG module that is implemented by this server.
In the example that follows, the revision date for the module version
found in [RFC 7895] is used.
Example:
GET /restconf/yang-library-version HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Accept: application/yang-data+xml
The server might respond as follows:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
Server: example-server
Cache-Control: no-cache
Content-Type: application/yang-data+xml
<yang-library-version
xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:yang:ietf-restconf">\
2016-06-21\
</yang-library-version>
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3.4. Datastore Resource
The "{+restconf}/data" subtree represents the datastore resource,
which is a collection of configuration data and state data nodes.
This resource type is an abstraction of the system's underlying
datastore implementation. The client uses it to edit and retrieve
data resources, as the conceptual root of all configuration and state
data that is present on the device.
Configuration edit transaction management and configuration
persistence are handled by the server and not controlled by the
client. A datastore resource can be written directly with the POST
and PATCH methods. Each RESTCONF edit of a datastore resource is
saved to non-volatile storage by the server if the server supports
non-volatile storage of configuration data, as described in
Section 1.4.
If the datastore resource represented by the "{+restconf}/data"
subtree is retrieved, then the datastore and its contents are
returned by the server. The datastore is represented by a node named
"data" in the "ietf-restconf" module namespace.
3.4.1. Edit Collision Prevention
Two edit collision detection and prevention mechanisms are provided
in RESTCONF for the datastore resource: a timestamp and an
entity-tag. Any change to configuration data resources updates the
timestamp and entity-tag of the datastore resource. In addition, the
RESTCONF server MUST return an error if the datastore is locked by an
external source (e.g., NETCONF server).
3.4.1.1. Timestamp
The last change time is maintained, and the "Last-Modified" header
field (Section 2.2 of [RFC 7232]) is returned in the response for a
retrieval request. The "If-Unmodified-Since" header field
(Section 3.4 of [RFC 7232]) can be used in edit operation requests to
cause the server to reject the request if the resource has been
modified since the specified timestamp.
The server SHOULD maintain a last-modified timestamp for the
datastore resource, defined in Section 3.4. This timestamp is only
affected by configuration child data resources and MUST NOT be
updated for changes to non-configuration child data resources.
Last-modified timestamps for data resources are discussed in
Section 3.5.
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RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
If the RESTCONF server is co-located with a NETCONF server, then the
last-modified timestamp MUST be for the "running" datastore. Note
that it is possible that other protocols can cause the last-modified
timestamp to be updated. Such mechanisms are out of scope for this
document.
3.4.1.2. Entity-Tag
The server MUST maintain a unique opaque entity-tag for the datastore
resource and MUST return it in the "ETag" (Section 2.3 of [RFC 7232])
header in the response for a retrieval request. The client MAY use
an "If-Match" header in edit operation requests to cause the server
to reject the request if the resource entity-tag does not match the
specified value.
The server MUST maintain an entity-tag for the top-level
{+restconf}/data resource. This entity-tag is only affected by
configuration data resources and MUST NOT be updated for changes to
non-configuration data. Entity-tags for data resources are discussed
in Section 3.5. Note that each representation (e.g., XML vs. JSON)
requires a different entity-tag.
If the RESTCONF server is co-located with a NETCONF server, then this
entity-tag MUST be for the "running" datastore. Note that it is
possible that other protocols can cause the entity-tag to be updated.
Such mechanisms are out of scope for this document.
3.4.1.3. Update Procedure
Changes to configuration data resources affect the timestamp and
entity-tag for that resource, any ancestor data resources, and the
datastore resource.
For example, an edit to disable an interface might be done by setting
the leaf "/interfaces/interface/enabled" to "false". The "enabled"
data node and its ancestors (one "interface" list instance, and the
"interfaces" container) are considered to be changed. The datastore
is considered to be changed when any top-level configuration data
node is changed (e.g., "interfaces").
3.5. Data Resource
A data resource represents a YANG data node that is a descendant node
of a datastore resource. Each YANG-defined data node can be uniquely
targeted by the request-line of an HTTP method. Containers, leafs,
leaf-list entries, list entries, anydata nodes, and anyxml nodes are
data resources.
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RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
The representation maintained for each data resource is the
YANG-defined subtree for that node. HTTP methods on a data resource
affect both the targeted data node and all of its descendants,
if any.
A data resource can be retrieved with the GET method. Data resources
are accessed via the "{+restconf}/data" URI. This subtree is used to
retrieve and edit data resources.
3.5.1. Timestamp
For configuration data resources, the server MAY maintain a
last-modified timestamp for the resource and return the
"Last-Modified" header field when it is retrieved with the GET or
HEAD methods.
The "Last-Modified" header field can be used by a RESTCONF client in
subsequent requests, within the "If-Modified-Since" and
"If-Unmodified-Since" header fields.
If maintained, the resource timestamp MUST be set to the current time
whenever the resource or any configuration resource within the
resource is altered. If not maintained, then the resource timestamp
for the datastore MUST be used instead. If the RESTCONF server is
co-located with a NETCONF server, then the last-modified timestamp
for a configuration data resource MUST represent the instance within
the "running" datastore.
This timestamp is only affected by configuration data resources and
MUST NOT be updated for changes to non-configuration data.
3.5.2. Entity-Tag
For configuration data resources, the server SHOULD maintain a
resource entity-tag for each resource and return the "ETag" header
field when it is retrieved as the target resource with the GET or
HEAD methods. If maintained, the resource entity-tag MUST be updated
whenever the resource or any configuration resource within the
resource is altered. If not maintained, then the resource entity-tag
for the datastore MUST be used instead.
The "ETag" header field can be used by a RESTCONF client in
subsequent requests, within the "If-Match" and "If-None-Match" header
fields.
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RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
This entity-tag is only affected by configuration data resources and
MUST NOT be updated for changes to non-configuration data. If the
RESTCONF server is co-located with a NETCONF server, then the
entity-tag for a configuration data resource MUST represent the
instance within the "running" datastore.
3.5.3. Encoding Data Resource Identifiers in the Request URI
In YANG, data nodes can be identified with an absolute XPath
expression, defined in [XPath], starting from the document root to
the target resource. In RESTCONF, URI-encoded path expressions are
used instead.
A predictable location for a data resource is important, since
applications will code to the YANG data model module, which uses
static naming and defines an absolute path location for all data
nodes.
A RESTCONF data resource identifier is encoded from left to right,
starting with the top-level data node, according to the "api-path"
rule in Section 3.5.3.1. The node name of each ancestor of the
target resource node is encoded in order, ending with the node name
for the target resource. If a node in the path is defined in a
module other than its parent node or its parent is the datastore,
then the module name followed by a colon character (":") MUST be
prepended to the node name in the resource identifier. See
Section 3.5.3.1 for details.
If a data node in the path expression is a YANG leaf-list node, then
the leaf-list value MUST be encoded according to the following rules:
o The identifier for the leaf-list MUST be encoded using one path
segment [RFC 3986].
o The path segment is constructed by having the leaf-list name,
followed by an "=" character, followed by the leaf-list value
(e.g., /restconf/data/top-leaflist=fred).
o The leaf-list value is specified as a string, using the canonical
representation for the YANG data type. Any reserved characters
MUST be percent-encoded, according to Sections 2.1 and 2.5 of
[RFC 3986].
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RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
o YANG 1.1 allows duplicate leaf-list values for non-configuration
data. In this case, there is no mechanism to specify the exact
matching leaf-list instance.
o The comma (",") character is percent-encoded [RFC 3986], even
though multiple key values are not possible for a leaf-list. This
is more consistent and avoids special processing rules.
If a data node in the path expression is a YANG list node, then the
key values for the list (if any) MUST be encoded according to the
following rules:
o The key leaf values for a data resource representing a YANG list
MUST be encoded using one path segment [RFC 3986].
o If there is only one key leaf value, the path segment is
constructed by having the list name, followed by an "=" character,
followed by the single key leaf value.
o If there are multiple key leaf values, the path segment is
constructed by having the list name, followed by the value of each
leaf identified in the "key" statement, encoded in the order
specified in the YANG "key" statement. Each key leaf value except
the last one is followed by a comma character.
o The key value is specified as a string, using the canonical
representation for the YANG data type. Any reserved characters
MUST be percent-encoded, according to Sections 2.1 and 2.5 of
[RFC 3986]. The comma (",") character MUST be percent-encoded if
it is present in the key value.
o All of the components in the "key" statement MUST be encoded.
Partial instance identifiers are not supported.
o Missing key values are not allowed, so two consecutive commas are
interpreted as a comma, followed by a zero-length string, followed
by a comma. For example, "list1=foo,,baz" would be interpreted as
a list named "list1" with three key values, and the second key
value is a zero-length string.
o Note that non-configuration lists are not required to define keys.
In this case, a single list instance cannot be accessed.
o The "list-instance" Augmented Backus-Naur Form (ABNF) [RFC 5234]
rule defined in Section 3.5.3.1 represents the syntax of a list
instance identifier.
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RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
Examples:
container top {
list list1 {
key "key1 key2 key3";
...
list list2 {
key "key4 key5";
...
leaf X { type string; }
}
}
leaf-list Y {
type uint32;
}
}
For the above YANG definition, the container "top" is defined in the
"example-top" YANG module, and a target resource URI for leaf "X"
would be encoded as follows:
/restconf/data/example-top:top/list1=key1,key2,key3/\
list2=key4,key5/X
For the above YANG definition, a target resource URI for
leaf-list "Y" would be encoded as follows:
/restconf/data/example-top:top/Y=instance-value
The following example shows how reserved characters are
percent-encoded within a key value. The value of "key1" contains
a comma, single-quote, double-quote, colon, double-quote, space,
and forward slash (,'":" /). Note that double-quote is not a
reserved character and does not need to be percent-encoded. The
value of "key2" is the empty string, and the value of "key3" is the
string "foo".
Example URL:
/restconf/data/example-top:top/list1=%2C%27"%3A"%20%2F,,foo
3.5.3.1. ABNF for Data Resource Identifiers
The "api-path" ABNF [RFC 5234] syntax is used to construct RESTCONF
path identifiers. Note that this syntax is used for all resources,
and the API path starts with the RESTCONF root resource. Data
resources are required to be identified under the "{+restconf}/data"
subtree.
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RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
An identifier is not allowed to start with the case-insensitive
string "XML", according to YANG identifier rules. The syntax for
"api-identifier" and "key-value" MUST conform to the JSON identifier
encoding rules in Section 4 of [RFC 7951]: The RESTCONF root resource
path is required. Additional sub-resource identifiers are optional.
The characters in a key value string are constrained, and some
characters need to be percent-encoded, as described in Section 3.5.3.
api-path = root *("/" (api-identifier / list-instance))
root = string ;; replacement string for {+restconf}
api-identifier = [module-name ":"] identifier
module-name = identifier
list-instance = api-identifier "=" key-value *("," key-value)
key-value = string ;; constrained chars are percent-encoded
string = <an unquoted string>
identifier = (ALPHA / "_")
*(ALPHA / DIGIT / "_" / "-" / ".")
3.5.4. Default Handling
RESTCONF requires that a server report its default-handling mode (see
Section 9.1.2 for details). If the optional "with-defaults" query
parameter is supported by the server, a client may use it to control
the retrieval of default values (see Section 4.8.9 for details).
If a leaf or leaf-list is missing from the configuration and there is
a YANG-defined default for that data resource, then the server MUST
use the YANG-defined default as the configured value.
If the target of a GET method is a data node that represents a leaf
or leaf-list that has a default value and the leaf or leaf-list has
not been instantiated yet, the server MUST return the default value
or values that are in use by the server. In this case, the server
MUST ignore its "basic-mode", described in Section 4.8.9, and return
the default value.
If the target of a GET method is a data node that represents a
container or list that has any child resources with default values,
for the child resources that have not been given values yet, the
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RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
server MAY return the default values that are in use by the server in
accordance with its reported default-handling mode and query
parameters passed by the client.
3.6. Operation Resource
An operation resource represents an RPC operation defined with the
YANG "rpc" statement or a data-model-specific action defined with a
YANG "action" statement. It is invoked using a POST method on the
operation resource.
An RPC operation is invoked as:
POST {+restconf}/operations/<operation>
The <operation> field identifies the module name and rpc identifier
string for the desired operation.
For example, if "module-A" defined a "reset" RPC operation, then
invoking the operation would be requested as follows:
POST /restconf/operations/module-A:reset HTTP/1.1
Server: example.com
An action is invoked as:
POST {+restconf}/data/<data-resource-identifier>/<action>
where <data-resource-identifier> contains the path to the data node
where the action is defined, and <action> is the name of the action.
For example, if "module-A" defined a "reset-all" action in the
container "interfaces", then invoking this action would be requested
as follows:
POST /restconf/data/module-A:interfaces/reset-all HTTP/1.1
Server: example.com
If the RPC operation is invoked without errors and if the "rpc" or
"action" statement has no "output" section, the response message
MUST NOT include a message-body and MUST send a "204 No Content"
status-line instead.
All operation resources representing RPC operations supported by the
server MUST be identified in the "{+restconf}/operations" subtree,
defined in Section 3.3.2. Operation resources representing YANG
actions are not identified in this subtree, since they are invoked
using a URI within the "{+restconf}/data" subtree.
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3.6.1. Encoding Operation Resource Input Parameters
If the "rpc" or "action" statement has an "input" section, then
instances of these input parameters are encoded in the module
namespace where the "rpc" or "action" statement is defined, in an XML
element or JSON object named "input", which is in the module
namespace where the "rpc" or "action" statement is defined.
If the "rpc" or "action" statement has an "input" section and the
"input" object tree contains any child data nodes that are considered
mandatory nodes, then a message-body MUST be sent by the client in
the request.
If the "rpc" or "action" statement has an "input" section and the
"input" object tree does not contain any child nodes that are
considered mandatory nodes, then a message-body MAY be sent by the
client in the request.
If the "rpc" or "action" statement has no "input" section, the
request message MUST NOT include a message-body.
Examples:
The following YANG module is used for the RPC operation examples in
this section.
module example-ops {
namespace "https://example.com/ns/example-ops";
prefix "ops";
organization "Example, Inc.";
contact "support at example.com";
description "Example Operations Data Model Module.";
revision "2016-07-07" {
description "Initial version.";
reference "example.com document 3-3373.";
}
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RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
rpc reboot {
description "Reboot operation.";
input {
leaf delay {
type uint32;
units "seconds";
default 0;
description
"Number of seconds to wait before initiating the
reboot operation.";
}
leaf message {
type string;
description
"Log message to display when reboot is started.";
}
leaf language {
type string;
description "Language identifier string.";
reference "RFC 5646.";
}
}
}
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RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
rpc get-reboot-info {
description
"Retrieve parameters used in the last reboot operation.";
output {
leaf reboot-time {
type uint32;
description
"The 'delay' parameter used in the last reboot
operation.";
}
leaf message {
type string;
description
"The 'message' parameter used in the last reboot
operation.";
}
leaf language {
type string;
description
"The 'language' parameter used in the last reboot
operation.";
}
}
}
}
The following YANG module is used for the YANG action examples in
this section.
module example-actions {
yang-version 1.1;
namespace "https://example.com/ns/example-actions";
prefix "act";
import ietf-yang-types { prefix yang; }
organization "Example, Inc.";
contact "support at example.com";
description "Example Actions Data Model Module.";
revision "2016-07-07" {
description "Initial version.";
reference "example.com document 2-9973.";
}
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RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
container interfaces {
description "System interfaces.";
list interface {
key name;
description "One interface entry.";
leaf name {
type string;
description "Interface name.";
}
action reset {
description "Reset an interface.";
input {
leaf delay {
type uint32;
units "seconds";
default 0;
description
"Number of seconds to wait before starting the
interface reset.";
}
}
}
action get-last-reset-time {
description
"Retrieve the last interface reset time.";
output {
leaf last-reset {
type yang:date-and-time;
mandatory true;
description
"Date and time of the last interface reset, or
the last reboot time of the device.";
}
}
}
}
}
}
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RPC Input Example:
The client might send the following POST request message to invoke
the "reboot" RPC operation:
POST /restconf/operations/example-ops:reboot HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Content-Type: application/yang-data+xml
<input xmlns="https://example.com/ns/example-ops">
<delay>600</delay>
<message>Going down for system maintenance</message>
<language>en-US</language>
</input>
The server might respond as follows:
HTTP/1.1 204 No Content
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
Server: example-server
The same example request message is shown here using JSON encoding:
POST /restconf/operations/example-ops:reboot HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Content-Type: application/yang-data+json
{
"example-ops:input" : {
"delay" : 600,
"message" : "Going down for system maintenance",
"language" : "en-US"
}
}
Action Input Example:
The client might send the following POST request message to invoke
the "reset" action:
POST /restconf/data/example-actions:interfaces/\
interface=eth0/reset HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Content-Type: application/yang-data+xml
<input xmlns="https://example.com/ns/example-actions">
<delay>600</delay>
</input>
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 35
RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
The server might respond as follows:
HTTP/1.1 204 No Content
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
Server: example-server
The same example request message is shown here using JSON encoding:
POST /restconf/data/example-actions:interfaces/\
interface=eth0/reset HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Content-Type: application/yang-data+json
{ "example-actions:input" : {
"delay" : 600
}
}
3.6.2. Encoding Operation Resource Output Parameters
If the "rpc" or "action" statement has an "output" section, then
instances of these output parameters are encoded in the module
namespace where the "rpc" or "action" statement is defined, in an XML
element or JSON object named "output", which is in the module
namespace where the "rpc" or "action" statement is defined.
