Netmod B. Lengyel Internet-Draft Ericsson Intended status: Standards Track B. Claise Expires: 20 March 2022 Huawei 16 September 2021 YANG Instance Data File Format draft-ietf-netmod-yang-instance-file-format-19 Abstract There is a need to document data defined in YANG models at design time, implementation time or when a live server is unavailable. This document specifies a standard file format for YANG instance data, which follows the syntax and semantics of existing YANG models, and annotates it with metadata. Status of This Memo This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79. Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts. The list of current Internet- Drafts is at https://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/. Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress." This Internet-Draft will expire on 20 March 2022. Copyright Notice Copyright (c) 2021 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 (https://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. Lengyel & Claise Expires 20 March 2022 [Page 1] Internet-Draft YANG Instance Data September 2021 Table of Contents 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1.1. Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 1.2. Principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 1.3. Delivery of Instance Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 1.4. Data Life cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2. Instance Data File Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2.1. Specifying the Content Schema . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 2.1.1. Inline Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 2.1.2. Simplified-Inline Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 2.1.3. URI Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 2.2. Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 2.2.1. Documentation of server capabilities . . . . . . . . 8 2.2.2. Preloading default configuration data . . . . . . . . 10 2.2.3. Storing diagnostics data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 3. YANG Instance Data Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 3.1. Tree Diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 3.2. YANG Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 4. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 5. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 5.1. URI Registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 5.2. YANG Module Name Registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 6. Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 7. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 7.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 7.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Appendix A. Changes between revisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Appendix B. Backwards Compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Appendix C. Detailed Use Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 C.1. Use Case 1: Early Documentation of Server Capabilities . 26 C.2. Use Case 2: Preloading Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 C.3. Use Case 3: Documenting Factory Default Settings . . . . 28 Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 1. Introduction There is a need to document data defined in YANG models when a live server is unavailable. Data is often needed at design, implementation time or when a live running server is unavailable. To facilitate this offline delivery of data, this document specifies a standard format for YANG instance data sets and YANG instance data files. The format of the instance data set is defined by the "ietf- yang-instance-data" YANG module, see Section 3. The YANG data model in this document conforms to the Network Management Datastore Architecture (NMDA) defined in [RFC8342] Lengyel & Claise Expires 20 March 2022 [Page 2] Internet-Draft YANG Instance Data September 2021 The following is a list of already implemented and potential use cases. UC1 Documentation of server capabilities UC2 Preloading default configuration data UC3 Documenting Factory Default Settings UC4 Storing the configuration of a device, e.g., for backup, archive or audit purposes UC5 Storing diagnostics data UC6 Allowing YANG instance data to potentially be carried within other IPC message formats UC7 Default instance data used as part of a templating solution UC8 Providing data examples in RFCs or internet drafts In Appendix C describes the first three use cases in detail. There are many and varied use cases where YANG instance data could be used. This document does not limit future uses of instance data sets, so specifying how and when to use YANG instance data is out of scope for this document. It is anticipated that other documents will define specific use cases. Use cases are listed only as examples. 