1. XML-based Network Management
Hong-Taek Ju (주홍택)
Dept. of Computer Science and Engineering
Keimyung University, Daegu Korea
Tel:

2. Preliminary Expected Audience Tutorial Scope Tutorial Objectives
Some knowledge on network management.
Basic understanding of Web technology.
Graduate students, Researchers, Software Engineers.
Tutorial Scope
Introduction on XML technologies.
Focus on Internet management.
Focus on element and network, not on service and business management.
State of the art for research work and standard activities
Tutorial Objectives
Precise understanding on what is XML-based network management.
Concrete examples for applying XML to network management.
Future research topics on XML-based network management.

3. Contents Introduction What is XML? Applicability of XML
State of the Art for XML-based Network Management
Closing Remarks

4. 1. Introduction
XML is an emerging technology for Web-based applications and has been in the spotlight.
XML has many advantages
Simplicity, openness, extensible, inexpensive
Most people believe that XML will succeed much more than HTML, HTTP, Web, Java
Advantages in XML-based network management
Easy to learn: not management domain specific technology
Large supporting tools and technology: Low development cost
High compatibility with legacy management technology: Integrated management.
Low footprint on device: applicable to the network devices.

5. 1. Introduction My definition of XML-based Network Management:
“All alternative or complimentary approaches for the current management framework in order to solve the problems of current network management or improve the management environment by taking advantages of XML technologies”

6. 2. XML: What is XML? What does “XML” stands for?
eXtensible: not a fixed format, customizable.
Markup: used to define things.
Language: used to communicate or describe and encapsulate its information and pass it.
XML was designed to describe data.
Document Type Definition (DTD) or XML Schema is used.
XML is self-descriptive.
XML is free and extensible.
XML allows the author to define his own tags.
XML is a compliment to HTML.
XML will be used for describing data and HTML for displaying same data.
XML is a future Web technology.
Quick standard process, large support by vendor.
Common tool for all data manipulation and data transmission.
XML Joke
Question: When should I use XML?
Answer: When you need a buzzword in your resume.

7. 2. XML: Technology Map WAP, XHTML Standard DTD, XML Schema XSL XSLT
Input
Validate
Define
XPath
Program
Scripts
Database
Editor(file)
Generate
Input
Web
Brower
XML
Input
Input
Parse
Dump
SOAP
Exchange
Remote
System
DOM
Process
Program

8. 3. Applicability of XML Basic management tasks
Management Information Modeling.
Description framework for managed resource to managed object.
Management Information Realization.
Guarantees of consistency between managed resource and managed object.
Management Information Distribution.
Exchange of management information between management applications.
Management Information Analysis.
Process of management information production from collected information.
Management Information Presentation.
User interface for display management information or taking management command from operators.

9. 3. Basic Management Tasks
Agent
Modeling
Realization
Distribution
Manager
Presentation
Analysis

10. 3. Management Information Modeling
Standard Information model
XML Schema for management information modeling
Advantages
Easy to learn, not domain specific technology.
Use of powerful and convenient graphical XML editor.
Modeling result is concise and easy to read.
Secondary benefits – validation, sample data generation.
Disadvantage
No standard models, but easy to translate from standard information models.
SNMP
TMN
DMTF
XML
Tool
SMI
GDMO
CIM
XML Schema
Models
MIB-II
G.721
CIM v.6
No standard yet
Approach
Object-based
Object-oriented

11. 3. Management Information Realization
Standard management frameworks leave it completely unspecified - viewed as a “local matter”.
Model specification serves as a starting point for the coding of the agents.
For Web interface and CLI, the model specification was not provided.
For SNMP, MIB compilers have been used to generate MIB stubs.
The stubs are supplemented with the code for actual access to resources.
There is no common interface or data format between managed resource and management agents such as CLI, SNMP, Web.
Large development cost and footprint.
Consistency problem by multiple access to single managed resource.
XML for management information realization
XML can be used for middleware between agents and managed resources.
Low footprint solution.
Various method can be used for XML generation.

