Java-based intelligent mobile agents for open system management

Abstract

Traditional approaches for network and service management are not suitable for heterogeneous, rapidly changing and extending telecommunications environments. The paper discusses the use of Java based intelligent mobile agents in the field of open system management It first presents a Java based mobile agent platform supporting the mobile management agents. Based on the mobility framework, the paper then describes an intelligence platform which supports the specification and processing of management solution knowledge implemented as intelligent mobile agents. The management solutions are viewed as Java based rules, which are organized into a hierarchy by the specialization/generalization relationships among the network situations which the management solutions are developed for. The proposed intelligence paradigm and the associated knowledge processing mechanism offer the advantages of object oriented development in a widely distributed telecommunications environment. The paper introduces an appealing alternative or extension to the current network management solutions.