An Inventory Management Model
for Enterprise NetworksHuawei101 Software Avenue, Yuhua DistrictNanjingJiangsu210012Chinalana.wubo@huawei.comChina MobileBeijing100053Chinazhouchengyjy@chinamobile.comHuawei101 Software Avenue, Yuhua DistrictNanjingJiangsu210012Chinabill.wu@huawei.comOrangeRennes 35000Francemohamed.boucadair@orange.com
OPS Area
OPSAWGNetwork Inventory ManagementThis document defines a YANG model for network inventory management,
which provides consistent representation and reporting of network nodes
(including endpoints) inventory and enable a network orchestrator in the
enterprise network to maintain a centralized view of all the endpoint
types across multiple domains of the underlying network to implement a
coherent control strategy.Enterprise networks are becoming heterogenous and supporting a
variety of device types, such as BYOD vs. enterprise-supplied devices,
Internet of things (IoT) devices, IP phones, printers, IP cameras), OT
(Operation Technology) devices (e.g., sensors), etc. Also, these
networks are designed to support both localized applications and
cloud-based applications (e.g., public cloud computing, storage, etc.),
or hybrid applications. Also, means to access network resources are not
anymore from within specific sites, but access can be granted from
anywhere. Dedicated gateways and authorization procedures are being
generalized.This trend is observed for the medical, power, manufacturing, or
other infrastructure industries. These networks host a large number of
multi-vendor IoT or OT devices, with frequent additions and changes.
These complex environments often expose unknown safety and reliability
blind spots.The endpoints connected to an Enterprise network lack unified
modelling and lifecycle management, and different services are modelled,
collected, processed, and stored separately. The same category of
network device and network endpoints may be (repeatedly) discovered,
processed, and stored. Therefore, the inventory is difficult to manage
when they are tracked in different places. Maintaining a centralized and
up-to-date inventory is a technical enabler in order to implement a
coherent control strategy for all endpoint types connected to an
Enterprise network. defines a network topology model that can be
used for network inventory extensions. The SAP network model provides inventory data associated with
Service Attachment Points (SAPs), which maintains an inventory of nodes
contained in a network relying upon . For the
enterprise networks, the network endpoint and the network context with
the endpoints need to be further defined.This document defines a YANG network model for inventory management,
which provide consistent representation and reporting of network
inventory types.Note: The following needs to be clarified:X. Why This Model Is Needed?<<Include a summary of why existing models do not fit the
need>> defines a network topology model that can be
used for network inventory extensions. The SAP network model provides inventory data associated with
Service Attachment Points (SAPs), which maintains an inventory of nodes
contained in a network relying upon .X. Why This Model is Specific to Enterprises?<<include a discussion on the specificity of
endpoints>>The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
"OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14
when, and only when,
they appear in all capitals, as shown here.This document defines the following term:Provides a representation of
entities either as a network device, security device or network
endpoint device, which include physical or virtual. It provides
information related to devices, which could include hardware
components, software/firmware information and management information
relevant for the device. Network endpoints, physical or virtual,
include physical computing equipment, e.g. physical servers in data
centers, desktop computers, mobile devices, laptops, printers,
sensors, and cloud-based endpoints, such as Software-as-a-Service
(SaaS) applications, IaaS computing, storage, etc.The YANG model of network inventory is used to provide abstract
interfaces to obtain network inventory under each network management
systems or network controllers of different domains of an
enterprise. shows an example of an enterprise
network consisting of two network domains: one campus network domain and
one cloud network domain. The inventory data in the network can include
network infrastructure devices (such as routers, switchs, security
devices) and network endpoints (such as IoT/OT devices, servers, laptop,
mobile devices). The management systems or network controllers in
different domains can automatically collect or discover the inventory by
multiple approaches.With the inventory data collected from the underlying network, the
network orchestration system can centrally manage security and network
policies related to network endpoints. shows an
enterprise network function abstraction, in which centralized network
policy management is on top of the network inventory and other network
and security functions to achieve a specific set of network outcomes.
