The New Network Engineer’s CLI: Network APIs, Data Structures & Data Models
summary
Clear comparisons of APIs and models: NETCONF over SSH uses XML and continuous sessions while RESTCONF/REST with JSON uses HTTP verbs and stateless requests; YANG defines explicit data relationships and constraints so tools can validate inputs. Demonstrates Yangify (Network to Code) parsing vendor CLI into a YANG-shaped model to generate templates and round‑trip configs, shows OpenConfig vs vendor YANG differences, and recommends testing, a source‑of‑truth (NetBox example) and operational‑state validation before pushing changes.
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chapters (19)
- 0:00Introduction to automation
- 1:07Speaker background and motivation
- 3:16Evolution from CLI to intent-based networking
- 5:05Common API types in networking
- 8:36REST API fundamentals
- 11:03Why structured data formats
- 13:11Data models explained
- 15:41YANG as a data modeling language
- 16:45On-box vs off-box data models
- 18:10Vendor-neutral vs vendor-specific models
- 21:42OpenConfig and network automation
- 24:37Automation tools and ecosystems
- 26:21Organizational change for automation
- 28:54Balancing automation goals and reality
- 31:00Documenting design decisions
- 32:24Testing and validation in automation
- 34:15Demo: Mapping data models to CLI
- 37:26Stability of APIs vs CLI
- 40:49Future of network automation
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