Enterprise Network Management Research Articles

Hierarchical network management: a scalable and dynamic mobile agent-based approach

Several distributed management architectures, incorporating mobile agent (MA) technology, have been recently proposed to answer the scalability limitations of centralised models and the flexibility problems of static hierarchical frameworks. Yet, although agent-based management frameworks have recently started evolving from the early `flat' models to hierarchical structures, they cannot efficiently cope with the dynamically changing traffic and topological characteristics of modern networks. This is mainly due to the limited use of agent mobility (employed either through mid-level manager entities or between static mid-level managers and managed devices) and lack of appropriate policies enabling automatic calibration of the management system based on network conditions. This paper presents a hierarchical agent-based infrastructure, suitable for the management of large-scale enterprise networks that addresses these issues. The transition to hierarchical agent-based management is achieved through a mid-level manager that being a MA itself, operates at an intermediary level between the manager and the legacy systems and takes full control of managing a given network segment. These entities make the system more adaptive to changing networking conditions, while localising the traffic associated with bandwidth-intensive monitoring applications. A quantitative evaluation, in terms of the overall management cost, confirms that this architecture outperforms both centralised approaches and MA-based `flat' management models.

An Enterprise CORBA Application ManagementArchitecture

The Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) [1] is a set of speci® cations by the Object Management Group (OMG) that de® nes inter-operability of objects written in different languages and executing on different operating systems. Object Request Broker (ORB) un-manageability has tended to restrict deployments of enterprise CORBA-based applications [2]. This article reports on the results of the European Strategic Program in Research and Development of Information Technology (ESPRIT) Management Services for Object Oriented Distributed Systems (MAScOTTE) project [3]. MAScOTTE developed an architecture and facilities for management of multiple vendor ORBs and CORBA applications. To support vertically integrated enterprise network, system, and CORBA application management, the MAScOTTE CORBA management facilities are easily integrated with network and system management applications via a Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) or a Common Management Information Protocol (CMIP) gateway. The MAScOTTE management facilities and a CMIP gateway have been implemented and veri® ed in a video-on-dem and application.

Implementing policy in enterprise networks

There is a need for a general policy management architecture that can guide one in understanding and implementing policy in diverse management applications. The question of policy in network management has evolved since the early '70s concern with monitoring and controlling the access rights of multiple users and resources in large distributed systems. It is now generally acknowledged that policy also plays an important role in other areas of network management, including configuration, accounting, fault, and performance management. Furthermore, it is agreed that a general policy framework is needed for controlling the behavior of the agents the enterprise network comprises, including network users, administrators, troubleshooters, the applications running on the network, and the operational parameters of network hardware. The authors present a framework for understanding and implementing policy in the management of enterprise networks. We describe typical network scenarios in which policy plays a role, a general architecture for policy management and the components and operations of the architecture at a level of abstraction that renders it applicable to specific management tasks which require policy. We also provide an example of the architecture in configuration management. The article draws from work on policy management, including two ESPRIT projects.

MANDATE: managing networks using database technology

There has been a growing demand for the development of tools to manage enterprise communication networks. A management information database is the heart of a network management system-it provides the interface between all functions of the network management system and, therefore, has to provide sophisticated functionality allied with high performance. The authors introduce the design of MANDATE (MAnaging Networks using DAtabase TEchnology), a proposed database system for effectively supporting the management of large enterprise networks. The MANDATE design makes a conscious attempt to take advantage of the special characteristics of network data and transactions, and of advances in database technology, to efficiently derive some of the required management functionality. >

Integrated network management in an enterprise environment

Various aspects of integrated network management for business enterprises are discussed. Two categories of communications resources are considered: those that provide interfacility networking, such as circuit-switching or packet-switching telecommunications networks, and those that provide intrafacility networking, such as some form of local area network. The topics covered include: the network management environment within an enterprise; network management elements; the requirements for enterprise network management; a basic architecture for integrated network management; value-added services that expert system modules can provide; current approaches; and possible migration strategies for achieving integrated network management.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>