Web-Based Enterprise Management

In computing, Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) comprises a set of systems-management technologies developed to unify the management of distributed computing environments. The WBEM initiative, initially sponsored in 1996 by BMC Software, Cisco Systems, Compaq Computer, Intel, and Microsoft, is now widely adopted. WBEM is based on Internet standards and Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF) open standards: Common Information Model (CIM) infrastructure and schema CIM-XML CIM operations over HTTP WS-Management for web services CIM Operations over RESTful Services Although the name labels WBEM as "web-based", it is not necessarily dependent on any particular user interface (see below). Other systems-management approaches include remote shells, proprietary solutions and IETF standardized network-management architectures like the SNMP and Netconf. WBEM allows the management of any element in a standard and inter-operable manner. WBEM provides the technology underlying different management initiatives in information technology: Desktop management (DASH) Network management (NetMan) There is a DMTF page that shows a number of DSP pdfs that are the published profiles of the NetMan Initiative Storage management (SMI) Systems management (SMASH) Virtualization management (VMAN) There is a DMTF page that shows a number of DSP pdfs that are the published profiles of the VMAN Initiative To understand the WBEM architecture, consider the components which lie between the operator trying to manage a device (configure it, turn it off and on, collect alarms, etc.) and the actual hardware and software of the device: The operator will invoke some form of graphical user interface (GUI), Browser User Interface (BUI), or command-line interface (CLI). The WBEM standard has nothing to say about this interface (although the definition of a CLI for specific applications has started): WBEM operates independently of the human interface, since human interfaces can change without the rest of the system needing to note such changes.

Patterns in SNMP-Based Management

Jean-Philippe Martin-Flatin

A lot of activity is currently going on to replace the SNMP management architecture with a solution better suited to managing modern IP networks and systems. New candidates include Management by Delegation, active networks, and Web-based management. In this exercise, the management community runs the risk of throwing the baby out with the bath water by focusing too much on a few well-known problems exhibited by SNMP (e.g., its poor scalability) and neglecting most of its other characteristics, including those that contributed to its success (e.g., the reasons why it is simple). One way to avoid this is to explicitly capture the experience gained in the management of IP networks and systems with SNMP. In this paper, we make one step in this direction by studying the SNMP management architecture through a software engineers eyes: we identify in SNMP some of the fundamental architectural and design patterns defined in the literature. Patterns are schematic, proven solutions to recurring problems. By characterizing the current management architecture in terms of patterns, we help retain the strengths of SNMP-based management in future management architectures. We also make it easier for new software engineers to move to network and systems management by characterizing this application domain in standard pattern terms, as opposed to using the jargon understood solely by the SNMP community.

2000

Web-based management of IP networks and systems

Jean-Philippe Martin-Flatin

The management of IP networks and systems is currently based on the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) and the SNMP management architecture. This poses a number of problems. Some are related to the efficiency, scalability, latency, and expressiveness of SNMP, others to the way the design of SNMP-based management platforms historically evolved. After reviewing the numerous alternatives that are currently investigated by the research community, including mobile code and intelligent agents, we propose to base the next generation of management applications on a new management architecture: WIMA, the Web-based Integrated Management Architecture. WIMA is based on standard Web technologies. It relies on a push-based organizational model for regular management (i.e., data collection –for offline processing– and monitoring over a long period of time) and notification/event delivery, and a pull-based organizational model for ad hoc management (data retrieval over a very short time period). Its communication model is characterized by (i) the use of persistent HTTP connections between agents and managers (or between mid- and top-level managers in distributed hierarchical management); (ii) the support for any information model (SNMP, CIM, etc.); and (iii) a reversed client-server architecture that facilitates crossing firewalls. In WIMA, the preferred method for representing management data in transit is XML. It is well suited for distributed hierarchical management; it unifies the communication model across the entire range of integrated management (that is, network, systems, application, service, and policy management); and it offers high-level semantics to the management-application designer. All the major problems that we identified in SNMP are solved in WIMA. Our architecture is validated by a prototype: JAMAP, the JAva MAnagement Platform.

EPFL2000

Push vs. Pull in Web-Based Network Management

Jean-Philippe Martin-Flatin

In this paper, we show how Web technologies can be used effectively to (i) address some of the deficiencies of traditional IP network management platforms, and (ii) render these expensive platforms redundant. We build on the concept of embedded management application, proposed by Wellens and Auerbach, and present two models of network management application designs that rely on Web technologies. First, the pull model is based on the request/response paradigm. It is typically used to perform data polling. Several commercial management platforms already use Web technologies that rely on this model to provide for ad hoc management, we demonstrate how to extend this to regular management. Second, the push model is a novel approach which relies on the publish/subscribe/distribute paradigm. It is better suited to regular management than the pull model, and allows administrators to conserve network bandwidth as well as CPU time on the management station. It can be seen as a generalization of the paradigm commonly used for notification delivery. Finally, we introduce the concept of the collapsed network management platform, where these two models coexist.

1999