METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PARSING AND GENERATING CONFIGURATION COMMANDS FOR NETWORK DEVICES USING A GRAMMAR-BASED FRAMEWORK

A method of automatically parsing a network device configuration and generating a representation of one or more configuration commands for a network device that uses a command-line interface, using a grammar-based framework, is disclosed. One or more syntax definitions are received for a grammar associated with the command-line interface. The syntax definitions are compiled into a grammar object that represents the grammar. A configuration of the network device is received. The configuration is parsed using the grammar object. One or more configuration values are created and stored based on parsing the configuration. Using the configuration values, operating system version information, and the grammar object, one or more command-line interface commands may be automatically generated for use in configuring the device or other network management purposes. Further, applications may use the parameter values to customize a graphical user interface, perform range checking, etc.