Network Management Platform Research Articles

Joint flow routing-scheduling for energy efficient software defined data center networks: A prototype of energy-aware network management platform

Data centers are a cost-effective infrastructure for hosting Cloud and Grid applications, but they do incur tremendous energy cost and CO2 emissions. Today׳s data center network architectures such as Fat-tree and BCube are over-provisioned to guarantee large network capacity and meet peak performance requirement. Networks suffer from inefficient power usage when data center traffic is not high. A solution to this problem is the adoption of network management platform such as OpenNaaS, which can be augmented with energy-aware capabilities. We developed a component for energy monitoring and routing in OpenNaaS. Energy-aware OpenNaaS can support different types of OpenFlow controller; it inherits and enhances network management capabilities, e.g. dynamically obtaining power and topology.In this paper we also discuss the evaluation and selection of energy-aware routing strategies based on an initial prototype of energy-aware OpenNaaS. The target strategies are fine-grained as they combine flow routing algorithms that make routing decisions for the flows and flow scheduling algorithms that schedule the flows on the same link. Differently from previous routing work which focuses on power-minimization problem in data center networks, we aim to optimize energy consumption. Our simulation shows that the combination of priority-based shortest routing and exclusive flow scheduling achieves about 5%–35% higher energy efficiency without performance degradation.

电力通信网设备网管自动化测试平台研究

本文提出了一种电力通信网设备网管自动化测试平台，该平台涉及多接口技术适配领域。多接口技术适配模块主要负责依据给定的参数封装网管接口消息报文并发送给被测NMS系统或被测EMS系统，以及接收并解析被测系统响应消息。本文所提测试平台能够根据测试任务的具体内容将测试任务分配给不同的测试仪，提高了测试的有效性，同时测试仪具有在线和离线两种工作模式，使得测试更加方便灵活。 This paper presents an automatic test platform for network management of electric power com-munication network, which involves the field of the multi-interface technology. Multi-interface technology adapter module is mainly responsible for the information of the network management interface message packet and sent to the tested NMS system or measured EMS system, as well as receiving and analyzing the response message of the system. The test platform can distribute test tasks to different testers according to the specific content and improve the effectiveness of testing. And, test instrument with online and offline work makes the test more convenient and flexible.

Improving Spectrum Sensing as a Method for White Space Identification through Design Principles

Spectrum sensing’s inability to provide maximum protection to primary users operating in television white spaces summarizes the technical challenges associated with it. Building upon “WhiteNet”, a white space network management platform for campus connectivity, this paper proposes design principles that can be incorporated in a white space identification system based on a cooperative spectrum sensing model that both minimizes the probability of causing interference to primary users due to false negatives and reduces false positives thereby increasing the amount of white spaces identified. Real-world indoor measurements of a TV transmitter signal were used to evaluate the proposed principles. The results reveal the relevance of using these design principles in white space networking using the emerging White-Fi protocol.

Nodewatcher: A substrate for growing your own community network

Community networks differ from regular networks by their organic growth patterns—there is no central planning body that would decide how the network is built. Instead, the network grows in a bottom-up fashion as more people express interest in participating in the community and connect with their neighbors. People who participate in community networks are usually volunteers with limited free time. Due to these factors, making the management of community networks simpler and easier for all participants is the key component in boosting their growth. Specifics of individual networks often force communities to develop their own sets of tools and best practices which are hard to share and do not interoperate well with others. We propose a new general community network management platform nodewatcher that is built around the core principle of modularity and extensibility, making it suitable for reuse by different community networks. Devices are configured using a platform-independent configuration which nodewatcher can transform into deployable firmware images, eliminating any manual device configuration, reducing errors, and enabling participation of novice maintainers. An embedded monitoring system enables live overview and validation of the whole community network. We show how the system successfully operates in an actual community wireless network, wlan slovenija.

