Automated network management systems: current and future capabilities

Cover
Contents
Preface
Chapter 1 The Network Management Challenge
	1.1 Introduction
	1.2 The Internet And Network Management
	1.3 Internet Structure
	1.4 Managing An Entity
	1.5 Internal And External Policies
	1.6 The State Of Network Management
	1.7 Network Management In The Gartner Model
	1.8 Benefits Of Automation
	1.9 The Lack Of Industry Response
	1.10 Impact On Business
	1.11 Distributed Systems And New Abstractions
	1.12 Remainder Of The Text
	1.13 Summary
PART I: Basics And Definitions
	Chapter 2 A Review Of Network Elements And Services
		2.1 Introduction
		2.2 Network Devices And Network Services
		2.3 Network Elements And Element Management
		2.4 Effect Of Physical Organization On Management
		2.5 Examples Of Network Elements And Services
		2.6 Basic Ethernet Switch
		2.7 VLAN Switch
		2.8 Access Point For A Wireless LAN
		2.9 Cable Modem System
		2.10 DSL Modem System And DSLAM
		2.11 CSU/DSU Used In Wide Area Digital Circuits
		2.12 Channel Bank
		2.13 IP Router
		2.14 Firewall
		2.15 DNS Server
		2.16 DHCP Server
		2.17 Web Server
		2.18 HTTP Load Balancer
		2.19 Summary
	Chapter 3 The Network Management Problem
		3.1 Introduction
		3.2 What Is Network Management?
		3.3 The Scope Of Network Management
		3.4 Variety And Multi-Vendor Environments
		3.5 Element And Network Management Systems
		3.6 Scale And Complexity
		3.7 Types Of Networks
		3.8 Classification Of Devices
		3.9 FCAPS: The Industry Standard Definition
		3.10 The Motivation For Automation
		3.11 Why Automation Has Not Occurred
		3.12 Organization Of Management Software
		3.13 Summary
	Chapter 4 Configuration And Operation
		4.1 Introduction
		4.2 Intuition For Configuration
		4.3 Configuration And Protocol Layering
		4.4 Dependencies Among Configuration Parameters
		4.5 Seeking A More Precise Definition Of Configuration
		4.6 Configuration And Temporal Consequences
		4.7 Configuration And Global Consistency
		4.8 Global State And Practical Systems
		4.9 Configuration And Default Values
		4.10 Partial State, Automatic Update, And Recovery
		4.11 Interface Paradigm And Incremental Configuration
		4.12 Commit And Rollback During Configuration
		4.13 Automated Rollback And Timeout
		4.14 Snapshot, Configuration, And Partial State
		4.15 Separation Of Setup And Activation
		4.16 Configuring Multiple Network Elements
		4.17 Summary
	Chapter 5 Fault Detection And Correction
		5.1 Introduction
		5.2 Network Faults
		5.3 Trouble Reports, Symptoms, And Causes
		5.4 Troubleshooting And Diagnostics
		5.5 Monitoring
		5.6 Baselines
		5.7 Items That Can Be Monitored
		5.8 Alarms, Logs, And Polling
		5.9 Identifying The Cause Of A Fault
		5.10 Human Failure And Network Faults
		5.11 Protocol Layering And Faults
		5.12 Hidden Faults And Automatic Correction
		5.13 Anomaly Detection And Event Correlation
		5.14 Fault Prevention
		5.15 Summary
	Chapter 6 Accounting And Billing
		6.1 Introduction
		6.2 Business Model And Network Charges
		6.3 Service Level Agreements (SLAs)
		6.4 Service Fees
		6.5 Accounting For Flat-Rate Service
		6.6 Accounting For Use-Based Service
		6.7 Tiered Levels Of Service
		6.8 Exceeding Quotas And Penalties
		6.9 Assessing Financial Penalties
		6.10 Traffic Policing And Strict Enforcement Of Limits
		6.11 Technologies For Limiting The Rate Of Traffic
		6.12 Priorities And Absolute Guarantees
		6.13 Absolute Bandwidth Guarantees And MPLS
		6.14 Relative Bandwidth Guarantees And Priorities
