Active Network Monitoring and Control:
The SENCOMM Architecture and Implementation

Alden W. Jackson, James P.G. Sterbenz, Matthew N. Condell, and Regina Rosales Hain,
“Active Monitoring and Control: The SENCOMM Architecture and Implementation”,
Proceedings of the DARPA Active Networks Conference and Exposition (DANCE) 2002,
San Francisco, June 2002, pp. 379-393.
[ PDF ]

Abstract

We present the architecture, design, and implementation of a Smart Environment for Network Control, Monitoring and Management (SENCOMM). SENCOMM uses active network technology to comprise a Management Execution Environment (SMEE), which coexists with other execution environments (EEs). Management applications, called smart probes, run in the SMEE. A probe and its data are mobile executable code that are delivered to the active node within an Active Network Encapsulation Protocol (ANEP) datagram. Our architecture is designed to actively control, monitor, and manage both conventional and active networks, and be incrementally deployed in existing networks. We present a set of goals, a design philosophy, and a set of basic requirements for controlling, monitoring, and managing networks using active network technology. We discuss the operation and components of SENCOMM: the management EE, a protocol, smart probes, and loadable libraries. We discuss the implementation issues uncovered in integrating SENCOMM into a selected EE and the decisions made to resolve them.

Keywords

Active network management monitoring control, EE, MEE

Outline

  1. Introduction and Motivation
    1. Introduction to Active Networks
    2. Active Node Architecture
  2. Philosophy and Requirements
    1. General Monitoring and Management Goals
    2. Design Philosophy
    3. Basic Requirements
      • Filtering
      • Active Datapath
      • MIB Access
      • Secure Management
      • Local Management
      • Persistent Storage
      • Distributed Time Service
  3. SENCOMM Operational Overview and Scenarios
    1. An Example Probe
  4. SENCOMM Architecture and Design
    1. SENCOMM Management Execution Environment (SMEE)
    2. SENCOMM Messaging
      1. Fragmentation and Reliable Delivery of SENCOMM Packets
    3. SENCOMM Packet Format
    4. Smart Probes
      1. Probe Initialization Data
    5. Loadable Libraries
  5. Implementation Environment and Issues
    1. Implementation and Development Environment
    2. Implementation Issues
      1. SMEE Implementation: How SMEE differs from an ASP AA
      2. SMEE Privileges
      3. MAA Class Loaders
      4. Multiple TypeIDs
      5. Security
      6. NodeOS Management Interfaces and Filtering Semantics
  6. Status and Future Work
    1. Future Work
  7. Summary
  1. SENCOMM Message Processing
    1. Probe Processing
    2. Library Query Processing
    3. Library Processing
  2. SENCOMM Message Fragmentation Protocol
  3. SendSnmpGet Source
  4. SnmpGet Source

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