When odl-netconf-connector-* feature is not installed (example: Netconf clustered CRUD tests [1], [2], [3], [4]), then there is no way to remotely detect whether Netconf is ready or not (and when that happens). Locally it is possible to grep logs for "<some netconf related component> is up/initialized successfully/whatever" message but when no ssh access is provided, this can't help much. This currently breaks "netconf readiness" suite as it was intended to detect exactly when Netconf is ready.

Investigation revealed that the problem is caused by bizzare behavior of Netconf. All Netconf related Restconf URLs will return "404 Not Found" until a Netconf device is configured, then they mysteriously start to report "200 Ok". Tested on Netconf topology. The correct behavior (at least for topology) is to start returning "200 Ok" as soon as devices can be configured.

[1] https://jenkins.opendaylight.org/releng/view/netconf/job/netconf-csit-3node-clustering-only-beryllium/
[2] https://jenkins.opendaylight.org/releng/view/netconf/job/netconf-csit-3node-clustering-all-beryllium/
[3] https://jenkins.opendaylight.org/releng/view/netconf/job/netconf-csit-3node-clustering-only-boron/
[4] https://jenkins.opendaylight.org/releng/view/netconf/job/netconf-csit-3node-clustering-all-boron/