		6.15 Priorities And Types Of Traffic
		6.16 Peering Agreements And Accounting
		6.17 Summary
	Chapter 7 Performance Assessment And Optimization
		7.1 Introduction
		7.2 Aspects Of Performance
		7.3 Items That Can Be Measured
		7.4 Measures Of Network Performance
		7.5 Application And Endpoint Sensitivity
		7.6 Degraded Service, Variance In Traffic, And Congestion
		7.7 Congestion, Delay, And Utilization
		7.8 Local And End-To-End Measurements
		7.9 Passive Observation Vs. Active Probing
		7.10 Bottlenecks And Future Planning
		7.11 Capacity Planning
		7.12 Planning The Capacity Of A Switch
		7.13 Planning The Capacity Of A Router
		7.14 Planning The Capacity Of An Internet Connection
		7.15 Measuring Peak And Average Traffic On A Link
		7.16 Estimated Peak Utilization And 95[sup(th)] Percentile
		7.17 Relationship Between Average And Peak Utilization
		7.18 Consequences For Management And The 50/80 Rule
		7.19 Capacity Planning For A Complex Topology
		7.20 A Capacity Planning Process
		7.21 Route Changes And Traffic Engineering
		7.22 Failure Scenarios And Availability
		7.23 Summary
	Chapter 8 Security
		8.1 Introduction
		8.2 The Illusion Of A Secure Network
		8.3 Security As A Process
		8.4 Security Terminology And Concepts
		8.5 Management Goals Related To Security
		8.6 Risk Assessment
		8.7 Security Policies
		8.8 Acceptable Use Policy
		8.9 Basic Technologies Used For Security
		8.10 Management Issues And Security
		8.11 Security Architecture: Perimeter Vs. Resources
		8.12 Element Coordination And Firewall Unification
		8.13 Resource Limits And Denial Of Service
		8.14 Management of Authentication
		8.15 Access Control And User Authentication
		8.16 Management Of Wireless Networks
		8.17 Security Of The Network
		8.18 Role-Based Access Control
		8.19 Audit Trails And Security Logging
		8.20 Key Management
		8.21 Summary
PART II: Tools And Platforms
	Chapter 9 Management Tools And Technologies
		9.1 Introduction
		9.2 The Principle Of Most Recent Change
		9.3 The Evolution Of Management Tools
		9.4 Management Tools As Applications
		9.5 Using A Separate Network For Management
		9.6 Types Of Management Tools
		9.7 Physical Layer Testing Tools
		9.8 Reachability And Connectivity Tools (ping)
		9.9 Packet Analysis Tools
		9.10 Discovery Tools
		9.11 Device Interrogation Interfaces And Tools
		9.12 Event Monitoring Tools
		9.13 Triggers, Urgency Levels, And Granularity
		9.14 Events, Urgency Levels, And Traffic
		9.15 Performance Monitoring Tools
		9.16 Flow Analysis Tools
		9.17 Routing And Traffic Engineering Tools
		9.18 Configuration Tools
		9.19 Security Enforcement Tools
		9.20 Network Planning Tools
		9.21 Integration Of Management Tools
		9.22 NOCs And Remote Monitoring
		9.23 Remote CLI Access
		9.24 Remote Aggregation Of Management Traffic
		9.25 Other Tools
		9.26 Scripting
		9.27 Summary
	Chapter 10 Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)
		10.1 Introduction
		10.2 The Remote Management Paradigm And Applications
		10.3 Management Functions And Protocol Definition
		10.4 The Read-Write Paradigm
		10.5 Arbitrary Operations And Virtual Items
		10.6 Standards For Network Management Protocols
		10.7 SNMP Scope And Paradigm
		10.8 Basic SNMP Commands And Optimizations
		10.9 Asynchronous Traps And Event Monitoring
		10.10 Traps, Polling, Bandwidth, And CPU Cycles
		10.11 Management Information Base (MIB) And Variables
		10.12 A Hierarchy Of MIB Variable Names
		10.13 Advantages And Disadvantages Of A Hierarchy
		10.14 Complex Data Aggregates And MIB Tables