12. 3. Management information distribution
Communication between management applications
Agent ↔ Manger, Manager ↔ Manager
Standard management communications
North bound interface is usually based on CORBA.
XML and CORBA are interoperable technologies.
XML does not say anything about communication protocol, Implicitly HTTP is used.
Reliable, efficient by compression, highly secure, high connectivity.
Flexible by use of SOAP.
SNMP
TMN
DMTF
XML
Protocol
SNMP/UDP
CMIP
Operations/HTTP
SOAP or HTTP
Operation
Get, Set,
GetNext, Response
M-Get, M-Set , M-Create, M-Delete, M-Action
GetInstance, SetInstance, GetClass, etc. (23 Operations)
Unspecified
Notification
Trap
M-Event_Report
Encoding
ASN.1

13. 3. Management Information Analysis
This has not been standardized and based on data processing such as sorting, filtering, logging and correlating.
Management platforms provide basic management functionality and development environment.
Their price is usually very expensive.
Customization requires large amount of time and effort.
In most cases, they do not depend on standard technology.
Recently, CORBA has been used widely as an implementation platform for management systems.
XML for management information analysis.
XML is a standard data processing tool.
Many supporting tools (such as database) are available.
Lots of developers having XML knowledge.

14. 3. Management Information Presentation
This allows user interactive access to the management system.
+: Include telnet connection.
#: MS-Windows or X-Windows
*: Without use of XML technologies.
XML for management information presentation
Separation with display and data in Web environment.
Platform independent standard display technology.
Device dependant display support.
Ubiquitous management user interface.
User-friendly graphic interface.
Text+
Windows#
Web*
XML
Ubiquity
Best
Bad
Good
Interactivity
Development cost
Low
High
Middle
User-friendliness
Worst

15. 4. State of the Art for XML-based NM
Research work
Complimentary approaches to SNMP
eXtensible Network and Application Management Instrumentation.
SNMP to XML translator
XML/SNMP Gateway
Improvement approaches to Web-based network management
Direct Web Interface for Device Configuration
XML-based Device Configuration
New Management Architectures
XML-based Service Configuration
Web-based Integrated Management Architecture
XML-based Network Management Architecture
Standard Activities
Web Based Enterprise Management (WBEM)

16. 4. XNAMI
eXtensible Network and Application Management Instrumentation (XNAMI)
A. John, et al., Bell Labs, 1999
A method for dynamic MIB expansion.
XML is used for information modeling.
7. GetRequest (OID for x.y.z definition)
8. GetResponse ( XML Definition of x.y.z )
9. SetRequest (Delete x.y.z)
10. GetResponse ( ok )
3. SetRequest ( XML Definition and Java Code for x.y.z)
4. GetResponse ( ok )
1. GetRequest (x.y.z)
2. GetResponse (no such object)
5. GetRequest (x.y.z)
6. GetResponse ( value of x.y.z )

17. 4. SNMP to XML Translator (1)
Automatic translation from SNMP MIB definition to XML.
Model-level mapping & Metamodel-level mapping.
J.P. Martin-Flatin, EPFL, Aug. 2000
Gave only idea and examples for the two approaches
The two approaches were implemented in libsmi package.
But there was no validation or application for the approaches.
SNMP MIB to XML Schema mapping
J. H. Yoon, DPNM Lab., POSTECH, Oct. 2001
Formalized the two approaches into a concrete algorithm.
Reduced information loss in the translation process by taking advantages of XML Schema.
Validated its completeness by developing a simple SNMP MIB browser based on XML.

