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To illustrate: Let's say you want to assign a static route between a specified destination (dest) and a gateway (gw). What's the proper command? Is it Cisco's ip route dest gw, 3Com's ADD ıIP ROUte dest gw 1, Ascend's ip route add dest gw, or Bay Networks' carpal-tunnel-syndrome-inducing box, ip, static-route address dest mask next-hop-address gw? You'd better get the syntax exactly right, because all of this equipment is persnickety.

You may recognize some common roots in these router commands, and a dialectical difference might be tolerable. But as you move up to higher-level constructs, comparing command languages

is a lot like comparing Cantonese and Yiddish. And understanding the relationships between command sections isn't easy, either.

We won't see a device-independent configuration language any time soon, so some internetworking Esperanto isn't the solution--better user interfaces are. We need interfaces that readily present the device's usefulness and not its hairy internals, assisting a reasonably educated administrator with advanced, device-specific configuration.

Don't tell me that network devices are inherently complex and can not be simplified. In truth, there is more commonality among networks--in the protocols, the traffic types, and the concerns of users and administrators--than there are differences.

The command line won't ever become extinct. Most experienced administrators wouldn't want a GUI for configuration any more than you'd want to put training wheels on your Harley-Davidson Dyna-Glide. An intelligent interface like this doesn't replace the command line, but rather enhances it--even teaches it. It should assist in understanding, keep devices from being misconfigured and introduce native command syntax to users.

But the GUI's relationship to the command line must be complete, and it can't be a brain-dead, inflexible configuration generator. Take Cisco's FastStep, which outputs a minimal subset of commands and creates suboptimal installations. Every time I've used it I've been forced to tweak at the command line. If I have to go to the command line to fully manage the device, don't bother me with an anemic Windows application. A company with $11 billion in sales and 18 percent profit margins can treat me better than this!

Perhaps better configuration management tools will crawl out from the muck of the CIM (Common Information Model)-WBEM (Web-Based Enterprise Management) effort, but it's going to be a long wait. So, we should look directly to vendors for help, and be willing to pay a little more up front for better tools that reduce ongoing costs.

Intelligent configuration tools help us rapidly adopt and support new technologies, and ensure that products are configured the way the manufacturer designed them. After all, the vendor should know the best way to bring up its own systems, don't you think?

Send your comments on this column to David Willis at dwillis@nwc.com.