Active Networks for Efficient Distributed Network Management'

(Title orginally issued as An Active Network Approach to Network Management" Active networks is a framework where network elements, primarily routers and switches, are programmable. Programs that are injected into the network are executed by the network elements to achieve higher flexibility and to present new capabilities. This work describes a novel active network architecture which primarily addresses the management challenges of modern complex networks. Its primary component is an active engine that is attached to any IP router. The active engine we designed and implemented executes programs that arrive from the network and monitors and controls the router actions. The design is based on standards (Java, SNMP, ANEP over UDP), and can be easily deployed in today's IP networks. The contribution of this paper is both for the active networks and the network management domains. For active networks, we introduce a general engine that can handle the entire range of active networking, from capsules to programmable switches. We introduce the notion of a session, which generalizes the soft-state mechanism, and allows a program to reside in a node for a long period of time. For network management, our generic solution allows flexibility and new functionality with an emphasis on efficient use of network resources, which is somewhat obscure by many of today's high-level solutions.