[LEDE-DEV] GSOC 2017 - Implement NetJSON output in ubus (OpenWRT/LEDE)

[Arun Kumar]

Hi Developers,

I am Arunkumar Ravichandran currently admitted for masters program at
University of California, San Diego. My proposal [1] Implement NetJSON
output in ubus (OpenWRT/LEDE) has been accepted to the GSOC 2017 and I
would like to tell more about my proposed project.

The main aim of this project is to implement parts of the NetJSON[2]
specification in the OpenWRT/LEDE ecosystem.

Why NetJSON ??
NetJSON would allow standardization similar to NETCONF. Since NetJSON
uses JSON format, it makes the management of configurations done at a
higher level and larger scale to be automated easily. By using NetJSON
objects to either produce or collect information, in different
vendor’s different hardware, it allows the developers to work on their
ideas faster and in a better way.

Implementation:
The support for NETJSON is brought in at the interconnect system-
ubus[3]. To add support for a new ubus API which allows retrieving
these two NetJSON object types: DeviceConfiguration[6] and
DeviceMonitoring[7]. The NetJSON objects are filled in using the
plugins available in System Configuration Abstraction Layer(SCAL)[4].
Full project proposal can be read at [5].

I would welcome further suggestions from the LEDE/ OpenWRT community
as that would help in implementing this feature sooner and in a better
way, and also more resilient to multiple data models which are being
used to represent network configurations.

[1] https://wiki.freifunk.net/Ideas#Implement_NetJSON_output_in_ubus_.28OpenWRT.2FLEDE.29
[2] https://github.com/netjson/netjson
[3] https://lede-project.org/docs/guide-developer/ubus
[4] https://github.com/prplfoundation/scal
[5] https://docs.google.com/document/d/1b6zersOA_GjUqbOjuaXvFd4E40l1MqUXjIyVagLLd08/edit?usp=sharing
[6] http://netjson.org/docs/what.html#deviceconfiguration
[7] http://netjson.org/docs/what.html#devicemonitoring

Thanks,
Arun