| Internet-Draft | Network Inventory Topology | February 2025 |
| Wu, et al. | Expires 8 August 2025 | [Page] |
This document defines a YANG model to map the network inventory data with the topology model to form a base underlay network. The model facilitates the correlation between the layer (e.g., Layer 2 and Layer 3) topology information and the inventory data of the underlay network for better service provisioning, network maintenance operations, and other assessment scenarios.¶
This note is to be removed before publishing as an RFC.¶
Discussion of this document takes place on the Network Inventory YANG Working Group mailing list (inventory-yang@ietf.org), which is archived at https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/browse/inventory-yang/.¶
Source for this draft and an issue tracker can be found at https://github.com/ietf-ivy-wg/network-inventory-topology.¶
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This Internet-Draft will expire on 8 August 2025.¶
Copyright (c) 2025 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 Revised BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as described in the Revised BSD License.¶
[I-D.ietf-ivy-network-inventory-yang] defines the base network inventory model to aggregate the inventory data of Network Elements (NEs). This data includes identification of these NEs and their hardware, firmware, and software components. Examples of inventory hardware components could be rack, shelf, slot, board, or physical port. Examples of inventory software components could be platform Operating System (OS), software-patches, bios, or boot- loader [I-D.ietf-ivy-network-inventory-software].¶
In order to ease navigation from/to inventory and network topologies, this document extends the network topology model [RFC8345] for network inventory mapping: "ietf-network-inventory-topology" (Section 5). This model provides a mechanism for the correlation with existing network and topology models, such as "A YANG Network Data Model for Service Attachment Points (SAPs)" [RFC9408], "A YANG Data Model for Layer 2 Network Topologies" [RFC8944], and "A YANG Data Model for Layer 3 Topologies" [RFC8346].¶
The network inventory topology mapping data model ("ietf-network-inventory-topology") also provides anchor points to mount specific device configuration and state information, e.g., Quality of Service (QoS) and Access Control List (ACL) policies, to support configuration verification of policies at the network level. Further sample uses are discussed in Section 3.¶
Similar to the base inventory model [I-D.ietf-ivy-network-inventory-yang], the network inventory topology does not make any assumption about involved network elements and their roles in topologies. As such, the mapping model can be applied indepent of the network type (optical local loops, access network, core network, etc.) and application.¶
The YANG data model in this document conforms to the Network Management Datastore Architecture (NMDA) defined in [RFC8342].¶
Note to the RFC Editor: This section is to be removed prior to publication.¶
This document contains placeholder values that need to be replaced with finalized values at the time of publication. This note summarizes all of the substitutions that are needed.¶
Please apply the following replacements:¶
XXXX --> the assigned RFC number for this I-D¶
AAAA --> the assigned RFC number for [I-D.ietf-ivy-network-inventory-yang]¶
The meanings of the symbols in the YANG tree diagrams are defined in [RFC8340].¶
This document uses terms defined in [I-D.ietf-ivy-network-inventory-yang].¶
The inventory topology model can be used as a base to correlate underlay information, such as physical port components. Figure 1 exemplifies this usage.¶
During service provisioning, to check available physical port resources, the SAPs information can be associated with the underlay inventory information and interface information associated with the inventory topology, e.g., "parent-termination-point" of SAP Model can be associated with the "port-component-ref" and "interface-name" of the inventory topology model, which can be used to check the availability and capacity of physical ports.¶
[I-D.irtf-nmrg-network-digital-twin-arch] defines Network Digital Twin (NDT) as a virtual representation of the physical network. Such representation is meant to be used to analyze, diagnose, emulate, and then manage the physical network based on data, models, and interfaces.¶
The management system can use NDT to build multi-layer topology maps for networks and endpoints with relationship types and dependencies, and identify potential impacts on configuration management information from incidents, problems, and changes. More generally, the inventory topology model can be used as part of the SIMAP [I-D.ietf-nmop-simap-concept].¶
The inventory topology model can, for example, be used to emulate several "what-if" scenarios such as the impact of End of Life (EOL) or depletion of a hardware component (chipset) on the network resilience and service availability.¶
An overview of the structure of the "ietf-network-inventory-topology" module is shown in Figure 2.¶
module: ietf-network-inventory-topology
augment /nw:networks/nw:network/nw:network-types:
+--rw network-inventory-mapping!
