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[Research-funding] Re: [nmrg] network management research funding text
On Mon, Jul 14, 2003 at 01:34:04PM +0200, Frank Strau? wrote:
> I agree that there are different intentions to be expressed by the
> two sections (and by any of the other sections). Just reading the text
> from a certain distance (like potential people that are addressed by
> this document) lets me think that there are some common arguments.
> The same is true for my initial comment on 3.5.4.
Any concrete proposals for changes?
> >3.5.4. Autonomous Network Management
> >
> > Current approaches to network management do not scale sufficiently,
> > so network operators often have difficulty operating their
>
> ^ plural?
fixed
> > network(s) as successfully and economically as desired. Hence,
> > more work is needed to improve the automation achieved by network
> > management systems. This might involve application of control
> > theory, artificial intelligence, expert systems technology, or
> > other mechanisms, for example.
>
> Either "or other mechanisms" or "for example", not both, I suggest.
fixed
> > Applied research is needed how to translate data that exists in a
> > network or a network management system into terms understandable by
> > customers. This also requires to be able to determine which
> > customers are affected and how if something breaks. Of course,
> > customer network management mechanisms must not reveal any
> > internals that are considered to be secrets of organization
>
> ^the
fixed
> > operating a network.
>
> Sounds good to me.
[...]
> Ok. How do you think about this...?
>
> Analysis of Current Network Management Application
>
> In the past much work has been spent on the specification and
> implementation of a network management architecture. However, most
> administrators use far less components of this architecture than
> possible. There are only vague estimations about the reasons for
> this reluctance. A better understanding of what is used for which
> purpose and what is not for which reasons is highly disirable.
> This can be done by an automated analysis of network management
> protocol traffic and applications at operators' sites and enhanced
> by additional conversations with the operators.
What about this rewrite:
3.5.6 Analysis of Current Management Protocol Usage
In the past, much work has been spent on the specification and
implementation of the current Internet network management
architecture. However, operators reported that they use only a
subset of this architecture. A better understanding of what is
used for which purpose (and what is not used) is highly desirable.
This issue can be addressed by automated network management
protocol traffic measurements and subsequent analysis in close
cooperation with operators.
[Attached is the complete current version.]
/js
--
Juergen Schoenwaelder International University Bremen
<http://www.eecs.iu-bremen.de/> P.O. Box 750 561, 28725 Bremen, Germany
3.5. Network Management
The Internet had early success in network device monitoring with
the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) and its associated
Management Information Base (MIB). There has been comparatively
less success in managing networks, in contrast to the monitoring of
individual devices. Furthermore, there are a number of operator
requirements not well supported by the current Internet management
framework. An enhanced network management architecture that more
fully supports real operational network management needs is
desirable.
Unfortunately, network management research has historically been
very underfunded, because it is difficult to get funding bodies to
recognize this as legitimate networking research.
3.5.1. Managing Networks, Not Devices
At present, there are few or no good tools for managing a whole
network instead of isolated devices. Current network management
protocols such as SNMP are fine for reading status of well-defined
objects from individual boxes. But managing networks instead of
isolated devices requires to view the network as a large
distributed system. Research is needed on scalable distributed data
aggregation mechanisms, scalable distributed event correlation
algorithms, and distributed and dependable control mechanisms.
Applied research into methods of managing sets of networked devices
seems worthwhile. Ideally such a management approach would support
distributed management, rather than being strictly hierarchical.
As an example, the current set of network management tools for
managing multimedia (voice and video) IP networks is inadequate, and
research would be useful in this area. The lack of appropriate
network management tools has also been cited as one of the major
barriers to the deployment of IP multicast [Diot00, SP03].
3.5.2. Configuration Management
Operators at the IAB Network Management Workshop [RFC-3535] held in
2002 reported that scalable distributed configuration management
for sets of network devices is a significant challenge today. In
particular, it is desirable to execute configuration transactions
across a number of connected devices, which requires protocols that
support distributed transactions. Furthermore, configuration data
should be represented in a way which simplifies the processing and
generation of configurations with standard tools.
Even individual improvements in configuration management for sets
of networked devices would be very welcome. Such improvements
would need to include an integrated approach to security for the
configuration data.
3.5.3. Enhanced Monitoring Capabilities
SNMP does not scale very well to monitoring large numbers of
objects in many devices in different parts of the network. Some
implementations also show inaccuracies (especially when monitoring
on shorter time scales) or they lack support for the objects that
operators are interested in. An alternative approach worth
exploring is how to provide scalable and distributed monitoring,
not on individual devices, but instead on groups of devices and
networks-as-a-whole. This requires adequate and scalable data
aggregation techniques.
3.5.4. Autonomous Network Management
Current approaches to network management do not scale sufficiently,
so network operators often have difficulties operating their
network(s) as successfully and economically as desired. Hence,
more work is needed to improve the automation achieved by network
management systems. This might involve application of control
theory, artificial intelligence, expert systems technology, or
other mechanisms.
3.5.5. Customer Network Management
An open issue related to network management is helping users and
others to identify and resolve problems in the network. If a user
can't access a web page, it would be useful if the user could find
out, easily, without having to run ping and traceroute, whether the
problem was that the web server was down, that the network was
partitioned due to a link failure, that there was heavy congestion
along the path, that the DNS name couldn't be resolved, that the
firewall prohibited the access, or something else.
Applied research is needed how to translate data that exists in a
network or a network management system into terms understandable by
customers. This also requires to be able to determine which
customers are affected and how if something breaks. Of course,
customer network management mechanisms must not reveal any
internals that are considered to be secrets of the organization
operating a network.
3.5.6 Analysis of Current Management Protocol Usage
In the past, much work has been spent on the specification and
implementation of the current Internet network management
architecture. However, operators reported that they use only a
subset of this architecture. A better understanding of what is
used for which purpose (and what is not used) is highly desirable.
This issue can be addressed by automated network management
protocol traffic measurements and subsequent analysis in close
cooperation with operators.