D4.2 In-Network Management Concept

The deliverable D4.2 In-Network Management Concept is available for review and comment.
This deliverable reports on our progress towards developing the paradigm of In-network Management (INM), a clean-slate approach to network management, aimed specifically at the effective management of large, dynamic networks, where a low rate of interaction between an outside management entity and the network will be required. The idea is that management tasks are delegated from management stations outside the network to a self-organizing management plane inside the managed system. This is enabled through decentralization, self- organization, embedding of functionality and autonomy. Under this paradigm, the managed system executes functions –locally or end-to-end– on its own and performs, for instance, reconfiguration or self-healing in an autonomic manner. It reports results of its action to an outside management system or triggers exceptions if intervention from outside is needed.
The deliverable describes the main results of WP4 achieved during the first year of the project and it complements deliverable D-4.1, which presents use cases illustrating the potential of INM capabilities. It contains a first version of the INM framework design, which defines the structure of the management plane inside the network, supports the embedding of management functions and provides reusable components to compose collaborating self- managed entities. Second, it presents a set of algorithms and concepts developed for real- time management, with emphasis on distributed monitoring in large-scale dynamic environments. Third, it reports on work that demonstrates the feasibility of rapid re- configurability for selected management algorithms and functions under the INM paradigm. Extensive simulations have demonstrated the effectiveness of the approach and have quantified key trade-offs.
The report ends with an outlook of the project plans for the second year, where effort will be devoted to proving the technical feasibility through prototype implementation of selected functions and integration of the work with that other WPs.