Real-Time Network Management

The objective of this proposed program is to model and implement an object-oriented system for monitoring and diagnosing computer network and service problems in real-time. The system comprises four major subsystems, viz. the network modeling subsystem, the monitoring subsystem, the diagnostic subsystem, and the user interface subsystem. All four subsystems access a database that stores, in particular, the network models and performance logs. The system is envisioned to utilize continuous time Markov chains, multiclass queuing networks, and stochastic petri nets as the underlying mathematical description of the managed network assumes that standardized mechanisms such as SNMP agents (up to the RMON 2 level) are available to provide real-time network data, and is implemented through well-established object-oriented practices. In particular, the architecture of the proposed system is defined by an object model that logically describes the managing and managed entities of the network, their static relationships, and dynamic interactions. The Phase I prototype of the proposed system is implemented in the Java language, JMAPI (Java Management API) and JDBC (the Java Data Base Connectivity API).