XML-based network management for IP networks

Abstract

XML-based network management, which applies XML technologies to network management, has been proposed as an alternative to existing network management The use of XML in network management offers many advantages. However, most existing network devices are already embedded with simple network management protocol (SNMP) agents and managed by SNMP managers. For integrated network management, we present the architectures of an XML-based manager, an XML-based agent, and an XML/SNMP gateway for legacy SNMP agents. We describe our experience of developing an XML-based network management system (XNMS), XML-based agent, and an XML/SNMP gateway. We also verify the effectiveness of our XML-based agent and XML/SNMP gateway through performance tests. Our experience with developing XNMS and XML-based agents can be used as a guideline for development of XML-based management systems that fully take advantage of the strengths of XML technologies.