Network management

About: Network management is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 17859 publications have been published within this topic receiving 234520 citations. The topic is also known as: computer network management & NM.

Kuai: A Model Checker for Software-defined Networks

Abstract: In software-defined networking (SDN), a software controller manages a distributed collection of switches by installing and uninstalling packet-forwarding rules in the switches. SDNs allow flexible implementations for expressive and sophisticated network management policies.We consider the problem of verifying that an SDN satisfies a given safety property. We describe Kuai, a distributed enumerative model checker for SDNs. Kuai takes as input a controller implementation written in Murphi, a description of the network topology (switches and connections), and a safety property, and performs a distributed enumerative reachability analysis on a cluster of machines. Kuai uses a set of partial order reduction techniques specific to the SDN domain that help reduce the state space dramatically. In addition, Kuai performs an automatic abstraction to handle unboundedly many packets traversing the network at a given time and unboundedly many control messages between the controller and the switches.We demonstrate the scalability and coverage of Kuai on standard SDN benchmarks. We show that our set of partial order reduction techniques significantly reduces the state spaces of these benchmarks by many orders of magnitude. In addition, Kuai exploits large-scale distribution to quickly search the reduced state space.

Ambient Networks CO-Operative Mobile Networking for the Wireless World

Abstract: Ambient Networks defines a new kind of network architecture, which embeds support for co operation and competition between diverse network types within a common control layer. This unified networking concept can adapt to the heterogeneous environments of different radio technologies and service and network environments. Special focus is placed on facilitating both competition and co-operation of various market players, by defining interfaces which allow the instant negotiation of cooperation agreements. The Ambient Networking concept has been developed in the framework of the Ambient Networks project, which is co-sponsored by the European Union under the Information Society Technology (IST) priority of the 6th Framework Programme. The Ambient Networks project mobilised the work of researchers from over forty different organisations, both major industrial corporations and leading academic institutions, from Europe and worldwide. This book offers a complete and detailed overview of the Ambient Networking concept and its core technologies. The authors explain the problems with current mobile IP networks and the need for a new mobility-aware IP-based control architecture, before presenting the Ambient Networking concept itself and the business opportunities that it offers. The architecture, components, features and challenges of Ambient Networking are covered in depth, with comprehensive discussions of multi-radio access, generic Ambient Network signalling, mobility support, context and network management and built-in media delivery overlay control. Ambient Networks: Co-operative Mobile Networking for the Wireless World Explains the need for Ambient Networking, discussing the limitations of todays proposed architectures, and explaining the business potential of edge networks and network co-operation. Describes Ambient Networking technology in detail, and addresses the technical challenges for implementation. Includes practical user scenarios which are fully analysed and assessed through simulation studies. Including a complete examination of the research and technologies arising from the Ambient Networks concept, Ambient Networks will be invaluable for research and development teams in networking and communications technology, as well as advanced students in electrical engineering and computer science faculties. Standardisation specialists, research departments, and telecommunications analysts will also find this a helpful resource.

Service-specific resource allocation in WDM networks with quality constraints

Abstract: The need to establish wavelength-routed connections in a service-differentiated fashion is becoming increasingly important due to a variety of candidate client networks (e.g., IP, SDH, ATM) and the requirements for QoS-delivery within transport layers. The multiservice operation changes the way we deal with wavelength-routed paths, as they are now being characterized by manifold properties, such as transmission quality, restoration, network management, and policies. We propose a generic approach to service-differentiated connection accommodation in wavelength-routed networks where, for the network state representation, the supplementary network graphs are defined and referred to as service-specific wavelength-resource graphs. These graphs are used for the appropriate allocation of wavelengths on concatenated physical resources building a wavelength route, along which the necessary transmission quality is achieved and the required management and surveillance functions are provided. By considering twofold wavelength routing metrics, i.e., QoS metrics (service requirements) and resource metrics (quality constraints), these graphs can yield the solution to the QoS-routing problem, i.e., the provision of service-specific guarantees under quality constraints-a feature that is still missing from the existing architectures. The numerical analysis of dynamically reconfigurable multiservice WDM networks is presented for regular network operation as well as for optical network service restoration.

Multisensor Real-time Risk Assessment using Continuous-time Hidden Markov Models

Abstract: The use of tools for monitoring the security state of assets in a network is an essential part of network management. Traditional risk assessment methodologies provide a framework for manually determining the risks of assets, and intrusion detection systems can provide alerts regarding security incidents, but these approaches do not provide a real-time high level overview of the risk level of assets. In this paper we further extend a previously proposed real-time risk assessment method to facilitate more flexible modeling with support for a wide range of sensors. Specifically, the paper develops a method for handling continuous-time sensor data and for determining a weighted aggregate of multisensor input.

Modelling network and system monitoring over the Internet with mobile agents

Abstract: Distributed Network Management is gaining importance due to the explosive growth of the size of computer networks. New management paradigms are being proposed as an alternative to the centralised one, and new technologies and programming languages are making them feasible. The use of Mobile Agents (MAs) to distribute and delegate management tasks is a particularly promising approach to dealing with the limitations of current centralised management systems which appear to be lacking flexibility and scalability. This paper is focused on the impact that mobile code paradigms can have on distributed network and system monitoring. A dynamic, hierarchical management model based on a delegation paradigm is adopted and an MA-architecture for monitoring operations is proposed. Finally, possible uses of the proposed model and architecture for pursuing seamless and timely monitoring are discussed.