1.1. Terminology The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all capitals, as shown here. Instance Data: A collection of instantiated data nodes. Instance Data Set: A named set of data items annotated with metadata that can be used as instance data in a YANG data tree. Instance Data File: A file containing an instance data set formatted according to the rules described in this document. Content-schema: A set of YANG modules with their revision, supported features, and deviations for which the instance data set contains instance data. Lengyel & Claise Expires 20 March 2022 [Page 3] Internet-Draft YANG Instance Data September 2021 Content defining YANG module: an individual YANG module that is part of the content-schema. The term "server" is used as defined in [RFC8342]. 1.2. Principles The following is a list of the basic principles of the instance data format: P1 Two standard formats shall be defined based on the XML and JSON encodings. P2 Instance data shall reuse existing encoding rules for YANG defined data. P3 Metadata about the instance data set (Section 2, Paragraph 12) shall be defined. P4 A YANG instance data set shall be allowed to contain data for multiple YANG modules. P5 Instance data shall be allowed to contain configuration data, state data, or a mix of the two. P6 Partial data sets shall be allowed. P7 The YANG instance data format shall be usable for any data for which YANG module(s) are defined and available to the reader, independent of whether the module is implemented by a server. P8 It shall be possible to report the identity of the datastore with which the instance data set is associated. 1.3. Delivery of Instance Data Instance data sets that are produced as a result of some sort of specification or design effort may be available without the need for a live server e.g., via download from the vendor's website, or in any other way that product documentation is distributed. Other instance data sets may be read from or produced by the YANG server itself e.g., UC5 documenting diagnostic data. Lengyel & Claise Expires 20 March 2022 [Page 4] Internet-Draft YANG Instance Data September 2021 1.4. Data Life cycle A YANG instance data set is created at a specific point of time. If the data changes afterwards, this is not represented in the instance data set anymore. The current values may be retrieved at run-time via NETCONF/RESTCONF or received e.g., in YANG-Push notifications. Whether the instance data changes and if so, when and how, should be described either in the instance data set's description statement or in some other implementation specific manner. 2. Instance Data File Format A YANG instance data file MUST contain a single instance data set and no additional data. The format of the instance data set is defined by the "ietf-yang- instance-data" YANG module. It is made up of a header part and content-data. The header part carries metadata for the instance data set. The content-data, defined as an anydata data node, carries the instance data that the user wants to document/provide. The syntax and semantics of content-data is defined by the content-schema. Two formats are specified based on the XML and JSON YANG encodings. Later, as other YANG encodings (e.g., CBOR) are defined, further instance data formats may be specified. The content-data part MUST conform to the content-schema, while allowing for the exceptions listed below. The content-data part SHALL follow the encoding rules defined in [RFC7950] for XML and [RFC7951] for JSON and MUST use UTF-8 character encoding. Content- data MAY include: * metadata, as defined by [RFC7952]. * origin metadata, as specified in [RFC8526] and [RFC8527] * implementation specific metadata relevant to individual data nodes. Unknown metadata MUST be ignored by users of instance data, allowing it to be used later for other purposes. An instance data set MAY contain data for any number of YANG modules; if needed it MAY carry the complete configuration and state data for a server. Default values should be excluded where they do not provide additional useful data. Configuration ("config true") and operational state data ("config false") MAY be mixed in the instance data file. Lengyel & Claise Expires 20 March 2022 [Page 5] Internet-Draft YANG Instance Data September 2021 Instance data files MAY contain partial data sets. This means "mandatory", "min-elements", "require-instance true", "must" and "when" constrains MAY be violated. The name of the instance data file SHOULD be of the form: instance-data-set-name ['@' ( revision-date / timestamp ) ] ( '.xml' / '.json' ) E.g., acme-router-modules.xml E.g., acme-router-modules@2018-01-25.xml E.g., acme-router-modules@2018-01-25T15_06_34_3+01_00.json If the leaf "name" is present in the instance data header, its value SHOULD be used for the "instance-data-set-name". If the "revision- date" is present in the filename it MUST conform to the format of the revision-date leaf in the YANG model. If the "revision-date" is present in both the filename and in the instance data header, the revision date in the file name MUST be set to the latest revision date inside the instance data set. If the "timestamp" is present in the filename it MUST conform