If the RPC operation is invoked without errors, and if the "rpc" or
"action" statement has an "output" section and the "output" object
tree contains any child data nodes that are considered mandatory
nodes, then a response message-body MUST be sent by the server in the
response.
If the RPC operation is invoked without errors, and if the "rpc" or
"action" statement has an "output" section and the "output" object
tree does not contain any child nodes that are considered mandatory
nodes, then a response message-body MAY be sent by the server in the
response.
The request URI is not returned in the response. Knowledge of the
request URI may be needed to associate the output with the specific
"rpc" or "action" statement used in the request.
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 36
RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
Examples:
RPC Output Example:
The "example-ops" YANG module defined in Section 3.6.1 is used for
this example.
The client might send the following POST request message to invoke
the "get-reboot-info" operation:
POST /restconf/operations/example-ops:get-reboot-info HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Accept: application/yang-data+json
The server might respond as follows:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
Server: example-server
Content-Type: application/yang-data+json
{
"example-ops:output" : {
"reboot-time" : 30,
"message" : "Going down for system maintenance",
"language" : "en-US"
}
}
The same response is shown here using XML encoding:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
Server: example-server
Content-Type: application/yang-data+xml
<output xmlns="https://example.com/ns/example-ops">
<reboot-time>30</reboot-time>
<message>Going down for system maintenance</message>
<language>en-US</language>
</output>
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 37
RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
Action Output Example:
The "example-actions" YANG module defined in Section 3.6.1 is used
for this example.
The client might send the following POST request message to invoke
the "get-last-reset-time" action:
POST /restconf/data/example-actions:interfaces/\
interface=eth0/get-last-reset-time HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Accept: application/yang-data+json
The server might respond as follows:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
Server: example-server
Content-Type: application/yang-data+json
{
"example-actions:output" : {
"last-reset" : "2015-10-10T02:14:11Z"
}
}
3.6.3. Encoding Operation Resource Errors
If any errors occur while attempting to invoke the operation or
action, then an "errors" media type is returned with the appropriate
error status.
If (1) the RPC operation input is not valid or (2) the RPC operation
is invoked but errors occur, then a message-body containing an
"errors" resource MUST be sent by the server, as defined in
Section 3.9.
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 38
RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
Using the "reboot" RPC operation from the example in Section 3.6.1,
the client might send the following POST request message:
POST /restconf/operations/example-ops:reboot HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Content-Type: application/yang-data+xml
<input xmlns="https://example.com/ns/example-ops">
<delay>-33</delay>
<message>Going down for system maintenance</message>
<language>en-US</language>
</input>
The server might respond with an "invalid-value" error:
HTTP/1.1 400 Bad Request
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
Server: example-server
Content-Type: application/yang-data+xml
<errors xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:yang:ietf-restconf">
<error>
<error-type>protocol</error-type>
<error-tag>invalid-value</error-tag>
<error-path xmlns:ops="https://example.com/ns/example-ops">
/ops:input/ops:delay
</error-path>
<error-message>Invalid input parameter</error-message>
</error>
</errors>
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 39
RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
The same response is shown here using JSON encoding:
HTTP/1.1 400 Bad Request
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
Server: example-server
Content-Type: application/yang-data+json
{ "ietf-restconf:errors" : {
"error" : [
{
"error-type" : "protocol",
"error-tag" : "invalid-value",
"error-path" : "/example-ops:input/delay",
"error-message" : "Invalid input parameter"
}
]
}
}
3.7. Schema Resource
The server can optionally support the retrieval of the YANG modules
it uses. If retrieval is supported, then the "schema" leaf MUST be
present in the associated "module" list entry, defined in [RFC 7895].
To retrieve a YANG module, a client first needs to get the URL for
retrieving the schema, which is stored in the "schema" leaf. Note
that there is no required structure for this URL. The URL value
shown below is just an example.
The client might send the following GET request message:
GET /restconf/data/ietf-yang-library:modules-state/\
module=example-jukebox,2016-08-15/schema HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Accept: application/yang-data+json
The server might respond as follows:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
Server: example-server
Content-Type: application/yang-data+json
{
"ietf-yang-library:schema" :
"https://example.com/mymodules/example-jukebox/2016-08-15"
}
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 40
RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
Next, the client needs to retrieve the actual YANG schema.
The client might send the following GET request message:
GET https://example.com/mymodules/example-jukebox/\
2016-08-15 HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Accept: application/yang
The server might respond as follows:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
Server: example-server
Content-Type: application/yang
// entire YANG module contents deleted for this example...
3.8. Event Stream Resource
An event stream resource represents a source for system-generated
event notifications. Each stream is created and modified by the
server only. A client can retrieve a stream resource or initiate a
long-poll server-sent event stream [W3C.REC-eventsource-20150203],
using the procedure specified in Section 6.3.
An event stream functions according to the "NETCONF Event
Notifications" specification [RFC 5277]. The available streams can be
retrieved from the "stream" list, which specifies the syntax and
semantics of the stream resources.
3.9. "errors" YANG Data Template
The "errors" YANG data template models a collection of error
information that is sent as the message-body in a server response
message if an error occurs while processing a request message. It is
not considered as a resource type because no instances can be
retrieved with a GET request.
The "ietf-restconf" YANG module contains the "yang-errors" YANG data
template, which specifies the syntax and semantics of an "errors"
container within a RESTCONF response. RESTCONF error-handling
behavior is defined in Section 7.
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 41
RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
4. RESTCONF Methods
The RESTCONF protocol uses HTTP methods to identify the CRUD
operations requested for a particular resource.
The following table shows how the RESTCONF operations relate to
NETCONF protocol operations.
+----------+-------------------------------------------------------+
| RESTCONF | NETCONF |
+----------+-------------------------------------------------------+
| OPTIONS | none |
| | |
| HEAD | <get-config>, <get> |
| | |
| GET | <get-config>, <get> |
| | |
| POST | <edit-config> (nc:operation="create") |
| | |
| POST | invoke an RPC operation |
| | |
| PUT | <copy-config> (PUT on datastore) |
| | |
| PUT | <edit-config> (nc:operation="create/replace") |
| | |
| PATCH | <edit-config> (nc:operation depends on PATCH content) |
| | |
| DELETE | <edit-config> (nc:operation="delete") |
+----------+-------------------------------------------------------+
CRUD Methods in RESTCONF
The "remove" edit operation attribute for the NETCONF <edit-config>
RPC operation is not supported by the HTTP DELETE method. The
resource must exist or the DELETE method will fail. The PATCH method
is equivalent to a "merge" edit operation when using a plain patch
(see Section 4.6.1); other media types may provide more granular
control.
Access control mechanisms are used to limit what CRUD operations can
be used. In particular, RESTCONF is compatible with the NETCONF
Access Control Model (NACM) [RFC 6536], as there is a specific mapping
between RESTCONF and NETCONF operations. The resource path needs to
be converted internally by the server to the corresponding YANG
instance identifier. Using this information, the server can apply
the NACM access control rules to RESTCONF messages.
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 42
RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
The server MUST NOT allow any RESTCONF operation for any resources
that the client is not authorized to access.
The implementation of all methods (except PATCH [RFC 5789]) is defined
in [RFC 7231]. This section defines the RESTCONF protocol usage for
each HTTP method.
4.1. OPTIONS
The OPTIONS method is sent by the client to discover which methods
are supported by the server for a specific resource (e.g., GET, POST,
DELETE). The server MUST implement this method.
The "Accept-Patch" header field MUST be supported and returned in the
response to the OPTIONS request, as defined in [RFC 5789].
4.2. HEAD
The RESTCONF server MUST support the HEAD method. The HEAD method is
sent by the client to retrieve just the header fields (which contain
the metadata for a resource) that would be returned for the
comparable GET method, without the response message-body. It is
supported for all resources that support the GET method.
The request MUST contain a request URI that contains at least the
root resource. The same query parameters supported by the GET method
are supported by the HEAD method.
The access control behavior is enforced as if the method was GET
instead of HEAD. The server MUST respond the same as if the method
was GET instead of HEAD, except that no response message-body is
included.
4.3. GET
The RESTCONF server MUST support the GET method. The GET method is
sent by the client to retrieve data and metadata for a resource. It
is supported for all resource types, except operation resources. The
request MUST contain a request URI that contains at least the root
resource.
The server MUST NOT return any data resources for which the user does
not have read privileges. If the user is not authorized to read the
target resource, an error response containing a "401 Unauthorized"
status-line SHOULD be returned. The error-tag value "access-denied"
is returned in this case. A server MAY return a "404 Not Found"
status-line, as described in Section 6.5.4 in [RFC 7231]. The
error-tag value "invalid-value" is returned in this case.
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 43
RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
If the user is authorized to read some but not all of the target
resource, the unauthorized content is omitted from the response
message-body, and the authorized content is returned to the client.
If any content is returned to the client, then the server MUST send a
valid response message-body. More than one element MUST NOT be
returned for XML encoding. If multiple elements are sent in a JSON
message-body, then they MUST be sent as a JSON array. In this case,
any timestamp or entity-tag returned in the response MUST be
associated with the first element returned.
If a retrieval request for a data resource representing a YANG
leaf-list or list object identifies more than one instance and XML
encoding is used in the response, then an error response containing a
"400 Bad Request" status-line MUST be returned by the server. The
error-tag value "invalid-value" is used in this case. Note that a
non-configuration list is not required to define any keys. In this
case, the retrieval of a single list instance is not possible.
If a retrieval request for a data resource represents an instance
that does not exist, then an error response containing a "404 Not
Found" status-line MUST be returned by the server. The error-tag
value "invalid-value" is used in this case.
If the target resource of a retrieval request is for an operation
resource, then a "405 Method Not Allowed" status-line MUST be
returned by the server. The error-tag value
"operation-not-supported" is used in this case.
Note that the way that access control is applied to data resources
may not be completely compatible with HTTP caching. The
"Last-Modified" and "ETag" header fields maintained for a data
resource are not affected by changes to the access control rules for
that data resource. It is possible for the representation of a data
resource that is visible to a particular client to be changed without
detection via the "Last-Modified" or "ETag" values.
Example:
The client might request the response header fields for an XML
representation of a specific "album" resource:
GET /restconf/data/example-jukebox:jukebox/\
library/artist=Foo%20Fighters/album=Wasting%20Light HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Accept: application/yang-data+xml
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 44
RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
The server might respond as follows:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
Server: example-server
Content-Type: application/yang-data+xml
Cache-Control: no-cache
ETag: "a74eefc993a2b"
Last-Modified: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 14:02:14 GMT
<album xmlns="http://example.com/ns/example-jukebox"
xmlns:jbox="http://example.com/ns/example-jukebox">
<name>Wasting Light</name>
<genre>jbox:alternative</genre>
<year>2011</year>
</album>
Refer to Appendix B.1 for more resource retrieval examples.
4.4. POST
The RESTCONF server MUST support the POST method. The POST method is
sent by the client to create a data resource or invoke an operation
resource. The server uses the target resource type to determine how
to process the request.
+-----------+------------------------------------------------+
| Type | Description |
+-----------+------------------------------------------------+
| Datastore | Create a top-level configuration data resource |
| Data | Create a configuration data child resource |
| Operation | Invoke an RPC operation |
+-----------+------------------------------------------------+
Resource Types That Support POST
4.4.1. Create Resource Mode
If the target resource type is a datastore or data resource, then the
POST is treated as a request to create a top-level resource or child
resource, respectively. The message-body is expected to contain the
content of a child resource to create within the parent (target
resource). The message-body MUST contain exactly one instance of the
expected data resource. The data model for the child tree is the
subtree, as defined by YANG for the child resource.
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 45
RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
The "insert" (Section 4.8.5) and "point" (Section 4.8.6) query
parameters MUST be supported by the POST method for datastore and
data resources. These parameters are only allowed if the list or
leaf-list is "ordered-by user".
If the POST method succeeds, a "201 Created" status-line is returned
and there is no response message-body. A "Location" header field
identifying the child resource that was created MUST be present in
the response in this case.
If the data resource already exists, then the POST request MUST fail
and a "409 Conflict" status-line MUST be returned. The error-tag
value "resource-denied" is used in this case.
If the user is not authorized to create the target resource, an error
response containing a "403 Forbidden" status-line SHOULD be returned.
The error-tag value "access-denied" is used in this case. A server
MAY return a "404 Not Found" status-line, as described in
Section 6.5.4 in [RFC 7231]. The error-tag value "invalid-value" is
used in this case. All other error responses are handled according
to the procedures defined in Section 7.
Example:
To create a new "jukebox" resource, the client might send the
following:
POST /restconf/data HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Content-Type: application/yang-data+json
{ "example-jukebox:jukebox" : {} }
If the resource is created, the server might respond as follows:
HTTP/1.1 201 Created
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
Server: example-server
Location: https://example.com/restconf/data/\
example-jukebox:jukebox
Last-Modified: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
ETag: "b3a3e673be2"
Refer to Appendix B.2.1 for more resource creation examples.
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 46
RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
4.4.2. Invoke Operation Mode
If the target resource type is an operation resource, then the POST
method is treated as a request to invoke that operation. The
message-body (if any) is processed as the operation input parameters.
Refer to Section 3.6 for details on operation resources.
If the POST request succeeds, a "200 OK" status-line is returned if
there is a response message-body, and a "204 No Content" status-line
is returned if there is no response message-body.
If the user is not authorized to invoke the target operation, an
error response containing a "403 Forbidden" status-line SHOULD be
returned. The error-tag value "access-denied" is used in this case.
A server MAY return a "404 Not Found" status-line, as described in
Section 6.5.4 in [RFC 7231]. All other error responses are handled
according to the procedures defined in Section 7.
Example:
In this example, the client is invoking the "play" operation defined
in the "example-jukebox" YANG module.
A client might send a "play" request as follows:
POST /restconf/operations/example-jukebox:play HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Content-Type: application/yang-data+json
{
"example-jukebox:input" : {
"playlist" : "Foo-One",
"song-number" : 2
}
}
The server might respond as follows:
HTTP/1.1 204 No Content
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
Server: example-server
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 47
RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
4.5. PUT
The RESTCONF server MUST support the PUT method. The PUT method is
sent by the client to create or replace the target data resource. A
request message-body MUST be present, representing the new data
resource, or the server MUST return a "400 Bad Request" status-line.
