# NETCONF NETCONF is a network configuration protocol for installing, manipulating, and deleting network-device configuration, using XML-based messages and RPC operations. This is one page of public article previews, not the complete archive. Follow Next page to continue. Summaries are not the original full articles. ## Scrapli vs Nornir: What's the Difference DevFeed: [Scrapli vs Nornir: What's the Difference]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: Roger Perkin Published: 2026-08-06T11:08:45Z Content type: comparison Language: en Sources: [Roger Perkin Network Automation Consultant]() Topics: [Python](), [Network](), [async](), [NETCONF](), [ssh]() Tags: [async](), [netconf](), [network-automation](), [python](), [scrapli](), [ssh](), [vs]() ### AI overview This comparison explains that Scrapli and Nornir address different layers of Python network automation rather than directly competing. It describes Scrapli as a connection-focused library for communicating with individual network devices and notes its support for SSH, Telnet, NETCONF, synchronous and asynchronous operation, and structured output. ### Source excerpt If you've spent any time in the Python network automation world, you'll have bumped into both Scrapli and Nornir. They come up in the same conversations, the same blog posts and the same job specs, so it's natural to line them up and ask: which one should I use? It's a fair question, but it's built on a slightly ... ## Network Device Telemetry Protocols with Dinesh Dutt DevFeed: [Network Device Telemetry Protocols with Dinesh Dutt]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2026-03-13T06:41:00Z Content type: opinion Language: en Sources: [ipSpace.net blog]() Topics: [telemetry](), [Network](), [NETCONF](), [Software]() Tags: [automation](), [netconf](), [network](), [podcast](), [software-gone-wild](), [telemetry]() ### AI overview Episode 205 of Software Gone Wild discusses why network operators may use screen scraping instead of protocols such as NETCONF, gNMI, or protobufs. The conversation examines the gap between vendor recommendations and operational reality with Dinesh Dutt. ### Source excerpt Whenever I'm ranting about vendors changing their data models or APIs with every other release, there is inevitably a vendor engineer chiming in, saying, "Life would be so much better if the customers wouldn't insist on doing screen scraping for the last 50 years." While some of that screen scraping is pure inertia, we sometimes have good reasons to do it rather than use protocols like NETCONF, gNMI, or protobufs. In Episode 205 of Software Gone Wild, I'm discussing some of those reasons and exploring the gap between vendor theory and reality with Dinesh Dutt, who is unlucky enough to have become the world's foremost expert on crappy network telemetry. Read more ... ## Where Are the NETCONF/YANG Tools? DevFeed: [Where Are the NETCONF/YANG Tools?]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2025-06-04T05:38:00Z Content type: opinion Language: en Sources: [ipSpace.net blog]() Topics: [NETCONF](), [Tooling](), [Network](), [Automation](), [XML]() Tags: [netconf](), [network](), [network-automation](), [tooling](), [xml]() ### AI overview The article examines difficulties finding reliable, current tooling for NETCONF/YANG network-device configuration and model inspection. It discusses ncclient's incomplete documentation, abandoned or outdated YANG tools, installation problems on modern Python versions, and the challenges of using Docker-based tooling. It mentions pyang as a possible tool and asks readers to recommend maintained alternatives. ### Source excerpt Jo attempted to follow the vendor Kool-Aid recommendations and use NETCONF/YANG to configure network devices. Here's what he found (slightly edited): IMHO, the whole NETCONF ecosystem primarily suffers from a tooling problem. Or I haven't found the right tools yet. ncclient is (as you mentioned somewhere else) an underdocumented mess. And that undocumented part is not even up to date. The commit hash at the bottom of the docs page is from 2020... I am amazed how so many people got it working well enough to depend on it in their applications. Read more ... ## Repost: On the Advantages of XML DevFeed: [Repost: On the Advantages of XML]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2025-05-26T06:07:00Z Content type: article Language: en Sources: [ipSpace.net blog]() Topics: [XML](), [JSON](), [NETCONF](), [Artificial Intelligence](), [Python](), [ChatGPT]() Tags: [ai](), [automation](), [chatgpt](), [json](), [netconf](), [python](), [xml]() ### AI overview This reposted discussion examines XML and JSON for network automation. It argues that XML's semantic structure can support reliable, maintainable automation despite XML's size and complexity, while describing mixed results from ChatGPT-generated XPath and Python code, including failures in a fuller ncclient solution. ### Source excerpt Continuing the discussion started by my Breaking APIs or Data Models Is a Cardinal Sin and Screen Scraping in 2025 blog posts, Dr. Tony Przygienda left another thoughtful comment worth reposting as a publicly visible blog post: Having read your newest rant around my rant ;-} I can attest that you hit the nail on the very head in basically all you say: XML output big? yeah. JSON squishy syntax? yeah. SSH prioritization? You didn't live it until you had a customer where a runaway python script generated 800+ XML netconf sessions pumping data ;-) Read more ... ## Traffic steering into label-switched paths (LSPs) DevFeed: [Traffic steering into label-switched paths (LSPs)]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2025-03-10T07:12:00Z Content type: article Language: en Sources: [ipSpace.net blog]() Topics: [SR-MPLS](), [MPLS-TE](), [Software-defined networking](), [Network](), [NETCONF]() Tags: [mpls](), [mpls-te](), [netconf](), [network](), [sdn](), [traffic-engineering](), [worth-reading]() ### AI overview The article discusses steering network traffic into label-switched paths (LSPs) built with SR-MPLS, MPLS-TE, or an SDN controller. It explains that installing LSPs is only part of the task; network devices must also be configured to use them. ### Source excerpt You can use SR-MPLS, MPLS-TE, or an SDN controller to build virtual circuits (label-switched paths) across the network core. The controller can push the LSPs into network devices with PCEP, BGP-LU, or some sort of NETCONF/RESTCONF trickery. Unfortunately, you're only half done once you have installed the LSPs. You still have to persuade the network devices to use them. Welcome to the confusing world of traffic steering explored in the Loopback as a Service blog post by Dmytro Shypovalov. Read more ...