to the format of the timestamp leaf in the YANG model except for replacing colons as described below. If the "timestamp" is present both in the filename and in the instance data header, the timestamp in the file name SHOULD be set to the timestamp inside the instance data set; any colons, if present, shall be replaced by underscores. Metadata, information about the data set itself SHOULD be included in the instance data set. Some metadata items are defined in the YANG module "ietf-yang-instance-data", but other items MAY be used. Metadata MUST include: - Version of the YANG Instance Data format Metadata SHOULD include: - Name of the data set - Content schema specification (i.e., the "content-schema" node) - Description of the instance data set. The description SHOULD contain information whether and how the data can change during the lifetime of the server Lengyel & Claise Expires 20 March 2022 [Page 6] Internet-Draft YANG Instance Data September 2021 - An indication whether default values are included. The default handling uses the concepts defined in [RFC6243], however as only concepts are re-used, users of instance data sets, do not need to support RFC 6243. 2.1. Specifying the Content Schema To properly understand and use an instance data set, the user needs to know the content-schema. One of the following methods SHOULD be used: Simplified-Inline method: Include the needed information as part of the instance data set; short specification. Inline method: Include the needed information as part of the instance data set. URI method: Include a URI that references another YANG instance data file. This instance data file will use the same content- schema as the referenced YANG instance data file. (if you don't want to repeat the info again and again) External Method: Do not include the "content-schema" node; the user needs to obtain the information through external documents. Additional methods e.g., a YANG-package based solution may be added later. Note, the specified content-schema only indicates the set of modules that were used to define this YANG instance data set. Sometimes instance data may be used for a server supporting a different YANG module set (e.g., for the "Preloading default configuration data" use-case, UC2 in Section 1, the instance data set may not be updated every time the YANG modules on the server are updated). Whether an instance data set originally defined using a specific content-schema is usable with a different other schema depends on many factors including the amount of differences and the compatibility between the original and the other schema, considering modules, revisions, features, deviations, the scope of the instance data, etc. 2.1.1. Inline Method The inline-yang-library anydata data node carries instance data (conforming to ietf-yang-library@2019-01-04) that specifies the content defining YANG modules including revision, supported features, deviations and any relevant additional data. An example of the "inline" method is provided in Figure 1. Lengyel & Claise Expires 20 March 2022 [Page 7] Internet-Draft YANG Instance Data September 2021 2.1.2. Simplified-Inline Method The instance data set contains a list of content defining YANG modules including the revision date for each. Usage of this method implies that the modules are used without any deviations and with all features supported. YANG modules that are only required to satisfy import-only dependencies MAY be excluded from the leaf-list. If they are excluded then the consumer of the instance data set has to apply the YANG language rules to resolve the imports. An example of the "simplified-inline" method is provided in Figure 2. 2.1.3. URI Method The "same-schema-as-file" leaf SHALL contain a URI that references another YANG instance data file. The current instance data file will use the same content schema as the referenced file. The referenced instance data file MAY have no content-data if it is used solely for specifying the content-schema. If a referenced instance data file is unavailable, content-schema is unknown. The URI method is advantageous when the user wants to avoid the overhead of specifying the content-schema in each instance data file: E.g., In UC6, when the system creates a diagnostic file every minute to document the state of the server. An example of the "URI" method is provided in Figure 3. 