Local area network management for distributed applications

Abstract Increasingly, the user of computer services is finding that the services he or she needs are within the capabilities of the departmental or desktop computer. Within organizations there is a trend, therefore, for specialized services to be provided centrally and for others to be devolved either to the user or remotely managed services. In order to support this trend an infrastructure of communications must be provided, maintained and managed. Management responsibility for components may be hierachically structured or assumed centrally. This paper discusses the elements of management of networks serving an organization.