DEN-ng: achieving business-driven network management

Abstract

Existing network management architectures suffer from a set of architectural and integration problems. Policy-based management was targeted to solve most of these problems, but its promises have not yet been fully realized. This paper presents a new approach to building network management solutions that is based on a new version of the DEN information model, called DEN-ng. DEN-ng is being designed to solve these problems by providing facilities to translate the business rules and procedures of an organization to the policies that configure and control its networks. Accordingly, the case is made for policy to become more than "just" a means for executing a change in a configuration file. Rather, it should be used to tie together configuration changes with how the changes should be done using a workflow system. This holistically binds business rules to the construction and deployment of configuration changes and their management.