For example, the use cases can continuously ensure the security of
enterprise networks or optimized traffic engineering in order to meet
the performance requirements of business critical applications.The network inventory defined in this document can be further
classified into network nodes and network endpoints. The network nodes
include network devices (e.g., routers, security devices). The network
endpoints include IT devices, IoT devices, OT devices, personal owned
devices, or cloud applications. The inventory can be managed with
better control by categorizing and organizing them into custom groups
based on a set of criteria local to each Enterprise.The network inventory provides a set of common device attributes
consisting of manufacturer, model, operating system, serial number,
and more information. The attributes can include both hardware and
software data. The hardware data is from IETF hardware YANG which
includes hardware specifications, firmware and software versions
installed on them, asset-ids, and status. Software data could be
operating system, operating system update, software module, etc. The
attributes can also provide network context information about the
interconnection relationship between network devices and the location
or underlaying devices of the network endpoint to access the
network.Systems that provide network inventory usually involves the
following steps:Identification: The first step is to create a detailed
inventory of all network devices and network endpoints. The
systems should automatically discover each device or endpoint when
connected.Tracking: This involves continuously monitoring, including
gathering status, identifying new devices in the network,and
traffic patterns. By establishing the process, the system gets
real-time data on the state of all the inventory.Policy Management provides policy-based access control on requested
resources, such as user, device access, east west communication
between network endpoints.Knowing the list of software or hardware/firmware installed on
network devices and network endpoints, is useful to understand and
maintain the security state and healthy state of a network
infrastructure. For example, if an enterprise policy requires the
presence of certain software and prohibits the presence of other
software, reported software installation information can be used to
indicate compliance and non-compliance with these requirements.
Software/hardware/firmware installation inventory lists can further be
used to determine a network equipment's exposure to attack based on
comparison of vulnerability or threat alerts against identified
security profile data. defines
"digital twin network" as a virtual representation of the physical
network. Such virtual representation of the network is meant to be
used to analyze, diagnose, emulate, and then manage the physical
network based on data, models, and interfaces. A digital twin network
architecture is proposed as follows. |Functional Models | +---> Digital| |
| | Repo- | | +-----+-----^------+ | | Twin | |
| | sitory | | | | | | Network| |
| | | | +-----v-----+------+ | | Mgmt | |
| | <---+ | Basic Models | <---+ | |
| | | | +------------------+ | | | |
| +--------+ +------------------------+ +--------+ |
+--------^----------------------------+-------------------+
| |
| data collection | control
+--------+----------------------------v-------------------+
| Physical Network |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------+]]>The service orchestration system can use digital twin
platform to build visual relationship maps for networks and endpoints
with relationship types and dependencies, and identify potential
impacts on configuration management information from incidents,
problems, and changes.The inventory model can, for example, be used to emulate several
what-if scenario such as the impact of EOL or depletion of a hardware
component on the network resilience and service availability.The following tree diagram provides an
overview of the data model for "ietf-network-inventory" module. ../name
+--rw management-ipv4-address? inet:host
+--rw management-ipv6-address? inet:host
+--ro mac-address? yang:mac-address
+--ro mud-url? inet:uri
+--ro transparency-info? inet:uri
+--rw site? string
+--ro hardware-rev? string
+--ro firmware-rev? string
+--ro software-rev? string
+--ro serial-num? string
+--ro mfg-name? string
+--ro model-name? string
+--ro alias? string
+--ro asset-id? string
+--ro mfg-date? yang:date-and-time
+--ro uri* inet:uri
+--ro uuid? yang:uuid
+--ro oper-state? oper-state
+--rw components
| +--rw component* [name]
| +--rw name string
| +--ro class? union
| +--ro parent? -> ../../component/name
| +--ro parent-rel-pos? int32
| +--ro is-fru? boolean
| +--ro hardware-rev? string
| +--ro firmware-rev? string
| +--ro software-rev? string
| +--ro serial-num? string
| +--ro mfg-name? string
| +--ro model-name? string
| +--ro alias? string
| +--ro asset-id? string
| +--ro mfg-date? yang:date-and-time
| +--ro uri* inet:uri
| +--ro uuid? yang:uuid
| +--ro oper-state? oper-state
| +--ro usage-state? hw:usage-state
| +--ro alarm-state? hw:alarm-state
| +--ro standby-state? hw:standby-state
+--rw geo-location
+--rw reference-frame
| +--rw alternate-system? string {alternate-systems}?