augment /nw:networks/nw:network/nw:node:
+--rw inventory-mapping-attributes
+--ro ne-ref? ne-ref
+--rw policies-target-point
augment /nw:networks/nw:network/nt:link:
+--rw inventory-mapping-attributes
+--ro cable-name? string
+--ro link-type? string
augment /nw:networks/nw:network/nw:node/nt:termination-point:
+--rw inventory-mapping-attributes
+--ro port-component-ref? leafref
+--ro interface-name* string
+--rw policies-target-point
The module augments the "ietf-network-topology" module as follows:¶
A new network topology type: "network-inventory-mapping". The corresponding container augments the "network-types" of the "ietf-network" module.¶
Inventory mapping attributes for nodes, links, and termination points: The corresponding containers augments the topology module with the references to the base network inventory, references to interface management, and policy mount points¶
The inventory topology model associates inventory data with overlay topologies. It can be used as the "supporting-networks" of SAP, Layer 2, or Layer 3 topologies.¶
This module augments the Network Topology [RFC8345].¶
This module imports the base network inventory [I-D.ietf-ivy-network-inventory-yang].¶
<CODE BEGINS> file "ietf-network-inventory-topology@2025-02-04.yang"
module ietf-network-inventory-topology {
yang-version 1.1;
namespace
"urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:yang:ietf-network-inventory-topology";
prefix nwit;
import ietf-network {
prefix nw;
reference
"RFC 8345: A YANG Data Model for Network Topologies,
Section 4.1";
}
import ietf-network-topology {
prefix nt;
reference
"RFC 8345: A YANG Data Model for Network Topologies,
Section 4.2";
}
import ietf-network-inventory {
prefix nwi;
reference
"RFC AAAA: A YANG Data Model for Network Inventory";
}
organization
"IETF Network Inventory YANG (ivy) Working Group";
contact
"WG Web: <https://datatracker.ietf.org/wg/ivy>
WG List: <mailto:inventory-yang@ietf.org>
Editor: Bo Wu
<lana.wubo@huawei.com>
Editor: Cheng Zhou
<zhouchengyjy@chinamobile.com>
Editor: Qin Wu
<bill.wu@huawei.com>
Editor: Mohamed Boucadair
<mohamed.boucadair@orange.com>";
description
"This YANG module defines a YANG module for network
topology and inventory mapping.
Copyright (c) 2025 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 Revised
BSD License set forth in Section 4.c of the IETF Trust's
Legal Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
(https://trustee.ietf.org/license-info).
This version of this YANG module is part of RFC XXXX
(https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfcXXXX); see the RFC
itself for full legal notices.";
revision 2025-02-04 {
description
"Initial revision.";
reference
"RFC XXXX: A YANG Data Model for Network Inventory Mapping
Topology";
}
/* Identities */
/* Typedef */
// To be moved to the base IVY model
typedef ne-ref {
type leafref {
path "/nwi:network-inventory/nwi:network-elements"
+ "/nwi:network-element/nwi:ne-id";
}
description
"This type is used by data models that need to reference
Network Element.";
}
/* Groupings */
grouping inventory-mapping-network-type {
description
"Indicates the topology type to be Network Inventory
mapping.";
container network-inventory-mapping {
presence "Indicates Network Inventory mapping topology.";
description
"The presence of the container node indicates
Network Inventory mapping.";
}
}
grouping policies-target-point {
description
"Indicates system configuration or state mount point.";
container policies-target-point {
description
"Container for device-specific policy (e.g., ACL policies)
configuration or retrieval, which serves as an augmentation
target.";
}
}
grouping node-inventory-attributes {
description
"Network Inventory mapping node scope attributes";
container inventory-mapping-attributes {
description
"The container node attributes of Network Inventory
mapping.";
leaf ne-ref {
type ne-ref;
config false;
description
"The reference of the Network Element (NE) from which this
node is abstracted.";
}
uses policies-target-point;
}
}
grouping termination-point-inventory-attributes {
description
"Network Inventory mapping Termination Point (TP) scope
attributes";
container inventory-mapping-attributes {
description
"Specifies the TP attributes of Network Inventory mapping.";
leaf port-component-ref {
type leafref {
path
"/nwi:network-inventory/nwi:network-elements"
+ "/nwi:network-element[nwi:ne-id=current()/../../../"
