Netconf-console --edit-config error

In order to use the cmd-set-dhcp-defaultLeaseTime-1h.xml file as is, following is how you should be using netconf-console:

 $ netconf-console cmd-set-dhcp-defaultLeaseTime-1h.xml

To use the --edit-config argument of netconf-console, following is the man page info on the --edit-config argument:

--edit-config=EDIT  Takes a filename (or '-' for standard input) as
                    argument. The contents of the file is data for a
                    single NETCONF edit-config operation (put into the
                    <config> XML element). Takes an optional --db
                    argument, default is 'running'.

If you follow the above man page information, you will modify the contents of the xml file that you supply with the --edit-config argument as follows:

  <dhcp xmlns="http://tail-f.com/ns/example/dhcpd"
        xmlns:nc="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:base:1.0">
    <defaultLeaseTime nc:operation="merge">
      PT1H
    </defaultLeaseTime>
  </dhcp>