Policy-based management for ALAN-enabled networks

Abstract

This paper presents the architecture, policy schema, and policy specifications necessary to accomplish effective management of the application level active networking (ALAN) environment. Using ALAN, developers can engineer applications through the network by utilising platforms (active servers) on which 3rd party software (Proxylets) can be dynamically loaded and run. Redirection of packets destined for active processing at the servers is performed by active routers. Management of such large, dynamic systems presents challenges to centralised approaches. Management based on policies locally interpreted in the context of local state is gaining acceptance as an alternative. The IST project ANDROID uses a flexible generic specification for policies, represented in XML, allowing a wide range of policies to be expressed and processed in a common framework. Policies given here focus on management of routers for VPN scenarios, the resource and security management of active servers running the Proxylets, and management of the information distribution mechanism. Preliminary results were demonstrated during the trial which included the scenario involving the inter-site connectivity and active server resource and security management.