About the XML Management Interface
You can use the XML management interface to configure a device. The interface uses the XML-based Network Configuration Protocol (NETCONF), which allows you to manage devices and communicate over the interface with an XML management tool or program. The Cisco NX-OS implementation of NETCONF requires you to use a Secure Shell (SSH) session for communication with the device.
NETCONF is implemented with an XML Schema (XSD) that allows you to enclose device configuration elements within a remote procedure call (RPC) message. From within an RPC message, you select one of the NETCONF operations that matches the type of command that you want the device to execute. You can configure the entire set of CLI commands on the device with NETCONF. For information about using NETCONF, see the Creating NETCONF XML Instances and RFC 4741.
For more information about using NETCONF over SSH, see RFC 4742.
NETCONF Layers
The following are the NETCONF layers:
Layer |
Example |
---|---|
Transport protocol |
SSHv2 |
RPC |
<rpc>, <rpc-reply> |
Operations |
<get-config>, <edit-config> |
Content |
show or configuration command |
The following is a description of the four NETCONF layers:
- SSH transport protocol—Provides a secure, encrypted connection between a client and the server.
- RPC tag—Introduces a configuration command from the requestor and the corresponding reply from the XML server.
- NETCONF operation tag—Indicates the type of configuration command.
- Content—Indicates the XML representation of the feature that you want to configure.
SSH xmlagent
The device software provides an SSH service that is called xmlagent that supports NETCONF over SSH Version 2.
Note |
The xmlagent service is referred to as the XML server in the Cisco NX-OS software. |
NETCONF over SSH starts with the exchange of a hello message between the client and the XML server. After the initial exchange, the client sends XML requests, which the server responds to with XML responses. The client and server terminate requests and responses with the character sequence >. Because this character sequence is not valid in XML, the client and the server can interpret when the messages end, which keeps communication in sync.
The XML schemas that define XML configuration instances that you can use are described in the Creating NETCONF XML Instances section.