Issues and experiences of CORBA-based management agents

This paper addresses a number of issues related to the evolution of the TMN framework in terms of the associated interface technology. A review of the management model is followed by an analysis of the challenges raised by emerging distributed object architectures which may result in highly distributed management systems; from these, fundamental requirements for CORBA-based TMN agent architectures are derived. The paper describes two approaches for realising CORBA-based management agents that attempt to fulfil these requirements. Both approaches have been validated through implementation while operational experiences with the two approaches are presented.