EMS Development and Deployment Using Transport Network Management Platform Technology

EMS Development and Deployment Using Transport Network Management Platform Technology

Development of User Interface Assist Platform Using Transport Network Management Platform Technology

Development of User Interface Assist Platform Using Transport Network Management Platform Technology

Transport Network Management Platform Technology for Achieving Common Operation among Multiple Network Elements

Transport Network Management Platform Technology for Achieving Common Operation among Multiple Network Elements

The near Infrared Spectroscopy Information and Technology Group of the Ocean University of China

T he Ocean University of China is a comprehensive university with a long history. Its curricula are focused on the marine and aquatic sciences and it is located in the beautiful seashore city of Qingdao, China (Figure 1). The Information Engineering Centre of the Ocean University of China (OUC) is an important research institute which was established in 1992. Research interests of the Centre are mainly on application technology and engineering such as rapid quality determination, development of cloud computing platforms and internet products for medicine and health. It contains four laboratories which are responsible for the development of software technology, computer-aided design (CAD), Intelligent Technology and Application Service Providers (ASPs). During recent years, partnerships have been established between our institute and various industries, e.g. Haier, Hisense, Tsingtao Beer, CETC and China Tobacco. Using neural networks, the Intelligent Technology Group began research in 1998 on analytical methods to evaluate the relationship between chemical components and product quality. After Dr Ning Yang took over the leadership of the institute, we gradually began to work on CAD systems for industrial formulations. Since then, this group has filed a number of patents in intelligent data analysis. In the past five years, because of the demands for rapid product quality inspection demanded by industry, this group has been focused on the development of near infrared (NIR) reflectance spectroscopic applications. The first application studied involved determination of the influential factors in NIR modelling techniques and NIR model performance; this was followed by research on NIR network management and control platforms. Nowadays, the group consists of the following staff (Figure 2): ■ A chief research senior in NIR network platform architecture design: Dr Ning Yang. ■ An international NIR spectral analysis expert: consultant: Dr Wei G. Hansen. ■ Two experts in chemical analysis and application technology: Mr XieZhong Xiao, Mrs JiLing Zhong, research senior. ■ Four experts in NIR modelling methods and data analysis algorithms: Dr Huili Gong and Dr Ying He, Dr YuHua Qing, Mr Lei Zhang. ■ Six computer system development experts: Dr Ting Liu, Dr Shuo Shi, Dr YuZhong Ding, Dr Dianhu Chen, Mr GuoQiang Liu and Mr XueTao Yu. This group carries out basic and applied research on NIR, and we would like to highlight the following achievements of the group.

Electric Power Communication Network Alarm Data Acquisition System Based on CORBA Northbound Interface

With the development of communication technology, the increasing scale of power communication network is bigger and bigger. Based on the important significance of electric power communication network to establish an alarm information acquisition system is necessary. CORBA, as a distributed processing environment interconnect solutions in hardware and software, is widely used in the field of network management for its high versatility. In this paper we use real-time CORBA platform TAO as a network management platform to develop a kind of electric power communication network alarm acquisition system.

Research of Network Management Platform Based on BS Structure

In this paper, using UML modeling tool (Rational Rose) conducted a needs analysis and modeling system, and on this basis, we design the interface module functions, system architecture and database. The paper finally designed and realized the system based on the.NET platform and Ajax technology. The system uses SQL Server as the background data management system, and in the end using ADO.NET technology to realize data access. According to the actual scientific research management, system design includes integrated office, scientific research institutions, scientific research personnel, research projects and other subsystems. the majority of teachers and the laboratory research team can within the prescribed time limit, in any location by logging into the science and Technology Department of scientific research project management webpage query declaration, provides great convenience for research teachers.