The error-tag value "invalid-value" is used in this case.
Both the POST and PUT methods can be used to create data resources.
The difference is that for POST, the client does not provide the
resource identifier for the resource that will be created. The
target resource for the POST method for resource creation is the
parent of the new resource. The target resource for the PUT method
for resource creation is the new resource.
The PUT method MUST be supported for data and datastore resources. A
PUT on the datastore resource is used to replace the entire contents
of the datastore. A PUT on a data resource only replaces that data
resource within the datastore.
The "insert" (Section 4.8.5) and "point" (Section 4.8.6) query
parameters MUST be supported by the PUT method for data resources.
These parameters are only allowed if the list or leaf-list is
"ordered-by user".
Consistent with [RFC 7231], if the PUT request creates a new resource,
a "201 Created" status-line is returned. If an existing resource is
modified, a "204 No Content" status-line is returned.
If the user is not authorized to create or replace the target
resource, an error response containing a "403 Forbidden" status-line
SHOULD be returned. The error-tag value "access-denied" is used in
this case.
A server MAY return a "404 Not Found" status-line, as described in
Section 6.5.4 in [RFC 7231]. The error-tag value "invalid-value" is
used in this case. All other error responses are handled according
to the procedures defined in Section 7.
If the target resource represents a YANG leaf-list, then the PUT
method MUST NOT change the value of the leaf-list instance.
If the target resource represents a YANG list instance, then the key
leaf values, in message-body representation, MUST be the same as the
key leaf values in the request URI. The PUT method MUST NOT be used
to change the key leaf values for a data resource instance.
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 48
RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
Example:
An "album" child resource defined in the "example-jukebox" YANG
module is replaced, or it is created if it does not already exist.
To replace the "album" resource contents, the client might send the
following:
PUT /restconf/data/example-jukebox:jukebox/\
library/artist=Foo%20Fighters/album=Wasting%20Light HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Content-Type: application/yang-data+json
{
"example-jukebox:album" : [
{
"name" : "Wasting Light",
"genre" : "example-jukebox:alternative",
"year" : 2011
}
]
}
If the resource is updated, the server might respond as follows:
HTTP/1.1 204 No Content
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
Server: example-server
Last-Modified: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
ETag: "b27480aeda4c"
The same request is shown here using XML encoding:
PUT /restconf/data/example-jukebox:jukebox/\
library/artist=Foo%20Fighters/album=Wasting%20Light HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Content-Type: application/yang-data+xml
<album xmlns="http://example.com/ns/example-jukebox"
xmlns:jbox="http://example.com/ns/example-jukebox">
<name>Wasting Light</name>
<genre>jbox:alternative</genre>
<year>2011</year>
</album>
Refer to Appendix B.2.4 for an example using the PUT method to
replace the contents of the datastore resource.
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 49
RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
4.6. PATCH
The RESTCONF server MUST support the PATCH method for a plain patch
and MAY support additional media types. The media types for the
PATCH method supported by the server can be discovered by the client
by sending an OPTIONS request and examining the "Accept-Patch" header
field in the response (see Section 4.1).
RESTCONF uses the HTTP PATCH method defined in [RFC 5789] to provide
an extensible framework for resource patching mechanisms. Each patch
mechanism needs a unique media type.
This document defines one patch mechanism (Section 4.6.1). Another
patch mechanism, the YANG Patch mechanism, is defined in
[YANG-Patch]. Other patch mechanisms may be defined by future
specifications.
If the target resource instance does not exist, the server MUST NOT
create it.
If the PATCH request succeeds, a "200 OK" status-line is returned if
there is a message-body, and "204 No Content" is returned if no
response message-body is sent.
If the user is not authorized to alter the target resource, an error
response containing a "403 Forbidden" status-line SHOULD be returned.
A server MAY return a "404 Not Found" status-line, as described in
Section 6.5.4 in [RFC 7231]. The error-tag value "invalid-value" is
used in this case. All other error responses are handled according
to the procedures defined in Section 7.
4.6.1. Plain Patch
The plain patch mechanism merges the contents of the message-body
with the target resource. The message-body for a plain patch MUST be
present and MUST be represented by the media type
"application/yang-data+xml" or "application/yang-data+json".
Plain patch can be used to create or update, but not delete, a child
resource within the target resource. Please see [YANG-Patch] for an
alternate media type supporting the ability to delete child
resources. The YANG Patch media type allows multiple suboperations
(e.g., "merge", "delete") within a single PATCH method.
If the target resource represents a YANG leaf-list, then the PATCH
method MUST NOT change the value of the leaf-list instance.
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 50
RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
If the target resource represents a YANG list instance, then the key
leaf values, in message-body representation, MUST be the same as the
key leaf values in the request URI. The PATCH method MUST NOT be
used to change the key leaf values for a data resource instance.
After the plain patch is processed by the server, a response will be
returned to the client, as specified in Section 4.6.
Example:
To replace just the "year" field in the "album" resource (instead of
replacing the entire resource with the PUT method), the client might
send a plain patch as follows:
PATCH /restconf/data/example-jukebox:jukebox/\
library/artist=Foo%20Fighters/album=Wasting%20Light HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
If-Match: "b8389233a4c"
Content-Type: application/yang-data+xml
<album xmlns="http://example.com/ns/example-jukebox">
<year>2011</year>
</album>
If the field is updated, the server might respond as follows:
HTTP/1.1 204 No Content
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
Server: example-server
Last-Modified: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
ETag: "b2788923da4c"
4.7. DELETE
The RESTCONF server MUST support the DELETE method. The DELETE
method is used to delete the target resource. If the DELETE request
succeeds, a "204 No Content" status-line is returned.
If the user is not authorized to delete the target resource, then an
error response containing a "403 Forbidden" status-line SHOULD be
returned. The error-tag value "access-denied" is returned in this
case. A server MAY return a "404 Not Found" status-line, as
described in Section 6.5.4 in [RFC 7231]. The error-tag value
"invalid-value" is returned in this case. All other error responses
are handled according to the procedures defined in Section 7.
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 51
RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
If the target resource represents a configuration leaf-list or list
data node, then it MUST represent a single YANG leaf-list or list
instance. The server MUST NOT use the DELETE method to delete more
than one such instance.
Example:
To delete the "album" resource with the key "Wasting Light", the
client might send the following:
DELETE /restconf/data/example-jukebox:jukebox/\
library/artist=Foo%20Fighters/album=Wasting%20Light HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
If the resource is deleted, the server might respond as follows:
HTTP/1.1 204 No Content
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
Server: example-server
4.8. Query Parameters
Each RESTCONF operation allows zero or more query parameters to be
present in the request URI. Which specific parameters are allowed
will depend on the resource type, and sometimes the specific target
resource used, in the request.
o Query parameters can be given in any order.
o Each parameter can appear at most once in a request URI.
o If more than one instance of a query parameter is present, then a
"400 Bad Request" status-line MUST be returned by the server. The
error-tag value "invalid-value" is returned in this case.
o A default value may apply if the parameter is missing.
o Query parameter names and values are case sensitive.
o A server MUST return an error with a "400 Bad Request" status-line
if a query parameter is unexpected. The error-tag value
"invalid-value" is returned in this case.
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 52
RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
+---------------+---------+-----------------------------------------+
| Name | Methods | Description |
+---------------+---------+-----------------------------------------+
| content | GET, | Select config and/or non-config data |
| | HEAD | resources |
| | | |
| depth | GET, | Request limited subtree depth in the |
| | HEAD | reply content |
| | | |
| fields | GET, | Request a subset of the target resource |
| | HEAD | contents |
| | | |
| filter | GET, | Boolean notification filter for event |
| | HEAD | stream resources |
| | | |
| insert | POST, | Insertion mode for "ordered-by user" |
| | PUT | data resources |
| | | |
| point | POST, | Insertion point for "ordered-by user" |
| | PUT | data resources |
| | | |
| start-time | GET, | Replay buffer start time for event |
| | HEAD | stream resources |
| | | |
| stop-time | GET, | Replay buffer stop time for event |
| | HEAD | stream resources |
| | | |
| with-defaults | GET, | Control the retrieval of default values |
| | HEAD | |
+---------------+---------+-----------------------------------------+
RESTCONF Query Parameters
Refer to Appendix B.3 for examples of query parameter usage.
If vendors define additional query parameters, they SHOULD use a
prefix (such as the enterprise or organization name) for query
parameter names in order to avoid collisions with other parameters.
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4.8.1. The "content" Query Parameter
The "content" query parameter controls how descendant nodes of the
requested data nodes will be processed in the reply.
The allowed values are:
+-----------+-----------------------------------------------------+
| Value | Description |
+-----------+-----------------------------------------------------+
| config | Return only configuration descendant data nodes |
| | |
| nonconfig | Return only non-configuration descendant data nodes |
| | |
| all | Return all descendant data nodes |
+-----------+-----------------------------------------------------+
This parameter is only allowed for GET methods on datastore and data
resources. A "400 Bad Request" status-line is returned if used for
other methods or resource types.
If this query parameter is not present, the default value is "all".
This query parameter MUST be supported by the server.
4.8.2. The "depth" Query Parameter
The "depth" query parameter is used to limit the depth of subtrees
returned by the server. Data nodes with a "depth" value greater than
the "depth" parameter are not returned in a response for a GET
method.
The requested data node has a depth level of "1". If the "fields"
parameter (Section 4.8.3) is used to select descendant data nodes,
then these nodes and all of their ancestor nodes have a "depth" value
of "1". (This has the effect of including the nodes specified by the
fields, even if the "depth" value is less than the actual depth level
of the specified fields.) Any other child node has a "depth" value
that is 1 greater than its parent.
The value of the "depth" parameter is either an integer between 1 and
65535 or the string "unbounded". "unbounded" is the default.
This parameter is only allowed for GET methods on API, datastore, and
data resources. A "400 Bad Request" status-line is returned if used
for other methods or resource types.
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By default, the server will include all sub-resources within a
retrieved resource that have the same resource type as the requested
resource. The exception is the datastore resource. If this resource
type is retrieved, then by default the datastore and all child data
resources are returned.
If the "depth" query parameter URI is listed in the "capability"
leaf-list defined in Section 9.3, then the server supports the
"depth" query parameter.
4.8.3. The "fields" Query Parameter
The "fields" query parameter is used to optionally identify data
nodes within the target resource to be retrieved in a GET method.
The client can use this parameter to retrieve a subset of all nodes
in a resource.
The server will return a message-body representing the target
resource, with descendant nodes pruned as specified in the
"fields-expr" value. The server does not return a set of separate
sub-resources.
A value of the "fields" query parameter matches the following rule:
fields-expr = path "(" fields-expr ")" / path ";" fields-expr / path
path = api-identifier [ "/" path ]
"api-identifier" is defined in Section 3.5.3.1.
";" is used to select multiple nodes. For example, to retrieve only
the "genre" and "year" of an album, use "fields=genre;year".
Parentheses are used to specify sub-selectors of a node. Note that
there is no path separator character "/" between a "path" field and a
left parenthesis character "(".
For example, assume that the target resource is the "album" list. To
retrieve only the "label" and "catalogue-number" of the "admin"
container within an album, use
"fields=admin(label;catalogue-number)".
"/" is used in a path to retrieve a child node of a node. For
example, to retrieve only the "label" of an album, use
"fields=admin/label".
This parameter is only allowed for GET methods on API, datastore, and
data resources. A "400 Bad Request" status-line is returned if used
for other methods or resource types.
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If the "fields" query parameter URI is listed in the "capability"
leaf-list defined in Section 9.3, then the server supports the
"fields" parameter.
4.8.4. The "filter" Query Parameter
The "filter" query parameter is used to indicate which subset of all
possible events is of interest. If not present, all events not
precluded by other parameters will be sent.
This parameter is only allowed for GET methods on an event stream
resource. A "400 Bad Request" status-line is returned if used for
other methods or resource types.
The format of this parameter is an XPath 1.0 expression [XPath] and
is evaluated in the following context:
o The set of namespace declarations is the set of prefix and
namespace pairs for all supported YANG modules, where the prefix
is the YANG module name and the namespace is as defined by the
"namespace" statement in the YANG module.
o The function library is the core function library defined in
XPath 1.0, plus any functions defined by the data model.
o The set of variable bindings is empty.
o The context node is the root node.
The "filter" query parameter is used as defined in Section 3.6 of
[RFC 5277]. If the boolean result of the expression is "true" when
applied to the conceptual "notification" document root, then the
event notification is delivered to the client.
If the "filter" query parameter URI is listed in the "capability"
leaf-list defined in Section 9.3, then the server supports the
"filter" query parameter.
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4.8.5. The "insert" Query Parameter
The "insert" query parameter is used to specify how a resource should
be inserted within an "ordered-by user" list.
The allowed values are:
+--------+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Value | Description |
+--------+----------------------------------------------------------+
| first | Insert the new data as the new first entry. |
| | |
| last | Insert the new data as the new last entry. |
| | |
| before | Insert the new data before the insertion point, as |
| | specified by the value of the "point" parameter. |
| | |
| after | Insert the new data after the insertion point, as |
| | specified by the value of the "point" parameter. |
+--------+----------------------------------------------------------+
The default value is "last".
This parameter is only supported for the POST and PUT methods. It is
also only supported if the target resource is a data resource, and
that data represents a YANG list or leaf-list that is
"ordered-by user".
If the values "before" or "after" are used, then a "point" query
parameter for the "insert" query parameter MUST also be present, or a
"400 Bad Request" status-line is returned.
The "insert" query parameter MUST be supported by the server.
4.8.6. The "point" Query Parameter
The "point" query parameter is used to specify the insertion point
for a data resource that is being created or moved within an
"ordered-by user" list or leaf-list.
The value of the "point" parameter is a string that identifies the
path to the insertion point object. The format is the same as a
target resource URI string.
This parameter is only supported for the POST and PUT methods. It is
also only supported if the target resource is a data resource, and
that data represents a YANG list or leaf-list that is
"ordered-by user".
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If the "insert" query parameter is not present or has a value other
than "before" or "after", then a "400 Bad Request" status-line is
returned.
This parameter contains the instance identifier of the resource to be
used as the insertion point for a POST or PUT method.
The "point" query parameter MUST be supported by the server.
4.8.7. The "start-time" Query Parameter
The "start-time" query parameter is used to trigger the notification
replay feature defined in [RFC 5277] and indicate that the replay
should start at the time specified. If the stream does not support
replay per the "replay-support" attribute returned by the
"stream" list entry for the stream resource, then the server MUST
return a "400 Bad Request" status-line.
The value of the "start-time" parameter is of type "date-and-time",
defined in the "ietf-yang-types" YANG module [RFC 6991].
This parameter is only allowed for GET methods on a
"text/event-stream" data resource. A "400 Bad Request" status-line
is returned if used for other methods or resource types.
If this parameter is not present, then a replay subscription is not
being requested. It is not valid to specify start times that are
later than the current time. If the value specified is earlier than
the log can support, the replay will begin with the earliest
available notification. A client can obtain a server's current time
by examining the "Date" header field that the server returns in
response messages, according to [RFC 7231].
If this query parameter is supported by the server, then the "replay"
query parameter URI MUST be listed in the "capability" leaf-list
defined in Section 9.3, and the "stop-time" query parameter MUST also
be supported by the server.
If the "replay-support" leaf has the value "true" in the "stream"
entry (defined in Section 9.3), then the server MUST support the
"start-time" and "stop-time" query parameters for that stream.
4.8.8. The "stop-time" Query Parameter
The "stop-time" query parameter is used with the replay feature to
indicate the newest notifications of interest. This parameter MUST
be used with, and have a value later than, the "start-time"
parameter.
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The value of the "stop-time" parameter is of type "date-and-time",
defined in the "ietf-yang-types" YANG module [RFC 6991].
This parameter is only allowed for GET methods on a
"text/event-stream" data resource. A "400 Bad Request" status-line
is returned if used for other methods or resource types.
