Network Management Protocols and Architectures

SHAMAN: Spreadsheet-based Hierarchical Architecture for MANagement

SHAMAN is an architecture for hierarchical management that fits naturally into the existing Internet Management Framework employed by SNMP and SNMPv2. It provides flexible, dynamic network management by permitting distribution of control and management functions over a hierarchical management structure. In our hierarchical framework, we use a new paradigm -- which we call the spreadsheet paradigm -- which allows a manager to offload routine management tasks to an intermediate manager and facilitates user configurability of management information and control in a value-added manner. This is achieved by providing a scripting MIB and language specially designed for management tasks in SNMP. A prototype implementation of the spreadsheet paradigm is available at
http://www.cis.udel.edu/~shaman The implementation includes a complete intermediate manager implementation that receives scripts from managers, interprets the scripts, sends commands to agents and receives data from them, processes the data, and generates event reports as specified in the scripts. It also includes a graphical user interface that can be used by a manager to construct, load, and execute scripts in an intermediate manager. In addition, sample applications for Location Management and Configuration Management in an ad-hoc battlefield network are also available.

(Supported by the Federated Research Laboratory (FRL) Consortium in Advanced Telecommunications/Information Distribution Research Program (ATIRP) sponsored by the Army Research Laboratory (ARL).

For more information and to get a copy of the SHAMAN software, click here

Related Publications

A.S. Sethi, D. Zhu, and V. Hnatyshin, ``Hierarchical Management of Battlefield Networks with the SHAMAN Management System.'' In Final Report (1996-2001) Advanced Telecommunications and Information Distribution Research Program (ATIRP) (A.J. Tardif and J.W. Gowens (eds.)), pp. 7.1-7.28, US Army Research Laboratory, 2001. PDF
A.S. Sethi, D. Zhu, V. Hnatyshin, and P. Kokati, ``Battlefield Network Applications of the SHAMAN Management System.'' Proc. MILCOM '01, IEEE Military Communications Conference, McLean, VA (Oct. 2001). PDF
A.S. Sethi, D. Zhu, and P. Kalyanasundaram, ``SHAMAN - An Environment for Distributed Management Applications.'' In Integrated Network Management, VII (G. Pavlou, N. Anerousis, and A. Liotta (eds.)), pp. 321-324, Piscataway, NJ: IEEE Press, 2001. Also in Proc. IM-2001, Seventh IFIP/IEEE International Symposium on Integrated Network Management, Seattle, WA (May 2001). PDF
A.S. Sethi, D. Zhu, V. Hnatyshin, P. Kokati, D.-P. Hsing, and L. Kant, ``Application of the SHAMAN Management System to Configuration Management of Tactical Internets.'' Proc. Fifth ARL/ATIRP Annual Conference, College Park, MD (March 2001). PDF
A.S. Sethi, D. Zhu, Y. Zong, D.-P. Hsing, and L. Kant, ``Application of the SHAMAN Management System to Battlefield Network Configuration Management,'' Proc . Fourth ARL/ATIRP Annual Conference, College Park, MD (March 2000), pp. 187-191. PDF
A.S. Sethi, K. Sivakumar, V. Hnatyshin, M. Humphrey, and B. Rivera, ``Integrating SHAMAN Management Applications with Battlefield OPNET Simulations,'' Proc . Fourth ARL/ATIRP Annual Conference, College Park, MD (March 2000), pp. 319-324. PDF
A.S. Sethi, P. Kalyanasundaram, C. Sherwin, and D. Zhu, and S. Pakala, ``Battlefield Location Management Applications of SHAMAN,'' Proc. MILCOM '98, IEEE Military Communications Conference, Boston, MA (Nov. 1998). PDF
A.S. Sethi, P. Kalyanasundaram, C.M. Sherwin, and D. Zhu, ``Battlefield Applications of Hierarchical Management with SHAMAN,'' Proc. Second ARL/ATIRP Annual Conference, College Park, MD (Feb. 1998), pp. 235-240. PDF
A.S. Sethi, P. Kalyanasundaram, C.M. Sherwin, D. Zhu, ``A Hierarchical Management Framework for Battlefield Network Management,'' Proc. MILCOM '97, IEEE Military Communications Conference, Monterey, CA (Nov. 1997). PDF
P. Kalyanasundaram, A.S. Sethi, C. Sherwin, and D. Zhu, ``A spreadsheet-based scripting environment for SNMP,'' In Integrated Network Management, V (A. Lazar, R. Saracco, and R. Stadler (eds.)), pp. 752-765, London: Chapman & Hall Publishers, 1997. PDF
A.S. Sethi, P. Kalyanasundaram, C. Sherwin, and D. Zhu, ``A Spreadsheet-Based SNMP Scripting Environment for Battlefield Network Management,'' Proc. First ARL/ATIRP Annual Conference, College Park, MD (Jan. 1997), pp. 251-256. PDF
P. Kalyanasundaram, A.S. Sethi, and C. Sherwin, ``Design of a spreadsheet paradigm for network management'', Proc. 7th IFIP/IEEE Workshop on Distributed Systems: Operations and Management, L'Aquila, Italy (Oct. 1996). PDF
A.S. Sethi and P. Kalyanasundaram, ``A spreadsheet paradigm for network management''. Proc. 5th IFIP/IEEE Workshop on Distributed Systems: Operations and Management, Toulouse, France (Oct. 1994). PDF

Technical Reports

A.S. Sethi, P. Kalyanasundaram, C.M. Sherwin, and D. Zhu, ``A Spreadsheet-Based Proxy Architecture for Battlefield Network Management'', Technical Report No. 97-10, Dept. of Computer and Information Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE (December 1996). HTML Abstract
P. Kalyanasundaram, A.S. Sethi, and C.M. Sherwin, ``Design of a Flexible MIB for a Proxy Based Spreadsheet Paradigm'', Technical Report No. 96-09, Dept. of Computer and Information Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE (April 1996).

