What functionality does RESTCONF provide for network management?

RESTCONF is an API that utilizes the principles of REST (Representational State Transfer) to manage network devices and configurations. One of its key functionalities is providing data retrieval in JSON format, which is a lightweight data-interchange format that is easy for humans to read and write and easy for machines to parse and generate. JSON is particularly well-suited for modern web applications and is widely used in network programmability because it simplifies data exchange between clients and servers.

While RESTCONF can indeed support data retrieval in other formats such as XML, its primary focus and more common use case involve JSON due to its efficiency and simplicity. This aligns with the trend in network automation and programmability, where developers prefer JSON for its ease of integration with web technologies.

Secure shell access is unrelated to RESTCONF, as that pertains to secure command-line access, which is outside the scope of what RESTCONF offers. Furthermore, while batch configuration operations may be facilitated by using APIs, the fundamental functionality of RESTCONF is centered around its RESTful capabilities and data formats like JSON, rather than batch processing operations specifically.