If this parameter is not present, the notifications will continue
until the subscription is terminated. Values in the future are
valid.
If this query parameter is supported by the server, then the "replay"
query parameter URI MUST be listed in the "capability" leaf-list
defined in Section 9.3, and the "start-time" query parameter MUST
also be supported by the server.
If the "replay-support" leaf is present in the "stream" entry
(defined in Section 9.3), then the server MUST support the
"start-time" and "stop-time" query parameters for that stream.
4.8.9. The "with-defaults" Query Parameter
The "with-defaults" query parameter is used to specify how
information about default data nodes should be returned in response
to GET requests on data resources.
If the server supports this capability, then it MUST implement the
behavior described in Section 4.5.1 of [RFC 6243], except applied to
the RESTCONF GET operation instead of the NETCONF operations.
+-------------------+-----------------------------------------------+
| Value | Description |
+-------------------+-----------------------------------------------+
| report-all | All data nodes are reported |
| | |
| trim | Data nodes set to the YANG default are not |
| | reported |
| | |
| explicit | Data nodes set to the YANG default by the |
| | client are reported |
| | |
| report-all-tagged | All data nodes are reported, and defaults are |
| | tagged |
+-------------------+-----------------------------------------------+
If the "with-defaults" parameter is set to "report-all", then the
server MUST adhere to the default-reporting behavior defined in
Section 3.1 of [RFC 6243].
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If the "with-defaults" parameter is set to "trim", then the server
MUST adhere to the default-reporting behavior defined in Section 3.2
of [RFC 6243].
If the "with-defaults" parameter is set to "explicit", then the
server MUST adhere to the default-reporting behavior defined in
Section 3.3 of [RFC 6243].
If the "with-defaults" parameter is set to "report-all-tagged", then
the server MUST adhere to the default-reporting behavior defined in
Section 3.4 of [RFC 6243]. Metadata is reported by the server as
specified in Section 5.3. The XML encoding for the "default"
attribute sent by the server for default nodes is defined in
Section 6 of [RFC 6243]. The JSON encoding for the "default"
attribute MUST use the same values, as defined in [RFC 6243], but
encoded according to the rules in [RFC 7952]. The module name
"ietf-netconf-with-defaults" MUST be used for the "default"
attribute.
If the "with-defaults" parameter is not present, then the server MUST
adhere to the default-reporting behavior defined in its "basic-mode"
parameter for the "defaults" protocol capability URI, defined in
Section 9.1.2.
If the server includes the "with-defaults" query parameter URI in the
"capability" leaf-list defined in Section 9.3, then the
"with-defaults" query parameter MUST be supported.
Since the server does not report the "also-supported" parameter as
described in Section 4.3 of [RFC 6243], it is possible that some
values for the "with-defaults" parameter will not be supported. If
the server does not support the requested value of the
"with-defaults" parameter, the server MUST return a response with a
"400 Bad Request" status-line. The error-tag value "invalid-value"
is used in this case.
5. Messages
The RESTCONF protocol uses HTTP messages. A single HTTP message
corresponds to a single protocol method. Most messages can perform a
single task on a single resource, such as retrieving a resource or
editing a resource. The exception is the PATCH method, which allows
multiple datastore edits within a single message.
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5.1. Request URI Structure
Resources are represented with URIs following the structure for
generic URIs in [RFC 3986].
A RESTCONF operation is derived from the HTTP method and the request
URI, using the following conceptual fields:
<OP> /<restconf>/<path>?<query>
^ ^ ^ ^
| | | |
method entry resource query
M M O O
M=mandatory, O=optional
where:
<OP> is the HTTP method
<restconf> is the RESTCONF root resource
<path> is the target resource URI
<query> is the query parameter list
o method: the HTTP method identifying the RESTCONF operation
requested by the client, to act upon the target resource specified
in the request URI. RESTCONF operation details are described in
Section 4.
o entry: the root of the RESTCONF API configured on this HTTP
server, discovered by getting the "/.well-known/host-meta"
resource, as described in Section 3.1.
o resource: the path expression identifying the resource that is
being accessed by the RESTCONF operation. If this field is not
present, then the target resource is the API itself, represented
by the YANG data template named "yang-api", found in Section 8.
o query: the set of parameters associated with the RESTCONF message;
see Section 3.4 of [RFC 3986]. RESTCONF parameters have the
familiar form of "name=value" pairs. Most query parameters are
optional to implement by the server and optional to use by the
client. Each optional query parameter is identified by a URI.
The server MUST list the optional query parameter URIs it supports
in the "capability" leaf-list defined in Section 9.3.
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There is a specific set of parameters defined, although the server
MAY choose to support query parameters not defined in this document.
The contents of any query parameter value MUST be encoded according
to Section 3.4 of [RFC 3986]. Any reserved characters MUST be
percent-encoded, according to Sections 2.1 and 2.5 of [RFC 3986].
Note that the fragment component is not used by the RESTCONF
protocol. The fragment is excluded from the target URI by a server,
as described in Section 5.1 of [RFC 7230].
When new resources are created by the client, a "Location" header
field is returned, which identifies the path of the newly created
resource. The client uses this exact path identifier to access the
resource once it has been created.
The target of a RESTCONF operation is a resource. The "path" field
in the request URI represents the target resource for the RESTCONF
operation.
Refer to Appendix B for examples of RESTCONF request URIs.
5.2. Message Encoding
RESTCONF messages are encoded in HTTP according to [RFC 7230]. The
"utf-8" character set is used for all messages. RESTCONF message
content is sent in the HTTP message-body.
Content is encoded in either JSON or XML format. A server MUST
support one of either XML or JSON encoding. A server MAY support
both XML and JSON encoding. A client will need to support both XML
and JSON to interoperate with all RESTCONF servers.
XML encoding rules for data nodes are defined in [RFC 7950]. The same
encoding rules are used for all XML content. JSON encoding rules are
defined in [RFC 7951]. Additional JSON encoding rules for metadata
are defined in [RFC 7952]. This encoding is valid JSON, but it also
has special encoding rules to identify module namespaces and provide
consistent type processing of YANG data.
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The request input content encoding format is identified with the
"Content-Type" header field. This field MUST be present if a
message-body is sent by the client.
The server MUST support the "Accept" header field and the "406 Not
Acceptable" status-line, as defined in [RFC 7231]. The response
output content encoding formats that the client will accept are
identified with the "Accept" header field in the request. If it is
not specified, the request input encoding format SHOULD be used, or
the server MAY choose any supported content encoding format.
If there was no request input, then the default output encoding is
XML or JSON, depending on server preference. File extensions encoded
in the request are not used to identify format encoding.
A client can determine if the RESTCONF server supports an encoding
format by sending a request using a specific format in the
"Content-Type" and/or "Accept" header field. If the server does not
support the requested input encoding for a request, then it MUST
return an error response with a "415 Unsupported Media Type"
status-line. If the server does not support any of the requested
output encodings for a request, then it MUST return an error response
with a "406 Not Acceptable" status-line.
5.3. RESTCONF Metadata
The RESTCONF protocol needs to support the retrieval of the same
metadata that is used in the NETCONF protocol. Information about
default leafs, last-modified timestamps, etc. is commonly used to
annotate representations of the datastore contents.
With the XML encoding, the metadata is encoded as attributes in XML,
according to Section 3.3 of [W3C.REC-xml-20081126]. With the JSON
encoding, the metadata is encoded as specified in [RFC 7952].
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The following examples are based on the example in Appendix B.3.9.
The "report-all-tagged" mode for the "with-defaults" query parameter
requires that a "default" attribute be returned for default nodes.
These examples show that attribute for the "mtu" leaf.
5.3.1. XML Metadata Encoding Example
GET /restconf/data/interfaces/interface=eth1
?with-defaults=report-all-tagged HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Accept: application/yang-data+xml
The server might respond as follows:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
Server: example-server
Content-Type: application/yang-data+xml
<interface
xmlns="urn:example.com:params:xml:ns:yang:example-interface">
<name>eth1</name>
<mtu xmlns:wd="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:default:1.0"
wd:default="true">1500</mtu>
<status>up</status>
</interface>
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5.3.2. JSON Metadata Encoding Example
Note that RFC 6243 defines the "default" attribute with the
XML Schema Definition (XSD), not YANG, so the YANG module name has to
be assigned instead of derived from the YANG module. The value
"ietf-netconf-with-defaults" is assigned for JSON metadata encoding.
GET /restconf/data/interfaces/interface=eth1\
?with-defaults=report-all-tagged HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Accept: application/yang-data+json
The server might respond as follows:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
Server: example-server
Content-Type: application/yang-data+json
{
"example:interface" : [
{
"name" : "eth1",
"mtu" : 1500,
"@mtu" : {
"ietf-netconf-with-defaults:default" : true
},
"status" : "up"
}
]
}
5.4. Return Status
Each message represents some sort of resource access. An HTTP
"status-line" header field is returned for each request. If a status
code in the "4xx" range is returned in the status-line, then the
error information SHOULD be returned in the response, according to
the format defined in Section 7.1. If a status code in the "5xx"
range is returned in the status-line, then the error information MAY
be returned in the response, according to the format defined in
Section 7.1. If a status code in the "1xx", "2xx", or "3xx" range is
returned in the status-line, then error information MUST NOT be
returned in the response, since these ranges do not represent error
conditions.
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5.5. Message Caching
Since the datastore contents change at unpredictable times, responses
from a RESTCONF server generally SHOULD NOT be cached.
The server MUST include a "Cache-Control" header field in every
response that specifies whether the response should be cached.
Instead of relying on HTTP caching, the client SHOULD track the
"ETag" and/or "Last-Modified" header fields returned by the server
for the datastore resource (or data resource, if the server supports
it). A retrieval request for a resource can include the
"If-None-Match" and/or "If-Modified-Since" header fields, which will
cause the server to return a "304 Not Modified" status-line if the
resource has not changed. The client MAY use the HEAD method to
retrieve just the message header fields, which SHOULD include the
"ETag" and "Last-Modified" header fields, if this metadata is
maintained for the target resource.
Note that access control can be applied to data resources, such that
the values in the "Last-Modified" and "ETag" headers maintained for a
data resource may not be reliable, as described in Section 4.3.
6. Notifications
The RESTCONF protocol supports YANG-defined event notifications. The
solution preserves aspects of NETCONF event notifications [RFC 5277]
while utilizing the Server-Sent Events [W3C.REC-eventsource-20150203]
transport strategy.
6.1. Server Support
A RESTCONF server MAY support RESTCONF notifications. Clients may
determine if a server supports RESTCONF notifications by using the
HTTP OPTIONS, HEAD, or GET method on the "stream" list. The server
does not support RESTCONF notifications if an HTTP error code is
returned (e.g., a "404 Not Found" status-line).
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6.2. Event Streams
A RESTCONF server that supports notifications will populate a stream
resource for each notification delivery service access point. A
RESTCONF client can retrieve the list of supported event streams from
a RESTCONF server using the GET method on the "stream" list.
The "restconf-state/streams" container definition in the
"ietf-restconf-monitoring" module (defined in Section 9.3) is used to
specify the structure and syntax of the conceptual child resources
within the "streams" resource.
For example:
The client might send the following request:
GET /restconf/data/ietf-restconf-monitoring:restconf-state/\
streams HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Accept: application/yang-data+xml
The server might send the following response:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/yang-data+xml
<streams
xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:yang:ietf-restconf-monitoring">
<stream>
<name>NETCONF</name>
<description>default NETCONF event stream</description>
<replay-support>true</replay-support>
<replay-log-creation-time>\
2007-07-08T00:00:00Z\
</replay-log-creation-time>
<access>
<encoding>xml</encoding>
<location>https://example.com/streams/NETCONF\
</location>
</access>
<access>
<encoding>json</encoding>
<location>https://example.com/streams/NETCONF-JSON\
</location>
</access>
</stream>
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<stream>
<name>SNMP</name>
<description>SNMP notifications</description>
<replay-support>false</replay-support>
<access>
<encoding>xml</encoding>
<location>https://example.com/streams/SNMP</location>
</access>
</stream>
<stream>
<name>syslog-critical</name>
<description>Critical and higher severity</description>
<replay-support>true</replay-support>
<replay-log-creation-time>
2007-07-01T00:00:00Z
</replay-log-creation-time>
<access>
<encoding>xml</encoding>
<location>\
https://example.com/streams/syslog-critical\
</location>
</access>
</stream>
</streams>
6.3. Subscribing to Receive Notifications
RESTCONF clients can determine the URL for the subscription resource
(to receive notifications) by sending an HTTP GET request for the
"location" leaf with the "stream" list entry. The value returned by
the server can be used for the actual notification subscription.
The client will send an HTTP GET request for the URL returned by the
server with the "Accept" type "text/event-stream".
The server will treat the connection as an event stream, using the
Server-Sent Events [W3C.REC-eventsource-20150203] transport strategy.
The server MAY support query parameters for a GET method on this
resource. These parameters are specific to each event stream.
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For example:
The client might send the following request:
GET /restconf/data/ietf-restconf-monitoring:restconf-state/\
streams/stream=NETCONF/access=xml/location HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Accept: application/yang-data+xml
The server might send the following response:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/yang-data+xml
<location
xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:yang:ietf-restconf-monitoring">\
https://example.com/streams/NETCONF\
</location>
The RESTCONF client can then use this URL value to start monitoring
the event stream:
GET /streams/NETCONF HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Accept: text/event-stream
Cache-Control: no-cache
Connection: keep-alive
A RESTCONF client MAY request that the server compress the events
using the HTTP header field "Accept-Encoding". For instance:
GET /streams/NETCONF HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Accept: text/event-stream
Cache-Control: no-cache
Connection: keep-alive
Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate
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6.3.1. NETCONF Event Stream
The server SHOULD support the NETCONF event stream defined in
Section 3.2.3 of [RFC 5277]. The notification messages for this
stream are encoded in XML.
The server MAY support additional streams that represent the semantic
content of the NETCONF event stream, but using a representation with
a different media type.
The server MAY support the "start-time", "stop-time", and "filter"
query parameters, defined in Section 4.8. Refer to Appendix B.3.6
for filter parameter examples.
6.4. Receiving Event Notifications
RESTCONF notifications are encoded according to the definition of the
event stream.
The structure of the event data is based on the <notification>
element definition in Section 4 of [RFC 5277]. It MUST conform to the
schema for the <notification> element in Section 4 of [RFC 5277],
using the XML namespace as defined in the XSD as follows:
urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:notification:1.0
For JSON-encoding purposes, the module name for the "notification"
element is "ietf-restconf".
Two child nodes within the "notification" container are expected,
representing the event time and the event payload. The "eventTime"
node is defined within the same XML namespace as the <notification>
element. It is defined to be within the "ietf-restconf" module
namespace for JSON-encoding purposes.
The name and namespace of the payload element are determined by the
YANG module containing the notification-stmt representing the
notification message.