+ "inventory-mapping-attributes/ne-ref]/nwi:components"
+ "/nwi:component/nwi:component-id";
}
config false;
description
"The reference of the port component from which this
termination point is abstracted.";
}
leaf-list interface-name {
type string;
config false;
description
"Name of the interface. The name can (but does not
have to) correspond to an interface reference of a
containing node's interface.";
}
uses policies-target-point;
}
}
grouping link-inventory-attributes {
description
"Network Inventory mapping link scope attributes.";
container inventory-mapping-attributes {
description
"Specifies the link attributes of network inventory
mapping.";
leaf cable-name {
type string;
config false;
description
"Reports the reference of the cable inventory from which
this link is abstracted.";
}
leaf link-type {
type string;
config false;
description
"Reports the type of the link.";
}
}
}
/* Main blocks */
augment "/nw:networks/nw:network/nw:network-types" {
description
"Introduces new network type for network inventory mapping.";
uses inventory-mapping-network-type;
}
augment "/nw:networks/nw:network/nw:node" {
when '/nw:networks/nw:network/nw:network-types/
nwit:network-inventory-mapping' {
description
"Augmentation parameters apply only for network inventory
mapping.";
}
description
"Groups parameters for inventory at the node level.";
uses node-inventory-attributes;
}
augment "/nw:networks/nw:network/nt:link" {
when '/nw:networks/nw:network/nw:network-types/
nwit:network-inventory-mapping' {
description
"Augmentation parameters apply only for network
inventory.";
}
description
"Augments inventory topology link information.";
uses link-inventory-attributes;
}
augment
"/nw:networks/nw:network/nw:node/nt:termination-point" {
when '/nw:networks/nw:network/nw:network-types/
nwit:network-inventory-mapping' {
description
"Augmentation parameters apply only for network
inventory.";
}
description
"Augments inventory termination point information.";
uses termination-point-inventory-attributes;
}
}
<CODE ENDS>¶
This section is modeled after the template described in Section 3.7 of [I-D.ietf-netmod-rfc8407bis].¶
The "ietf-network-inventory-topology" YANG module defines a data model that is designed to be accessed via YANG-based management protocols, such as NETCONF [RFC6241] and RESTCONF [RFC8040]. These protocols have to use a secure transport layer (e.g., SSH [RFC4252], TLS [RFC8446], and QUIC {{?RFC9000]) and have to use mutual authentication.¶
The Network Configuration Access Control Model (NACM) [RFC8341] provides the means to restrict access for particular NETCONF or RESTCONF users to a preconfigured subset of all available NETCONF or RESTCONF protocol operations and content.¶
There are a number of data nodes defined in this YANG module that are writable/creatable/deletable (i.e., "config true", which is the default). All writable data nodes are likely to be reasonably sensitive or vulnerable in some network environments. Write operations (e.g., edit-config) and delete operations to these data nodes without proper protection or authentication can have a negative effect on network operations. The following subtrees and data nodes have particular sensitivities/vulnerabilities:¶
Some of the readable data nodes in this YANG module may be considered sensitive or vulnerable in some network environments. It is thus important to control read access (e.g., via get, get-config, or notification) to these data nodes. Specifically, the following subtrees and data nodes have particular sensitivities/vulnerabilities:¶
The reference may be used to track the set of network elements.¶
IANA is requested to register the following URI in the "ns" subregistry within the "IETF XML Registry" [RFC3688]:¶
URI: urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:yang:ietf-network-inventory-topology Registrant Contact: The IESG. XML: N/A; the requested URI is an XML namespace.¶
IANA is requested to register the following YANG module in the "YANG Module Names" registry [RFC6020] within the "YANG Parameters" registry group:¶
Name: ietf-network-inventory-topology Namespace: urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:yang:ietf-network-inventory-topology Prefix: nwit Maintained by IANA? N Reference: RFC XXXX¶
The authors wish to thank Italo Busi, Olga Havel, Aihua Guo, Oscar Gonzalez de Dios, and many others for their helpful comments and suggestions.¶