		10.15 Granularity Of Aggregate Access
		10.16 Transport Protocols And Interaction
		10.17 Updates, Messages, And Atomicity
		10.18 The Remote Monitoring MIB (RMON)
		10.19 A Manager’s View Of MIB Variables
		10.20 Security And The Community String
		10.21 Summary
	Chapter 11 Flow Data And Flow Analysis (NetFlow)
		11.1 Introduction
		11.2 Basic Traffic Analysis
		11.3 The Flow Abstraction
		11.4 The Two Types Of Flows
		11.5 The Purpose Of Flow Analysis
		11.6 Levels Of Flow Aggregation
		11.7 Online And Offline Flow Analysis
		11.8 Examples Of Flow Data Analysis
		11.9 Flow Data Capture And Filtering
		11.10 Packet Inspection And Classification
		11.11 Capture For Online And Offline Analysis
		11.12 Flows Using Packet Content
		11.13 Flows And Optimized Forwarding
		11.14 Flow Data Export
		11.15 Origin Of NetFlow Technology
		11.16 Basic NetFlow Characteristics
		11.17 Extensibility And Templates
		11.18 NetFlow Message Transport And Consequences
		11.19 Effect Of Configuration Choices
		11.20 Summary
	Chapter 12 Routing And Traffic Engineering
		12.1 Introduction
		12.2 Definitions Of Forwarding And Routing
		12.3 Automation And Routing Update Protocols
		12.4 Routing Basics And Route Metrics
		12.5 Example Routing Update Protocols
		12.6 Management Of Routes
		12.7 The Difficulty Of Route Management
		12.8 Use Of Routing Metrics To Enforce Policy
		12.9 Overcoming Automation
		12.10 Routing And Management Of Quality-of-Service
		12.11 Traffic Engineering And MPLS Tunnels
		12.12 Precomputation Of Backup Paths
		12.13 Combinatorial Optimization And Infeasibility
		12.14 Precomputation And Fast Convergence For IP Routing
		12.15 Traffic Engineering, Security, And Load Balancing
		12.16 Overhead, Convergence, And Routing Protocol Choices
		12.17 OSPF Areas And The Principle Of Hierarchical Routing
		12.18 Management Of Routing And Hidden Problems
		12.19 The Global Nature Of Routing
		12.20 Summary
	Chapter 13 Management Scripting
		13.1 Introduction
		13.2 Limits Of Configuration
		13.3 Iterative Improvement Using The Upgrade Paradigm
		13.4 Extending Functionality Without An Upgrade Cycle
		13.5 The Traditional Concept Of Scripting
		13.6 Scripts And Programs
		13.7 Stand-Alone Management Scripts
		13.8 CLI, The Unix Expect Program, And Expect Scripts
		13.9 Example Expect Script
		13.10 Management Scripts, Homogeneity, And Expect
		13.11 An Example Stand-Alone Script With Graphical Output
		13.12 Using Scripts As An Extension Mechanism
		13.13 Example Server With Scripting Extensions
		13.14 Example Of Server Extension Points
		13.15 Script Interface Functionality
		13.16 Example Server Extension Script
		13.17 Example Script That Manipulates A Reply
		13.18 Handling Multiple Tasks With A Single Script
		13.19 Script Timing, External Access, And Overhead
		13.20 Summary
PART III: The Future Of Network Management
	Chapter 14 Network Automation: Questions And Goals
		14.1 Introduction
		14.2 Network Automation
		14.3 Dividing The Problem By Network Type
		14.4 Shortcomings Of Existing Automation Tools
		14.5 Incremental Automation Vs. A Blank Slate
		14.6 Interface Paradigm And Efficiency
		14.7 The Goal Of An Automated Management System
		14.8 Desiderata For An Automated Management System
		14.9 Multiple Sites And Managers
		14.10 Authority Domains And Role-Based Access Control
		14.11 Focus On Services
		14.12 Policies, Constraints, And Business Rules
		14.13 Correlation Of Multiple Events
		14.14 Mapping From Logical To Physical Locations
