gNMI — gRPC Network Management Interface
gNMI is replacing SNMP for modern network monitoring: lower latency, higher efficiency, native streaming telemetry. Arista, Cisco (IOS-XR, IOS-XE), Juniper, and Nokia all support gNMI. Key for network observability pipelines (Telegraf, gnmic).
What It Defines
gNMI provides Subscribe, Get, Set, and Capabilities RPCs for streaming telemetry and configuration management of network devices using YANG data models over gRPC. OpenConfig defines the YANG models and gNMI spec. The Subscribe RPC (ONCE, POLL, STREAM) enables real-time network state observation without SNMP polling.
Canonical (Normative)
Convenient (Practical)
Related References
Informal working group of network operators (Google, AT&T, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook) that develops vendor-neutral YANG data models and the gNMI (gRPC Network Management Interface) protocol. Models cover BGP, MPLS, interfaces, platform state, and telemetry.
Related Specs
YANG is to NETCONF what JSON Schema is to REST APIs — it describes the data model. Any network automation work with modern devices (Juniper, Cisco IOS-XR, Nokia SR-OS) requires reading and writing YANG models.
NETCONF replaced manual CLI for network device configuration in most modern SD-WAN, carrier, and enterprise deployments. Understanding datastores, capabilities, and YANG-driven RPC is essential for network automation.
RESTCONF brings network device management to the HTTP/JSON world. Most modern network OSes (Cisco IOS-XE 16.6+, Junos 17.3+, Nokia SR-OS) support it. If you prefer REST over SSH/XML for network automation, this is your interface.
SNMP remains the universal monitoring protocol for network equipment: routers, switches, UPS, servers. Every NOC and network monitoring tool (Zabbix, Nagios, LibreNMS) speaks SNMP. Understanding OID trees, MIB compilation, and USM vs community strings is essential for network operations.