Regulation – 2018 18CS742 – NETWORK MANAGEMENT

Module- 2
Basic Foundations: Standards, Models, and Language
Many Network Management Standards are developed by various organisations. The major
standards are given in the following table.

Standard Salient Points

OSI / CMIP  International standard (ISO / OSI)
 Management of data communications network - LAN and WAN
 Deals with all 7 layers
 Most complete
 Object oriented
 Well structured and layered
 Consumes large resource in implementation
SNMP /  Industry standard (IETF)
Internet
 Originally intended for management of Internet components,
currently adopted for WAN and telecommunication systems
 Easy to implement
 Most widely implemented
TMN  International standard (ITU-T)
 Management of telecommunications network
 Based on OSI network management framework
 Addresses both network and administrative aspects of
management
IEEE  IEEE standards adopted internationally
 Addresses LAN and MAN management
 Adopts OSI standards significantly
 Deals with first two layers of OSI RM
Web-based  Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM)
Management
 Java Management Application Program Interface (JMAPI)

In contrast to the CMIP protocol, the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) prescribed in
the above table is truly simple as its name indicates. It started as an industry standard and has since
become very much like standard specifications of a standards organization. The Internet Engineering
Task Force(IETF) is responsible for all Internet specifications including network management. The
managed objects are defined as scalar objects in SNMP. It was primarily intended to manage Internet
components but is now used to manage WAN and telecommunications systems. It is easy to
implement and most widely used today.
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 Regulation – 2018 18CS742 – NETWORK MANAGEMENT

The third model is TMN model. It is designed to manage the telecommunication network and is
oriented toward the needs of telecommunications service providers. TMN is ITU-T (international
Telecommunications Union – Telecommunication) standard and is based on OSI CMIP / CMIS
specifications. TMN extends the concept of management beyond managing networks and network
components.
Enhanced Telecommunications Operations Map(eTOM) is a guidebook for business processes in the
telecommunication industry. It is an extension of TMN. The TMN is a bottom up approach that has
been developed from networks and network equipment, whereas eTOM is a top-down approach. The
eTOM framework has been incorporated within the TMN framework as a set of standards.
The IEEE standards for Local Area Network(LAN) and Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)
specifications shown in the above table 1 are only concerned with OSI physical layer and Data Link
layer. These specifications are structured similar to OSI specifications. Both OSI / CMIP and Internet
/ SNMP protocols use IEEE standards for the lower layers. The IEEE 802.x series of specifications
define the standards for the various physical media and data link protocols. IEEE 802.1 specifications
present overview, architecture, and management. The IEEE 802.2 standard specifies the Logical Link
Control(LLC) layer.

NETWORK MANAGEMENT MODEL

• OSI network management architecture model comprises of 4 models: organization model,

information model, communication model & functional model (Figure: 1).
• The functional model deals with the user-oriented requirements of network management.
• The information model deals with the structure & organization of management information.
• The communication model has 3 components: management application processes that
function in the application layer, layer management between layers and layer operation within
the layers.
• The organization model describes the components of a network management system, their
functions and their infrastructure.

Figure 3.1. OSI Network Management Model

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 Regulation – 2018 18CS742 – NETWORK MANAGEMENT

ORGANIZATION MODEL
The organization model describes the components of network management & their relationships.

Two Tier Network Management Organization Model

• In two tier model (Figure: 2), network objects consist of network elements such as hosts,
hubs, bridges, routers etc.
• They can be classified into managed & unmanaged objects or elements.
• The managed elements have a management process running in them called an agent.
• The manager manages the managed element.
• There is a database in the manager but not in the agent.
• The manager queries the agent & receives management data, processes it & stores it in its
database.
• In 3 tier model, the intermediate layer acts as both agent & manager (Figure: 3),
• As manager, it collects data from the network elements, processes it & stores the results in
its database.
• As agent, it transmits information to the top-level manager.
 For example, an intermediate system is used for making statistical measurements on a
network and passes the information as needed to the top-level manager. An intermediate
NMS could be at local site of a network and the information passed on to a remote site.

Network Management Model with MoM

• Network domains can be managed locally and a global view of the networks can be
monitored by a MoM (Manager of managers).
• This configuration uses an enterprise network management system & is applicable to
organizations with sites distributed across cities (Figure: 4).

Figure 2: Tow Tier Network Management Model

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 Regulation – 2018 18CS742 – NETWORK MANAGEMENT

Figure 3: Three Tier Network Management Model

Figure 4: Network Management Model with MoM

Network Management Systems can also be configured on a peer – to – peer relationship as shown in
figure 5. This is the dumbbell architecture. This is similar to the client – server architecture where a
host serves both a client and a server. An example of such situation is two network service providers
needing to exchange management information between them. From the user’s point of view, the
information traverses both networks and needs to be monitored end – to – end.