| +--rw astronomical-body? string
| +--rw geodetic-system
| +--rw geodetic-datum? string
| +--rw coord-accuracy? decimal64
| +--rw height-accuracy? decimal64
+--rw (location)?
| +--:(ellipsoid)
| | +--rw latitude? decimal64
| | +--rw longitude? decimal64
| | +--rw height? decimal64
| +--:(cartesian)
| +--rw x? decimal64
| +--rw y? decimal64
| +--rw z? decimal64
+--rw velocity
| +--rw v-north? decimal64
| +--rw v-east? decimal64
| +--rw v-up? decimal64
+--rw timestamp? yang:date-and-time
+--rw valid-until? yang:date-and-time
augment /nw:networks/nw:network/nt:link:
+--ro link-name? string
+--ro link-description? string
+--ro link-type? string
+--ro oper-state? oper-state
augment /nw:networks/nw:network/nw:node/nt:termination-point:
+--ro tp-name? string
+--ro tp-description? string
+--ro tp-type? string
+--ro oper-state? oper-state
]]>The "ietf-network-inventory" module uses types defined in , , ,
and . file="ietf-network-inventory@2023-02-10.yang"
module ietf-network-inventory {
yang-version 1.1;
namespace "urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:yang:ietf-network-inventory";
prefix nw-inv;
import ietf-network {
prefix nw;
reference
"RFC 8345: A YANG Data Model for Network Topologies";
}
import ietf-network-topology {
prefix nt;
reference
"RFC 8345: A YANG Data Model for Network Topologies";
}
import ietf-inet-types {
prefix inet;
reference
"RFC 6991: Common YANG Data Types";
}
import ietf-yang-types {
prefix yang;
reference
"RFC 6991: Common YANG Data Types";
}
import iana-hardware {
prefix ianahw;
reference
"RFC 8348: A YANG Data Model for Hardware Management";
}
import ietf-hardware {
prefix hw;
reference
"RFC 8348: A YANG Data Model for Hardware Management";
}
import ietf-geo-location {
prefix geo;
reference
"RFC 9179: A YANG Grouping for Geographic Locations";
}
import iana-if-type {
prefix ianaift;
}
organization
"IETF OPSAWG (Operations and Management Area Working Group)";
contact
"WG Web:
WG List:
Editor: Bo Wu
Editor: Cheng Zhou
Editor: Qin Wu
Editor: Mohamed Boucadair
";
description
"This YANG module defines XXX.
Copyright (c) 2023 IETF Trust and the persons identified
as authors of the code. All rights reserved.
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with
or without modification, is permitted pursuant to, and
subject to the license terms contained in, the Revised
BSD License set forth in Section 4.c of the IETF Trust's
Legal Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
(https://trustee.ietf.org/license-info).
This version of this YANG module is part of RFC XXXX
(https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfcXXXX); see the RFC
itself for full legal notices.";
revision 2023-02-10 {
description
"Initial revision.";
reference
"RFC XXXX: A Network Inventory Management Model for
Enterprise Networks ";
}
identity software-component {
description
"Base identity for software components in a managed device.";
}
identity operating-system {
base software-component;
description
"OS software type.";
}
identity operating-system-patch {
base software-component;
description
"An operating system update - which should be a subcomponent
of the `operating-system` running on a component. A patch is
defined to be a set of software changes that are atomically
installed (and uninstalled) together. ";
}
identity bios {
base software-component;
description
"Legacy BIOS or UEFI firmware interface responsible for
initializing hardware components and first stage boot
loader.";
}
identity boot-loader {
base software-component;
description
"Software layer responsible for loading and booting the
device OS or network OS.";
}
identity software-module {
base software-component;
description
"A base identity for software modules installed and/or
running on the device. Modules include user-space programs
and kernel modules that provide specific functionality.