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In the following example, the YANG module "example-mod" is used:
module example-mod {
namespace "http://example.com/event/1.0";
prefix ex;
organization "Example, Inc.";
contact "support at example.com";
description "Example Notification Data Model Module.";
revision "2016-07-07" {
description "Initial version.";
reference "example.com document 2-9976.";
}
notification event {
description "Example notification event.";
leaf event-class {
type string;
description "Event class identifier.";
}
container reporting-entity {
description "Event specific information.";
leaf card {
type string;
description "Line card identifier.";
}
}
leaf severity {
type string;
description "Event severity description.";
}
}
}
An example SSE event notification encoded using XML:
data: <notification
data: xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:notification:1.0">
data: <eventTime>2013-12-21T00:01:00Z</eventTime>
data: <event xmlns="http://example.com/event/1.0">
data: <event-class>fault</event-class>
data: <reporting-entity>
data: <card>Ethernet0</card>
data: </reporting-entity>
data: <severity>major</severity>
data: </event>
data: </notification>
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 71
RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
An example SSE event notification encoded using JSON:
data: {
data: "ietf-restconf:notification" : {
data: "eventTime" : "2013-12-21T00:01:00Z",
data: "example-mod:event" : {
data: "event-class" : "fault",
data: "reporting-entity" : { "card" : "Ethernet0" },
data: "severity" : "major"
data: }
data: }
data: }
Alternatively, since neither XML nor JSON is whitespace sensitive,
the above messages can be encoded onto a single line. For example:
XML:
data: <notification xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:notif\
ication:1.0"><eventTime>2013-12-21T00:01:00Z</eventTime><event \
xmlns="http://example.com/event/1.0"><event-class>fault</event-\
class><reportingEntity><card>Ethernet0</card></reporting-entity>\
<severity>major</severity></event></notification>
JSON:
data: {"ietf-restconf:notification":{"eventTime":"2013-12-21\
T00:01:00Z","example-mod:event":{"event-class": "fault","repor\
tingEntity":{"card":"Ethernet0"},"severity":"major"}}}
The SSE specification supports the following additional fields:
"event", "id", and "retry". A RESTCONF server MAY send the "retry"
field, and if it does, RESTCONF clients SHOULD use it. A RESTCONF
server SHOULD NOT send the "event" or "id" fields, as there are no
meaningful values that could be used for them that would not be
redundant to the contents of the notification itself. RESTCONF
servers that do not send the "id" field also do not need to support
the HTTP header field "Last-Event-ID" [W3C.REC-eventsource-20150203].
RESTCONF servers that do send the "id" field SHOULD support the
"start-time" query parameter as the preferred means for a client to
specify where to restart the event stream.
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 72
RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
7. Error Reporting
HTTP status codes are used to report success or failure for RESTCONF
operations. The error information that NETCONF error responses
contain in the <rpc-error> element is adapted for use in RESTCONF,
and <errors> data tree information is returned for the "4xx" and
"5xx" classes of status codes.
Since an operation resource is defined with a YANG "rpc" statement
and an action is defined with a YANG "action" statement, a mapping
from the NETCONF <error-tag> value to the HTTP status code is needed.
The specific error-tag and response code to use are specific to the
data model and might be contained in the YANG "description" statement
for the "action" or "rpc" statement.
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 73
RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
+-------------------------+------------------+
| error-tag | status code |
+-------------------------+------------------+
| in-use | 409 |
| | |
| invalid-value | 400, 404, or 406 |
| | |
| (request) too-big | 413 |
| | |
| (response) too-big | 400 |
| | |
| missing-attribute | 400 |
| | |
| bad-attribute | 400 |
| | |
| unknown-attribute | 400 |
| | |
| bad-element | 400 |
| | |
| unknown-element | 400 |
| | |
| unknown-namespace | 400 |
| | |
| access-denied | 401 or 403 |
| | |
| lock-denied | 409 |
| | |
| resource-denied | 409 |
| | |
| rollback-failed | 500 |
| | |
| data-exists | 409 |
| | |
| data-missing | 409 |
| | |
| operation-not-supported | 405 or 501 |
| | |
| operation-failed | 412 or 500 |
| | |
| partial-operation | 500 |
| | |
| malformed-message | 400 |
+-------------------------+------------------+
Mapping from <error-tag> to Status Code
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 74
RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
7.1. Error Response Message
When an error occurs for a request message on any resource type and
the status code that will be returned is in the "4xx" range (except
for status code "403 Forbidden"), the server SHOULD send a response
message-body containing the information described by the
"yang-errors" YANG data template within the "ietf-restconf" module
found in Section 8. The Content-Type of this response message MUST
be "application/yang-data", plus, optionally, a structured syntax
name suffix.
The client SHOULD specify the desired encoding(s) for response
messages by specifying the appropriate media type(s) in the
"Accept" header. If the client did not specify an "Accept" header,
then the same structured syntax name suffix used in the request
message SHOULD be used, or the server MAY choose any supported
message-encoding format. If there is no request message, the server
MUST select "application/yang-data+xml" or
"application/yang-data+json", depending on server preference. All of
the examples in this document, except for the one below, assume that
XML encoding will be returned if there is an error.
YANG tree diagram for <errors> data:
+---- errors
+---- error*
+---- error-type enumeration
+---- error-tag string
+---- error-app-tag? string
+---- error-path? instance-identifier
+---- error-message? string
+---- error-info?
The semantics and syntax for RESTCONF error messages are defined with
the "yang-errors" YANG data template extension, found in Section 8.
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 75
RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
Examples:
The following example shows an error returned for a "lock-denied"
error that can occur if a NETCONF client has locked a datastore. The
RESTCONF client is attempting to delete a data resource. Note that
an "Accept" header field is used to specify the desired encoding for
the error message. There would be no response message-body content
if this operation was successful.
DELETE /restconf/data/example-jukebox:jukebox/\
library/artist=Foo%20Fighters/album=Wasting%20Light HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Accept: application/yang-data+json
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 76
RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
The server might respond as follows:
HTTP/1.1 409 Conflict
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
Server: example-server
Content-Type: application/yang-data+json
{
"ietf-restconf:errors" : {
"error" : [
{
"error-type" : "protocol",
"error-tag" : "lock-denied",
"error-message" : "Lock failed; lock already held"
}
]
}
}
The following example shows an error returned for a "data-exists"
error on a data resource. The "jukebox" resource already exists, so
it cannot be created.
The client might send the following:
POST /restconf/data/example-jukebox:jukebox HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 77
RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
The server might respond as follows:
HTTP/1.1 409 Conflict
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
Server: example-server
Content-Type: application/yang-data+xml
<errors xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:yang:ietf-restconf">
<error>
<error-type>protocol</error-type>
<error-tag>data-exists</error-tag>
<error-path
xmlns:rc="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:yang:ietf-restconf"
xmlns:jbox="https://example.com/ns/example-jukebox">\
/rc:restconf/rc:data/jbox:jukebox
</error-path>
<error-message>
Data already exists; cannot create new resource
</error-message>
</error>
</errors>
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 78
RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
8. RESTCONF Module
The "ietf-restconf" module defines conceptual definitions within an
extension and two groupings, which are not meant to be implemented as
datastore contents by a server. For example, the "restconf"
container is not intended to be implemented as a top-level data node
(under the "/restconf/data" URI).
Note that the "ietf-restconf" module does not have any
protocol-accessible objects, so no YANG tree diagram is shown.
<CODE BEGINS>
file "ietf-restconf@2017-01-26.yang"
module ietf-restconf {
yang-version 1.1;
namespace "urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:yang:ietf-restconf";
prefix "rc";
organization
"IETF NETCONF (Network Configuration) Working Group";
contact
"WG Web: <https://datatracker.ietf.org/wg/netconf/>
WG List: <mailto:netconf@ietf.org>
Author: Andy Bierman
<mailto:andy@yumaworks.com>
Author: Martin Bjorklund
<mailto:mbj@tail-f.com>
Author: Kent Watsen
<mailto:kwatsen@juniper.net>";
description
"This module contains conceptual YANG specifications
for basic RESTCONF media type definitions used in
RESTCONF protocol messages.
Note that the YANG definitions within this module do not
represent configuration data of any kind.
The 'restconf-media-type' YANG extension statement
provides a normative syntax for XML and JSON
message-encoding purposes.
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 79
RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
Copyright (c) 2017 IETF Trust and the persons identified as
authors of the code. All rights reserved.
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or
without modification, is permitted pursuant to, and subject
to the license terms contained in, the Simplified BSD License
set forth in Section 4.c of the IETF Trust's Legal Provisions
Relating to IETF Documents
(http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info).
This version of this YANG module is part of RFC 8040; see
the RFC itself for full legal notices.";
revision 2017-01-26 {
description
"Initial revision.";
reference
"RFC 8040: RESTCONF Protocol.";
}
extension yang-data {
argument name {
yin-element true;
}
description
"This extension is used to specify a YANG data template that
represents conceptual data defined in YANG. It is
intended to describe hierarchical data independent of
protocol context or specific message-encoding format.
Data definition statements within a yang-data extension
specify the generic syntax for the specific YANG data
template, whose name is the argument of the 'yang-data'
extension statement.
Note that this extension does not define a media type.
A specification using this extension MUST specify the
message-encoding rules, including the content media type.
The mandatory 'name' parameter value identifies the YANG
data template that is being defined. It contains the
template name.
This extension is ignored unless it appears as a top-level
statement. It MUST contain data definition statements
that result in exactly one container data node definition.
An instance of a YANG data template can thus be translated
into an XML instance document, whose top-level element
corresponds to the top-level container.
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 80
RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
The module name and namespace values for the YANG module using
the extension statement are assigned to instance document data
conforming to the data definition statements within
this extension.
The substatements of this extension MUST follow the
'data-def-stmt' rule in the YANG ABNF.
The XPath document root is the extension statement itself,
such that the child nodes of the document root are
represented by the data-def-stmt substatements within
this extension. This conceptual document is the context
for the following YANG statements:
- must-stmt
- when-stmt
- path-stmt
- min-elements-stmt
- max-elements-stmt
- mandatory-stmt
- unique-stmt
- ordered-by
- instance-identifier data type
The following data-def-stmt substatements are constrained
when used within a 'yang-data' extension statement.
- The list-stmt is not required to have a key-stmt defined.
- The if-feature-stmt is ignored if present.
- The config-stmt is ignored if present.
- The available identity values for any 'identityref'
leaf or leaf-list nodes are limited to the module
containing this extension statement and the modules
imported into that module.
";
}
rc:yang-data yang-errors {
uses errors;
}
rc:yang-data yang-api {
uses restconf;
}
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 81
RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
grouping errors {
description
"A grouping that contains a YANG container
representing the syntax and semantics of a
YANG Patch error report within a response message.";
container errors {
description
"Represents an error report returned by the server if
a request results in an error.";
list error {
description
"An entry containing information about one
specific error that occurred while processing
a RESTCONF request.";
reference
"RFC 6241, Section 4.3.";
leaf error-type {
type enumeration {
enum transport {
description
"The transport layer.";
}
enum rpc {
description
"The rpc or notification layer.";
}
enum protocol {
description
"The protocol operation layer.";
}
enum application {
description
"The server application layer.";
}
}
mandatory true;
description
"The protocol layer where the error occurred.";
}
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 82
RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
leaf error-tag {
type string;
mandatory true;
description
"The enumerated error-tag.";
}
leaf error-app-tag {
type string;
description
"The application-specific error-tag.";
}
leaf error-path {
type instance-identifier;
description
"The YANG instance identifier associated
with the error node.";
}
leaf error-message {
type string;
description
"A message describing the error.";
}
anydata error-info {
description
"This anydata value MUST represent a container with
zero or more data nodes representing additional
error information.";
}
}
}
}
grouping restconf {
description
"Conceptual grouping representing the RESTCONF
root resource.";
container restconf {
description
"Conceptual container representing the RESTCONF
root resource.";
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 83
RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
container data {
description
"Container representing the datastore resource.
Represents the conceptual root of all state data
and configuration data supported by the server.
The child nodes of this container can be any data
resources that are defined as top-level data nodes
from the YANG modules advertised by the server in
the 'ietf-yang-library' module.";
}
container operations {
description
"Container for all operation resources.
Each resource is represented as an empty leaf with the
name of the RPC operation from the YANG 'rpc' statement.
For example, the 'system-restart' RPC operation defined
in the 'ietf-system' module would be represented as
an empty leaf in the 'ietf-system' namespace. This is
a conceptual leaf and will not actually be found in
the module:
module ietf-system {
leaf system-reset {
type empty;
}
}
To invoke the 'system-restart' RPC operation:
POST /restconf/operations/ietf-system:system-restart
To discover the RPC operations supported by the server:
GET /restconf/operations
In XML, the YANG module namespace identifies the module:
<system-restart
xmlns='urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:yang:ietf-system'/>
In JSON, the YANG module name identifies the module:
{ 'ietf-system:system-restart' : [null] }
";
}
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 84
RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
leaf yang-library-version {
type string {
pattern '\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}';
}
config false;
mandatory true;
description
"Identifies the revision date of the 'ietf-yang-library'
module that is implemented by this RESTCONF server.
Indicates the year, month, and day in YYYY-MM-DD
numeric format.";
}
}
}
}
<CODE ENDS>
9. RESTCONF Monitoring
The "ietf-restconf-monitoring" module provides information about the
RESTCONF protocol capabilities and event streams available from the
server. A RESTCONF server MUST implement the
"ietf-restconf-monitoring" module.
YANG tree diagram for the "ietf-restconf-monitoring" module:
+--ro restconf-state
+--ro capabilities
| +--ro capability* inet:uri
+--ro streams
+--ro stream* [name]
+--ro name string
+--ro description? string
+--ro replay-support? boolean
+--ro replay-log-creation-time? yang:date-and-time
+--ro access* [encoding]
+--ro encoding string
+--ro location inet:uri
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 85
RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
9.1. restconf-state/capabilities
This mandatory container holds the RESTCONF protocol capability URIs
supported by the server.
The server MAY maintain a last-modified timestamp for this container
and return the "Last-Modified" header field when this data node is
retrieved with the GET or HEAD methods. Note that the last-modified
timestamp for the datastore resource is not affected by changes to
this subtree.
The server SHOULD maintain an entity-tag for this container and
return the "ETag" header field when this data node is retrieved with
the GET or HEAD methods. Note that the entity-tag for the datastore
resource is not affected by changes to this subtree.
The server MUST include a "capability" URI leaf-list entry for the
"defaults" mode used by the server, defined in Section 9.1.2.
The server MUST include a "capability" URI leaf-list entry
identifying each supported optional protocol feature. This includes
optional query parameters and MAY include other capability URIs
defined outside this document.
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 86
RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
9.1.1. Query Parameter URIs
A new set of RESTCONF Capability URIs are defined to identify the
specific query parameters (defined in Section 4.8) supported by the
server.
The server MUST include a "capability" leaf-list entry for each
optional query parameter that it supports.
+----------------+---------+---------------------------------------+
| Name | Section | URI |
| | | |
+----------------+---------+---------------------------------------+
| depth | 4.8.2 | urn:ietf:params:restconf:capability: |
| | | depth:1.0 |
| | | |
| fields | 4.8.3 | urn:ietf:params:restconf:capability: |
| | | fields:1.0 |
| | | |
| filter | 4.8.4 | urn:ietf:params:restconf:capability: |
| | | filter:1.0 |
| | | |
| replay | 4.8.7 | urn:ietf:params:restconf:capability: |
| | 4.8.8 | replay:1.0 |
| | | |
| with-defaults | 4.8.9 | urn:ietf:params:restconf:capability: |
| | | with-defaults:1.0 |
+----------------+---------+---------------------------------------+
RESTCONF Query Parameter URIs
9.1.2. The "defaults" Protocol Capability URI
This URI identifies the "basic-mode" default-handling mode that is
used by the server for processing default leafs in requests for data
resources. This protocol capability URI MUST be supported by the
server and MUST be listed in the "capability" leaf-list defined in
Section 9.3.
+----------+--------------------------------------------------+
| Name | URI |
+----------+--------------------------------------------------+
| defaults | urn:ietf:params:restconf:capability:defaults:1.0 |
+----------+--------------------------------------------------+
RESTCONF "defaults" Capability URI
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 87
RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
The URI MUST contain a query parameter named "basic-mode" with one of
the values listed below:
+------------+------------------------------------------------------+
| Value | Description |
+------------+------------------------------------------------------+
| report-all | No data nodes are considered default |
| | |
| trim | Values set to the YANG default-stmt value are |
| | default |
| | |
| explicit | Values set by the client are never considered |
| | default |
+------------+------------------------------------------------------+
The "basic-mode" definitions are specified in "With-defaults
Capability for NETCONF" [RFC 6243].
If the "basic-mode" is set to "report-all", then the server MUST
adhere to the default-handling behavior defined in Section 2.1 of
[RFC 6243].
If the "basic-mode" is set to "trim", then the server MUST adhere to
the default-handling behavior defined in Section 2.2 of [RFC 6243].
