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Data Models and Structures

Lesson Contents

1. Data Formats
1.1. Extensible Markup Language (XML)
1.2. JavaScript Object Notation (JSON)
1.3. YAML (YAML Ain’t Markup Language)
2. Data Models
2.1. Yet Another Next Generation (YANG)
3. Conclusion

The most common way for the last thirty years to configure our
network devices is the command-line interface (CLI). The CLI is great
for humans, but not so great for computers.

We use configuration commands to configure everything and show or

debug commands to verify our work. The output of show (and debug)
Lessons 

commands is formatted, so it’s easy to read for humans. However, it’s a

pain to use the CLI for scripts or network automation tools. You have to
parse a show command to get the information you want, and the
output is different for each show command.

Configuration commands are also an issue. On Cisco IOS, when you

enter a command, there is no confirmation of whether the router or
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switch accepts the command or not. You only see the empty prompt. If
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you paste a lot of commands, sometimes the console can’t keep up. For
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us humans, it’s easy to spot this and work around it. For CLI scripts or
network automation tools, it’s a problem and you have to take this into
account.

An alternative to the CLI to configure network devices is through

application programming interfaces (APIs). APIs use data formats to
exchange information. In this lesson, we’ll discuss the most popular
data formats and structures. We’ll also take a look at YANG data
models.

1. Data Formats
There are two common data formats that APIs often use:

Extensible Markup Language (XML)

JavaScript Object Notation (JSON)

We also call these data formats “data serialization languages”. Another

data format we often use for device configuration is YAML. A good
example for this is Ansible. Let’s talk about these three data formats.

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01:25

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1.1. Extensible Markup Language

(XML)
(XML) is a tag-based language and if you know HTML, this will look
familiar.

Each item you add has to start with < and end with >. Here is a simple
example:

<router>
<name>CSR1000V</name>
<vendor>Cisco</vendor>
<type>virtual</type>
</router>
<router>
<name>1921</name>
<vendor>Cisco</vendor>
<type>hardware</type>
</router>
</devices>

The output above shows the tag with two tags in it. The first tag
contains information about a CSR1000V router. The second tag
contains information about a 1921 router.

Let me show you the output of an actual router. Here is the output of
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show running-configuration as seen from the CLI:

hostname R1
!
ip cef
!
interface GigabitEthernet0/1
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ip address 192.168.12.1 255.255.255.0

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duplex auto Sign Up
speed auto
media-type rj45
!
interface GigabitEthernet0/2
ip address 192.168.1.254 255.255.255.0
duplex auto
speed auto
media-type rj45
!
end

In XML, it looks like this:

R1#show running-config | format

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Device-Configuration
xmlns="urn:cisco:xml-pi">
<version>
<Param>15.6</Param>
</version>
<service>
<timestamps>
<debug>
<datetime>
<msec/>
</datetime>
</debug>
Lessons 

</timestamps>
</service>
<service>
<timestamps>
<log>
<datetime>
<msec/>

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7/4/25, 8:03 AM Data Models and Structures

</datetime>
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</log> Sign Up
</timestamps>
</service>
<service operation="delete" >
<password-encryption/>
</service>
<hostname>
<SystemNetworkName>R1</SystemNetworkName>
</hostname>
<ip>
<cef/>
</ip>
<interface>
<Param>GigabitEthernet0/1</Param>
<ConfigIf-Configuration>
<ip>
<address>
<IPAddress>192.168.12.1</IPAddress>
<IPSubnetMask>255.255.255.0</IPSubnetMask>
</address>
</ip>
<duplex>
<auto/>
</duplex>
<speed>
<auto/>
</speed>
<media-type>
<rj45/>
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</media-type>
</ConfigIf-Configuration>
</interface>
<interface>
<Param>GigabitEthernet0/2</Param>
<ConfigIf-Configuration>
<ip>

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<address>
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<IPAddress>192.168.1.254</IPAddress> Sign Up
<IPSubnetMask>255.255.255.0</IPSubnetMask>
</address>
</ip>
<duplex>
<auto/>
</duplex>
<speed>
<auto/>
</speed>
<media-type>
<rj45/>
</media-type>
</ConfigIf-Configuration>
</interface>
<end></end>
</Device-Configuration>

One more example. Here is show arp with the CLI output:

R1# show arp

Protocol Address Age (min) Hardware Addr
Type Interface
Internet 192.168.1.1 67 fa16.3ee0.d9a3
ARPA FastEthernet0/0
Internet 192.168.1.2 8 fa16.3ee0.c9b2
ARPA FastEthernet0/0
Internet 192.168.1.3 - fa16.3ee0.a5a5
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ARPA FastEthernet0/0

And in XML, it looks like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<ShowArp xmlns="ODM://disk0:/spec.odm//show_arp">
<ARPTable>
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<entry>
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<Protocol>Internet</Protocol> Sign Up
<Address>192.168.1.1</Address>
<Age>67</Age>
<MAC>fa16.3ee0.d9a3</MAC>
<Type>ARPA</Type>
<Interface>FastEthernet0/0</Interface>
</entry>
<entry>
<Protocol>Internet</Protocol>
<Address>192.168.1.2</Address>
<Age>8 </Age>
<MAC>fa16.3ee0.c9b2</MAC>
<Type>ARPA</Type>
<Interface>FastEthernet0/0</Interface>
</entry>
<entry>
<Protocol>Internet</Protocol>
<Address>192.168.1.3</Address>
<MAC>fa16.3ee0.a5a5</MAC>
<Type>ARPA</Type>
<Interface>FastEthernet0/0</Interface>
</entry>
</ARPTable>
</ShowArp>

These XML outputs are indented which makes them easier to read for
us humans. Indentation however, is not a requirement of XML.