2.2. Examples 2.2.1. Documentation of server capabilities The example file acme-router-modules@2021-09-16.xml reflects UC1 in Section 1. It provides a list of supported YANG modules and NETCONF capabilities for a server. It uses the "inline" method to specify the content-schema. The example uses artwork folding [RFC8792]. ========== NOTE: '\' line wrapping per RFC 8792 =========== acme-router-modules Lengyel & Claise Expires 20 March 2022 [Page 8] Internet-Draft YANG Instance Data September 2021 ietf-yang-library 2019-01-04 ietf-netconf-monitoring 2010-10-04 1956-10-23 Initial version Defines the minimal set of modules that any \ acme-router will contain. info@acme.com ietf-yang-library 2019-01-04 \ urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:yang:ietf-yang-library\ implement ietf-system 2014-08-06 urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:yang:ietf-system sys:authentication sys:local-users acme-system-ext 2018-08-06 implement ietf-netconf-monitoring 2010-10-04 \ Lengyel & Claise Expires 20 March 2022 [Page 9] Internet-Draft YANG Instance Data September 2021 urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:yang:ietf-netconf-monitoring\ implement ietf-yang-types 2013-07-15 urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:yang:ietf-yang-types\ import acme-system-ext 2018-08-06 urn:rdns:acme.com:oammodel:acme-system-ext\ implement \ urn:ietf:params:netconf:capability:validate:1.1\ Figure 1 2.2.2. Preloading default configuration data The example file read-only-acm-rules@2021-09-16.xml reflects UC2 in Section 1. It provides a default rule set for a read-only operator role. It uses the "simplified-inline" method for specifying the content-schema. Lengyel & Claise Expires 20 March 2022 [Page 10] Internet-Draft YANG Instance Data September 2021 read-only-acm-rules ietf-netconf-acm@2018-02-14 1776-07-04 Initial version Access control rules for a read-only role. true deny deny read-only-role read-only-group read-all * read permit Figure 2 2.2.3. Storing diagnostics data The example file acme-router-netconf- diagnostics@2018-01-25T17_00_38Z.json reflects UC5 in Section 1. An instance data set is produced by the server every 15 minutes that contains statistics about the NETCONF server. As a new set is produced periodically many times a day a revision-date would be useless; instead a timestamp is included. Lengyel & Claise Expires 20 March 2022 [Page 11] Internet-Draft YANG Instance Data September 2021 { "ietf-yang-instance-data:instance-data-set": { "name": "acme-router-netconf-diagnostics", "content-schema": { "same-schema-as-file": "file:///acme-diagnostics-schema.json" }, "timestamp": "2018-01-25T17:00:38Z", "description": ["NETCONF statistics"], "content-data": { "ietf-netconf-monitoring:netconf-state": { "statistics": { "netconf-start-time ": "2018-12-05T17:45:00Z", "in-bad-hellos ": "32", "in-sessions ": "397", "dropped-sessions ": "87", "in-rpcs ": "8711", "in-bad-rpcs ": "408", "out-rpc-errors ": "408", "out-notifications": "39007" } } } } } Figure 3 3. YANG Instance Data Model 3.1. Tree Diagram The following tree diagram [RFC8340] provides an overview of the data model. Lengyel & Claise Expires 20 March 2022 [Page 12] Internet-Draft YANG Instance Data September 2021 module: ietf-yang-instance-data structure instance-data-set: +-- name? string +-- format-version? string +-- includes-defaults? enumeration +-- content-schema | +-- (content-schema-spec)? | +--:(simplified-inline) | | +-- module* module-with-revision-date | +--:(inline) | | +-- inline-yang-library | +--:(uri) | +-- same-schema-as-file? inet:uri +-- description* string +-- contact? string +-- organization? string +-- datastore? ds:datastore-ref +-- revision* [date] | +-- date string | +-- description? string +-- timestamp? yang:date-and-time +-- content-data? 3.2. YANG Model This YANG module imports typedefs from [RFC6991], [RFC6243], identities from [RFC8342] and the "structure" extension from [RFC8791]. It also references [RFC8525]. file "ietf-yang-instance-data@2021-09-16.yang" // RFC Ed.: replace the date above if the module gets changed in //anyway during reviews or RFC editor process and remove this note module ietf-yang-instance-data { yang-version 1.1; namespace "urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:yang:ietf-yang-instance-data"; prefix yid; import ietf-yang-structure-ext { prefix sx; reference "YANG Data Structure Extensions: draft-ietf-netmod-yang-data-ext-05"; } import ietf-datastores { prefix ds; reference "RFC 8342: Network Management Datastore Architecture (NMDA)"; Lengyel & Claise Expires 20 March 2022 [Page 13] Internet-Draft YANG Instance Data September 2021 } import ietf-inet-types { prefix inet; reference "RFC 6991: Common YANG Data Types"; } import ietf-yang-types { prefix yang; reference "RFC 6991: Common YANG Data Types"; } import ietf-netconf-with-defaults { prefix ncwd; reference "RFC 6243: With-defaults Capability for NETCONF"; } organization "IETF NETMOD Working Group"; contact "WG Web: WG List: Author: Balazs Lengyel Author: Benoit Claise "; description "The module defines the structure and content of YANG instance data sets. The key words 'MUST', 'MUST NOT', 'REQUIRED', 'SHALL', 'SHALL NOT', 'SHOULD', 'SHOULD NOT', 'RECOMMENDED', 'NOT RECOMMENDED', 'MAY', and 'OPTIONAL' in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14 (RFC 2119) (RFC 8174) when, and only when, they appear in all capitals, as shown here. Copyright (c) 2021 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 Lengyel & Claise Expires 20 March 2022 [Page 14] Internet-Draft YANG Instance Data September 2021 (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info). This version of this YANG module is part of RFC XXXX; see the RFC itself for full legal notices."; // RFC Ed.: replace XXXX with RFC number and remove this note revision 2021-09-16 { // RFC Ed.: replace the date above if the module gets changed in // anyway during reviews or RFC editor process and remove //this note description "Initial revision."; reference "RFC XXXX: YANG Instance Data Format"; // RFC Ed.: replace XXXX with RFC number and remove this note } typedef module-with-revision-date { type string { pattern '[a-zA-Z_][a-zA-Z0-9\-_.]