Graphical Interfaces for Network Operations and Management

Abstract

This paper describes the advantages to the network manager of using graphical user interface systems, and ways to alleviate the software development challenges they present. We discuss some of the graphical techniques and tools that allow developers to efficiently summarize, manipulate, and navigate complex network data. The paper encourages development organizations to consider an iterative refinement development style for graphics applications. Applications built using this style are constructed from small, reusable processes that can be incrementally specified by members of the application team.