A component with type SOFTWARE_MODULE should also have a
module type that indicates the specific type of software
module";
}
identity node-type {
description
"Base identity for node device type.";
}
identity switch {
base node-type;
description
"Identity for switch device.";
}
identity router {
base node-type;
description
"Identity for router device.";
}
identity firewall {
base node-type;
description
"Identity for Firewall device.";
}
identity access-controller {
base node-type;
description
"Identity for WIFI access controller device.";
}
identity access-point {
base node-type;
description
"Identity for WIFI access point device.";
}
identity sdn-controller {
base node-type;
description
"Identity for controller.";
}
identity server {
base node-type;
description
"Identity for computing server device.";
}
identity vm {
base node-type;
description
"Identity for VM node.";
}
identity camera {
base node-type;
description
"Identity for camera device.";
}
identity printer {
base node-type;
description
"Identity for camera device.";
}
identity cell-phone {
base node-type;
description
"Identity for mobile phone.";
}
typedef oper-state {
type enumeration {
enum unknown {
value 1;
description
"The resource is unable to report its operational
state.";
}
enum disabled {
value 2;
description
"The resource is totally inoperable.";
}
enum enabled {
value 3;
description
"The resource is partially or fully operable.";
}
enum testing {
value 4;
description
"The resource is currently being tested and cannot
therefore report whether or not it is operational.";
}
}
description
"Represents the possible values of operational states.";
reference
"RFC 4268: Entity State MIB - EntityOperState";
}
/* Groupings */
grouping component-info {
description
"Grouping for common component information.";
leaf hardware-rev {
type string;
config false;
description
"The vendor-specific hardware revision string for the
component. The preferred value is the hardware revision
identifier actually printed on the component itself (if
present).";
reference
"RFC 6933: Entity MIB (Version 4) -
entPhysicalHardwareRev";
}
leaf firmware-rev {
type string;
config false;
description
"The vendor-specific firmware revision string for the
component.";
reference
"RFC 6933: Entity MIB (Version 4) -
entPhysicalFirmwareRev";
}
leaf software-rev {
type string;
config false;
description
"The vendor-specific software revision string for the
component.";
reference
"RFC 6933: Entity MIB (Version 4) -
entPhysicalSoftwareRev";
}
leaf serial-num {
type string;
config false;
description
"The vendor-specific serial number string for the
component. The preferred value is the serial number
string actually printed on the component itself (if
present).";
reference
"RFC 6933: Entity MIB (Version 4) - entPhysicalSerialNum";
}
leaf mfg-name {
type string;
config false;
description
"The name of the manufacturer of this physical component.
The preferred value is the manufacturer name string
actually printed on the component itself (if present).
Note that comparisons between instances of the
'model-name', 'firmware-rev', 'software-rev', and
'serial-num' nodes are only meaningful amongst
components with the same value of 'mfg-name'.
If the manufacturer name string associated with the
physical component is unknown to the server, then this
node is not instantiated.";
reference
"RFC 6933: Entity MIB (Version 4) - entPhysicalMfgName";
}
leaf model-name {
type string;
config false;
description
"The vendor-specific model name identifier string
associated with this physical component. The preferred
value is the customer-visible part number, which may be
printed on the component itself.
If the model name string associated with the physical
component is unknown to the server, then this node is not
instantiated.";
reference
"RFC 6933: Entity MIB (Version 4) - entPhysicalModelName";
}
leaf alias {
type string;
config false;
description
"An 'alias' name for the component, as specified by a
network manager, that provides a non-volatile 'handle' for
the component.
If no configured value exists, the server MAY set the
value of this node to a locally unique value in the
operational state.
A server implementation MAY map this leaf to the
entPhysicalAlias MIB object. Such an implementation needs
to use some mechanism to handle the differences in size
and characters allowed between this leaf and
entPhysicalAlias. The definition of such a mechanism is
outside the scope of this document.";
reference
"RFC 6933: Entity MIB (Version 4) - entPhysicalAlias";
}
leaf asset-id {
type string;
config false;
description
"This node is a user-assigned asset tracking identifier for
the component.
