Core functional and network empower mechanisms of an operator-driven, framework for unifying autonomic network and service management

Abstract

Future Internet (FI) constitutes a complex and dynamic environment, the requirements of which cannot be adrressed by traditional management schemes. The alternative is the approach of autonomic network and service management. In this context, the UniverSelf research project proposes a promising solution, called Unified Management Framework (UMF), which targets the unification of autonomic network and service management. UMF addresses FI challenges by exploiting governance of automatically managed infrastructures and services, unification of diverse autonomic solutions, and adaptation to rapidly changing environment with respect to managed system properties and service and user's requirements. Accordingly, this paper presents the UMF core blocks, namely Governance, Coordination and Knowledge blocks, including a description of their underlying mechanisms. The paper also describes the Network Empowerment Mechanisms (NEM) that empower networks with autonomic algorithms/solutions and can be embedded into existing and future systems in a “plug and play” way.