Unit 1

Principles of Network Management

Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 1

What is Management ?

 Management: defined as monitoring & controlling

• the resources in computers,
• the resources used in the connection & communication
of computers,
• the applications used in the computers
 Involves: collecting of data, processing data to generate
information, making decisions and enactment of activities
to implement those decisions

Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 2

What is Network Management (NM) &
Systems Management?

Several Definitions available!

 ‘NM provides mechanisms for the monitoring, control and
coordination of all managed objects within the physical
and data link layer of a network node’ [IEEE]
 ‘Systems Mgt. provides mechanisms for the monitoring,
control and coordination of all managed objects within
open systems. This is effected through application layer
protocol’ [IEEE]
=> NM is subset of Systems Management

Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 3

What is NM & SM (cont. 2) ?

 Monitoring: continuous watching of resources for

deterioration of function. Is more pro-active rather than re-
active
 Control: make effective modifications to functioning of
resources for optimization/rectification
 Co-ordination: involves both co-ordination of resources
and co-ordination of monitoring/control activities

Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 4

Why Systems/network Management

 Higher network availability

 Reduce Network operational costs
 Reduce network bottlenecks
 Increase flexibility of operation and integration
 Higher efficiency
 Security

Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 5

Two basic Models of Network
Management

Peer-to-Peer Net. Mgt

• Managers who undertake mgt activities act more as peers
and there is no central manager
• More common in LAN topologies
Mgr Mgr Mgr

Network
Infrastructure
Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 7
Hierarchical Mgrs

Hierarchical Net. Mgt

• Managers responsible for specific network resources
(element managers)
• Allows hierarchy of managers (so called managers of
managers or ‘MOMS’!)
• More common in large scale (WAN) networks

Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 8

Hierarchy of Mgrs

Mgr of Mgr

El. Mgr El. Mgr

El. Mgr

Network
Infrastructure
Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 9
Generalised Architecture for Network
Management Systems

Network
Management
Applications
Network Mgt
Middleware
Protocol
Support
Resources Operating Sys.
H/w & S/w & Hardware

Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 10

 Extending Architecture with Standard
Network Models

Network
Management
Applications
Specific Standard Network Mgt
H/w & S/w Network Model Middleware
Resources e.g. SNMP MIB Protocol
e.g. Cisco or 3GPP NRM Support
Catalyst for a generic Operating Sys.
2960 Switch switch & Hardware

Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 11

Hardware Resources to be Managed

Physical media & connections

Computer Components (e.g. processors, printers)
Connectivity & Interconnections components (e.g.
routers, bridges, gateways, modems, hubs, . . )
Telecommunications devices (e.g. switches . . . )

Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 12

Software resources to be managed

Application s/w & software tools including clients

& servers
Middleware (e.g. CORBA platform, NetWare ..)
Operating systems
Telecom Software (e.g. ATM controllers, etc.)

Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 13

 What Protocols support Mgt
 As management can be reduced down to monitoring &
controlling, any protocol that can
(1) retrieve information
(2) set/send information
can be used as a management protocol
 However, two ‘specific’ mgt protocols have been agreed
• Common Management Information Protocol (CMIP)
from the Telecom Community (ITU)
• Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) from
the computer industry (IETF)
• HTTP (?)
Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 14
Network Management Middleware

 The choice of middleware is greatly affected by the choice

of management protocol
 General Model (for SNMP & CMIP) is the use of the
Manager -- Agent paradigm
Physical

Agent
Mgr Interaction Network
Governed by
Private/
Resource
Protocol
Proprietary
CMIP/SNMP
Communication

Can & frequently are on same device

Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 15

 Network Management Agents
Varies in size & complexity greatly depending on
CMIP/SNMP usage
SNMP -
• Agent very simple. Just consists of tables of information called a
Management Information Base (MIB)
• Small memory footprint and processing requirements
• Primitive interaction between Mgr and Agent
• Master / slave relationship between SNMP Mgr & Agent
i.e. mgr must call or poll agent continuously for reliable information
• Standard MIB specs. for different types of devices
• Agent implemented by equipment vendor
Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 16
 Network Management Agents (cont 2)