18. 4. SNMP to XML Translator (2)
Model-level mapping
SNMP MIB to DTD/XML Schema and XML documents
SNMP MIB
XML DTD
ifTable OBJECT-TYPE
SYNTAX SEQUENCE OF IfEntry
::= { interfaces 2 }
ifEntry OBJECT-TYPE
SYNTAX IfEntry
::= { ifTable 1 }
IfEntry ::=
SEQUENCE {
ifSpeed Gauge32 }
ifSpeed OBJECT-TYPE
SYNTAX Gauge32
::= { ifEntry 5 }
<!ELEMENT ifTable ifEntry* >
<!ELEMENT ifEntry ifSpeed >
<!ELEMENT ifSpeed (#PCDATA) >
XML Document
<ifTable>
<ifEntry>
<ifSpeed>
</ifSpeed>
</ifEntry>

19. 4. SNMP to XML Translator (3)
Metamodel-level mapping
SNMP MIB to XML documents
XML DTD
<!ELEMENT table column* >
<!ATTRIBUTE table name CDATA >
<!ELEMENT column scalar+>
<!ATTRIBUTE column name CDATA>
<!ELEMENT scalar (#PCDATA)>
<!ATTRIBUTE scalar name CDATA>
SNMP MIB
ifTable OBJECT-TYPE
SYNTAX SEQUENCE OF IfEntry
::= { interfaces 2 }
ifEntry OBJECT-TYPE
SYNTAX IfEntry
::= { ifTable 1 }
IfEntry ::=
SEQUENCE {
ifSpeed Gauge32 }
ifSpeed OBJECT-TYPE
SYNTAX Gauge32
::= { ifEntry 5 }
XML Document
<table name=“ifTable”>
<column name=“ifEntry”>
<scalar name=“ifSpeed”>
</scalar>
</column>
</table>

20. 4. SNMP to XML Translator (4)
Applications of SNMP to XML translator
Encoding SNMP MIB data
2. Information analysis or presentation for SNMP MIB data
3. Specification translation for SNMP to XML gateway
Web Server
XML/HTTP
SNMP Agent
SNMP
SNMP
XML GW

21. 4. XML/SNMP Gateway What is XML/SNMP Gateway? XML/SNMP Gateway
Relays management information and operations between SNMP agent and XML-based manager system.
While preserving the legacy SNMP agent, one can develop XML-based manager by using XML technology.
Two basic requirements for the gateway
Specification translation: SNMP MIB  XML
For understanding the management information exported by SNMP agent.
Interaction translation: SNMP Operations  XML Operations
For supporting interaction between two management applications
XML/SNMP Gateway
Y. J. Oh, DPNM Lab., POSTECH, May 2002
For specification translation, Yoon’s SNMP to XML translator is used .
For interaction translation
XML does not specify the standard communication protocol.
Proposed three levels of interaction translation methods: Process, Message, Protocol

22. 4. XML/SNMP Gateway Architecture
XML-based Manager
HTTP Request & Reponse
SOAP Request & Reponse
Notification
XML/SNMP
Gateway
HTTP Server
HTTP
Client
Direct Call of DOM Interface
Request Parser
SOAP Server
XPath Handler
DOM
DOM Interface Call
DOM Event
MIB to XML
Translator
XSL
Generator
Target node
Trap node
DOM
value
SNMP Stack
Trap Receiver
SNMP Trap
SNMP Request
SNMP Response
SNMP Agent

23. 4. Direct Web Interface to Managed Devices
Traditional Approach
Result of embedding small Web server into network device.
Ubiquitous, simple but powerful, user-friendly device management user interface.
XML Approach (EmWeb XML parser)
XML generation by program is enough small solution to be embedded.
Separate display format and data generation.
XML parser can save development cost by generating backend stub code based on XML schema.
Embedded Web Server
HTML or Java / HTTP
Embedded Web Server
XML & XSL / HTTP

24. 4. XML-based Device Configuration
Today’s configuration management.
SNMP is hardly used.
Weak in information modeling power
Action in side effect, simple MIB structure, etc,
The CLI and direct Web interface are mostly used.
Proprietary:
Different from vendor to vendor, product to product, release to release.
Disadvantage in scalability.
XML-based device configuration
From Juniper Networks JUNOScripts
and Cisco Configuration Register
Proprietary
But scalable
And extensible
<SetConfiguration><bgp>
<port> </port>
<neighbor> </neighbor>
</bgp></SetConfiguration>
XML RPC

