DevNet Associate (DEVASC) v1.0Infrastructure and AutomationMedium

A network operations team needs to collect real-time, high-frequency telemetry data from thousands of network devices for performance monitoring and anomaly detection. The data should be streamed continuously rather than polled periodically. Which protocol is best suited for this requirement, offering efficient, persistent connections and often leveraging Protocol Buffers for data serialization?

  1. ASNMP
  2. BSSH
  3. CgRPC
  4. DRESTCONF
Show answer & explanation

Correct answer: C. gRPC

gRPC (gRPC Remote Procedure Call) is a modern, high-performance RPC framework that is ideal for streaming telemetry. It uses HTTP/2 for transport, supports persistent connections, and commonly leverages Protocol Buffers for efficient data serialization, making it highly suitable for high-frequency data collection from many devices.

Why the other options are wrong

  • A. SNMP is a polling-based protocol, not efficient for high-frequency streaming.
  • B. SSH is primarily for secure remote access and command-line interfaces, not designed for structured, high-volume data streaming.
  • D. RESTCONF is typically request-response over HTTP/1.1 and less efficient for continuous streaming compared to gRPC.

gRPC for Telemetry

gRPC is a high-performance, open-source universal RPC framework that uses HTTP/2 for transport and Protocol Buffers for data serialization, making it highly efficient for streaming telemetry data.

  • Uses HTTP/2 for multiplexed, persistent connections.
  • Leverages Protocol Buffers for efficient data serialization.
  • Suitable for high-frequency, real-time data streaming.
  • Supports various programming languages.

Memory trick: Imagine a super-fast data pipeline for monitoring your network's pulse.

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