Cisco RESTCONF Configuration

RESTCONF Protocol is a network automation and programmability protocol which allows us to manage and configure network devices automatically. The other protocol which does the same job is NETCONF. We have talked about what is RESTCONF before. Here, we will focus on Cisco RESTCONF Configuration and we will learn how to configure RESTCONF on Cisco router.

You can also check Cisco NETCONF Configuration Example Lesson. 

How to Configure RESTCONF Protocol?

To configure RESTCONF on Cisco routers, we will follow the below configuration steps one by one:

• AAA Authentication Configuration
• Enabling HTTP Services for RESTCONF
• Verifying RESTCONF

AAA Authentication Configuration

The first step of our configuration is authentication configuration. Here, we will use AAA Authentication. To do AAA configuration, we will use “aaa new-model” to enable AAA. Then, we will use “aaa authentication login default local” to set the authentication to use the local username database. Then we will use “aaa authorization exec default local” command to configure the AAA authorization to check local database. We also allow the user to run Exec shell.

Router# configure terminal

Router(config)# aaa new-model

Router(config)# aaa authentication login default local

Router(config)# aaa authorization exec default local

Enabling HTTP Services for RESTCONF

The second step of Cisco RESTCONF configuration is enabling HTTP Services for RESTCONF. Here, we will use “restconf” command, to enable RESTCONF on the interfaces. After that to enable a secure HTTP server (HTTPS), we will use “ip http secure-server” command.

Router(config)# restconf

Router(config)# ip http secure-server

Router(config)# end

As you can see, configuration a Cisco device for RESTCONF is not too difficult.

Verifying RESTCONF

To verify RESTCONF on Cisco devices, you can use the below verification commands:

• show platform software yang-management process monitor
• show platform software yang-management process
• show netconf-yang sessions
• show netconf-yang sessions detail

To check NGINX status, we will use “show platform software yang-management process monitor” command. NGINX provides Transport Layer Security (TLS)-based HTTPS. Our RESTCONF requests will be sent via HTTPS and it is received by NGINX proxy web server.

Router# show platform software yang-management process monitor

COMMAND           PID S    VSZ   RSS %CPU %MEM     ELAPSED

nginx           28626 S 228356 18428  0.0  0.4       01:27

nginx           28972 S 228822 13600  0.0  0.5       01:27

Router# show platform software yang-management process

confd            : Not Running

nesd             : Not Running

syncfd           : Not Running

ncsshd           : Not Running

dmiauthd         : Not Running

nginx            : Running

ndbmand          : Not Running

pubd             : Not Running

After “restconf” command, the status of NGINX and DMI processes:

Router# show platform software yang-management process

confd            : Running

nesd             : Running

syncfd           : Running

ncsshd           : Not Running ! NETCONF-YANG is not configured, hence ncsshd process is in not running.

dmiauthd         : Running

vtyserverutild   : Running

opdatamgrd       : Running

nginx            : Running ! nginx process is up due to the HTTP configuration, and it is restarted when RESTCONF is enabled.

ndbmand          : Running

To see the NETCONF sessions, we will use “show netconf-yang sessions” command.

Router# show netconf-yang sessions

R: Global-lock on running datastore

C: Global-lock on candidate datastore

S: Global-lock on startup datastore

 

Number of sessions : 1

session-id  transport    username             source-host            global-lock

——————————————————————————–

16          netconf-ssh  admin                2001:db8::1             None

To see the session details, we will use “show netconf-yang sessions detail” command.

Router# show netconf-yang sessions detail

 

R: Global-lock on running datastore

C: Global-lock on candidate datastore

S: Global-lock on startup datastore

 

Number of sessions     : 1

 

session-id             : 16

transport              : netconf-ssh

username               : admin

source-host            : 2001:db8::1

login-time             : 2024-5-14T16:28:22+00:00

in-rpcs                : 0

in-bad-rpcs            : 0

out-rpc-errors         : 0

out-notifications      : 0

global-lock            : None

 

RESTCONF Configuration Examples

Related RFCs

You can also use the below RFCs for more information about RESTCONF and YANG.

• RFC 6020 (YANG – A Data Modeling Language for the NETCONF)
• RFC 8040 (RESTCONF Protocol)
• RFC 8072 (YANG Patch Media Type)

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