*' + '(@\d{4}-(1[0-2]|0[1-9])-(0[1-9]|[1|2][0-9]|3[0-1]))?'; pattern '.|..|[^xX].*|.[^mM].*|..[^lL].*'; } description "A type defining a module name and an optional revision date, e.g. ietf-yang-library@2019-01-04"; } sx:structure "instance-data-set" { description "A data structure to define a format for YANG instance data. The majority of the YANG nodes provide meta-data about the instance data; the instance data itself is is contained only in the 'content-data' node."; leaf name { type string; description "An arbitrary name for the YANG instance data set. This value is primarily used for descriptive purposes. However, when the instance data set is saved to a file, then the filename MUST encode the name's value, per Section 3 of RFC XXXX."; // RFC Ed.: replace XXXX with RFC number and remove this note } leaf format-version { type string { pattern '\d{4}-(1[0-2]|0[1-9])-(0[1-9]|[1|2][0-9]|3[0-1])'; } Lengyel & Claise Expires 20 March 2022 [Page 15] Internet-Draft YANG Instance Data September 2021 default "2021-09-16"; // RFC Ed.: replace the date above if the module gets changed // in anyway during reviews or RFC editor process and remove // this note description "The 'revision' of the 'ietf-yang-instance-data' module used to encode this 'instance-data-set'."; } leaf includes-defaults { type ncwd:with-defaults-mode; default report-all; description " Indicates how data nodes with default values are represented for all data nodes contained in the instance-data-set. It uses the same definitions as per section 3 of RFC 6243, but applied in the context of an instance data file rather than a NETCONF request using the parameter. For JSON files, the encoding of the 'report-all-tagged' option is as defined in section 4.8.9 of RFC 8040."; reference "With-defaults Capability for NETCONF, RFC 6243."; } container content-schema { description "The content schema (i.e., YANG modules) used to create the instance data set. If not present the user needs to obtain the information through external documents."; choice content-schema-spec { description "Specification of the content-schema."; case simplified-inline { leaf-list module { type module-with-revision-date; min-elements 1; description "The list of content defining YANG modules. The value SHALL start with the module name. If the module contains a revision statement the revision date SHALL be included in the leaf-list entry. E.g., ietf-yang-library@2019-01-04 Lengyel & Claise Expires 20 March 2022 [Page 16] Internet-Draft YANG Instance Data September 2021 Usage of this leaf-list implies the modules are used without any deviations and with all features supported. Multiple revisions of the same module MUST NOT be specified."; } } case inline { anydata inline-yang-library { mandatory true; description "Instance data corresponding to the ietf-yang-library@2019-01-04 defining the set of content defining YANG modules for this instance-data-set."; } } case uri { leaf same-schema-as-file { type inet:uri; description "A reference to another YANG instance data file. This instance data file uses the same content schema as the referenced file. Referenced files using the 'inline' or the 'simplified-inline' methods MUST be supported. Referenced files using the 'URI Method' MAY be supported. The URL schemes 'file://' and 'https://' MUST be supported, other schemes MAY also be supported."; } } } } leaf-list description { type string; description "Description of the instance data set."; } leaf contact { type string; description "Contact information for the person or organization to whom queries concerning this instance data set should be sent."; } Lengyel & Claise Expires 20 March 2022 [Page 17] Internet-Draft YANG Instance Data September 2021 leaf organization { type string; description "Organization responsible for the instance data set."; } leaf datastore { type ds:datastore-ref; description "The identity of the datastore with which the instance data set is associated, e.g., the datastore from where the data was read or the datastore into which the data may be loaded or the datastore which is being documented. If a single specific datastore cannot be specified, the leaf MUST be absent. If this leaf is absent, then the datastore to which the instance data belongs is unspecified."; } list revision { key "date"; description "Instance data sets that are produced as a result of some sort of specification or design effort SHOULD have at least one revision entry. For every published editorial change, a new unique revision SHOULD be added in front of the revisions sequence so that all revisions are in reverse