New Training: Automate IOS-XE Devices with RESTCONF

In this 7-video skill, CBT Nuggets trainer Knox Hutchinson covers the RESTCONF procotol and teaches you how RESTCONF is used in a Cisco network. Watch this new Cisco training.

Watch the full course: Cisco CCNP Automating Cisco Enterprise Solutions

This training includes:

• 7 videos

• 34 minutes of training

You’ll learn these topics in this skill:

• Restconf, the New Kid on the Block

• The Restconf Request Architecture

• Getting Capabilities with Restconf

• GETting Data with Restconf

• Changing Configurations with Restconf

• Leveraging Restconf with Ansible

• Summarizing Restconf

RESTCONF vs NETCONF: What's the Difference?

Before RESTCONF, there was NETCONF — a protocol designed to give applications simple, standards-based, robust APIs to read and apply various configurations. NETCONF is a cornerstone of network infrastructure automation and is designed with programmability at its forefront. It uses four different layers: content layer, operations layer, messages layer, and secure transport layer.

Both NETCONF and RESTCONF offer similar capabilities, letting admins query information or modify settings using a client-server model. However, RESTCONF does have a few unique features that differentiate it from its predecessor.

First, RESTCONF is an HTTP-based protocol. This is critical because RESTCONF isn't a NETCONF replacement; instead, it provides a RESTful HTTP interface to query and configure devices with NETCONF configuration datastores.

Second, RESTCONF supports both JSON and XML encoding, while NETCONF is limited to XML only. This provides administrators with additional flexibility, depending on their specific needs. Finally, where NETCONF has a lock concept, RESTCONF foregoes this feature.