The Command Line Interface (CLI) protocol makes the management of devices easy, quick, and cost-effective. The Commands used are ASCII based, human readable, and easy to remember and debug. Shell in Unix or DOS prompt in Windows is an example for CLI.

The CLI protocol helps a user to easily communicate with any component in a computer, hardware device, network device, operating system, and even other applications. It is mostly used in network device management. This section describes building CLI agents.

• Standalone CLI Agent Architecture

• Types of Command Modes in CLI

• Building CLI Agents in String Mode

• Building CLI Agents in Character Mode

• Multi-Protocol CLI Agents

• Enabling Asynchronous Message Processing

• Plugging in Other Transport Protocols