Bulk Network Data Collection System

Collecting large amounts of data from network infrastructure devices has never been very easy. Existing methods generate CPU and memory loads that may be unacceptable, the output varies across implementations and can be difficult to parse, and these methods are often difficult to scale. I2RS programmatic interfacing with the routing system may exacerbate this problem: state needs to be collected from nodes and fed to consumers participating in the control plane that may not be physically close to the nodes. This state includes not only control plane information, but elements of the data plane that have a direct impact on control plane behavior, like traffic engineering. This document outlines a set of use cases requiring a flexible framework to collect routing system data, and the features and functionality needed to make such a framework useful for these use cases.