The Push Model in Web-Based Network Management

The management of IP networks is currently based on the SNMP protocol, and the use of expensive network management platforms designed according to the manager/agent paradigm of the SNMP framework. It uses two different schemes to transfer management data: a request/response protocol for data collection and network monitoring (data polling), and unsolicited push to deliver SNMP notifications. This design is exposed to a number of problems, with regards to the time-to-market of vendor-specific management software, versioning, protocol efficiency, security, etc. In this paper, we propose a novel approach to network management based on the push model. This model is well-known in software engineering, and encountered a large success on the Web recently with the push technologies. It relies on the publish/subscribe/distribute paradigm, and uses a single scheme to transfer all management data. We describe why it is more efficient, in terms of network and systems resources, than the traditional pull model. We also explain in detail how to implement this model with Web technologies to deliver SNMP notifications, to handle events, and to distribute MIB data for network monitoring and data collection.