Independent Corba-based Network Management Model Study

Nowadays, network management systems mostly adopt centralized method and contain two primary elements: a manager and agents. With the rapid expand of network scale, centralized method became a bottle-neck of network system development. In recent years, the development of distributed-computing technology, object-oriented technology and intelligent agent technology has provided a new way to manage networks. It is considered to be a good scheme to combine intelligent agent technology, CORBA technology with SNMP-based management technology, which can implement flexible, convenient, effective, and also intelligent network managementThus a CORBA-based distributed intelligent network management system model is proposed in this paper, which abstracts SNMP-based network management information into a heigher layer with an object-oriented method, and provides a hierarchical network management information architecture. At the same time, it gives the formal description to the management objects' semantics and the autonomous network management agent, and gives the architecture of the network management system. The model has a Master-Sub agent Architecture. It depends on Intelligent Agent to do network management. This model has not only traditional management functions but also many features such as: distributed architecture, object-oriented management and intelligence.Based on the scheme of the model, a CORBA-based distributed network management communication platform is schemed and implemented in this paper. The communication layer of ORB call is implemented with connect-receive design pattern, which only encapsulates the bottom communication with object-oriented method. Server/adapter layer is schemed with object-oriented method. Elements of software are objects instead of processes, which carry out the functions defined in the information model. Based on the communication platform, the SNMP Agent and SNMP Manager Sub-system functions are schemed and implemented. A SNMP Manager does network management via Intelligent Agents. As a Master agent, Intelligent Agent acts as a primary interface between SNMP Agents and the SNMP Manager. On the one hand it manages SNMP Agents in a subdomain. On the other hand it reports processed results to the SNMP Manager. Intelligent Agents use Heartbeat Mechanism and report the SNMP Manager about the existence ofSNMP Agents in the network through alarms by constantly monitoring them. At the same time, Intelligent Agents can also establish managed targets according to management motivation and automaticly generate manipulative sequence of managed targets.