Figure 5: Dual Role of Management Process

INFORMATION MODEL
An information model is concerned with the structure and storage of information. let us consider,
how information is structured and stored in a library and is accessed by all. A book is uniquely

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 Regulation – 2018 18CS742 – NETWORK MANAGEMENT

identified by an International Standard Book Number(ISBN). It is a ten-digit number identification

that refers to a specific edition of a specific book. A specific figure in the book can be referred by
identifying a chapter number and a figure number. For example, figure 3.1 refers to figure 1 in 3 rd
chapter. Thus, a hierarchy of designation {ISBN, Chapter, Figure} uniquely identifies the object
which is figure in the book.
The representation of objects and information that are relevant to their management forms that
management information model. The information on network components is passed between the
agent and the management processes. The information model specifies the information base to
describe managed objects and the relationship between managed objects. The structure defining the
syntax and semantics of management information is specified by Structure of Management
Information(SMI). The information base is called the Management Information Base(MIB). The MIB
is used by both agent and management processes to store and exchange management information.
The MIB associated with an agent is called an agent MIB and the MIB associated with a manager is
designated as the manager MIB. The manger MIB consists of information on all the network
components that is manages; whereas the MIB associated with an agent process needs to know only
its local information, its MIB view.
Figure 6 includes the MIB that is associated with the manager. Thus, the manager has both the
management database(MDB) and the MIB. The MDB is a real (physical) database and contains the
measured or administratively configured value of the elements (objects) of the network. On the other
hand, the MIB is a virtual database and contains the information necessary for processes to exchange
information among themselves. MIB is integrated with the system functions.

Figure 6: Network Configuration with Data and Information Base

The difference between MIB and MDB can very well be shown by discussing a scenario. Assume
that all hubs in a network are from a single vendor, say CISCO. The manager, shown in figure 6 has
knowledge about the CISCO hub and its parameters in its MIB. The values associated with these
parameters are in its MDB. Suppose we now add another CISCO hub to the network, the manager
would discover the newly added hub during its next discovery (pinging) process. Since new hub is

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 Regulation – 2018 18CS742 – NETWORK MANAGEMENT

another instance of the hub with new IP address, and its MIB information are available, all its
parameters will be added by the manager. Suppose, if any new hub from different vendor is added
to the network, the manager cannot add its parameters as its MIB information will not be available
with the manager.

Management Information Tree

The managed objects are uniquely defined in a tree structure. This structure has been specified by the
OSI model and used in the Internet model also.The following figure depicts the tree representation
known as Management Information Tree (MIT). There is root node and well-defined nodes
underneath each node at different levels, desingated as Level 1, Level 2 and so on. Each managed
object in the network occupies a node in the tree. In the OSI model, the managed objects are defined
by a containment tree representing the MIT.

Figure 7 : Generic Representation of Management Information Tree

Internaationally adopted OSI MIT is shown in figure 8. The root node does not have an explicit
designation. The root has three nodes in the layer beneath it – iso, ccitt (itu), and iso – ccitt, (iso –
itu). Thhe iso defined the international Standards Organization and ccitt or itu defines the
Internationaal Telecommunications Union. The two standards organizations are on the first layer
defining managing objects under them. The joint iso – itu node is for management objects jointly
defined by the two organizations. The number in each circle identifies the designation of the object
in each layer. Thus iso os designated as 1, org as 1.3, dod, Department of Defense, as 1.3.6, and the
internet as 1.3.6.1. All Internet – managed objects will be that number followed by more dots and
numbers. It is to be noted that the names of the nodes are all in lowercase letters as a convention.

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 Regulation – 2018 18CS742 – NETWORK MANAGEMENT

Figure 8 : OSI Management Information Tree

Figure 8 shows the OSI MIT. The root node does not have an explicit designation. The root has
three node in the layer under it, iso, ccitt(itu) and iso – ccitt, (iso – itu).
• iso International Standards Organization
itu International Telecommunications Union
dod Department of Defense
• Designation:
• iso 1
• org 1.3
• dod 1.3.6
• internet 1.3.6.1
The number in circles identifies the designation of the respective object in various layers. For
example, iso is designated as 1, org as 1.3, dod as 1.3.6 and the internet as 1.3.6.1. Any Internet –
managed objects will have their designation as 1.3.6.1 followed by more dots and numbers.

Managed Object Perspective

A managed object need not be a physical element. An object has many atributes. Attributes can be
accessed by the user. The people who have access to attributes can view and change them.For example
Packet counter is an object and the count value is it attribute. The user who has accees to this value
can set / reset the count value. The user can define the basic objects that are required of a group as
the status of the object. Unique identification and name that are associated with each object can be
defined. Therefore, the five attributes of an object are name, definition, syntax, access and status. The
following figures 9 & 10 shows the internet and OSI perspective of object definition.

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 Regulation – 2018 18CS742 – NETWORK MANAGEMENT

Figure 9: Internet Persepective of Object Definition

Figure 10: OSI Persepective of Object Definition

For example, the object Packet Counter can be defined as shown in the below table:

Internet Persepective
Object Type Packet Counter
Syntax Counter
Access Read Only
Status Mandatory
Description Counts number of packets

OSI Perspective
Object Class Packet Counter
Attributes Single – valued
Operations Get, Set
Behaviour Retrieves or resets values
Notifications Generates notifications on new value

In OSI persepective, the operation that can be done on the object attrbutes can be defined. Also, the
behaviour and the when the object will generate notifications are also included in the OSI model.

