Models and Architecture for Autonomic Network Management

This paper presents a model-based framework to support the automated and adaptive deployment of communication services for QoS. The application domain targets cooperative group activities applied to military emergency operation management systems. Various models are introduced to represent the different levels of cooperation (applicative / middleware / transport). The adaptation decision process relies on structural model transformations while its enforcement is based on the dynamic composition of micro-protocols and software components. Automated deployment is performed both at the transport (i.e. UDP-TCP level) and middleware level. The architecture to support automated network management based on these models is introduced and its performance is evaluated through the use of a Java prototype. [Article copies are available for purchase from InfoSci-on-Demand.com]