Automated Evaluation of a Network Device Configuration

Abstract

Process automation increases quality of human everyday life and boosts work effectiveness. Such benefits are also achievable while testing and evaluating configurations of manageable network devices (e.g. routers or switches). This is especially crucial in education, where many students configure many devices and their teacher must check whether the configurations are correct. This paper is focused on such a problem. We propose a new method, along with a corresponding tool, that is able to load the configurations to be tested and compare them against correct configurations, provided by a teacher. It does not only compare the text in configuration files, but also takes into account structural characteristics of configuration commands. The proposed tool also evaluates the configurations in terms of percentage and obtained points, and thus it can be also used for student exams.