25. 4. XML-based Application Management
C. Ensel & A. Keller, IBM Research, May 2001
Apply XML, Xpath and RDF to describe, query and compute the service dependencies, respectively.
RDF (Resource Description Framework)
A general framework for how to describe any Internet resource such as a Web site and its content.
XML is used for describing the resources.
RDF Schema
Service dependency
RDF description
e-business application
e-business application
Service Dependency
Xpath
Query
Customer database
e-business application

26. 4. WIMA Web-based Integrated Management Architecture (WIMA).
J.P. Martin-Flatin, Ph.D Thesis, EPFL, Aug
HTTP-based management communication model.
Dissociation of communication and information model
URL encoding of management operation.
Specifying information model and encoding in the MIME header.
XML was suggested as one of encoding format.
For notification delivery, reverse the HTTP client and server roles.
HTTP Client
HTTP Server
HTTP/1.1 POST /agent.domain:280/trap?oid=a.b.c
Content-Type:”application/mgmt”;
mapping=“SNMPv1-to-XML
<?xml version=“1.0” ?>
<data> …</data>
HTTP/ OK
HTTP Server
HTTP Client
HTTP/ OK
Content-Type:”application/mgmt”;
mapping=“SNMPv1-to-XML
<?xml version=“1.0” ?>
<data> …</data>
manager
agent

27. 4. XNM XML-based Network Management architecture (XNM)
H. T. Ju, Ph.D Thesis, POSTECH, Oct. 2001
Extended the use of EWS from direct Web user interface to Web-based management agent by using standard Web and XML technologies.
Management information model
Use XML schema for management information model
Standard management information models does not cover a significant amount of managed resource to be managed.
XML Schema is a widespread approach in many application areas.
Utilize the advantages of XML schema for modeling.
Management communication model
Uses HTTP for management protocol without any extension.
Uses the XPath standard for addressing managed objects
Standard XML technology for addressing parts of an XML document.
Effectively query the managed objects (Scoping and Filtering).
Implemented the manager and agent system based on proposed architecture.
Developed a management system for a commercial high density Linux server clusters based on our proposed architecture.

28. </xmlCIM> Transport Encoding
4. WBEM Architecture
Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) Initiative.
WBEM Architecture
Data Description
CIM
CIM Ops.
HTTP
Access
</xmlCIM> Transport Encoding

29. 4. WBEM Example
HTTP/ OK
Content-Type: application/xml; charset="utf-8"
73-CIMOperation: MethodResponse
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<CIM CIMVERSION="2.0" DTDVERSION="2.0">
 <MESSAGE ID="87872" PROTOCOLVERSION="1.0">
  <SIMPLERSP>
   <IMETHODRESPONSE NAME="GetClass">
    <IRETURNVALUE>
      <CLASS NAME=“Joke" SUPERCLASS="CIM_SoftwareElement">
      ...
     
</CLASS>
    </IRETURNVALUE>
   </IMETHODRESPONSE>
  </SIMPLERSP>
 </MESSAGE>
</CIM>
M-POST /cimom HTTP/1.1
HOST:
Content-Type: application/xml; charset="utf-8"
73-CIMOperation: MethodCall
73-CIMMethod: GetClass
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<CIM CIMVERSION="2.0" DTDVERSION="2.0">
 <MESSAGE ID="87872" PROTOCOLVERSION="1.0">
  <SIMPLEREQ>
   <IMETHODCALL NAME="GetClass">
    <LOCALNAMESPACEPATH>
     <NAMESPACE NAME="root"/>
     <NAMESPACE NAME="cimv20"/>
    </LOCALNAMESPACEPATH>
    <IPARAMVALUE NAME="ClassName">
<CLASSNAME NAME="Joke"/>
</IPARAMVALUE>
   </IMETHODCALL>
  </SIMPLEREQ>
 </MESSAGE>
</CIM>