A server implementation MAY map this leaf to the
entPhysicalAssetID MIB object. Such an implementation
needs to use some mechanism to handle the differences in
size and characters allowed between this leaf and
entPhysicalAssetID. The definition of such a mechanism is
outside the scope of this document.";
reference
"RFC 6933: Entity MIB (Version 4) - entPhysicalAssetID";
}
leaf mfg-date {
type yang:date-and-time;
config false;
description
"The date of manufacturing of the managed component.";
reference
"RFC 6933: Entity MIB (Version 4) - entPhysicalMfgDate";
}
leaf-list uri {
type inet:uri;
config false;
description
"This node contains identification information about the
component.";
reference
"RFC 6933: Entity MIB (Version 4) - entPhysicalUris";
}
leaf uuid {
type yang:uuid;
config false;
description
"A Universally Unique Identifier of the component.";
reference
"RFC 6933: Entity MIB (Version 4) - entPhysicalUUID";
}
leaf oper-state {
type oper-state;
config false;
description
"The operational state for this component.
Note that this node does not follow the administrative
state. An administrative state of 'down' does not
predict an operational state of 'disabled'.
Note that some implementations may not be able to
accurately report oper-state while the admin-state node
has a value other than 'unlocked'. In these cases, this
node MUST have a value of 'unknown'.";
reference
"RFC 4268: Entity State MIB - entStateOper";
}
}
grouping components {
description
"Grouping for software and hardware components.";
container components {
description
"The components within the device.";
list component {
key "name";
description
"The list of software instances contained within the
device.";
leaf name {
type string;
description
"The name of the component.";
}
leaf class {
type union {
type identityref {
base ianahw:hardware-class;
}
type identityref {
base software-component;
}
}
config false;
description
"Type of component as identified by the system";
}
leaf parent {
type leafref {
path "../../component/name";
}
config false;
description
"The name of the component that physically contains this
component.
If this leaf is not instantiated, it indicates that this
component is not contained in any other component.
In the event that a physical component is contained by
more than one physical component (e.g., double-wide
modules), this node contains the name of one of these
components. An implementation MUST use the same name
every time this node is instantiated.";
reference
"RFC 6933: Entity MIB (Version 4) -
entPhysicalContainedIn";
}
leaf parent-rel-pos {
type int32 {
range "0 .. 2147483647";
}
config false;
description
"An indication of the relative position of this child
component among all its sibling components. Sibling
components are defined as components that:
o share the same value of the 'parent' node and
o share a common base identity for the 'class' node.";
reference
"RFC 6933: Entity MIB (Version 4) -
entPhysicalParentRelPos";
}
leaf is-fru {
type boolean;
config false;
description
"This node indicates whether or not this component is
considered a 'field-replaceable unit' by the vendor.
If this node contains the value 'true', then this
component identifies a field-replaceable unit.";
reference
"RFC 6933: Entity MIB (Version 4) - entPhysicalIsFRU";
}
uses component-info;
leaf usage-state {
type hw:usage-state;
config false;
description
"The usage state for this component.
This node refers to a component's ability to service
more components in a containment hierarchy.
Some components will exhibit only a subset of the usage
state values. Components that are unable to ever
service any components within a containment hierarchy
will always have a usage state of 'busy'. In some
cases, a component will be able to support only one
other component within its containment hierarchy and
will therefore only exhibit values of 'idle' and
'busy'.";
reference
"RFC 4268: Entity State MIB - entStateUsage";
}
leaf alarm-state {
type hw:alarm-state;
config false;
description
"The alarm state for this component. It does not
include the alarms raised on child components within
its containment hierarchy.";
reference
"RFC 4268: Entity State MIB - entStateAlarm";
}
leaf standby-state {
type hw:standby-state;
config false;
description
"The standby state for this component.
Some components will exhibit only a subset of the
remaining standby state values. If this component
cannot operate in a standby role, the value of this
node will always be 'providing-service'.";
reference
"RFC 4268: Entity State MIB - entStateStandby";
}
}
}
}
grouping inventory-network-type {
description
"Indicates the topology type to be inventory.";
container network-inventory {
presence "Indicates Network Inventory.";
description
"The presence of the container node indicates
Network Inventory.";
}
}
grouping inventory-node-attributes {
description
"Augment used to define attach the node configuration";
leaf name {
type string;
description
"The name of the node.";
}
leaf node-type {
type identityref {
base node-type;
}
config false;
description
"Node type.";
}
leaf is-virtual {
type boolean;
default "false";
config false;
description
"Set to true if the node is virtual.
Set to false if the node is physical.";
}
leaf is-gateway {
type boolean;
default "false";
config false;
description
"Set to true if the node is a gateway.
