Management of an internetwork of routers

Victor Todd Norman, Purdue University

Abstract

This dissertation extends a standard network management protocol to allow a manager to manage multiple routers simultaneously in an internetwork, at multiple levels of abstraction. Providing multiple levels of abstraction allows a network manager to choose how to view the network and to choose at what level of detail to retrieve and alter network information. A manager manages multiple routers simultaneously by grouping routers into abstract virtual routers called managed entities. Each managed entity hides its internal structure and operation, making available information about its interactions with peer managed entities. Each managed entity provides a set of manageable information that conforms to the standard set of information defined for conventional routers in an internetwork. Thus, all operations that can be performed on standard routers call be performed on managed entities. The dissertation demonstrates that it is possible to build an efficient mechanism that provides managed entities. The dissertation also argues that, to collect data correctly for variable resolution, all routers in the managed network must have information about the grouping of routers into managed entities. Finally, the dissertation provides techniques to make information recording efficient.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Comer, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Computer science

COinS