chronological order. In case of instance data sets that are read from or produced by a server or otherwise subject to frequent updates or changes, revision SHOULD NOT be present"; leaf date { type string { pattern '\d{4}-(1[0-2]|0[1-9])-(0[1-9]|[1|2][0-9]|3[0-1])'; } description "Specifies the date the instance data set was last modified. Formatted as YYYY-MM-DD"; } leaf description { type string; description "Description of this revision of the instance data set."; } } leaf timestamp { Lengyel & Claise Expires 20 March 2022 [Page 18] Internet-Draft YANG Instance Data September 2021 type yang:date-and-time; description "The date and time when the instance data set was last modified. In case of instance data sets that are read from or produced by a server or otherwise subject to frequent updates or changes, timestamp SHOULD be present. If both a revision list entry and timestamp are present the timestamp SHOULD contain the same date as the latest revision statement."; } anydata content-data { description "Contains the real instance data. The data MUST conform to the relevant YANG modules specified either in the content-schema or in some other implementation specific manner."; } } } 4. Security Considerations The YANG module defined in this document only defines a wrapper structure specifying a format and a metadata header for YANG instance data defined by the content-schema. Because of this the security considerations template for YANG models in section 3.7.1 in [RFC8407] is not followed. The instance data is designed to be accessed as a stored file or over any file access method or protocol. The document does not specify any method to influence the behavior of a server. Instance data files may contain sensitive data. The header part is not security sensitive with one possible exception. If the URI method is used for specification of the content schema and the URI includes a username and/or a password, the instance data file needs to be handled in a secure way as mentioned below. Lengyel & Claise Expires 20 March 2022 [Page 19] Internet-Draft YANG Instance Data September 2021 The security sensitivity of the instance data in the content part is completely dependent on the content schema. Depending on the nature of the instance data, instance data files MAY need to be handled securely. The same kind of handling should be applied, that would be needed for the result of a read operation returning the same data. Instance data files should be protected against modification or unauthorized access using normal file handling mechanisms. Care should be taken, when copying the original files or providing file access for additional users, not to reveal information unintentionally. 5. IANA Considerations This document registers one URI and one YANG module. 5.1. URI Registration This document registers one URI in the IETF XML registry [RFC3688]. Following the format in RFC 3688, the following registration is requested to be made: URI: urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:yang:ietf-yang-instance-data Registrant Contact: The IESG. XML: N/A, the requested URI is an XML namespace. 5.2. YANG Module Name Registration This document registers one YANG module in the YANG Module Names registry [RFC6020]. Following the format in [RFC6020], the following registrations are requested: name: ietf-yang-instance-data namespace: urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:yang:ietf-yang-instance-data prefix: yid reference: RFC XXXX // RFC Ed.: replace XXXX with RFC number and remove this note 6. Acknowledgments For their valuable comments, discussions, and feedback, we wish to acknowledge Andy Bierman, Juergen Schoenwaelder, Rob Wilton, Joe Clarke, Kent Watsen Martin Bjorklund, Ladislav Lhotka, Qin Wu and other members of the Netmod WG. 7. References 7.1. Normative References Lengyel & Claise Expires 20 March 2022 [Page 20] Internet-Draft YANG Instance Data September 2021 [RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997, . [RFC6020] Bjorklund, M., Ed., "YANG - A Data Modeling Language for the Network Configuration Protocol (NETCONF)", RFC 6020, DOI 10.17487/RFC6020, October 2010, . [RFC6243] Bierman, A. and B. Lengyel, "With-defaults Capability for NETCONF", RFC 6243, DOI 10.17487/RFC6243, June 2011, . [RFC6991] Schoenwaelder, J., Ed., "Common YANG Data Types", RFC 6991, DOI 10.17487/RFC6991, July 2013, . [RFC7950] Bjorklund, M., Ed., "The YANG 1.1 Data Modeling Language", RFC 7950, DOI 10.17487/RFC7950, August 2016, . [RFC7951] Lhotka, L., "JSON Encoding of Data Modeled with YANG", RFC 7951, DOI 10.17487/RFC7951, August 2016, . [RFC7952] Lhotka, L., "Defining and Using Metadata with YANG", RFC 7952, DOI 10.17487/RFC7952, August 2016, . [RFC8174] Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC 2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174, May 2017, . [RFC8342] Bjorklund, M., Schoenwaelder, J., Shafer, P., Watsen, K., and R. Wilton, "Network Management Datastore Architecture (NMDA)", RFC 8342, DOI 10.17487/RFC8342, March 