In an example, a method includes receiving, by a network management system (NMS), a configuration request comprising first configuration data for a network device, the first configuration data defining a data structure comprising a first property/value pair; generating, by the NMS from the first configuration data, a corresponding first path/value pair for the first property/value pair, wherein a path of the first path/value pair uniquely identifies the first path/value pair in an associative data structure; modifying, by the NMS, the associative data structure based on the first path/value pair; generating, by the NMS, from the associative data structure, a configuration resource comprising second configuration data for the network device, the second configuration data comprising a second property/value pair that corresponds to the first path/value pair; and sending, by the NMS, the second configuration data to the network device to modify a configuration of the network device.