Set to false if the node is not a gateway.";
}
leaf gateway-ref {
type leafref {
path "../name";
}
config false;
description
"gateway for endpoint device.";
}
leaf management-ipv4-address {
type inet:host;
description
"The IP address or DNS domain name of the device.";
}
leaf management-ipv6-address {
type inet:host;
description
"The IP address or DNS domain name of the device.";
}
leaf mac-address {
type yang:mac-address;
config false;
description
"The MAC address of the device.";
}
leaf mud-url {
type inet:uri;
config false;
description
"This is the MUD URL associated with the MUD device found
in a MUD file.";
}
leaf transparency-info {
type inet:uri;
config false;
description
"Link to software bill of material,
see draft-ietf-opsawg-sbom-access";
}
leaf site {
type string;
description
"The site of the node.";
}
uses component-info;
uses components;
uses geo:geo-location;
}
grouping inventory-termination-point-attributes {
description
"Augment used to define attach the termination point
attributes.";
leaf tp-name {
type string;
config false;
description
"The name of the interface.";
}
leaf tp-description {
type string;
config false;
description
"A textual description of the interface.";
}
leaf tp-type {
type string;
config false;
description
"The type of the interface.";
}
leaf oper-state {
type oper-state;
config false;
description
"The operational state for this interface.";
}
}
grouping inventory-link-attributes {
description
"Augment used to define attach the termination point
attributes.";
leaf link-name {
type string;
config false;
description
"The name of the link.";
}
leaf link-description {
type string;
config false;
description
"A textual description of the interface.";
}
leaf link-type {
type string;
config false;
description
"The type of the interface.";
}
leaf oper-state {
type oper-state;
config false;
description
"The operational state for this link.";
}
}
/* Main blocks */
augment "/nw:networks/nw:network/nw:network-types" {
description
"Introduces new network type for network inventory.";
uses inventory-network-type;
}
augment "/nw:networks/nw:network/nw:node" {
when '/nw:networks/nw:network/nw:network-types/
nw-inv:network-inventory' {
description
"Augmentation parameters apply only for network inventory.";
}
description
"Configuration parameters for inventory at the node
level.";
uses inventory-node-attributes;
}
augment "/nw:networks/nw:network/nt:link" {
when '/nw:networks/nw:network/nw:network-types/
nw-inv:network-inventory' {
description
"Augmentation parameters apply only for network
inventory.";
}
description
"Augments inventory topology link information.";
uses inventory-link-attributes;
}
augment
"/nw:networks/nw:network/nw:node/nt:termination-point" {
when '/nw:networks/nw:network/nw:network-types/
nw-inv:network-inventory' {
description
"Augmentation parameters apply only for network
inventory.";
}
description
"Augments inventory termination point information.";
uses inventory-termination-point-attributes;
}
}
]]>The YANG module specified in this document defines a data schema
designed to be accessed through network management protocols such as
NETCONF [RFC6241] or RESTCONF [RFC8040]. The lowest NETCONF layer is the
secure transport layer, and the required secure transport is Secure
Shell (SSH) [RFC6242]. The lowest RESTCONF layer is HTTPS, and the
required secure transport is TLS [RFC8446].The Network Configuration Access Control Model (NACM) [RFC8341]
provides a means of restricting access to specific NETCONF or RESTCONF
users to a preconfigured subset of all available NETCONF or RESTCONF
protocol operations and contents. Thus, NACM SHOULD be used to restrict
the NSF registration from unauthorized users.There are a number of data nodes defined in this YANG module that are
writable, creatable, and deletable (i.e., config true, which is the
default). These data nodes may be considered sensitive or vulnerable in
some network environments. Write operations to these data nodes could
have a negative effect on network and security operations.Some of the readable data nodes in this YANG module may be considered
sensitive or vulnerable in some network environments. It is thus
important to control read access (e.g., via get, get-config, or
notification) to these data nodes. These are the subtrees and data nodes
and their sensitivity/vulnerability:<<<to be completed>>>The model includes sensitive PII data. More to be discussed:Data related to BYOD devicesThis document registers a URI in the "IETF XML Registry" . Following the format in ,
the following registration has been made.This document registers a YANG module in the "YANG Module Names"
registry .TBD