Active management of multi-service networks

The increasing need for rapid introduction of new services and highly customised service offerings poses additional management challenges for today's networks. In this paper we propose a flexible distributed management system based on role driven policies and active layer networking that addresses these demands. Management information is distributed via a hierarchy of Information Servers which accommodate different storage and propagation requirements. The design and implementation of these Information Servers is described in detail as is their integration with an existing commercial management solution.