NETCONF
NETCONF (Network Configuration Protocol) is a network management protocol standardized by the IETF for installing, manipulating, and deleting configuration data on network devices. It uses XML-based data encoding and provides mechanisms to retrieve and edit configuration data, supporting operations like get, edit-config, and commit. NETCONF is widely used in software-defined networking (SDN) and network automation to manage routers, switches, and other network equipment programmatically.
Developers should learn NETCONF when working in network automation, SDN, or DevOps for network infrastructure, as it enables programmatic configuration and management of network devices, reducing manual errors and improving efficiency. It is particularly useful in scenarios requiring automated provisioning, configuration backups, or integration with orchestration tools like Ansible or SaltStack. NETCONF is essential for modern network operations that rely on APIs instead of traditional CLI-based management.