		14.15 Autonomy, Manual Override, And Policy Changes
		14.16 Summary
	Chapter 15 Architectures For Network Management Software
		15.1 Introduction
		15.2 Paradigms For Management System Design
		15.3 Characteristics Of A Top-Down Approach
		15.4 Characteristics Of A Bottom-Up Approach
		15.5 Selecting Any Or All In A Bottom-Up Design
		15.6 Weaknesses of The Two Design Paradigms
		15.7 A Hybrid Design Methodology
		15.8 The Critical Need For Fundamental Abstractions
		15.9 An Analogy To Operating Systems
		15.10 Separation Of Management From Elements
		15.11 Mapping From Abstractions To Network Elements
		15.12 Northbound And Southbound Interfaces
		15.13 A Set Of Architectural Approaches
		15.14 Useful Implementation Techniques
		15.15 Late Binding Of A Programmatic Interface
		15.16 Validation Of External Expectations
		15.17 An Architecture Of Orthogonal Tools
		15.18 Summary
	Chapter 16 Representation, Semantics, And Information Models
		16.1 Introduction
		16.2 Data For Management Software
		16.3 The Issue Of Data Representation
		16.4 Internal Representation And Programming Language
		16.5 The Effect Of Programming Paradigm On Representation
		16.6 Objects And Object-Based Representation
		16.7 Object Representation And Class Hierarchy
		16.8 Persistence, Relations, And Database Representation
		16.9 Representations At Various Points And Times
		16.10 Translation Among Representations
		16.11 Heterogeneity And Network Transmission
		16.12 Serialization And Extensibility
		16.13 The Need For Semantic Specification
		16.14 Semantic Validity And Global Inconsistency
		16.15 Information Models And Model-Driven Design
		16.16 Information And Data Models
		16.17 Class Hierarchies In An Object-Oriented Model
		16.18 Multiple Hierarchies
		16.19 Hierarchy Design And Efficiency
		16.20 Cross-Hierarchy Relationships And Associations
		16.21 Prescriptive Models And Generality
		16.22 Purpose Of Models And Semantic Inference
		16.23 Standardized Information Models
		16.24 Graphical Representation Of Models (UML)
		16.25 The Issue Of Complexity
		16.26 Mapping Objects To Databases And Relations
		16.27 Representation And Storage Of Topology Information
		16.28 Ontology And Data Mining
		16.29 Summary
	Chapter 17 Design Tradeoffs
		17.1 Introduction
		17.2 Tradeoffs Involving Scope And Overall Approach
		17.3 Architectural Tradeoffs
		17.4 Engineering Tradeoffs And Costs
		17.5 Tradeoffs In Representation And Semantics
		17.6 Summary
	Chapter 18 Open Questions And Research Problems
		18.1 Introduction
		18.2 Fundamental Abstractions For A Management System
		18.3 Separation Of Control And Validation
		18.4 Boundary Between A Network And End Systems
		18.5 Taxonomy Of Network Management Architectures
		18.6 Extent Of Functionality Offered By Existing Systems
		18.7 Management Of Routing And Traffic Engineering
		18.8 Automated Address Assignment
		18.9 Analysis Of Routing
		18.10 Security Policy Enforcement
		18.11 Infrastructure Redesign For Automated Management
		18.12 Peer-To-Peer Propagation Of Management Information
		18.13 Routing Failure Analysis
		18.14 Limits Of Automated Topology Discovery
		18.15 Data Mining Of NetFlow Data
		18.16 Storage Of Network State
		18.17 Anomaly Detection Using Bayesian Filtering
		18.18 Cost Of Protection In Scripting
		18.19 Late-Binding Interface Management Applications
		18.20 Boundary Between Management System And Elements
		18.21 Summary
Bibliography
Index
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