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Streaming Telemetry: gNMI, OpenConfig, gRPC

SNMP polling at 60-second intervals misses microbursts and loads the control plane. Modern OcNOS deployments stream model-driven telemetry over gRPC with sub-second granularity, OpenConfig-modelled paths, and dial-out collectors, feeding straight into Prometheus, InfluxDB, and Grafana without a translation layer.

Telemetry Pipeline

OcNOS routers stream gNMI Subscribe payloads (gRPC dial-out) to a central collector. The collector demuxes into time-series and search backends, and Grafana renders the dashboards on top.

Streaming telemetry topology: OcNOS routers streaming gNMI dial-out to a collector that fans out to Prometheus, InfluxDB, and Grafana
Streaming telemetry: gNMI dial-out from OcNOS into a collector, fanned out to Prometheus, InfluxDB, and Grafana.

Why streaming telemetry replaced SNMP

SNMP poll cycles miss microbursts, hammer the control plane, and can't deliver a structured, model-driven payload. gNMI Subscribe over gRPC inverts the model: the device pushes typed updates on change or on a sample interval, the collector simply parses the protobuf. OcNOS exposes the full OpenConfig tree plus IETF and IP Infusion native models, and supports both dial-in (collector connects to device) and dial-out (device connects to collector behind NAT) deployments.

The OcNOS streaming telemetry implementation

gNMI Subscribe

ON_CHANGE / SAMPLE / TARGET_DEFINED

Full Subscribe RPC support including ON_CHANGE for state deltas, SAMPLE for periodic, and TARGET_DEFINED to let the device pick the right cadence per leaf.

YANG Models

OpenConfig + IETF + native

OpenConfig interfaces, network-instance, BGP, and platform models; IETF YANG where ratified; native models for OcNOS-specific state. Models are versioned and published.

Dial-out Mode

Behind-NAT routers

gRPC dial-out lets cell-site and edge routers behind NAT push telemetry to a central collector, with no inbound port-opening required.

Sensor Coverage

1-second granularity

Per-port counters, queue depths, BGP RIB-in/out, optical DOM, CPU and memory state: all available at 1-second sample intervals or finer where the ASIC supports it.

Encoding

JSON_IETF + Protobuf

Both JSON_IETF and protobuf encodings are supported. Protobuf wins on wire efficiency for high-fanout sensors; JSON wins on debuggability.

Collector Integration

Telegraf + gNMIc

Validated reference pipelines using Telegraf's gNMI input plugin or Nokia's gNMIc, feeding Prometheus, InfluxDB, and Grafana out of the box.

What you get with OcNOS telemetry

  • Standards-aligned paths. OpenConfig leaf paths match what your existing collector already expects, with no proprietary YANG translation layer.
  • Sub-second visibility. Microburst detection, ECN-marked counters, and queue depth at intervals SNMP can't reach.
  • Open-source stack ready. Reference dashboards for Grafana, drop-in Telegraf configs, and example Prometheus alerting rules.
  • Single config surface. Same gNMI server speaks Get, Set, and Subscribe: telemetry and config-as-code share one auth and TLS path.
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FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between streaming telemetry and SNMP?
SNMP polls the device on a fixed cycle and can miss microbursts while loading the control plane. With gNMI streaming telemetry the device pushes structured, model-driven updates on change or on a sample interval, so the collector simply parses the payload.
What gNMI subscription modes does OcNOS support?
OcNOS supports the full Subscribe RPC: ON_CHANGE for state deltas, SAMPLE for periodic streaming, and TARGET_DEFINED to let the device choose the right cadence per leaf.
Can OcNOS stream telemetry from routers behind NAT?
Yes. gRPC dial-out lets cell-site and edge routers behind NAT push telemetry to a central collector with no inbound ports opened. OcNOS also supports dial-in where the collector connects to the device.
What sensors and granularity are available?
Per-port counters, queue depths, BGP RIB-in/out, optical DOM, and CPU and memory state are available at 1-second sample intervals or finer where the ASIC supports it, using OpenConfig, IETF, and native YANG paths.
Which collectors and dashboards work with OcNOS telemetry?
OcNOS provides reference pipelines using Telegraf's gNMI input plugin or gNMIc, feeding Prometheus, InfluxDB, and Grafana, with both JSON_IETF and protobuf encodings supported.
Datasheet and Solution Briefs

Go deeper. Take it with you.

Two short, technical downloads that go further than this page: the full OcNOS-SP datasheet and the full OcNOS-DC datasheet.

Datasheet

OcNOS-SP Datasheet

Full OcNOS-SP specification: the access, cell site and aggregation feature set, software SKUs, supported hardware platforms, and the solution ordering guide.

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Datasheet

OcNOS-DC Datasheet

Full OcNOS-DC specification: the EVPN-VXLAN and Ethernet for AI feature set, software SKUs, supported hardware platforms, and the solution ordering guide.

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