If the "basic-mode" is set to "explicit", then the server MUST adhere
to the default-handling behavior defined in Section 2.3 of [RFC 6243].
Example (split for display purposes only):
urn:ietf:params:restconf:capability:defaults:1.0?
basic-mode=explicit
9.2. restconf-state/streams
This optional container provides access to the event streams
supported by the server. The server MAY omit this container if no
event streams are supported.
The server will populate this container with a "stream" list entry
for each stream type it supports. Each stream contains a leaf called
"events", which contains a URI that represents an event stream
resource.
Stream resources are defined in Section 3.8. Notifications are
defined in Section 6.
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 88
RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
9.3. RESTCONF Monitoring Module
The "ietf-restconf-monitoring" module defines monitoring information
for the RESTCONF protocol.
The "ietf-yang-types" and "ietf-inet-types" modules from [RFC 6991]
are used by this module for some type definitions.
<CODE BEGINS>
file "ietf-restconf-monitoring@2017-01-26.yang"
module ietf-restconf-monitoring {
namespace "urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:yang:ietf-restconf-monitoring";
prefix "rcmon";
import ietf-yang-types { prefix yang; }
import ietf-inet-types { prefix inet; }
organization
"IETF NETCONF (Network Configuration) Working Group";
contact
"WG Web: <https://datatracker.ietf.org/wg/netconf/>
WG List: <mailto:netconf@ietf.org>
Author: Andy Bierman
<mailto:andy@yumaworks.com>
Author: Martin Bjorklund
<mailto:mbj@tail-f.com>
Author: Kent Watsen
<mailto:kwatsen@juniper.net>";
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 89
RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
description
"This module contains monitoring information for the
RESTCONF protocol.
Copyright (c) 2017 IETF Trust and the persons identified as
authors of the code. All rights reserved.
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or
without modification, is permitted pursuant to, and subject
to the license terms contained in, the Simplified BSD License
set forth in Section 4.c of the IETF Trust's Legal Provisions
Relating to IETF Documents
(http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info).
This version of this YANG module is part of RFC 8040; see
the RFC itself for full legal notices.";
revision 2017-01-26 {
description
"Initial revision.";
reference
"RFC 8040: RESTCONF Protocol.";
}
container restconf-state {
config false;
description
"Contains RESTCONF protocol monitoring information.";
container capabilities {
description
"Contains a list of protocol capability URIs.";
leaf-list capability {
type inet:uri;
description
"A RESTCONF protocol capability URI.";
}
}
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 90
RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
container streams {
description
"Container representing the notification event streams
supported by the server.";
reference
"RFC 5277, Section 3.4, <streams> element.";
list stream {
key name;
description
"Each entry describes an event stream supported by
the server.";
leaf name {
type string;
description
"The stream name.";
reference
"RFC 5277, Section 3.4, <name> element.";
}
leaf description {
type string;
description
"Description of stream content.";
reference
"RFC 5277, Section 3.4, <description> element.";
}
leaf replay-support {
type boolean;
default false;
description
"Indicates if replay buffer is supported for this stream.
If 'true', then the server MUST support the 'start-time'
and 'stop-time' query parameters for this stream.";
reference
"RFC 5277, Section 3.4, <replaySupport> element.";
}
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 91
RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
leaf replay-log-creation-time {
when "../replay-support" {
description
"Only present if notification replay is supported.";
}
type yang:date-and-time;
description
"Indicates the time the replay log for this stream
was created.";
reference
"RFC 5277, Section 3.4, <replayLogCreationTime>
element.";
}
list access {
key encoding;
min-elements 1;
description
"The server will create an entry in this list for each
encoding format that is supported for this stream.
The media type 'text/event-stream' is expected
for all event streams. This list identifies the
subtypes supported for this stream.";
leaf encoding {
type string;
description
"This is the secondary encoding format within the
'text/event-stream' encoding used by all streams.
The type 'xml' is supported for XML encoding.
The type 'json' is supported for JSON encoding.";
}
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 92
RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
leaf location {
type inet:uri;
mandatory true;
description
"Contains a URL that represents the entry point
for establishing notification delivery via
server-sent events.";
}
}
}
}
}
}
<CODE ENDS>
10. YANG Module Library
The "ietf-yang-library" module defined in [RFC 7895] provides
information about the YANG modules and submodules used by the
RESTCONF server. Implementation is mandatory for RESTCONF servers.
All YANG modules and submodules used by the server MUST be identified
in the YANG module library.
10.1. modules-state/module
This mandatory list contains one entry for each YANG data model
module supported by the server. There MUST be an instance of this
list for every YANG module that is used by the server.
The contents of this list are defined in the "module" YANG list
statement in [RFC 7895].
Note that there are no protocol-accessible objects in the
"ietf-restconf" module to implement, but it is possible that a server
will list the "ietf-restconf" module in the YANG library if it is
imported (directly or indirectly) by an implemented module.
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 93
RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
11. IANA Considerations
11.1. The "restconf" Relation Type
This specification registers the "restconf" relation type in the
"Link Relation Types" registry defined by [RFC 5988]:
Relation Name: restconf
Description: Identifies the root of the RESTCONF API as configured
on this HTTP server. The "restconf" relation
defines the root of the API defined in RFC 8040.
Subsequent revisions of RESTCONF will use alternate
relation values to support protocol versioning.
Reference: RFC 8040
11.2. Registrations for New URIs and YANG Modules
This document registers two URIs as namespaces in the "IETF XML
Registry" [RFC 3688]:
URI: urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:yang:ietf-restconf
Registrant Contact: The IESG.
XML: N/A; the requested URI is an XML namespace.
URI: urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:yang:ietf-restconf-monitoring
Registrant Contact: The IESG.
XML: N/A; the requested URI is an XML namespace.
This document registers two YANG modules in the "YANG Module Names"
registry [RFC 6020]:
name: ietf-restconf
namespace: urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:yang:ietf-restconf
prefix: rc
reference: RFC 8040
name: ietf-restconf-monitoring
namespace: urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:yang:ietf-restconf-monitoring
prefix: rcmon
reference: RFC 8040
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 94
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11.3. Media Types
11.3.1. Media Type "application/yang-data+xml"
Type name: application
Subtype name: yang-data+xml
Required parameters: None
Optional parameters: None
Encoding considerations: 8-bit
Each conceptual YANG data node is encoded according to the
XML Encoding Rules and Canonical Format for the specific
YANG data node type defined in [RFC 7950].
Security considerations: Security considerations related
to the generation and consumption of RESTCONF messages
are discussed in Section 12 of RFC 8040.
Additional security considerations are specific to the
semantics of particular YANG data models. Each YANG module
is expected to specify security considerations for the
YANG data defined in that module.
Interoperability considerations: RFC 8040 specifies the
format of conforming messages and the interpretation
thereof.
Published specification: RFC 8040
Applications that use this media type: Instance document
data parsers used within a protocol or automation tool
that utilize YANG-defined data structures.
Fragment identifier considerations: Fragment identifiers for
this type are not defined. All YANG data nodes are
accessible as resources using the path in the request URI.
Additional information:
Deprecated alias names for this type: N/A
Magic number(s): N/A
File extension(s): None
Macintosh file type code(s): "TEXT"
Person & email address to contact for further information: See
the Authors' Addresses section of RFC 8040.
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 95
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Intended usage: COMMON
Restrictions on usage: N/A
Author: See the Authors' Addresses section of RFC 8040.
Change controller: Internet Engineering Task Force
(mailto:iesg@ietf.org).
Provisional registration? (standards tree only): no
11.3.2. Media Type "application/yang-data+json"
Type name: application
Subtype name: yang-data+json
Required parameters: None
Optional parameters: None
Encoding considerations: 8-bit
Each conceptual YANG data node is encoded according to
[RFC 7951]. A metadata annotation is encoded according to
[RFC 7952].
Security considerations: Security considerations related
to the generation and consumption of RESTCONF messages
are discussed in Section 12 of RFC 8040.
Additional security considerations are specific to the
semantics of particular YANG data models. Each YANG module
is expected to specify security considerations for the
YANG data defined in that module.
Interoperability considerations: RFC 8040 specifies the format
of conforming messages and the interpretation thereof.
Published specification: RFC 8040
Applications that use this media type: Instance document
data parsers used within a protocol or automation tool
that utilize YANG-defined data structures.
Fragment identifier considerations: The syntax and semantics
of fragment identifiers are the same as the syntax and semantics
specified for the "application/json" media type.
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 96
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Additional information:
Deprecated alias names for this type: N/A
Magic number(s): N/A
File extension(s): None
Macintosh file type code(s): "TEXT"
Person & email address to contact for further information: See
the Authors' Addresses section of RFC 8040.
Intended usage: COMMON
Restrictions on usage: N/A
Author: See the Authors' Addresses section of RFC 8040.
Change controller: Internet Engineering Task Force
(mailto:iesg@ietf.org).
Provisional registration? (standards tree only): no
11.4. RESTCONF Capability URNs
This document defines a registry for RESTCONF capability identifiers.
The name of the registry is "RESTCONF Capability URNs". The review
policy for this registry is "IETF Review" [RFC 5226]. The registry
shall record the following for each entry:
o the name of the RESTCONF capability. By convention, this name
begins with the colon (":") character.
o the URN for the RESTCONF capability.
o the reference for the document registering the value.
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 97
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This document registers several capability identifiers in the
"RESTCONF Capability URNs" registry:
Index Capability Identifier
---------------------------------------------------------------------
:defaults urn:ietf:params:restconf:capability:defaults:1.0
:depth urn:ietf:params:restconf:capability:depth:1.0
:fields urn:ietf:params:restconf:capability:fields:1.0
:filter urn:ietf:params:restconf:capability:filter:1.0
:replay urn:ietf:params:restconf:capability:replay:1.0
:with-defaults urn:ietf:params:restconf:capability:with-defaults:1.0
11.5. Registration of "restconf" URN Sub-namespace
IANA has registered a new URN sub-namespace within the "IETF URN
Sub-namespace for Registered Protocol Parameter Identifiers" registry
defined in [RFC 3553].
Registry Name: restconf
Specification: RFC 8040
Repository: "RESTCONF Capability URNs" registry (Section 11.4)
Index value: Sub-parameters MUST be specified in UTF-8, using
standard URI encoding where necessary.
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12. Security Considerations
Section 2.1 states that "a RESTCONF server MUST support the TLS
protocol [RFC 5246]." This language leaves open the possibility that
a RESTCONF server might also support future versions of the TLS
protocol. Of specific concern, TLS 1.3 [TLS1.3] introduces support
for 0-RTT handshakes that can lead to security issues for RESTCONF
APIs, as described in Appendix B.1 of the TLS 1.3 document. It is
therefore RECOMMENDED that RESTCONF servers do not support 0-RTT at
all (not even for idempotent requests) until an update to this RFC
guides otherwise.
Section 2.5 recommends authentication based on TLS client
certificates but allows the use of any authentication scheme defined
in the "Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) Authentication Scheme
Registry". Implementations need to be aware that the strengths of
these methods vary greatly and that some may be considered
experimental. Selection of any of these schemes SHOULD be performed
after reading the Security Considerations section of the RFC
associated with the scheme's registry entry.
The "ietf-restconf-monitoring" YANG module defined in this memo is
designed to be accessed via the NETCONF protocol [RFC 6241]. The
lowest NETCONF layer is the secure transport layer, and the
mandatory-to-implement secure transport is Secure Shell (SSH)
[RFC 6242]. The NETCONF access control model [RFC 6536] provides the
means to restrict access for particular NETCONF users to a
preconfigured subset of all available NETCONF protocol operations and
content.
The lowest RESTCONF layer is HTTPS, and the mandatory-to-implement
secure transport is TLS [RFC 5246]. The RESTCONF protocol uses the
NETCONF access control model [RFC 6536], which provides the means to
restrict access for particular RESTCONF users to a preconfigured
subset of all available RESTCONF protocol operations and content.
This section provides security considerations for the resources
defined by the RESTCONF protocol. Security considerations for HTTPS
are defined in [RFC 7230]. Aside from the "ietf-restconf-monitoring"
module (Section 9) and the "ietf-yang-library" module (Section 10),
RESTCONF does not specify which YANG modules a server needs to
support. Security considerations for the other modules manipulated
by RESTCONF can be found in the documents defining those YANG
modules.
Configuration information is by its very nature sensitive. Its
transmission in the clear and without integrity checking leaves
devices open to classic eavesdropping and false data injection
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 99
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attacks. Configuration information often contains passwords, user
names, service descriptions, and topological information, all of
which are sensitive. There are many patterns of attack that have
been observed through operational practice with existing management
interfaces. It would be wise for implementers to research them and
take them into account when implementing this protocol.
Different environments may well allow different rights prior to, and
then after, authentication. When a RESTCONF operation is not
properly authorized, the RESTCONF server MUST return a "401
Unauthorized" status-line. Note that authorization information can
be exchanged in the form of configuration information, which is all
the more reason to ensure the security of the connection. Note that
it is possible for a client to detect configuration changes in data
resources it is not authorized to access by monitoring changes in the
"ETag" and "Last-Modified" header fields returned by the server for
the datastore resource.
A RESTCONF server implementation SHOULD attempt to prevent system
disruption due to excessive resource consumption required to fulfill
edit requests via the POST, PUT, and PATCH methods. On such an
implementation, it may be possible to construct an attack that
attempts to consume all available memory or other resource types.
13. References
13.1. Normative References
[RFC 2046] Freed, N. and N. Borenstein, "Multipurpose Internet Mail
Extensions (MIME) Part Two: Media Types", RFC 2046,
DOI 10.17487/RFC 2046, November 1996,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/RFC 2046>.
[RFC 2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
DOI 10.17487/RFC 2119, March 1997,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/RFC 2119>.
[RFC 3553] Mealling, M., Masinter, L., Hardie, T., and G. Klyne, "An
IETF URN Sub-namespace for Registered Protocol
Parameters", BCP 73, RFC 3553, DOI 10.17487/RFC 3553,
June 2003, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/RFC 3553>.
[RFC 3688] Mealling, M., "The IETF XML Registry", BCP 81, RFC 3688,
DOI 10.17487/RFC 3688, January 2004,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/RFC 3688>.
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 100
RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
[RFC 3986] Berners-Lee, T., Fielding, R., and L. Masinter, "Uniform
Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax", STD 66,
RFC 3986, DOI 10.17487/RFC 3986, January 2005,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/RFC 3986>.
[RFC 5234] Crocker, D., Ed., and P. Overell, "Augmented BNF for
Syntax Specifications: ABNF", STD 68, RFC 5234,
DOI 10.17487/RFC 5234, January 2008,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/RFC 5234>.
[RFC 5246] Dierks, T. and E. Rescorla, "The Transport Layer Security
(TLS) Protocol Version 1.2", RFC 5246,
DOI 10.17487/RFC 5246, August 2008,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/RFC 5246>.
[RFC 5277] Chisholm, S. and H. Trevino, "NETCONF Event
Notifications", RFC 5277, DOI 10.17487/RFC 5277, July 2008,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/RFC 5277>.
[RFC 5280] Cooper, D., Santesson, S., Farrell, S., Boeyen, S.,
Housley, R., and W. Polk, "Internet X.509 Public Key
Infrastructure Certificate and Certificate Revocation List
(CRL) Profile", RFC 5280, DOI 10.17487/RFC 5280, May 2008,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/RFC 5280>.
[RFC 5789] Dusseault, L. and J. Snell, "PATCH Method for HTTP",
RFC 5789, DOI 10.17487/RFC 5789, March 2010,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/RFC 5789>.
[RFC 5988] Nottingham, M., "Web Linking", RFC 5988,
DOI 10.17487/RFC 5988, October 2010,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/RFC 5988>.
[RFC 6020] Bjorklund, M., Ed., "YANG - A Data Modeling Language for
the Network Configuration Protocol (NETCONF)", RFC 6020,
DOI 10.17487/RFC 6020, October 2010,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/RFC 6020>.
