Ontology-Based Integration of Management Behaviour and Information Definitions Using SWRL and OWL

Current network management architectures are using different models to define management information objects. These definitions actually also include, in a non-formal way, the definition of some behaviour information that a manager should accomplish related to the managed objects. So, a manager is not able to make an automatic processing of this behaviour information. Prior research work proposed the use of formal ontology languages, such as OWL, as a way to make a semantic integration of different management information definitions. This paper goes further proposing a formal definition of the different management behaviour specifications integrated with the management information definitions. Thus, usual behaviour definitions included implicitly in the management information definitions and explicitly in policy definitions can be expressed formally, and included with the information definitions. This paper focuses on the definition of behaviour rules in management information with SWRL, a rule language defined to complement OWL functionality.