Trace: an open platform for high-layer protocols, services and networked applications management

A fast-growing number of high-layer protocols, services and networked applications has been run over computer networks and needs to be managed. A unified, decentralized framework should be used to scale for the current large and complex computing environments. Besides, the management environment should be quickly and easily adaptable to monitor dynamic scenarios. This paper presents the Trace Management Platform, an extension of the SNMP infrastructure based on the IETF Script MIB to support integrated, distributed and flexible management of high-layer protocols, services and networked applications. By using a user-friendly interface (wizards), the network manager can specify management tasks, protocol traces and action scripts. The management tasks are automatically converted to scripts by the platform and delegated to mid-level managers (MLMs) on demand. When executing a management task, the MLM delegates a protocol trace to a monitoring agent. Once programmed, this agent starts to monitor the occurrence of the trace (transaction). The information gathered by the monitoring agent is retrieved and analyzed by the mid-level manager, which may delegate the execution of procedures (action scripts) to action agents and notify the management station.