[RFC 6241] Enns, R., Ed., Bjorklund, M., Ed., Schoenwaelder, J., Ed.,
and A. Bierman, Ed., "Network Configuration Protocol
(NETCONF)", RFC 6241, DOI 10.17487/RFC 6241, June 2011,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/RFC 6241>.
[RFC 6242] Wasserman, M., "Using the NETCONF Protocol over Secure
Shell (SSH)", RFC 6242, DOI 10.17487/RFC 6242, June 2011,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/RFC 6242>.
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 101
RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
[RFC 6243] Bierman, A. and B. Lengyel, "With-defaults Capability for
NETCONF", RFC 6243, DOI 10.17487/RFC 6243, June 2011,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/RFC 6243>.
[RFC 6415] Hammer-Lahav, E., Ed., and B. Cook, "Web Host Metadata",
RFC 6415, DOI 10.17487/RFC 6415, October 2011,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/RFC 6415>.
[RFC 6536] Bierman, A. and M. Bjorklund, "Network Configuration
Protocol (NETCONF) Access Control Model", RFC 6536,
DOI 10.17487/RFC 6536, March 2012,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/RFC 6536>.
[RFC 6570] Gregorio, J., Fielding, R., Hadley, M., Nottingham, M.,
and D. Orchard, "URI Template", RFC 6570,
DOI 10.17487/RFC 6570, March 2012,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/RFC 6570>.
[RFC 6991] Schoenwaelder, J., Ed., "Common YANG Data Types",
RFC 6991, DOI 10.17487/RFC 6991, July 2013,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/RFC 6991>.
[RFC 7159] Bray, T., Ed., "The JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) Data
Interchange Format", RFC 7159, DOI 10.17487/RFC 7159,
March 2014, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/RFC 7159>.
[RFC 7230] Fielding, R., Ed., and J. Reschke, Ed., "Hypertext
Transfer Protocol (HTTP/1.1): Message Syntax and Routing",
RFC 7230, DOI 10.17487/RFC 7230, June 2014,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/RFC 7230>.
[RFC 7231] Fielding, R., Ed., and J. Reschke, Ed., "Hypertext
Transfer Protocol (HTTP/1.1): Semantics and Content",
RFC 7231, DOI 10.17487/RFC 7231, June 2014,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/RFC 7231>.
[RFC 7232] Fielding, R., Ed., and J. Reschke, Ed., "Hypertext
Transfer Protocol (HTTP/1.1): Conditional Requests",
RFC 7232, DOI 10.17487/RFC 7232, June 2014,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/RFC 7232>.
[RFC 7235] Fielding, R., Ed., and J. Reschke, Ed., "Hypertext
Transfer Protocol (HTTP/1.1): Authentication", RFC 7235,
DOI 10.17487/RFC 7235, June 2014,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/RFC 7235>.
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 102
RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
[RFC 7320] Nottingham, M., "URI Design and Ownership", BCP 190,
RFC 7320, DOI 10.17487/RFC 7320, July 2014,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/RFC 7320>.
[RFC 7525] Sheffer, Y., Holz, R., and P. Saint-Andre,
"Recommendations for Secure Use of Transport Layer
Security (TLS) and Datagram Transport Layer Security
(DTLS)", BCP 195, RFC 7525, DOI 10.17487/RFC 7525,
May 2015, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/RFC 7525>.
[RFC 7589] Badra, M., Luchuk, A., and J. Schoenwaelder, "Using the
NETCONF Protocol over Transport Layer Security (TLS) with
Mutual X.509 Authentication", RFC 7589,
DOI 10.17487/RFC 7589, June 2015,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/RFC 7589>.
[RFC 7895] Bierman, A., Bjorklund, M., and K. Watsen, "YANG Module
Library", RFC 7895, DOI 10.17487/RFC 7895, June 2016,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/RFC 7895>.
[RFC 7950] Bjorklund, M., Ed., "The YANG 1.1 Data Modeling Language",
RFC 7950, DOI 10.17487/RFC 7950, August 2016,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/RFC 7950>.
[RFC 7951] Lhotka, L., "JSON Encoding of Data Modeled with YANG",
RFC 7951, DOI 10.17487/RFC 7951, August 2016,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/RFC 7951>.
[RFC 7952] Lhotka, L., "Defining and Using Metadata with YANG",
RFC 7952, DOI 10.17487/RFC 7952, August 2016,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/RFC 7952>.
[W3C.REC-eventsource-20150203]
Hickson, I., "Server-Sent Events", World Wide Web
Consortium Recommendation REC-eventsource-20150203,
February 2015,
<http://www.w3.org/TR/2015/REC-eventsource-20150203>.
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 103
RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
[W3C.REC-xml-20081126]
Bray, T., Paoli, J., Sperberg-McQueen, M., Maler, E.,
and F. Yergeau, "Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0
(Fifth Edition)", World Wide Web Consortium Recommendation
REC-xml-20081126, November 2008,
<http://www.w3.org/TR/2008/REC-xml-20081126>.
[XPath] Clark, J. and S. DeRose, "XML Path Language (XPath)
Version 1.0", World Wide Web Consortium Recommendation
REC-xpath-19991116, November 1999,
<http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-xpath-19991116>.
13.2. Informative References
[REST-Dissertation]
Fielding, R., "Architectural Styles and the Design of
Network-based Software Architectures", 2000.
[RFC 2818] Rescorla, E., "HTTP Over TLS", RFC 2818,
DOI 10.17487/RFC 2818, May 2000,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/RFC 2818>.
[RFC 5226] Narten, T. and H. Alvestrand, "Guidelines for Writing an
IANA Considerations Section in RFCs", BCP 26, RFC 5226,
DOI 10.17487/RFC 5226, May 2008,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/RFC 5226>.
[TLS1.3] Rescorla, E., "The Transport Layer Security (TLS) Protocol
Version 1.3", Work in Progress, draft-ietf-tls-tls13-18,
October 2016.
[YANG-Patch]
Bierman, A., Bjorklund, M., and K. Watsen, "YANG Patch
Media Type", Work in Progress,
draft-ietf-netconf-yang-patch-14, November 2016.
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RFC 8040 RESTCONF January 2017
Appendix A. Example YANG Module
The example YANG module used in this document represents a simple
media jukebox interface.
YANG tree diagram for the "example-jukebox" module:
+--rw jukebox!
+--rw library
| +--rw artist* [name]
| | +--rw name string
| | +--rw album* [name]
| | +--rw name string
| | +--rw genre? identityref
| | +--rw year? uint16
| | +--rw admin
| | | +--rw label? string
| | | +--rw catalogue-number? string
| | +--rw song* [name]
| | +--rw name string
| | +--rw location string
| | +--rw format? string
| | +--rw length? uint32
| +--ro artist-count? uint32
| +--ro album-count? uint32
| +--ro song-count? uint32
+--rw playlist* [name]
| +--rw name string
| +--rw description? string
| +--rw song* [index]
| +--rw index uint32
| +--rw id instance-identifier
+--rw player
+--rw gap? decimal64
rpcs:
+---x play
+--ro input
+--ro playlist string
+--ro song-number uint32
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A.1. "example-jukebox" YANG Module
module example-jukebox {
namespace "http://example.com/ns/example-jukebox";
prefix "jbox";
organization "Example, Inc.";
contact "support at example.com";
description "Example Jukebox Data Model Module.";
revision "2016-08-15" {
description "Initial version.";
reference "example.com document 1-4673.";
}
identity genre {
description
"Base for all genre types.";
}
// abbreviated list of genre classifications
identity alternative {
base genre;
description
"Alternative music.";
}
identity blues {
base genre;
description
"Blues music.";
}
identity country {
base genre;
description
"Country music.";
}
identity jazz {
base genre;
description
"Jazz music.";
}
identity pop {
base genre;
description
"Pop music.";
}
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identity rock {
base genre;
description
"Rock music.";
}
container jukebox {
presence
"An empty container indicates that the jukebox
service is available.";
description
"Represents a 'jukebox' resource, with a library, playlists,
and a 'play' operation.";
container library {
description
"Represents the 'jukebox' library resource.";
list artist {
key name;
description
"Represents one 'artist' resource within the
'jukebox' library resource.";
leaf name {
type string {
length "1 .. max";
}
description
"The name of the artist.";
}
list album {
key name;
description
"Represents one 'album' resource within one
'artist' resource, within the jukebox library.";
leaf name {
type string {
length "1 .. max";
}
description
"The name of the album.";
}
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leaf genre {
type identityref { base genre; }
description
"The genre identifying the type of music on
the album.";
}
leaf year {
type uint16 {
range "1900 .. max";
}
description
"The year the album was released.";
}
container admin {
description
"Administrative information for the album.";
leaf label {
type string;
description
"The label that released the album.";
}
leaf catalogue-number {
type string;
description
"The album's catalogue number.";
}
}
list song {
key name;
description
"Represents one 'song' resource within one
'album' resource, within the jukebox library.";
leaf name {
type string {
length "1 .. max";
}
description
"The name of the song.";
}
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leaf location {
type string;
mandatory true;
description
"The file location string of the
media file for the song.";
}
leaf format {
type string;
description
"An identifier string for the media type
for the file associated with the
'location' leaf for this entry.";
}
leaf length {
type uint32;
units "seconds";
description
"The duration of this song in seconds.";
}
} // end list 'song'
} // end list 'album'
} // end list 'artist'
leaf artist-count {
type uint32;
units "artists";
config false;
description
"Number of artists in the library.";
}
leaf album-count {
type uint32;
units "albums";
config false;
description
"Number of albums in the library.";
}
leaf song-count {
type uint32;
units "songs";
config false;
description
"Number of songs in the library.";
}
} // end library
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list playlist {
key name;
description
"Example configuration data resource.";
leaf name {
type string;
description
"The name of the playlist.";
}
leaf description {
type string;
description
"A comment describing the playlist.";
}
list song {
key index;
ordered-by user;
description
"Example nested configuration data resource.";
leaf index { // not really needed
type uint32;
description
"An arbitrary integer index for this playlist song.";
}
leaf id {
type instance-identifier;
mandatory true;
description
"Song identifier. Must identify an instance of
/jukebox/library/artist/album/song/name.";
}
}
}
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container player {
description
"Represents the jukebox player resource.";
leaf gap {
type decimal64 {
fraction-digits 1;
range "0.0 .. 2.0";
}
units "tenths of seconds";
description
"Time gap between each song.";
}
}
}
rpc play {
description
"Control function for the jukebox player.";
input {
leaf playlist {
type string;
mandatory true;
description
"The playlist name.";
}
leaf song-number {
type uint32;
mandatory true;
description
"Song number in playlist to play.";
}
}
}
}
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Appendix B. RESTCONF Message Examples
The examples within this document use the normative YANG module
"ietf-restconf" as defined in Section 8 and the non-normative example
YANG module "example-jukebox" as defined in Appendix A.1.
This section shows some typical RESTCONF message exchanges.
B.1. Resource Retrieval Examples
B.1.1. Retrieve the Top-Level API Resource
The client starts by retrieving the RESTCONF root resource:
GET /.well-known/host-meta HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Accept: application/xrd+xml
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The server might respond as follows:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/xrd+xml
Content-Length: nnn
<XRD xmlns='http://docs.oasis-open.org/ns/xri/xrd-1.0'>
<Link rel='restconf' href='/restconf'/>
</XRD>
The client may then retrieve the top-level API resource, using the
root resource "/restconf".
GET /restconf HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Accept: application/yang-data+json
The server might respond as follows:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
Server: example-server
Content-Type: application/yang-data+json
{
"ietf-restconf:restconf" : {
"data" : {},
"operations" : {},
"yang-library-version" : "2016-06-21"
}
}
To request that the response content be encoded in XML, the "Accept"
header can be used, as in this example request:
GET /restconf HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Accept: application/yang-data+xml
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The server will return the same conceptual data either way, which
might be as follows:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
Server: example-server
Cache-Control: no-cache
Content-Type: application/yang-data+xml
<restconf xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:yang:ietf-restconf">
<data/>
<operations/>
<yang-library-version>2016-06-21</yang-library-version>
</restconf>
B.1.2. Retrieve the Server Module Information
It is possible that the YANG library module will change over time.
The client can retrieve the revision date of the "ietf-yang-library"
module supported by the server from the API resource, as described in
the previous section.
In this example, the client is retrieving the module information from
the server in JSON format:
GET /restconf/data/ietf-yang-library:modules-state HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Accept: application/yang-data+json
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The server might respond as follows:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
Server: example-server
Cache-Control: no-cache
Last-Modified: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 14:00:14 GMT
Content-Type: application/yang-data+json
{
"ietf-yang-library:modules-state" : {
"module-set-id" : "5479120c17a619545ea6aff7aa19838b036ebbd7",
"module" : [
{
"name" : "foo",
"revision" : "2012-01-02",
"schema" : "https://example.com/modules/foo/2012-01-02",
"namespace" : "http://example.com/ns/foo",
"feature" : [ "feature1", "feature2" ],
"deviation" : [
{
"name" : "foo-dev",
"revision" : "2012-02-16"
}
],
"conformance-type" : "implement"
},
{
"name" : "ietf-yang-library",
"revision" : "2016-06-21",
"schema" : "https://example.com/modules/\
ietf-yang-library/2016-06-21",
"namespace" :
"urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:yang:ietf-yang-library",
"conformance-type" : "implement"
},
{
"name" : "foo-types",
"revision" : "2012-01-05",
"schema" :
"https://example.com/modules/foo-types/2012-01-05",
"namespace" : "http://example.com/ns/foo-types",
"conformance-type" : "import"
},
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{
"name" : "bar",
"revision" : "2012-11-05",
"schema" : "https://example.com/modules/bar/2012-11-05",
"namespace" : "http://example.com/ns/bar",
"feature" : [ "bar-ext" ],
"conformance-type" : "implement",
"submodule" : [
{
"name" : "bar-submod1",
"revision" : "2012-11-05",
"schema" :
"https://example.com/modules/bar-submod1/2012-11-05"
},
{
"name" : "bar-submod2",
"revision" : "2012-11-05",
"schema" :
"https://example.com/modules/bar-submod2/2012-11-05"
}
]
}
]
}
}
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B.1.3. Retrieve the Server Capability Information
In this example, the client is retrieving the capability information
from the server in XML format, and the server supports all of the
RESTCONF query parameters, plus one vendor parameter:
GET /restconf/data/ietf-restconf-monitoring:restconf-state/\
capabilities HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Accept: application/yang-data+xml
The server might respond as follows:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
Server: example-server
Cache-Control: no-cache
Last-Modified: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 16:00:14 GMT
Content-Type: application/yang-data+xml
<capabilities
xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:yang:ietf-restconf-monitoring">
<capability>\
urn:ietf:params:restconf:capability:defaults:1.0?\
basic-mode=explicit\
</capability>
<capability>\
urn:ietf:params:restconf:capability:with-defaults:1.0\
</capability>
<capability>\
urn:ietf:params:restconf:capability:depth:1.0\
</capability>
<capability>\
urn:ietf:params:restconf:capability:fields:1.0\
</capability>
<capability>\
urn:ietf:params:restconf:capability:filter:1.0\
</capability>
<capability>\
urn:ietf:params:restconf:capability:start-time:1.0\
</capability>
<capability>\
urn:ietf:params:restconf:capability:stop-time:1.0\
</capability>
<capability>\
http://example.com/capabilities/myparam\
</capability>
</capabilities>
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B.2. Data Resource and Datastore Resource Examples
B.2.1. Create New Data Resources
To create a new "artist" resource within the "library" resource, the
client might send the following request:
POST /restconf/data/example-jukebox:jukebox/library HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Content-Type: application/yang-data+json
{
"example-jukebox:artist" : [
{
"name" : "Foo Fighters"
}
]
}
If the resource is created, the server might respond as follows:
HTTP/1.1 201 Created
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
Server: example-server
Location: https://example.com/restconf/data/\
example-jukebox:jukebox/library/artist=Foo%20Fighters
Last-Modified: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
ETag: "b3830f23a4c"
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To create a new "album" resource for this artist within the "jukebox"
resource, the client might send the following request:
POST /restconf/data/example-jukebox:jukebox/\
library/artist=Foo%20Fighters HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Content-Type: application/yang-data+xml
<album xmlns="http://example.com/ns/example-jukebox">
<name>Wasting Light</name>
<year>2011</year>
</album>
If the resource is created, the server might respond as follows:
HTTP/1.1 201 Created
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
Server: example-server
Location: https://example.com/restconf/data/\
example-jukebox:jukebox/library/artist=Foo%20Fighters/\
album=Wasting%20Light
Last-Modified: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
ETag: "b8389233a4c"
B.2.2. Detect Datastore Resource Entity-Tag Change
In this example, the server just supports the datastore last-changed
timestamp. Assume that the client has cached the "Last-Modified"
header from the response to the previous request. This value is used
as in the "If-Unmodified-Since" header in the following request to
patch an "album" list entry with a key value of "Wasting Light".
