Information About the RESTCONF Protocol Overview of RESTCONF This section describes the protocols and modelling languages that enable a programmatic way of writing configurations to a network device. • RESTCONF—Uses structured data (XML or JSON) and YANG to provide a REST-like APIs, enabling you to programmatically access different network devices. RESTCONF APIs use HTTPs methods. • YANG—A data modelling language that is used to model configuration and operational features . YANG determines the scope and the kind of functions that can be performed by NETCONF and RESTCONF APIs.
In releases prior to Cisco IOS XE Fuji 16.8.1, an operational data manager (based on polling) was enabled separately. In Cisco IOS XE Fuji 16.8.1 and later releases, operational data works on platforms running NETCONF (similar to how configuration data works), and is enabled by default. For more information on the components that are enabled for operational data queries or streaming, see the GitHub respository, and view *-oper in the naming convention.
HTTPs Methods The HTTPS-based RESTCONF protocol (RFC 8040), is a stateless protocol that uses secure HTTP methods to provide CREATE, READ, UPDATE, and DELETE (CRUD) operations on a conceptual datastore containing YANG-defined data, which is compatible with a server that implements NETCONF datastores. The following table shows how the RESTCONF operations relate to NETCONF protocol operations: RESTCONF Root Resource • A RESTCONF device determines the root of the RESTCONF API through the link element: /.well-known/host-meta resource that contains the RESTCONF attribute. • A RESTCONF device uses the RESTCONF API root resource as the initial part of the path in the request URI.
RESTCONF Protocol Information About the RESTCONF Protocol OPTIONS SUPPORTED METHODS GET Read PATCH Update PUT Create or Replace POST Create or Operations (reload, default) DELETE Deletes the targeted resource HEAD Header metadata (no response body) RESTCONF Protocol 2