[Infrastructures] using IA methodologies to build network element configuration

[Adam S. Moskowitz]

Aaron Glenn <aaron.glenn@gmail.com> wrote:
> Perhaps Joel just wants to run CVS/SVN/(your favorite version control
> software here) *natively* on his network elements?

And for this we should run a general-purpose O/S on a router? I think
not.

> I find vendor c's handling of configuration files abysmal

I claim that it's not the router's job to "handle" configuration
*files*. And, if you think about it, the Unix kernel does not, in and of
itself, handle configuration *files* per se. So why should IOS -- which
isn't, or at least shouldn't, be much more than a kernel -- handle them?

I claim you run CVS et al. on a general-purpose computer (running *BSD
or Linux or even WinXP if that's your cup of tea) and then transfer a
*configuration* to the router in whatever native form is necessary.
File? That's just a convenient way to store a configuration.

AdamM