C²: The case for a network configuration checking language

Network configuration errors pose a major headache for the network operators today. Existing approaches of solving the problem either have considered the development of specialized configuration checkers that identify violation of a correct configurations [12, 11, 17, 4], or have considered the automatic configuration of networked devices [6]. In this paper we follow a different approach. We consider the development of a high level configuration checker language, with the goal of being used directly by network operators. The goal is to enable operators to define the set of current practices that fit their needs best, rather than relying on multiple specialized tools, one for each networking system, and which come with a set of predefined configuration errors. © 2008 IEEE.