Debugging Framework for Network Management Scripting Applications

We have designed a distributed debugging framework for integrated network management scripting applications to provide better support for the development of such applications. The framework consists of a suite of debugging techniques designed specifically for scripting applications and adapted from techniques that are in use for general distributed applications. The framework includes a general architecture and defines a set of generic debugging services and interfaces. It also includes SEL, a novel event pattern specification language for scripting application debugging and network management. A prototype debugger called SDB has been developed for debugging scripting applications developed for the SHAMAN framework.

(Partially supported by the Federated Research Laboratory (FRL) Consortium in Advanced Telecommunications/Information Distribution Research Program (ATIRP) sponsored by the Army Research Laboratory (ARL).

Related Publications

D. Zhu and A.S. Sethi, ``SEL - A New Event Pattern Specification Language for Event Correlation,'' Proc. ICCCN-2001, Tenth International Conference on Computer Communications and Networks, Scottsdale, AZ (Oct. 2001), pp. 586-589. PDF
D. Zhu and A.S. Sethi, ``Debugging Network Management Scripting Applications,'' Proc. IM '99, Sixth International IFIP/IEEE Symposium on Integrated Network Management, Boston, MA (May 1999), pp. 953-954 (Poster Paper). PDF
A.S. Sethi and D. Zhu, ``Debugging Scripting Applications for Battlefield Network Management,'' Proc. Third ARL/ATIRP Annual Conference, College Park, MD (Feb. 1999), pp. 177-182. PDF
D. Zhu, A.S. Sethi, and P. Kalyanasundaram, ``Towards integrated network management scripting frameworks,'' Proc. DSOM '98, Ninth Annual IFIP/IEEE International Workshop on Distributed Systems: Operations & Management, Newark, DE (Oct. 1998), pp. 233-246. PDF

Object-Oriented Application Gateway for Management Interoperability

This project has designed application gateways that allow interoperability between SNMP, CMIP, and CORBA. Protocol translation and MIB mapping are used to enable managers and agents speaking different protocols to function together in an integrated network management system.

Related Publications

P. Kalyanasundaram and A.S. Sethi, ``Interoperability issues in heterogeneous network management''. Journal of Network and Systems Management Vol. 2 No. 2 (June 1994), pp. 169-193. PDF
P. Kalyanasundaram and A.S. Sethi, ``An application gateway design for OSI-Internet management''. In Integrated Network Management, III (H.G. Hegering and Y. Yemini (eds.)), pp. 389-401, Amsterdam: North-Holland, 1993. PDF

Management and Control of NTP Servers via SNMP

The Network Time Protocol (NTP) is widely used on the Internet to maintain clock synchronization. So far the only mechanism available to remotely control NTP servers has been an in-band control called NTP Control Message. In collaboration with Dr. David Mills, the author of the NTP, we have designed an SNMP MIB for NTP to allow NTP servers to be monitored and controlled via SNMPv2. We have also designed an NTP Proxy MIB that uses NTP Control Message to communicate with other NTP servers and make them SNMP-manageable.

(Supported by the Advanced Research Projects Agency).

Related Publications

A.S. Sethi, H. Gao, and D.L. Mills, ``Management of the Network Time Protocol (NTP) with SNMP''. Technical Report No. 98-09, Dept. of Computer & Information Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE (Nov. 1997). PDF

Other Publications in Network Management

B. Basch, A.S. Sethi, A. Ephremides, J.C. Liberti, D.M.J. Devasirvatham, S. Chuprun, C. Bergstrom, and D. Torrieri, ``Key Issues Facing Near Future Digital Battlefield Communications.'' In Final Report (1996-2001) Advanced Telecommunications and Information Distribution Research Program (ATIRP) (A.J. Tardif and J.W. Gowens (eds.)), pp. 8.1-8.26, US Army Research Laboratory, 2001.
A.S. Sethi and M. Feridun, ``Guest Editorial: Management of Mobility in Distributed Systems.'' ACM/Baltzer Journal on Special Topics in Mobile Networking and Applications (MONET) Vol. 6 No. 2 (March/April 2001), pp. 103-104. PDF
A.S. Sethi, ``Recent Advances in Distributed Systems Operations and Management: Report on DSOM '98.'' Journal of Network and Systems Management Vol. 7 No. 1 (March 1999), pp. 133-136. PDF
A.S.Sethi, Y. Raynaud and F. Faure-Vincent (co-editors), Integrated Network Management, IV. London: Chapman and Hall Publishers, 1995.
Ruchir Godura and A.S. Sethi, ``Use of control variables to convey protocol semantics in SNMP'', Proc. 6th IFIP/IEEE Workshop on Distributed Systems: Operations and Management, Ottawa, Canada (Oct. 1995). PDF
R. Godura, ``Use of control variables to convey protocol semantics in SNMP,'' M.S. Thesis, Dept. of Computer and Information Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE (July 1994).

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