NETCONF And XML API practice questions

baud-rate

Why wrong: Baud rate is a console serial setting, not an edit-config parameter.

ssh-cipher

Why wrong: SSH ciphers are negotiated during SSH transport setup, not edit-config.

<rollback>

Why wrong: Rollbacks are optional operational requests.

<lock>

Why wrong: Locking is optional.

<terminate-session>

Why wrong: <terminate-session> is not a valid NETCONF RPC element.

<disconnect>

Why wrong: <disconnect> is not part of the NETCONF protocol specification.

<kill-session>

Why wrong: <kill-session> is used by an administrator to forcefully terminate *another* session.

<test-option>test-then-set</test-option>

Why wrong: 'test-then-set' verifies the configuration can be set before applying it, but does not dictate the error rollback behavior.

<default-operation>none</default-operation>

Why wrong: 'none' specifies that no default operation should be applied to missing configuration nodes.

<error-option>stop-on-error</error-option>

Why wrong: 'stop-on-error' stops processing further changes but does not automatically perform a rollback on Junos unless combined with atomic features.

<response-data>

Why wrong: Data returned is typically enclosed in a <data> or specific RPC reply child tag, but the top-level wrapper is <rpc-reply>.

<xml-reply>

Why wrong: <xml-reply> is not used in the NETCONF specification.

<netconf-response>

Why wrong: <netconf-response> is not a standard NETCONF protocol tag.

XPath expression filtering via the select attribute

Why wrong: While XPath is supported, standard subtree tag filtering is the native Junos XML API approach for simple element extraction.

Regular expression pattern matching within the <filter> attribute

Why wrong: NETCONF subtree and XPath filters do not use generic regex pattern matching inside attributes.

Retrieving the entire configuration and parsing it locally with a Python script

Why wrong: Retrieving the full configuration is inefficient when only a specific leaf is needed.

<lock-config>

Why wrong: The correct element name is simply <lock>.

<acquire-lock>

Why wrong: <acquire-lock> is not a valid NETCONF tag.

<exclusive-edit>

Why wrong: <exclusive-edit> is a CLI configuration mode parameter, not a NETCONF XML element.

<pull-operational>

Why wrong: <pull-operational> is not a valid Junos XML RPC tag.

<get-rpc-reply>

Why wrong: <get-rpc-reply> is the response wrapper, not the request element.

<get-config>

Why wrong: <get-config> is used exclusively to retrieve configuration datastores.

The configuration is merged, and any conflicting nodes generate a validation error.

Why wrong: This does not describe the replace operation behavior.

The candidate datastore is cleared, and only the default factory configuration is loaded.

Why wrong: Clearing the configuration requires a specific load operation or clear command.

Only the specific leaf nodes provided in the RPC are updated; everything else remains intact.

Why wrong: That describes the merge operation, which is the default.

TCP port 22

Why wrong: Port 22 is typically used for standard CLI SSH sessions, not NETCONF by default.

TCP port 443

Why wrong: Port 443 is used for HTTPS/TLS traffic, such as the Junos REST API.

UDP port 830

Why wrong: NETCONF relies on connection-oriented reliable transport via TCP.

It clears all active alarms and operational logs from the routing engine.

Why wrong: Operational logs and alarms are not part of the candidate configuration datastore.

It terminates all active NETCONF sessions currently connected to the device.

Why wrong: Session termination is performed via <close-session> or <kill-session>.

It reverts the active running configuration to the factory default state.

Why wrong: Factory default restoration requires loading a factory configuration.

The device ignores the request and returns an OK response.

Why wrong: That is the behavior of the remove operation, not delete.

The device converts the operation to a merge automatically.

Why wrong: Junos does not implicitly convert delete operations to merge operations.

The device automatically creates the container as an empty object.

Why wrong: Delete never creates objects.

<rpc><commit-confirm timeout="5"/></rpc>

Why wrong: <commit-confirm> is not a valid RPC tag name.

<rpc><edit-config><timeout>300</timeout></edit-config></rpc>

Why wrong: Timeouts are configured inside the commit operation, not edit-config.

<rpc><commit><timeout>5</timeout></commit></rpc>

Why wrong: The correct element inside <commit> for the timeout value is <confirm-timeout>.

http://xml.juniper.net/junos/rpc/v1

Why wrong: This is not a standard RFC 6241 capability URI.

netconf:params:xml:ns:netconf:base:2.0

Why wrong: NETCONF base 2.0 uses urn:ietf:params:netconf:base:2.0.

urn:juniper:params:netconf:ssh:1.0

Why wrong: SSH transport parameters are negotiated via SSH layer protocols, not as a NETCONF base capability URI.

/var/log/netconf.log

Why wrong: Default system logs do not automatically create a netconf.log file unless traceoptions are explicitly configured.

/var/db/config/juniper.conf.gz

Why wrong: This is the configuration archive path, not a log file.

/etc/netconf/errors.xml

Why wrong: Junos does not store NETCONF error logs in /etc/netconf/errors.xml.

show netconf settings

Why wrong: This is not a valid Junos operational command.

show xml-api status

Why wrong: The XML API over HTTP uses different commands, whereas NETCONF uses system services netconf.

show netconf status connections

Why wrong: This is incorrect syntax for checking NETCONF status.

An rpc-error stating that a filter is mandatory.

Why wrong: Filters are optional in <get-config> requests.

Only the differences between candidate and running configurations.

Why wrong: Comparing candidate and running requires a specific RPC or compare options.

Only the top-level system hierarchy statements.

Why wrong: The full candidate datastore is returned.

http://www.cisco.com/ns/yang/cisco-se

Why wrong: Cisco namespaces are unrelated to Junos.

urn:juniper:params:xml:ns:netconf:base:1.0

Why wrong: This is not a valid Juniper namespace.

urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:base:1.0

Why wrong: This namespace is for standard IETF NETCONF protocol elements.

Netmiko

Why wrong: Netmiko is a multi-vendor CLI automation library, not primarily a NETCONF library.

Paramiko

Why wrong: Paramiko is a low-level SSH library, not a Junos-specific NETCONF library.

Requests

Why wrong: Requests is an HTTP library, used for REST APIs.

<update-candidate>

Why wrong: <update-candidate> is not a valid Junos NETCONF RPC.

<set-config>

Why wrong: <set-config> is not a valid NETCONF tag.

<edit-config>

Why wrong: While <edit-config> is standard IETF NETCONF, <load-configuration> is the Junos-specific RPC often used for advanced loading options.