 CMIP Agents
• Much more complex & greater memory and processing overhead
• Typically implemented on larger/more complex communication devices
e.g. switches, some routers
• Fully Object Oriented Information model (MIB)
• Much more sophisticated interaction with manager
• Much more local processing of raw data possible before returning
information to manager
• Agent can initiate Agent -- Manager dialogue (Alarm/Alert reporting)
• Better security
• Agent implemented by equipment vendor
Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 17
 Network Management Models (AKA Information
Models, Network Resource Models, Management
Information Bases)

 Provide a standard way to describe network resources in an

application and vendor-independent way for
manipulation/query by network management applications
 Typically defines
• A modelling language for defining network resources, e.g.
• Their configuration settings, e.g. WLAN SSID
• Their state variables, e.g. number of connected devices
• The notifications/events they generate e.g. No Internet connection
• The hierarchy/connections of resources in the network
• A global addressing/naming scheme for network resources
• A set of standard or generic models for common network elements and
resources e.g. routers, switches
Network Management Applications

Generally speaking there is no uniform partition of

the functional areas within network management
However:
• Most network mgmt. applications follow (loosely) the
ISO functional mgmt. areas of FCAPS:
– Fault - Performance
– Configuration - Accounting
– Security
In ISO community these are referred to as systems mgt functions!
Whereas in Internet community they are referred to as network mgt
functions!
Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 19
Fault Management

Responsible for:
• detection of a problem
• fault Isolation
• correction to normal operation
• uses Polling of managed objects to search for error conditions and/or
report alarms/alerts,
• Can also use event reporting
• illustrates the problem detected either as a graphic or in textual format

Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 20

Configuration Management

Responsible for:
• Changes, additions and deletions on the managed object
parameter(s)
• Needs to be co-ordinated with the network management
systems personnel (frequently involve some manual
work scheduling)
• Underlies most of the other network management
functional areas

Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 21

Accounting

Responsible for:
• Usually divided into three stages: metering, tariffing and billing.
• Metering logs a particular usage of the managed object
• Tariffing is the means by which a charge can be calculated e.g.
Flat rate (e.g. leased line), incremental rate, variable rates etc.
• Billing is the selection & application of a tariffing mechanism
on the metered usage and the composition of the customer bill
• Typically ignored in LAN networks where tariffing and billing are
irrelevant but VERY important for Telecom Network & Service
providers

Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 22

Performance Management

Responsible for:
• Optimisation of managed objects e.g. telephone truck
line utilisation, bandwidth allocation in ATM network,
load balancing on distributed servers
• Identification of bottlenecks in network and
implementation of corrective action
• Divides into four main functions: Performance data
collection, Data analysis, Problem Reporting, Display
& formatting
Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 23
Security management

Responsible for:
• administration of access controls on managed objects
• issuing of security alarm reports for violations. Several
types of threat to assets:
– Interruption, interception, modification and fabrication

– Assets:
– Hardware, software, data and communication lines and
networks

• Maintenance and security audit trail

Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 24
 But how is it all combined !!

 For simple management systems it is quite easy to choose a management

product and management for a specific objective e.g. LAN traffic
monitoring
 However, integrated network management applications for WAN are much
more difficult
 Network Management Forum specified ‘Ensembles’ for ‘solutions to
specific WAN scenarios e.g. configuration mgt for fixed point networks
 Ensembles are in fact vertical profiles of the total management architecture
(i.e. spec. of mgt function, MIB objects, mgt protocol stack, and resource
types to be managed)

Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 25

 Who Develops the management
Systems?
Equipment Vendor
• responsible for implementation of Agent for particular network
resource & implementation of network protocol to access/control
that resource e.g. Cisco, Fore, etc . . .
• Can also develop management applications (bundled with
equipment sale)
Management Platform vendor
• responsible for ‘middleware’ and some simple management
application e.g. HP (HP Openview), IBM (TMN 6000), SUN
(NetView)
Complex Management Applications & Integration
• outsourced to Niche network Management Integrator e.g. Siemens
or implemented by Telcom operators themselves e.g. AT&T, B T
Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 26
 User Interface

Integrates Manager of Mangers

several mgr
E systems e.g. System
OSI NetExpert
X
A
SunNet
M Manager, Element Management
P SNMP
Manager
System
L
E
Routers, hosts,
S service &
applications
Managed Objects

Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 27

Interworking between Different Network
Management Systems

Management Proprietary
Management
Application Interface

Client
Stub

Protocol
Stack

Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 28

Interworking between Different Network
Management Systems

Management Proxy Proprietary

Management
Application Manager Interface

Client Server Client Server Proxy

Proxy
Stub Stub Stub Stub

Protocol Protocol Protocol Protocol

Stack Stack Stack Stack

Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 29

Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade
Network Monitoring (revisited)
Recap:
 Net. Monitoring concerned with observing & analysing the
status and behaviour of:
– End Systems
– Intermediate Systems
– Sub networks
 Challenges of Net. Monitoring :
• Gaining access to monitored information (e.g. definition of
monitoring information, retrieval of that info.)
• Design of monitoring mechanism
• Usage of monitored information (e.g. by fault or performance
accounting management applications)
Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 31
 Network Monitoring Information
 Static Information:
• characterises current configuration (e.g. network element)
• stored in network element
 Dynamic Information:
• related to events in the network e.g. number of packets transmitted
• collected and stored in network element but can be stored
remotely (e.g. for some LAN based network elements)
 Statistical:
• derived from dynamic information
• gathered by any systems with access to dynamic information, i.e.
by network element, remote monitor, or management application
Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 32
 Network Monitoring Configurations
Monitoring Monitoring Monitoring Monitoring
Application Application Application Application
Manager Manager Manager Manager
Function Function Function Function
Agent
Function
Subnet
Managed Subnet Subnet
Objects
Managed Resources
Agent Agent Agent
in manager system
Function Function Function
Managed
Objects
LAN LAN
Resources in
Agent System
External Monitor

Proxy monitor agent

Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 33
Polling vs Event Reporting

 Managers can gather information about network element

via Polling and/or Event Reporting
Polling:
• Request - Response interaction between manager & Agent.
• Query can be specific (named parameter/object) or a general search
• Example uses: investigate (ping) problem
• Implementation effort centred on Manager

Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 34

Polling Vs Event Reporting (cont.)

 Event Reporting:
• Agent initiative to generate periodic report & send to manager
• Reporting condition(s) may be pre-configured by manager
• Example uses: significant change in Managed object values,
unusual event.
• Can be more efficient than Polling e.g. for monitoring managed
objects whose states or values change relatively infrequently
• Has less communication overhead that Polling

Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 35

 Polling vs Event Reporting (cont. 2)
 Both are useful information gathering techniques
 Telecoms world traditionally rely on event reporting where as
SNMP world puts very little reliance on event reporting
 Choice depends on:
• Amount of network traffic generated by each method
• Robustness in critical situations
• Time delay in notifying network manager
• Amount of processing in Managed devices
• Particular network monitoring applications being supported
• Contingencies required in case of notifying device fails before sending a report

Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 36

Performance Monitoring

First let’s consider what indicators of performance

are important
Two categories of Performance indication
• Service Oriented Measures
– relate to satisfaction of service level agreements with users

• Efficiency Oriented Measures

– relation to meeting network requirements at minimum cost

Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 37

Service Oriented Network Performance
Indicators

 Availability:
• Percentage of time a network system, component, or an application
is available for a user
 Response Time:
• Length of time it takes a response to appear at a user’s terminal
after a user action calls for it
 Accuracy:
• Percentage of time that no errors occur in the transmission and
delivery of information

Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 38

Efficiency Oriented Network
Performance Indicators

 Throughput:
• Rate at which application-oriented events occur e.g. transaction
messages, file transfers, number of session for an application over
a given time, number of calls for a circuit switched environment

 Utilisation:
• Percentage of the theoretical capacity of a resource that is being
used (e.g. transmission line, switch etc.)

Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 39

 Availability
 Expressed as percentage of time a network system, component, or an application is
available for a user
=> Based on reliability of individual components of network
 Reliability is the probability that a component will perform its specified function
for a specified time used under specified conditions
 Component failure is expressed as ‘mean time between failures’ (MTBF)
=> Availability = MTBF
_____________________________________________

(MTBF + MTTR)
where MTTR is ‘Mean time between Repair’ following a failure

Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 40

Response Time

 Is time it takes to react to a given input

 Achievable with
(i) increased cost of computer processing power
(ii) trade-offs with other requirements

 Two forms of response time:

• User Response Time - timespan between moment user receives
complete reply to one command and enters the next command
• System Response Time - timespan between moment a user enters a
command and the moment a complete response is displayed on the
terminal
Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 41
Elements of Response Time
 Seven elements of response time typically found in most
monitoring applications
 Inbound terminal delay: delay in getting an inquiry from the
terminal to the communication line. Is directly dependent on
transmission rate from terminal to controller
 Inbound queuing time: time required for processing by the
controller or PAD* device. E.g. can be dependent on
buffer/queue size and load on controller
 Inbound service time: time taken to transmit over comms.
link, network or other communications facility from the
controller to the host’s front -end processor
*packet assembler/disassembler
Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 42
Elements of Response Time (cont. 2)

 Processor delay: Time front-end processor, disk drives etc.

on computer spend preparing a reply to the original inquiry
 Outbound queuing time: time reply spends at a port in the
front-end processor waiting to be dispatched on the
network or communication line
 Outbound service time: time to transmit the
communications facility from the host’s front end
processor to the controller

Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 43

 Elements of Response Time (cont. 3)
 Outbound Terminal delay: the delay at the terminal itself -
CPU
primarily due to line speed.
TO SI
Workstation Server
Network
Interface Network
(e.g. bridge)
SO
WI WO
TI Inbound terminal delay
TI WI Inbound queuing time
SI Inbound service time
CPU CPU Processor Delay
Illustration of WO Outbound queuing time
Response Elements SO
TO
Outbound service time
Outbound Terminal Delay
Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 44
 Accuracy & Throughput
 Accuracy
• Because of built-in error correction (in data link and transport
protocols), accuracy is generally not a user concern
• Nevertheless useful to monitor rate of errors that must be corrected

 Throughput
• is an application oriented measurement (calculation of the rate at
which they occur)
• Examples include
– Number of transactions of a given type in a certain period
– Number of customer sessions for a given application during a certain
period of time
– Number of calls for a circuit-switched environment

Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 45

Utilization

Is a more fine grained measure than throughput

Concerned with percentage of time that a resource
is in use over a given period of time
Useful in determining network bottlenecks and
congestion
Response time usually increases exponentially as
utilization of a resource increases

Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 46

 Utilization (cont. 2)

 One technique to measure utilization is to observe

differences between planned load and actual load on various
links in a network
 Planned load is reflected by capacity (bits per second) of each
individual link
 Actual load is the measured average traffic (bits per sec)
 Comparison of the planned load and actual load on each link can
identify inefficient allocation of resources
 A closer balance between planned load and actual load can be
achieved => reducing the total capacity and resulting in more
efficient usage of resources

Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 47

Performance-Monitoring Functions

 Having looked at Performance Indicators - now lets look at

the actual Performance Monitoring Function/Activities
 Can be thought of as divided into three components:
• Performance Measurement which is concerned with actual
gathering of statistics about network traffic and timing
• Performance Analysis which is concerned with software for
reducing and presenting data
• Synthetic Traffic Generation which is concerned with observation
of network under controlled load(s)

Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 48

Performance Measurement Functions

 Often performed by Agent within network element (e.g.

router)
 e.g. Observes the amount of traffic into/out of a network element,
number of connections (at various levels of network protocol
stack), and traffic per connection

 Can be expensive (in processing time) on the network

element

 In LANs remote (external) monitoring can be used to

observe network traffic (broadcast/shared network)
Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 49
Example Questions that Performance
Measurement reported in LAN should answer

 Is traffic evenly distributed among the network users or are

there source-to-destination pairs with unusually heavy
traffic ?
 What is the percentage of each type of packet? Are some
packet types of unusually high frequency ? (could indicate
an error or an inefficient protocol)
 What is the distribution of data packets sizes ?
 What is the channel utilization and throughput ?

Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 50

 Fault Monitoring Functions
 Must detect and report faults
 at minimum agent will maintain a log of significant events & errors
 If Managers use polling => heavy reliance on agent fault/error logs
 If Agents use event reporting => importance of tight criteria for issuing
fault reports in order to avoid an ’event storm’
 Fault Monitor should also anticipate faults e.g. setting thresholds for event
reporting

Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 51

Fault Monitoring functions

 Should also assist in isolating & diagnosing faults

 For example Fault Monitoring functions might include:
- Connectivity test - Data integrity test
- Protocol integrity test - Data saturation test
- Connection saturation test - Response time test
- Function test - Loopback test

Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 52

 Accounting Monitoring Functions
 Keeps track of users’ usage of network resources
 Typical accounting data for network may include:
• user identification
• receiver identification - network resource to which connection was
attempted and/or made
• number of packets transmitted
• security levels – identify transmission and processing priorities
• time stamps – for principle transmission & processing event, e.g. start
and stop times
• resources used

Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 53

 Network Control

 Much of network control is concerned with Configuration Management

and Security Management
 Configuration Management is concerned with:
• initialization, maintenance & shutdown of individual components and
logical subsystems within total computer & communication installation
 Managed resources include physical resources (e.g. server, router) and
logical resources (e.g. buffer queues, timers etc.)
 While network in operation, configuration management is responsible for
monitoring the configuration and making changes in response to user
commands

Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 54

 Configuration Management
Includes:
• Definition of configuration information
• Set and Modify operations (for attribute values)
Configuration
• Definition and Modification of Relationships Control
• Initialization and Termination of Network Operations
• Distribution of software
• Examination of values and relationships Configuration
• Reporting of configuration status Monitoring

Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 55

Configuration Information

Describes nature & status of resources

Covers both specification of resource(s) and
attributes of those resources
Resources can be physical (router) or
logical (counters, timers)

Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 56

Structure of Configuration Information

Several alternatives
as simple structure list of data fields (each field
containing single value)
as fully object oriented model (encapsulation of
data, inheritance, behaviours etc.)
as relational tables

Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 57

Storage of Configuration Information

Although sometimes stored in manager,

more typically configuration information is
stored
• in agent
• in network element
• in a proxy for a network element

Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 58

Configuration Functions

 Enable user to specify range and type of values to which

specified resource attributes at a particular agent should be
set
 Enable user to define new object types (or data element
types) online (rarely actually implemented in config. mgt
systems) or off line (more common in config. mgt systems)
 Enable user to load pre-defined attribute values (e.g.
default states & values) on a systemwide, individual node
or individual layer basis

Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 59

 Set & Modify Attribute Values

Config. Control function should enable a

manager to remotely set & modify attribute
values in agents & proxies
Limitations
• Mgr. authorised to make the setting/modification
• Setting/modification reflect ‘reality’ of resource

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Categories of Modification effects

Data update only: modification of value(s) in

agents database of values
Data update & resource modification: modify
command affects underlying resource (e.g. disable
physical port of device)
Data Update & Action: modification to value in
Agent database causes agent to initiate certain
action(s) e.g. reinitialize parameter in router
Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 61
Define / Modify Relationships

 Relationship: describes association, connection or

condition that exists between network resources e.g.
Topology Relationship, Hierarchy, Physical or Logical
Connection, Management Domain
 Management Domain: is set of resources that share a set of
common management attributes or a set of common
resources that share the same management authority
 Configuration Mgt should allow user to add, delete &
modify the relationships among network resources

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Initialize & Terminate Network Operations

 Include mechanisms to enable user to initialise & close

down network or subnetwork operation
 Initialisation: includes verification of all settable resource
attributes & relationship a proper; Notification of users of
any resource, attribute or relationship requiring
modification/setting; Validation of user’s initialisation
commands
 Termination: includes user retrieval of specified statistics,
blocks or status information before termination procedures
are completed
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 Distribution of Software

 Ability to distribute software throughout the configuration

(e.g. hosts, servers, & workstations, bridges, routers, &
applications)
 Facilitates software loading requests, transmission of
specified versions of software, and update of configuration
tracking system
 Includes distribution of tables and other data that drive
behaviour of a system/resource
 Includes ability to examine, update & manage different
version of software & routing information
Principles of Net. Mgt © Vincent P. Wade 64