Application of Mobile Agents in Network Management

Application of Mobile Agents in Network Management.

ABSTRACT

According to Case et al., (1990) and Pinheiro et al., (1999), the present day ways of managing network systems as represented by Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) are based on the centralized client-server approach.

In this approach, the central server (manager) retrieves raw management data from all the clients (network elements) being managed.

This raw data is centrally collated and processed by the server for every management cycle. This is good enough for small, reliable and fast networks that are particularly localized in nature.

In present-day situation where networks extend across cities, regions, countries, and continents; as well as in mobile applications where connected links are very slow and expensive.

This may lead to inefficiency in terms of bandwidth utilization, resource wastage, processing bottleneck on the server, and other problems that could be caused by communication failures between the server and the clients being managed.

The objective of this work is to demonstrate that a more efficient approach to Network Management could be achieved by implementing a distributed system through the use of Mobile Agents (MA).

Typically, Biesoczad et al., (1998) and Gavalas et al., (1999) were among the early researchers who investigated the concept and possibilities of using Mobile Agents in the management of network components.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION ……ii
CERTIFICATION……. iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMNT ……….. iv
ABSTRACT…..v
TABLE OF CONTENTS …….. vii
LIST OF FIGURES AND PLATES ….. xi
LIST OF TABLES …….. xii
ABBREVIATIONS… xiv
DEFINITIONS……. xvi

CHAPTER 1  GENERAL INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY….1
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM….2
1.3 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH ……3
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND HYPOTHESIS…..4
1.5 ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS……………..5
1.6 CONTRIBUTION TO KNOWLEDGE…6

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 OVERVIEW OF NETWORK MANAGEMENT……..7
2.1.1 Simple Network Management Protocol…..8
2.1.2 Management by Delegation (MbD)…….9
2.1.3 Remote Monitoring (RMON)…..10
2.1.4 Mobile Agents (MA)……….11
2.2 JADE – JAVA AGENT DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK ..11

CHAPTER 3 MATERIALS AND METHOD

3.1 SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE.14
3.1.1 Network Manager ……14
3.1.2 Network Element …….16
3.2 MANAGER AGENT……16
3.2.1 Communication of components………..17
3.2.1.1 Receiving a Register Message ……17
3.2.2 Manager Agent Behaviours……….19
3.2.2.2 Implementing Agent Bebaviour Classes…20
3.3 DAEMON AGENT (NEAGENT)…………….21
3.4 HEALTH FUNCTION (PERFORMANCE INDICATORS) ……23
3.4.1 Interface Utilization ………………..24
3.4.2 Error Rate and Accuracy…..25
3.4.3 Internet Protocol (IP) Output Datagrams Discard Rate ….26
3.5 MESSAGE DEFINITION …………..27
3.6 COMMUNICATION OF MANAGER AGENT WITH DAEMON AGENT….27
3.7 MOBILE AGENT (MA)……..29
3.7.1 SNMP table filtering ……30
3.7.2 Global Filtering…..34

CHAPTER 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 SECURITY PROBLEM ………..37
4.1.1 Protecting NE from malicious MA……………..38
4.1.2 Protecting the important data in MA ….40
4.1.3 Secure the Communication Channel……42
4.2 SCALABILITY…..43

CHAPTER 5 SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

5.1 SUMMARY ……………..46
5.2 CONCLUSION ………….47
5.3 RECOMMENDATION AND FUTURE WORK ………….47
5.4 REFERENCES……..49

INTRODUCTION

According to Case et al., (1990) and Pinheiro et al., (1999), the present day ways of managing network systems as represented by Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) are based on the client-server architecture.

Where a central station, called the manager collects and analyses raw data retrieved from physically distributed network elements.

In those systems, management data are stored in a standard structure maintained on the network elements (NE) to be managed, such as Management Information Base (MIB) Objects Tree in SNMP.

Under this setup, there is always a routine/task at each network element, such as SNMPD (Simple Network Management Protocol Daemon) running on Linux.

Which periodically fetches and returns raw management data in response to requests from the network manager. Network management system based on Client/Server paradigm like this normally requires transferring large amount of management data between the manager and managed network elements.

The large amount of data not only requires considerable bandwidth, but also can cause a processing bottleneck at the manager.

This is particularly disturbing considering the fact that the bulk of the transmitted data may end up being irrelevant and hence, discarded by the manager on arrival. As current networks grow larger and more complicated, the problem becomes more severe (Case et al., 1990).

REFERENCES

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Bellifemine, F., Caire, G., Trucco, T., and Rimassa, G. (2010). JADE Programmer’s Guide. Retrieved January 24, 2011, from http://sharon.cselt.it/projects/jade.

Bellifemine, F., Poggi, A. and Rimassa, G. (2001). Developing multi agent systems with a FIPA-compliant agent framework. In Software – Practice Experience, volume 31, PP. 103-128.

Bellifemine, F., Rimassa, G. and Poggi, A. (1999). JADE, A FIPA-Compliant Agent Framework. In: Proceedings of the 4th International Conference and Exhibition on the Practical Application of Intelligent Agents and Multi-Agents Technology, United Kingdom. PP. 1-12

Bieszczad, A., Pagurek, B., and White, T. (1998). Mobile Agents for Network Management. Communications Surveys & Tutorials, IEEE Vol 1(1), PP. 2-9

Bivens, A., Fry, P. H., Gao, L., Hulber, M. F. and Szymanski, B.K. (1999). AgentBased Network  onitoring. In: Proceedings of the Agent based High Performance Computing Workshop, Agent ’99 Conference, Seattle; Washington, United State. PP. 41-53.

Bohoris, C., Pavlou, G., and Cruickshank, H. (2000). Using mobile agents for network performance management. IEEE/IFIP Network Operations and Management Symposium (NOMS’00), Honolulu, Hawaii, United States, PP. 637-652.

Caire, G., Bellifemine, F., Trucco, T., and Rimassa, G. (2010). JADE Administrator’s Guide. Retrieved January 24, 2011, from http://sharon.cselt.it/projects/jade. 50

Case J., Fedor, M., Schoffstall, M., and Davin, J. (1990) A Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) RFC 1157. PP. 1-20