Web services for network management - a universal architecture and its application to MPLS networks

Today a new aspect gains more and more attention in the area of network management - management from anywhere, at anytime, regardless of underlying access technologies and user interfaces. Instead of managing and monitoring crucial components with proprietary management consoles and monolithic platforms, future network operators will rather be able to manage their network from wherever web access is available and with whatever client system is at hand. In this context, the following paper presents a novel web-based architecture for network management. It is based on the emerging concept of distributed web services that provide their complex management capabilities to a variety of user interfaces. In order to illustrate the feasibility of the architecture, an implementation prototype focusing on the management of Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) networks is presented. Besides the new overall architecture, different MPLS-specific management services are described in more detail. Specifically, management of MPLS paths is addressed and used to introduce several results gained in an MPLS test network at our institute.