2018, . [RFC8525] Bierman, A., Bjorklund, M., Schoenwaelder, J., Watsen, K., and R. Wilton, "YANG Library", RFC 8525, DOI 10.17487/RFC8525, March 2019, . Lengyel & Claise Expires 20 March 2022 [Page 21] Internet-Draft YANG Instance Data September 2021 [RFC8526] Bjorklund, M., Schoenwaelder, J., Shafer, P., Watsen, K., and R. Wilton, "NETCONF Extensions to Support the Network Management Datastore Architecture", RFC 8526, DOI 10.17487/RFC8526, March 2019, . [RFC8527] Bjorklund, M., Schoenwaelder, J., Shafer, P., Watsen, K., and R. Wilton, "RESTCONF Extensions to Support the Network Management Datastore Architecture", RFC 8527, DOI 10.17487/RFC8527, March 2019, . [RFC8791] Bierman, A., Björklund, M., and K. Watsen, "YANG Data Structure Extensions", RFC 8791, DOI 10.17487/RFC8791, June 2020, . 7.2. Informative References [RFC3688] Mealling, M., "The IETF XML Registry", BCP 81, RFC 3688, DOI 10.17487/RFC3688, January 2004, . [RFC8340] Bjorklund, M. and L. Berger, Ed., "YANG Tree Diagrams", BCP 215, RFC 8340, DOI 10.17487/RFC8340, March 2018, . [RFC8407] Bierman, A., "Guidelines for Authors and Reviewers of Documents Containing YANG Data Models", BCP 216, RFC 8407, DOI 10.17487/RFC8407, October 2018, . [RFC8632] Vallin, S. and M. Bjorklund, "A YANG Data Model for Alarm Management", RFC 8632, DOI 10.17487/RFC8632, September 2019, . [RFC8641] Clemm, A. and E. Voit, "Subscription to YANG Notifications for Datastore Updates", RFC 8641, DOI 10.17487/RFC8641, September 2019, . [RFC8792] Watsen, K., Auerswald, E., Farrel, A., and Q. Wu, "Handling Long Lines in Content of Internet-Drafts and RFCs", RFC 8792, DOI 10.17487/RFC8792, June 2020, . [RFC8808] Wu, Q., Lengyel, B., and Y. Niu, "A YANG Data Model for Factory Default Settings", RFC 8808, DOI 10.17487/RFC8808, August 2020, . Lengyel & Claise Expires 20 March 2022 [Page 22] Internet-Draft YANG Instance Data September 2021 Appendix A. Changes between revisions RFC Ed.: Remove section "Changes between revisions" v18 - v19 * Updated leaf includes-defaults v17 - v18 * Added the report-all-tagged mode to the leaf includes-defaults v16 - v17 * Removed default statement from includes-default v15 - v16 * Editorial changes v14 - v15 * Removed reference to revision-label * For the inline method made the usage of ietf-yang- library@2019-01-04 mandatory. Simplified the case "inline" in the YANG module. * Removed the "inline-module" leaf as it does not carry useful information anymore. * Removed YANG feature v13 - v14 * Added leaf includes-defaults * Many small changes based on AD review v09 - v13 * Editorial updates v08 - v09 * Removed reference to similar to get reply * Introduced artwork folding in the examples Lengyel & Claise Expires 20 March 2022 [Page 23] Internet-Draft YANG Instance Data September 2021 v07 - v08 * Moved compatibility into appendix * Renamed yid-version to format-version. Changed format to date of the YANG module * Made support of ietf-yang-library mandatory if inline-content- schema is supported * Many small changes based on WGLC v06 - v07 * Updated terminology, use-cases * Many small changes based on WGLC v05 - v06 * Modified module name format, removed .yin or .yang extension * Removed pattern for module and inline-module. The usage of revision-label should also be allowed. v04 - v05 * Updated according to YANG-Doctor review * Updated security considerations * Added a wrapping container for the schema, and renamed the data nodes in the inline and uri cases. * Allowed .yin for simplified-inline schema naming. Made date optional if it is unavailable in the YANG module. * Added a mandatory yid-version to the header metadata to allow later updates of the module. v03 - v04 * removed entity-tag and last-modified timestamp * Added simplified-inline method of content-schema specification v02 - v03 Lengyel & Claise Expires 20 March 2022 [Page 24] Internet-Draft YANG Instance Data September 2021 * target renamed to "content-schema" and "content defining YANG module(s)" * Made name of instance data set optional * Updated according to draft-ietf-netmod-yang-data-ext-03 * Clarified that entity-tag and last-modified timestamp are encoded as metadata. While they contain useful data, the HTTP-header based encoding from Restconf is not suitable. v01 - v02 * Removed design time from terminology * Defined the format of the content-data part by referencing various RFCs and drafts instead of the result of the get-data and get operations. * Changed target-ptr to a choice * Inline target-ptr may include augmenting modules and alternatives to ietf-yang-library * Moved list of target modules into a separate element. * Added backwards compatibility considerations v00 - v01 * Added the target-ptr metadata with 3 methods * Added timestamp metadata * Removed usage of dedicated .yid file extension * Added list of use cases * Added list of principles * Updated examples * Moved detailed use case descriptions to appendix Lengyel & Claise Expires 20 March 2022 [Page 25] Internet-Draft YANG Instance Data September 2021 Appendix B. Backwards Compatibility The concept of backwards compatibility