A policy based framework for governing Future networks

Future Internet will constitute a complex and dynamic environment, the requirements of which cannot be handled by traditional management schemes. The alternative is the approach of autonomic service and network management, which targets at guidance and orchestration of the behavior of autonomic and contemporary network entities based on specific service requirements and business goals. In this context, policies can constitute a means for accomplishing the desired high level control in autonomic management. In order to achieve this objective, an advanced policy framework, confronting the challenges of the highly miscellaneous, decentralized and dynamic Future Internet, is needed. To this effect, this paper presents the main challenges of policy-based management in the context of governing the autonomic Future Internet, and based on their elaboration, the focus is placed on existing concepts that can constitute the basis for the design of a proper policy management framework. The paper also describes the functional specification of the policy management framework, deriving from the presented challenges, and instantiation of the policy framework on an illustrative scenario.