Creating static routes in CLI versus GUI

[ChrisIsett]

I have noticed that if a create a static route via the cli the xml configuration is less than if you create the static route via the GUI.

In the cli I can simply set the destination and next hop. In the GUI there are many other options (most I never use) such as path monitor, BFD, metric and so on. I essentially take the defaults.

In the GUI both routes (gui and cli set) look the same. You could never tell how it was actually entered. Yet in the XML the output for the cli entered route only contains the destination and next hop. Not all the extra stuff that the gui forces you to choose.

Both routes seem to be working. I am just trying to understand how the gui populates all the fields that are not described in the XML. It appears there are 'defaults' that are just assumed. Such as metric 10 for example. Below is the output from the xml. First route was entered via the gui and the 2nd route was entered via the cli using just the set commands of destination and nexthop.

}
Core-Network {
path-monitor {
enable no;
failure-condition any;
hold-time 2;
}
nexthop {
ip-address 10.254.103.35;
}
bfd {
profile None;
}
interface ae1.102;
metric 10;
destination 102.102.102.1/32;
route-table {
unicast;
}
}
64.46.210.10-32 {
destination 64.46.210.10/32;
nexthop {
ip-address 10.254.103.35;
}
}

[reaper · Accepted solution]

you're right in your assumption that there are 'defaults'

the actual configuration contains a lot of hidden settings that are default, and are not populated in the user-readable config file unless changed (this also causes artefacts when a default value is changed and later reverted)

when you use cli commands to set a configuration, you only give basic parameters necessary for your purposes, but in the GUI the popup/menu/object item contains all of the available fields. clicking OK populates all fields, even if the values are unchanged, but essentially you push a change into the configuration, populating all available fields for an object rather than only the ones you want to change