Only the "genre" field is being updated.
PATCH /restconf/data/example-jukebox:jukebox/\
library/artist=Foo%20Fighters/album=Wasting%20Light/\
genre HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
If-Unmodified-Since: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
Content-Type: application/yang-data+json
{ "example-jukebox:genre" : "example-jukebox:alternative" }
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In this example, the datastore resource has changed since the time
specified in the "If-Unmodified-Since" header. The server might
respond as follows:
HTTP/1.1 412 Precondition Failed
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
Server: example-server
Last-Modified: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 19:41:00 GMT
ETag: "b34aed893a4c"
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B.2.3. Edit a Datastore Resource
In this example, assume that there is a top-level data resource named
"system" from the example-system module, and this container has a
child leaf called "enable-jukebox-streaming":
container system {
leaf enable-jukebox-streaming {
type boolean;
}
}
In this example, PATCH is used by the client to modify two top-level
resources at once, in order to enable jukebox streaming and add an
"album" sub-resource to each of two "artist" resources:
PATCH /restconf/data HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Content-Type: application/yang-data+xml
<data xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:yang:ietf-restconf">
<system xmlns="http://example.com/ns/example-system">
<enable-jukebox-streaming>true</enable-jukebox-streaming>
</system>
<jukebox xmlns="http://example.com/ns/example-jukebox">
<library>
<artist>
<name>Foo Fighters</name>
<album>
<name>One by One</name>
<year>2012</year>
</album>
</artist>
<artist>
<name>Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds</name>
<album>
<name>Tender Prey</name>
<year>1988</year>
</album>
</artist>
</library>
</jukebox>
</data>
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B.2.4. Replace a Datastore Resource
In this example, the entire configuration datastore contents are
being replaced. Any child nodes not present in the <data> element
but present in the server will be deleted.
PUT /restconf/data HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Content-Type: application/yang-data+xml
<data xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:yang:ietf-restconf">
<jukebox xmlns="http://example.com/ns/example-jukebox">
<library>
<artist>
<name>Foo Fighters</name>
<album>
<name>One by One</name>
<year>2012</year>
</album>
</artist>
<artist>
<name>Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds</name>
<album>
<name>Tender Prey</name>
<year>1988</year>
</album>
</artist>
</library>
</jukebox>
</data>
B.2.5. Edit a Data Resource
In this example, the client modifies one data node by adding an
"album" sub-resource by sending a PATCH for the data resource:
PATCH /restconf/data/example-jukebox:jukebox/library/\
artist=Nick%20Cave%20and%20the%20Bad%20Seeds HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Content-Type: application/yang-data+xml
<artist xmlns="http://example.com/ns/example-jukebox">
<name>Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds</name>
<album>
<name>The Good Son</name>
<year>1990</year>
</album>
</artist>
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B.3. Query Parameter Examples
B.3.1. "content" Parameter
The "content" parameter is used to select the types of data child
resources (configuration and/or non-configuration) that are returned
by the server for a GET method request.
In this example, a simple YANG list is used that has configuration
and non-configuration child resources.
container events {
list event {
key name;
leaf name { type string; }
leaf description { type string; }
leaf event-count {
type uint32;
config false;
}
}
}
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Example 1: content=all
To retrieve all of the child resources, the "content" parameter is
set to "all", or omitted, since this is the default value. The
client might send the following:
GET /restconf/data/example-events:events?\
content=all HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Accept: application/yang-data+json
The server might respond as follows:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
Server: example-server
Cache-Control: no-cache
Content-Type: application/yang-data+json
{
"example-events:events" : {
"event" : [
{
"name" : "interface-up",
"description" : "Interface up notification count",
"event-count" : 42
},
{
"name" : "interface-down",
"description" : "Interface down notification count",
"event-count" : 4
}
]
}
}
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Example 2: content=config
To retrieve only the configuration child resources, the "content"
parameter is set to "config". Note that the "ETag" and
"Last-Modified" headers are only returned if the "content" parameter
value is "config".
GET /restconf/data/example-events:events?\
content=config HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Accept: application/yang-data+json
The server might respond as follows:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
Server: example-server
Last-Modified: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 16:45:20 GMT
ETag: "eeeada438af"
Cache-Control: no-cache
Content-Type: application/yang-data+json
{
"example-events:events" : {
"event" : [
{
"name" : "interface-up",
"description" : "Interface up notification count"
},
{
"name" : "interface-down",
"description" : "Interface down notification count"
}
]
}
}
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Example 3: content=nonconfig
To retrieve only the non-configuration child resources, the "content"
parameter is set to "nonconfig". Note that configuration ancestors
(if any) and list key leafs (if any) are also returned. The client
might send the following:
GET /restconf/data/example-events:events?\
content=nonconfig HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Accept: application/yang-data+json
The server might respond as follows:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
Server: example-server
Cache-Control: no-cache
Content-Type: application/yang-data+json
{
"example-events:events" : {
"event" : [
{
"name" : "interface-up",
"event-count" : 42
},
{
"name" : "interface-down",
"event-count" : 4
}
]
}
}
B.3.2. "depth" Parameter
The "depth" parameter is used to limit the number of levels of child
resources that are returned by the server for a GET method request.
The "depth" parameter starts counting levels at the level of the
target resource that is specified, so that a depth level of "1"
includes just the target resource level itself. A depth level of "2"
includes the target resource level and its child nodes.
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This example shows how different values of the "depth" parameter
would affect the reply content for the retrieval of the top-level
"jukebox" data resource.
Example 1: depth=unbounded
To retrieve all of the child resources, the "depth" parameter is not
present or is set to the default value "unbounded".
GET /restconf/data/example-jukebox:jukebox?\
depth=unbounded HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Accept: application/yang-data+json
The server might respond as follows:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
Server: example-server
Cache-Control: no-cache
Content-Type: application/yang-data+json
{
"example-jukebox:jukebox" : {
"library" : {
"artist" : [
{
"name" : "Foo Fighters",
"album" : [
{
"name" : "Wasting Light",
"genre" : "example-jukebox:alternative",
"year" : 2011,
"song" : [
{
"name" : "Wasting Light",
"location" :
"/media/foo/a7/wasting-light.mp3",
"format" : "MP3",
"length" : 286
},
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{
"name" : "Rope",
"location" : "/media/foo/a7/rope.mp3",
"format" : "MP3",
"length" : 259
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
"playlist" : [
{
"name" : "Foo-One",
"description" : "example playlist 1",
"song" : [
{
"index" : 1,
"id" : "/example-jukebox:jukebox/library\
/artist[name='Foo Fighters']\
/album[name='Wasting Light']\
/song[name='Rope']"
},
{
"index" : 2,
"id" : "/example-jukebox:jukebox/library\
/artist[name='Foo Fighters']\
/album[name='Wasting Light']\
/song[name='Bridge Burning']"
}
]
}
],
"player" : {
"gap" : 0.5
}
}
}
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Example 2: depth=1
To determine if one or more resource instances exist for a given
target resource, the value "1" is used.
GET /restconf/data/example-jukebox:jukebox?depth=1 HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Accept: application/yang-data+json
The server might respond as follows:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
Server: example-server
Cache-Control: no-cache
Content-Type: application/yang-data+json
{
"example-jukebox:jukebox" : {}
}
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Example 3: depth=3
To limit the depth level to the target resource plus two child
resource layers, the value "3" is used.
GET /restconf/data/example-jukebox:jukebox?depth=3 HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Accept: application/yang-data+json
The server might respond as follows:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
Server: example-server
Cache-Control: no-cache
Content-Type: application/yang-data+json
{
"example-jukebox:jukebox" : {
"library" : {
"artist" : {}
},
"playlist" : [
{
"name" : "Foo-One",
"description" : "example playlist 1",
"song" : {}
}
],
"player" : {
"gap" : 0.5
}
}
}
B.3.3. "fields" Parameter
In this example, the client is retrieving the datastore resource in
JSON format, but retrieving only the "modules-state/module" list, and
only the "name" and "revision" nodes from each list entry. Note that
the top node returned by the server matches the target resource node
(which is "data" in this example). The "module-set-id" leaf is not
returned because it is not selected in the fields expression.
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GET /restconf/data?fields=ietf-yang-library:modules-state/\
module(name;revision) HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Accept: application/yang-data+json
The server might respond as follows:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
Server: example-server
Content-Type: application/yang-data+json
{
"ietf-restconf:data" : {
"ietf-yang-library:modules-state" : {
"module" : [
{
"name" : "example-jukebox",
"revision" : "2016-08-15"
},
{
"name" : "ietf-inet-types",
"revision" : "2013-07-15"
},
{
"name" : "ietf-restconf-monitoring",
"revision" : "2017-01-26"
},
{
"name" : "ietf-yang-library",
"revision" : "2016-06-21"
},
{
"name" : "ietf-yang-types",
"revision" : "2013-07-15"
}
]
}
}
}
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B.3.4. "insert" Parameter
In this example, a new first song entry in the "Foo-One" playlist is
being created.
Request from client:
POST /restconf/data/example-jukebox:jukebox/\
playlist=Foo-One?insert=first HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Content-Type: application/yang-data+json
{
"example-jukebox:song" : [
{
"index" : 1,
"id" : "/example-jukebox:jukebox/library\
/artist[name='Foo Fighters']\
/album[name='Wasting Light']\
/song[name='Rope']"
}
]
}
Response from server:
HTTP/1.1 201 Created
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
Server: example-server
Last-Modified: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
Location: https://example.com/restconf/data/\
example-jukebox:jukebox/playlist=Foo-One/song=1
ETag: "eeeada438af"
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B.3.5. "point" Parameter
In this example, the client is inserting a new song entry in the
"Foo-One" playlist after the first song.
Request from client:
POST /restconf/data/example-jukebox:jukebox/\
playlist=Foo-One?insert=after&point=\
%2Fexample-jukebox%3Ajukebox\
%2Fplaylist%3DFoo-One%2Fsong%3D1 HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Content-Type: application/yang-data+json
{
"example-jukebox:song" : [
{
"index" : 2,
"id" : "/example-jukebox:jukebox/library\
/artist[name='Foo Fighters']\
/album[name='Wasting Light']\
/song[name='Bridge Burning']"
}
]
}
Response from server:
HTTP/1.1 201 Created
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
Server: example-server
Last-Modified: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
Location: https://example.com/restconf/data/\
example-jukebox:jukebox/playlist=Foo-One/song=2
ETag: "abcada438af"
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B.3.6. "filter" Parameter
The following URIs show some examples of notification filter
specifications:
// filter = /event/event-class='fault'
GET /streams/NETCONF?filter=%2Fevent%2Fevent-class%3D'fault'
// filter = /event/severity<=4
GET /streams/NETCONF?filter=%2Fevent%2Fseverity%3C%3D4
// filter = /linkUp|/linkDown
GET /streams/SNMP?filter=%2FlinkUp%7C%2FlinkDown
// filter = /*/reporting-entity/card!='Ethernet0'
GET /streams/NETCONF?\
filter=%2F*%2Freporting-entity%2Fcard%21%3D'Ethernet0'
// filter = /*/email-addr[contains(.,'company.com')]
GET /streams/critical-syslog?\
filter=%2F*%2Femail-addr[contains(.%2C'company.com')]
// Note: The module name is used as the prefix.
// filter = (/example-mod:event1/name='joe' and
// /example-mod:event1/status='online')
GET /streams/NETCONF?\
filter=(%2Fexample-mod%3Aevent1%2Fname%3D'joe'%20and\
%20%2Fexample-mod%3Aevent1%2Fstatus%3D'online')
// To get notifications from just two modules (e.g., m1 + m2)
// filter=(/m1:* or /m2:*)
GET /streams/NETCONF?filter=(%2Fm1%3A*%20or%20%2Fm2%3A*)
B.3.7. "start-time" Parameter
The following URI shows an example of the "start-time" query
parameter:
// start-time = 2014-10-25T10:02:00Z
GET /streams/NETCONF?start-time=2014-10-25T10%3A02%3A00Z
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B.3.8. "stop-time" Parameter
The following URI shows an example of the "stop-time" query
parameter:
// start-time = 2014-10-25T10:02:00Z
// stop-time = 2014-10-25T12:31:00Z
GET /mystreams/NETCONF?start-time=2014-10-25T10%3A02%3A00Z\
&stop-time=2014-10-25T12%3A31%3A00Z
B.3.9. "with-defaults" Parameter
Assume that the server implements the module "example" defined in
Appendix A.1 of [RFC 6243], and assume that the server's datastore is
as defined in Appendix A.2 of [RFC 6243].
If the server's "basic-mode" parameter in the "defaults" protocol
capability URI (Section 9.1.2) is "trim", the following request for
interface "eth1" might be as follows:
Without query parameter:
GET /restconf/data/example:interfaces/interface=eth1 HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Accept: application/yang-data+json
The server might respond as follows:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
Server: example-server
Content-Type: application/yang-data+json
{
"example:interface" : [
{
"name" : "eth1",
"status" : "up"
}
]
}
Note that the "mtu" leaf is missing because it is set to the default
"1500", and the server's default-handling "basic-mode" parameter is
"trim".
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With query parameter:
GET /restconf/data/example:interfaces/interface=eth1\
?with-defaults=report-all HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Accept: application/yang-data+json
The server might respond as follows:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:56:30 GMT
Server: example-server
Content-Type: application/yang-data+json
{
"example:interface" : [
{
"name" : "eth1",
"mtu" : 1500,
"status" : "up"
}
]
}
Note that the server returns the "mtu" leaf because the "report-all"
mode was requested with the "with-defaults" query parameter.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the following people for their
contributions to this document: Ladislav Lhotka, Juergen
Schoenwaelder, Rex Fernando, Robert Wilton, and Jonathan Hansford.
The authors would like to thank the following people for their
excellent technical reviews of this document: Mehmet Ersue, Mahesh
Jethanandani, Qin Wu, Joe Clarke, Bert Wijnen, Ladislav Lhotka,
Rodney Cummings, Frank Xialiang, Tom Petch, Robert Sparks, Balint
Uveges, Randy Presuhn, Sue Hares, Mark Nottingham, Benoit Claise,
Dale Worley, and Lionel Morand.
Contributions to this material by Andy Bierman are based upon work
supported by the United States Army, Space & Terrestrial
Communications Directorate (S&TCD) under Contract
No. W15P7T-13-C-A616. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or
recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s)
and do not necessarily reflect the views of the S&TCD.
Authors' Addresses
Andy Bierman
YumaWorks
Email: andy@yumaworks.com
Martin Bjorklund
Tail-f Systems
Email: mbj@tail-f.com
Kent Watsen
Juniper Networks
Email: kwatsen@juniper.net
Bierman, et al. Standards Track PAGE 137
RFC TOTAL SIZE: 238832 bytes
PUBLICATION DATE: Wednesday, February 1st, 2017
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