Git-Enabled Middleware for Data Change Management on Network Devices Configuration

The network infrastructure of numerous devices has become increasingly complex today. As the requirements change, the network infrastructure configuration also needs to adapt accordingly. Network devices have limitations in only storing configurations into files without preserving the changes made. Network device configurations undergo continuous modifications based on the existing network infrastructure needs. Despite these constant changes, there may be instances where it becomes necessary to refer back to or utilize previous configurations. Version Control System (VCS), or data change management, is a commonly employed data engineering task to track and trace changes in files, storing each alteration in a repository database as a chronological sequence of changes over time. Git is one widely used VCS. This study presents a system design that enables the versioning of network device configurations using Git, allowing for the recording of configuration changes into a server. If a previous configuration version is required, it can be retrieved from the stored change logs within the server. The experimental results demonstrate that the middleware can effectively track configuration changes stored in the repository. The middleware determines the specific version downloaded into the network devices. The time required to switch between versions ranges from three to 12 seconds based on the experiment involving 50 to 500 changes. The storage usage for a single repository, capable of storing 360 changes, amounts to six MB.