What is YANG?
Published as RFC 6020, YANG is a data modeling language. Its function is similar to other data modeling languages, such as UML and XML; however, it has superior features, such as being human-readable and having support for configuration management.
It was created to be used for the definition of the data sent over the NETCONF protocol. It became popular after the success and rapid adoption of NETCONF.
Its configuration management capabilities are:
- Development support and versioning
- Supports submodules
- Grouping and structured types
- Supports the definition of operations (RPCs)
- Reusable types
- Hierarchical configuration for data models
- Easy-to-learn representation, human-readable
About 25 years ago, SNMP was introduced as a protocol between networking management and control systems devices for exchanging configurations, operations, and statistical information. SNMP started using a data modeling language called Structure of Management Information (SMI). SMI evolved and became SMIv2, but people...