SDN 응용 검증을 위한 프로세스 알지브라 기반 정형 기법

최근 SDN (Software Defined Networking) 기반의 다양한 네트워크 제어 및 관리 플랫폼들이 서비스제공자 및 통신사업자들에 의해 연구되고 있다. SDN의 중요한 특징 중 하나는 소프트웨어 프로그램으로 작성된 간단한 응용에 의해 네트워크가 쉽게 제어되고 관리된다는 점에 있다. 이러한 관점에서 잘못 작성된 SDN 응용은 네트워크 전체에 오류를 발생시킬 수 있어, 해당 응용은 작성된 오픈플로우 포워딩 규칙(rule)을 SDN 컨트롤러(controller)를 통해 스위치에 반영하기 전에 토폴로지와 네트워크 환경의 안전성(safety)과 일관성(consistency)이 반드시 검증되어야 한다. 본 논문에서는 SDN 응용 검증을 위한 프로세스 알지브라 (process algebra) 기반의 언어인 pACSR (Packet based Algebra of Communicating Shared Resources)와 이를 기반으로 한 정형 검증 프레임워크를 제안하고, 이에 대한 SDN 정형검증 도구 연구시제품 구현 현황을 기술한다. Recently, there have been continuous efforts and progresses regarding the research on diverse network control and management platforms for SDN (Software Defined Networking). SDN is defined as a new technology to enable service providers/network operators easily to control and manage their networks by writing a simple application program. In SDN, incomplete or malicious programmable entities could cause break-down of underlying networks shared by heterogeneous devices and stake-holders. In this sense, any misunderstanding or diverse interpretations should be completely avoided. This paper proposes a new framework for SDN application verification and a prototype based on the formal method, especially with process algebra called pACSR which is an extended version of Algebra of Communicating Shared Resources (ACSR).

A task-oriented modular and agent-based collaborative design mechanism for distributed product development

The rapid expansion of enterprises makes product collaborative design (PCD) a critical issue under the distributed heterogeneous environment, but as the collaborative task of large-scale network becomes more complicated, neither unified task decomposition and allocation methodology nor Agent-based network management platform can satisfy the increasing demands. In this paper, to meet requirements of PCD for distributed product development, a collaborative design mechanism based on the thought of modularity and the Agent technology is presented. First, the top-down 4-tier process model based on task-oriented modular and Agent is constructed for PCD after analyzing the mapping relationships between requirements and functions in the collaborative design. Second, on basis of sub-task decomposition for PCD based on a mixed method, the mathematic model of task-oriented modular based on multi-objective optimization is established to maximize the module cohesion degree and minimize the module coupling degree, while considering the module executable degree as a restriction. The mathematic model is optimized and simulated by the modified PSO, and the decomposed modules are obtained. Finally, the Agent structure model for collaborative design is put forward, and the optimism matching Agents are selected by using similarity algorithm to implement different task-modules by the integrated reasoning and decision-making mechanism with the behavioral model of collaborative design Agents. With the results of experimental studies for automobile collaborative design, the feasibility and efficiency of this methodology of task-oriented modular and Agent-based collaborative design in the distributed heterogeneous environment are verified. On this basis, an integrative automobile collaborative R&D platform is developed. This research provides an effective platform for automobile manufacturing enterprises to achieve PCD, and helps to promote product numeralization collaborative R&D and management development.

Evolving the Optical Transport Network Management to Integrate Multiple Technologies and Services

Optical networks are evolving at a fast pace from traditional synchronous digital hierarchy/synchronous optical network (SDH/SONET) and wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) infrastructures, used by client network layers in overlay mode, to a converged multi-service and multi-technology network able to transport traditional time division multiplexing (TDM) traffic and new packet traffic in a flexible way. Alcatel-Lucent is leading the network transformation required by network providers to offer data transport while guaranteeing the same quality and reliability typical of classical transport services. The introduction of new data communication services requires an evolution of the network management platform that needs to integrate new management applications associated with the new technologies and services. The resulting network has to be integrated from service provisioning and management system viewpoints to optimize its use and to reduce the in-field modifications of the transport network. This article describes specificities in the management of multi-service networks, identifying the management architecture able to support the rapid evolution of such environment.

Monitoring infrastructure for converged networks and services

Network convergence is enabling service providers to deploy a wide range of services such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Internet Protocol television (IPTV), and push-to-talk on the same underlying IP networks. Each service has unique performance requirements from the network, and IP networks have not been designed to satisfy these diverse requirements easily. These requirements drive the need for a robust, scalable, and easy-to-use network management platform that enables service providers to monitor and manage their networks to provide the necessary quality, availability, and security. In this paper, we describe monitoring mechanisms that give service providers critical information on the performance of their networks at a per-user, per-service granularity in real time. This allows the service providers to ensure that their networks adequately satisfy the requirements of the various services. We present various methods to acquire data, which can be analyzed to determine the performance of the network. This platform enables service providers to offer carrier grade services over their converged networks, giving their customers a high-quality experience. © 2007 Alcatel-Lucent.

