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IP Network Management

Centralized and standardized techniques for remote management of the devices that make up a network. The term network management is used to cover all aspects of configuration, control, and reporting that are useful to a network operator who is trying to understand how a network is functioning, commissioning new equipment, directing traffic along specific paths, or performing maintenance on parts of the network.

We begin with a brief description of the benefits of network management and then discuss some common techniques for the collection of operational statistics and the motivation for doing so. The tutorial moves on to compare the benefits of proprietary configuration methods with standardized approaches, followed by the introduction of some of the standardized management models-management information bases (MIBs), the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), the eXtensible Markup Language (XML), and the Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA). After a discussion of the differences between the management models, the tutorial concludes with a description of the use of policy within modern networks.

This tutorial is not intended to present each management mechanism in detail but rather to give a working overview. Where specific protocol-related components exist they are highlighted and described.

In this tutorial:

  1. Choosing to Manage your Network
  2. Choosing a Configuration Method
  3. Command Line Interfaces
  4. Graphical User Interfaces
  5. Standardized Data Representations and Access
  6. Making the Choice
  7. Management Information Base
  8. Representing Managed Objects
  9. Simple Network Management Protocol
  10. Requests, Responses, and Notifications
  11. SNMP Versions and Security
  12. Choosing an SNMP Version
  13. Extensible Markup Language
  14. Extensibility and Domains of Applicability
  15. XML Remote Procedure Calls
  16. Simple Object Access Protocol
  17. XML Applicability to Network Management
  18. Common Object Request Broker Architecture
  19. Interface Definition Language
  20. The Architecture
  21. COBRA Communications
  22. Choosing a Configuration Protocol
  23. Choosing to Collect Statistics
  24. Policy Control
  25. Choosing to Apply Policy
  26. Policy Information Base