30. 4. WBEM
WBEM standards are being implemented now by several groups as open source.
The WBEMsource initiative is an umbrella organization for providing coordination between open source WBEM projects
The Open Group's Pegasus project 
OpenWBEM
Sun WBEM Services
B4wbem
SNIA Open Source CIMOM
Equipment vendors and operating system suppliers begin to support WBEM.
Cisco
Microsoft
Sun
Can WBEM replace SNMP?
This was the panel topic in IM 2001, Seattle.
Panel chair: J. P. Martin-Flatin
Panelists: James W. K. Hong (POSTECH), Aiko Pras (U. of Twente), Jürgen Schönwälder (U. Braunschweig), Andrea Westerinen (Cisco), Jim Davis (Sun)

31. 5. Concluding Remarks
XML provides a standard way to manage data on the Web - describe, process, exchange and display data.
It has many advantages and become ubiquitous technology.
There has been many activities for improving today’s network management environment by taking advantages of XML.
But not enough yet.
Also, XML is no silver bullet, it a only tool, whose benefits lie primarily in the manner of its usage.

32. Thank you
Thanks you very much for your attention.

33. Useful References (1) General information about XML
Recommendations
w3c XML Recommandation – Annotated,
w3c XSL version 1.0 Recommendation,
w3c XSLT version 1.0 Recommendation,
w3c XSLT version 1.1 Working Draft,
Portal Sites
A Technical Introduction to XML –
The XML Cover Pages – Oasis,
XML Portal,
W3C, XML,
XMLHack - developer news from the XML community,
Tutorials
XML Introduction - Database Lab. Univ. Chung Nam, Korean,
Java Technology & XML Tutorial,
Tutorials XML/HTML, org/index.php?nav_id=tutorials&mime=html
2. Web and XML-based Management
DPNM, POSTECH:
WBEM,
EmWeb,
Juniper,

34. Useful References (3) 3. Papers for XML-based network management
John, A.; Vanderveen, K.; Sugla, B., A Java based SNMP agent for dynamic MIBs , Global Telecommunications Conference, GLOBECOM '99 , Volume: 1a , Page(s): vol. 1a
Festor, O.; Festor, P.; Ben Youssef, N.; Andrey, L., Integration of WBEM-based management agents in the OSI framework , Integrated Network Management, Distributed Management for the Networked Millennium. Proceedings of the Sixth IFIP/IEEE International Symposium on , Page(s):
Imamura, T.; Maruyama, H., Mapping between ASN.1 and XML , Applications and the Internet, Proceedings Symposium on , Page(s):
Tellez, J.; Meriem, T.B., Management solutions for WDM networking , Networks, (ICON 2000). Proceedings. IEEE International Conference on , Page(s):
John, A.; Vanderveen, K.; Sugla, B., XNAMI-An extensible XML-based paradigm for network and application management instrumentation , Networks, (ICON '99) Proceedings. IEEE International Conference on , Page(s):
Natarajan, R.; Mathur, A.P.; McKee, P., A XML based policy-driven management information service , 2001 IEEE/IFIP International Symposium on Integrated Network Management Proceedings, Seattle, May 2001, pp
Lewis, D.; Mouritzsen, J.D., The role of XML in TMN evolution , 2001 IEEE/IFIP International Symposium on Integrated Network Management Proceedings, Seattle, May 2001, pp
Ensel, C.; Keller, A., Managing application service dependencies with XML and the resource description framework , 2001 IEEE/IFIP International Symposium on Integrated Network Management Proceedings, Seattle, Mya 2001, pp
Hong-Taek Ju, Mi-Jung Choi, Sehee Han, Yunjung Oh, Jeong-Hyuk Yoon, Hyojin Lee and James W. Hong, "An Embedded Web Server Architecture for XML-Based Network Management", Proc. of the IEEE/IFIP Network Operations and Management Symposium (NOMS 2002), Florence, Italy, April 2002, pp