A framework for the management of distributed systems based on SNMP

The traditional task of managing and monitoring a network has never been a trivial one. With recent changes in computing and networking, the area of distributed systems management faces new challenges and increasing complexity. Research in the relevant field reveals that, while there are many research and commercial solutions available, some of them are based on proprietary standards. Others focus on monitoring, while lacking the ability to actively make modifications and finetuning. Some others have a narrow target group. This paper proposes a framework for the management of distributed applications. The managed hosts are treated as integral parts of the deployment and not as stand alone, isolated entities. The framework is based on SNMP and is not limited to monitoring. On the contrary, it is capable of carrying out SNMP-SET commands, actively modifying the run-time parameters of the managed application. Finally, it can perform the management of a variety of distributed systems, ranging from small clusters to larger scale deployments such as computational or data grids.