Availability of NETCONF Training and Documentation

Software-defined networking (SDN) has an extremely strong influence on the today’s development of computer networks and introduces significant changes in network management and automation. Network Configuration Protocol (NETCONF) is one of the basic protocols which serve as the base of SDN architecture defined in RFC 7426. The goal of this paper is to present the results of qualitative and quantitative scientific research made with major worldwide vendors of router/switch (R/S) network equipment and their major customers (partners and end customers): their view of availability of NETCONF documentation (manuals, white papers and others), training (self-learning and instructor-led) and certification. The research in this paper showed that vendors consider the availability of their training and documentation on the NETCONF protocol at a high level, while at the same time users (partners and end customers) consider that they deserve only a passing grade and that there is significant room for improvement. The consequence is that a very large number of users do not know enough about the NETCONF protocol and its advantages, and therefore rarely use it.