Traffic classification through simple statistical fingerprinting

The classification of IP ows according to the application that generated them is at the basis of any modern network management platform. However, classical techniques such as the ones based on the analysis of transport layer or application layer information are rapidly becoming ineffective. In this paper we present a ow classification mechanism based on three simple properties of the captured IP packets: their size, inter-arrival time and arrival order. Even though these quantities have already been used in the past to define classification techniques, our contribution is based on new structures called protocol fingerprints, which express such quantities in a compact and efficient way, and on a simple classification algorithm based on normalized thresholds. Although at a very early stage of development, the proposed technique is showing promising preliminary results from the classification of a reduced set of protocols.

Towards a platform for wide-area overlay network deployment and management

This paper presents an experimental set of self-organising mechanisms to support application-level service overlays across the internet. These mechanisms include a base node discovery service and protocol that is resilient to node and network failure, which in turn is a basis for the construction of service-specific overlays. We have also developed a generic service overlay structured according to IP network latencies which uses the GNP virtual coordinate system. We discuss our results and experiences of implementing our platform using an active service infrastructure deployed on PlanetLab. While we have been successful in meeting many of our aims, we have identified some practical shortcomings with regard to latency estimation accuracy, and scalability of some of our mechanisms to internet size. The paper describes lessons learned from experimental development and deployment.

Network management platform based on mobile agents

AbstractMany of the modern network management solutions are based on commercially available management platforms. These platforms offer common management services, such as support for multiple‐management protocols, alarm management, and event correlation. Most of these platforms are based on the traditional manager—agent model adopted in standard protocols, such as Internet SNMP. However, these platforms suffer from limitations imposed by the centralized, static, polling‐based management model of SNMP, and the need for maintaining a central intelligence at the platform level. In view of the dynamic nature of evolving networks, future network management solutions need to be flexible, adaptable, and intelligent without increasing the burden on network resources. We have addressed this requirement with a new management platform architecture based on ontology‐driven mobile agents. This paper presents the new management platform architecture, its prototype implementation, and the results of its evaluation. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Toward integrating IP multicasting in internet network management protocols

Supporting multi-point group communications in network management platforms is essential for improving scalability and responsiveness of management applications. With the deployment of IP multicasting as the standard infrastructure for multi-point group communications in the Internet, the integration of IP multicasting in SNMP becomes significantly important to achieve these goals. This paper presents a highly flexible, efficient and easy-to-integrate framework for integrating IP Multicast in standard SNMP agents. The proposed framework enables managers to re-configure the agents’ group membership and the communication model (e.g. one-to-many, many-to-one and many-to-many) dynamically based on the application requirements. This framework exploits the advantages of IP multicasting without requiring any significant changes or performance overhead in the protocol or the agent architecture. The resulting framework can be easily adopted by exiting SNMP agents of various network management platforms. Although the other approaches provide group communications through broker agents in the management platform, integrating IP multicasting in SNMP agents is more efficient and a simpler approach. Our ultimate goal is to promote the integration of IP multicasting as a standard service in SNMP agents.

A simulated network management information base

Initially motivated by the requirement to provide trainee network managers with realistic ‘hands-on’ experience of network management platform, without the problems associated with access to ‘live’ network management data, a simulation-based approach has been adopted, which makes use of a production-standard network management platform, interacting with processes (‘model agents’) representing network entities. The development of model agents which provide simulated network management data, whose values are modified according to some pre-determined pattern allows the user to see a (simulated) network whose behaviour, as represented by the variation in the values of data objects within the management information base (MIB), is virtually indistinguishable from a real network with real network entities.This paper describes the processes by which these patterns are controlled, offers an example of how the type of network behaviour reported in published measurements can be simulated, and concludes by proposing the use of such an approach in the study of the behaviour of network managers.

Capturing a Qualitative Model of NetworkPerformance and Predicting Behavior

This paper describes a method for constructing behavior models of communication networks. The method utilizes archived quantitative performance data created by a network management platform to create a Quantitative/Qualitative (Q2) Dynamic System representation. The Q2 representation captures the predominant qualitative (symbolic) states of the network, qualitative input events and transitions among the states resulting from these events. This symbolic model allows the network manager to understand the current system behavior, and predict future possible behaviors. We evaluated the method on two sets of archive data. The method shows promise for use in network management, including network monitoring, fault detection, prognostication and avoidance.