and what changes are backwards compatible are not defined for "instance data sets" as it is highly dependent on the specific use case and the content-schema. In case of "instance data sets" that are the result of design or specification activity, some changes that may be good to avoid are listed below. YANG uses the concept of managed entities identified by key values; if the connection between the represented entity and the key value is not preserved during an update, this may lead to the following problems. * If the key value of a list entry that represents the same managed entity as before is changed, the user may mistakenly identify the list entry as new. * If the meaning of a list entry is changed, but the key values are not (e.g., redefining an alarm-type but not changing its alarm- type-id) the change may not be noticed. * If the key value of a previously removed list entry is reused for a different entity, the change may be misinterpreted as reintroducing the previous entity. Appendix C. Detailed Use Cases This section is non-normative. C.1. Use Case 1: Early Documentation of Server Capabilities A server has a number of server-capabilities that are defined in YANG modules and can be retrieved from the server using protocols like NETCONF or RESTCONF. Server capabilities include: * data defined in "ietf-yang-library": YANG modules, submodules, features, deviations, schema-mounts, and datastores supported ([RFC8525]) * alarms supported ([RFC8632]) * data nodes and subtrees that support or do not support on-change notifications ([RFC8641]) * netconf-capabilities in ietf-netconf-monitoring. Lengyel & Claise Expires 20 March 2022 [Page 26] Internet-Draft YANG Instance Data September 2021 While it is good practice to allow a client to query these capabilities from the live server, that is often not possible. Often when a network node is released, an associated NMS (network management system) is also released with it. The NMS depends on the capabilities of the server. During NMS implementation, information about server capabilities is needed. If the information is unavailable early in some offline document, but only as instance data from the live network node, the NMS implementation will be delayed, because it has to wait until the network node is ready. Also assuming that all NMS implementors will have a correctly configured network nodes from which data can be retrieved, is a very expensive proposition. (An NMS may handle dozens of node types.) Network operators often build their own home-grown NMS systems that need to be integrated with a vendor's network node. The operator needs to know the network node's server capabilities in order to do this. Moreover, the network operator's decision to buy a vendor's product may even be influenced by the network node's OAM feature set documented as the server's capabilities. Beside NMS implementors, system integrators and many others also need the same information early. Examples could be model driven testing, generating documentation, etc. Most server-capabilities are relatively stable and change only during upgrade or due to licensing or the addition or removal of hardware. They are usually defined by a vendor at design time, before the product is released. It is feasible and advantageous to define/ document them early e.g., in a YANG instance data File. It is anticipated that a separate IETF document will define in detail how and which set of server capabilities should be documented. C.2. Use Case 2: Preloading Data There are parts of the configuration that must be fully configurable by the operator. However, often a simple default configuration will be sufficient. One example is access control groups/roles and related rules. While a sophisticated operator may define dozens of different groups, often a basic (read-only operator, read-write system administrator, security-administrator) triplet will be enough. Vendors will often provide such default configuration data to make device configuration easier for an operator. Lengyel & Claise Expires 20 March 2022 [Page 27] Internet-Draft YANG Instance Data September 2021 Defining access control data is a complex task. To help, the device vendor predefines a set of default groups (/nacm:nacm/groups) and rules for these groups to access specific parts of common models (/nacm:nacm/rule-list/rule). YANG instance data files are used to document and/or preload the default configuration. C.3. Use Case 3: Documenting Factory Default Settings Nearly every server has a factory default configuration. If the system is really badly misconfigured or if the current configuration is to be abandoned, the system can be reset the default factory configuration. The operator currently needs to know what the default configuration actually contains. YANG instance data can be used to document the factory default configuration. See [RFC8808]. Authors' Addresses Balazs Lengyel Ericsson Email: balazs.lengyel@ericsson.com Benoit Claise Huawei Email: benoit.claise@huawei.com Lengyel & Claise Expires 20 March 2022 [Page 28]