ows applications to be built to manage any type of CLI device and to perform network K. Misra et al. (eds.), OSS for Telecom Networks © Springer-Verlag London Limited 2004 OSS for Telecom Networks management tasks such as monitoring network status, collecting network statistics and issuing network device control commands. The CLI API also allows the CLI protocol to be run over any transport protocol. The CLI APIs can be used to build a management console for device management where: Devices are remotely managed from a terminal over IP in an Ethernet-based net- work, where the terminal is connected to a data switch via Telnet or TCP. A terminal has local access via a serial port to a telecom switch. A remote terminal has remote Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) access to a Wide Area Network (WAN) router. We give an overview of the CLI Browser module of AdventNet's product to give an idea of how CLI is seen from the viewpoint of network management OSS. 5.3 CLI browser CLI Browser is a graphical user interface (GUI)-based network management appli- cation, which can manage any CLI device. Its features include the ability to load and use files, Command Set and Data Set, with different sets of input messages and different configuration settings. The CLI Browser can be used to query network devices, such as switches and routers, and to receive data in responses. It allows the user to view and operate on data available through a CLI agent on a managed device. Application developers use Extensible Markup Language (XML) to write Command Set and Data Set files for commands that are to be sent to the device. The Command Set and Data Set files are loaded into the CLI Browser from the data directory. Telnet is used as a standard transport protocol to query remote devices. Thus, Telnet and CLI work together wherever CLI is used. To communicate with network devices, a user would start the CLI Browser, connect to any remote device and select a valid CLI Command in the "Input CLI Command" command line on the right pane. The respo