Network Monitoring and Configuration Automation Technology

The MDA is seeking an innovative solution to detect/identify network infrastructure components used for operational testing, configure the network per specifications, and test/monitor the network. To meet the goals of this SBIR project, Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes a network Monitoring and Configuration Automation (MOCA) technology. MOCA takes network architecture as input and provides innovative algorithms for automatic generation of network configuration files, distribution of configuration information across large networks, and Web-based network reconfiguration/monitoring capability. MOCA will be developed as a software-only solution and implement the network setup by generating configuration information at a centralized location, segmenting the configuration information for subnetworks, and sending it appropriately. Key contributions of MOCA are its transparency with respect to network operations, compliance with existing network standards, low complexity, and low-cost operation. In Phase I, POC will demonstrate the feasibility of MOCA by creating a representative network in a laboratory environment, implementing key software components, developing a validation and verification plan, and demonstrating MOCAs net configuration capability. In Phase II, POC will develop a full-scale prototype reaching TRL-6. This prototype will demonstrate, using the plan developed in Phase I, that MOCA can be deployed in large enterprise-wide networks and can effectively implement network configuration/reconfiguration.