1.2. JavaScript Object Notation (JSON)

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(JSON) is newer than XML and has a simple syntax. JSON stores
information in key-value pairs and uses objects for its format. It’s
easier to read and has less overhead than XML.

Objects start with { and end with }.

Commas separate objects.
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7/4/25, 8:03 AM Data Models and Structures

Double quotes wrap names and strings.

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Lists start with [ and end with ].
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Let’s convert our first XML example into JSON.

XML:

<router>
<name>CSR1000V</name>
<vendor>Cisco</vendor>
<type>virtual</type>
</router>
<router>
<name>1921</name>
<vendor>Cisco</vendor>
<type>hardware</type>
</router>
</devices>

JSON:

"devices": {
"router": [
{
"name": "CSR1000V",
"vendor": "Cisco",
"type": "virtual"
},
{
Lessons 

"name": "1921",
"vendor": "Cisco",
"type": "hardware"
}
]
}
}

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If you look at the output above, you can see we used the tag twice in
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XML. In JSON, we only need a single “router” object. This is a list with
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two objects.

1.3. YAML (YAML Ain’t Markup

Language)
According to the official website, YAML is a human friendly data
serialization standard for all programming languages. YAML is a
superset of JSON. This means that a YAML parser understands JSON,
but not necessarily the other way around.

YAML is easier to look at than XML or JSON.

Key-value pairs are separated by : (colon).

Lists begin with a – (hyphen).
Indentation is a requirement. You have to use spaces, you can’t
use tabs.
You can add comments with a #.

We often use YAML files for configuration management because it’s

easy to read and comments are useful.

Let’s compare JSON with YAML. Here’s the JSON object I showed you
before:

JSON:

{
"devices": {
Lessons 

"router": [
{
"name": "CSR1000V",
"vendor": "Cisco",
"type": "virtual"
},
{
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"name": "1921",
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"vendor": "Cisco", Sign Up
"type": "hardware"
}
]
}
}

Here it is in YAML:

devices:
router:
- name: CSR1000V
vendor: Cisco
type: virtual
- name: 1921
vendor: Cisco
type: hardware

YAML is easier to read without the commas and brackets of JSON. One
disadvantage of YAML is that indentation with spaces is a
requirement. It’s easy to make indentation errors where you have a
space too few or too many.

When you work with XML, JSON, or YAML files, you can make
your life much easier if you use an editor that helps with

visualization and indentation. I use Visual Studio Code for
almost everything nowadays.
Lessons 

2. Data Models
Data models describe the things you can configure, monitor, and the
actions you can perform on a network device. In this section, we will
discuss YANG.

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2.1. Yet Another

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(YANG)
SNMP is widely used to monitor networks. You can use SNMP to
configure network devices, but in reality we don’t use it much. CLI
scripting is a more popular option.

01:09

YANG is a modeling language and uses data models that are similar
to to SNMP Management Information Base (MIBs). YANG is a
standard, described in RFC 6020 and increasing in popularity. YANG
uses data models that describe:

What you can configure on a device.

What you can monitor on a device.
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Administrative actions you can perform on a device like clearing

interface counters or resetting the OSPF process.

YANG Data models can be:

Common data models: industry-wide standard YANG models

from organizations like IETF and IEEE.

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Vendor data models: specific models that only apply to products

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or features from a vendor.
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These data models allow a uniform way for us to configure, monitor,

and interact with network devices. Network automation tools like
NETCONF, RESTCONF, and gRPC require YANG data models. YANG
uses a hierarchical tree structure, similar to the XML data format. There
is a clear distinction between configuration data and state
information.

A YANG module defines a data model through the data of a network

device, and the hierarchical organization and constraints of that data.
YANG identifies each module with a namespace URL.

You can find a collection of YANG modules in the YANG git repository.
In this repository, there are also Cisco modules. For example, take a
look at the modules for IOX XE 16.10.1

There are many module files in the repository. Here is the ARP module
to create a static ARP entry:

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Forum Replies

mustafaa085

Hi There,

Recently, the organization that I’m working for is starting to implement

something called Software Defined Networking, SD-Access. I was wondering
if we have a topic for this technology in this website.

If you have please share it with me. I’m trying to read this topic and get
familiar with it.

Thank you

lagapidis
Lessons 

Hello Mustafa

Under the Evolving Technologies section whose link you see below, there is
Unit 2 which is called Network Programmability that deals with SDN. You can
take a look at those lessons which should cover what you need.

https://networklessons.com/cisco/evolving-technologies

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7/4/25, 8:03 AM Data Models and Structures

SD-Access is something you will also find in the following lesson:

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https://networklessons.com/cisco/evolving-technologies/cloud-connectivity

Look them over and if you have any more specific questions, just let us know!

I hope this has been helpful!

Laz

mustafaa085

Thank Mr. Lagapides !

This is a great section you showed me sir

lagapidis

Hello Samson

Arista does support Yang models on Github, and you can find those at the
following link:

https://github.com/aristanetworks/yang

For other vendors, you may not find repositories and you may have to create
them yourself. To determine if a particular vendor supports some form of
automation, I suggest you research or contact the specific vendor in
question. They will then lead you to the most appropriate solution.

I hope this has been helpful!

Lessons 

Laz

roshanchampika

Hii Laz/Rene,

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7/4/25, 8:03 AM Data Models and Structures

Is a YANG model = YANG module? what is the difference?

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 11 more replies! Ask a question or join the discussion by visiting

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