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 Regulation – 2018 18CS742 – NETWORK MANAGEMENT

COMMUNICATION MODEL
In communication model, the applications in the manger module initiate requests to the agent in the
Internet Model. It is the part of the operations in the OSI model. The agent executes the request on
the network element (managed object) and returns responses to the manager. The following figure 11
shows the communication model.

Figure 11: Management Communiation Model

Figure 12: Management Communication Transfer Protocols

The above figure 12 shows the communication protocol used to transfer information between
managed object and managing processes, as well as between management processes. The OSI model
uses CMIP along with CMIS. The Internet uses SNMP for communication. These services are part
of operations using requests, responses and alarm notifications.
OSI uses both connection – oriented as well as connectionless protocols fro transportation. The
Internet uses connectionless UDP / IP protocol for transporting messages. CMIP and SNMP specify
the management communication protocols for OSI and Internet management. The application
processes invoke the management communication layer protocols. OSI deals with messages in the
specification of managed objecs. Managed objects and their attributes could be manipulated by
operations. Basic application service modules are defined by CMIS. In the Internet, operations are
executed by SNMP messages.

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 Regulation – 2018 18CS742 – NETWORK MANAGEMENT

Abstract Syntax Notation One : ASN. I

The structure of Management Information (SMI) needs to be specified syntactically and semantically.
It is important for communication among systems that there should be a formalized set of
communication rules (protocol) and a language with syntax and semantics. There are numerous sets
of application and transport protocols. It is beneficial to have a syntactical format for the language
that specifies the management protocol in the application layer, which is transparent to the rest of the
protocol layers.

ASN. I is such a language. It is old and well proven language. ASN.I is a formal language developed
jointly by CCITT (now ITU-T) and ISO for use with application layers far data transfer between
systems. It is also applicable within the system for clearly separating the abstract syntax and the
transfer syntax at the presentation layer. Abstract syntax is the set of rules used to specify data types
and structure for storage of information. The transfer syntax represents the set of rules for
communicating information between systems. The abstract syntax in ASN.1 makes it independent of
the lower-layer protocols. ISO 8824/X.208 standards-specify ASN.I. The algorithm to convert the
textual ASN.I syntax to machine-readable code is called Basic Encoding Rules (BER) and it is
defined in ISO 88251X.209 standards.

ASN.1 CONVENTIONS
ASN.1 is based on the Backus system & uses the formal syntax language & grammar of the
BNF (Backus-Nauer Form) ,which looks like

<name>::=<definition>
where the notation <entity> denotes an "entity" and the symbol ::=
represents "defined as" e.g.: <BooleanType>::= BOOLEAN
<BooleanType>:= TRUE | FALSE

The definitions on the right side are called primitives

The format of each line is defined as a production or assignment
Entities that are all in capital letter such as TRUE and FALSE are called
keywords

• A group of assignments makes up an module. eg: person-name Person-Name ::=

{
first
"john"
middle

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 Regulation – 2018 18CS742 – NETWORK MANAGEMENT

"T" last
"smith"
}
Here "person-name" is the name of the module which is a data type. "Person-Name" is a
module

• Following are 3 constructive mechanisms:

→ alternatives: CHOICE
→ list: SET and SEQUENCE
→ repetition: SET OF and SEQUENCE OF
• ASN.1 definition allows both backward & forward references as well as inline definition.

Figure 13 : ANS .I Keywords

ASN.I DATA TYPE

Simple Type
• A simple type one for which the values are specified directly. For example, we can define a
page of a book as PageNumber of simple type.
i.e.
PageNumber::=INTE
GER

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ChapterNumber::=INT
EGER
Structured Type
• A data type is a structured type when it contains other type.
• Types that are within a structured type are called component types. For example ,we can define
all the pages of the book as a collection of individual pages.
i.e.BookPages::=SEQUENCE OF
{
SEQUENCE {ChapterNumber , Separator ,PageNumber}
}
• SET is distinguished from SEQUENCE in 2 respects:
1) The data types should all be distinct and
2) The order of values in SET is of no consequence whereas it is critical in the SEQUENCE
construct.
Tagged Type
• Tagged type is a type derived from another type that is given a new tag id.
• A tagged type is defined to distinguish types within an application.

• Other type is a data type that is not predefined.

• This is chosen from CHOICE and ANY types, which are contained in other types.
• Type CHOICE defines the selection of one value from a specified list of distinct types.

Figure 13: ASN.I Data Types Structure and Tag

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ENCODING STRUCTURE

 The ASN.1 syntax that contains the management information is encoded using the BER
defined for the transfer syntax.
 The ASCII text data is converted to bit-oriented data.
 Example of encoding structure is TLV which denotes type, length & value components of
structure (Figure 14).
 The type has 3 subcomponents: class, P/C & tag number (Figure 15).
 P/C specifies whether the structure is a primitive, or simple, type or a construct.
 This is encoded as a one byte (an octet) field.
 The value of P/C is 0 for primitive & 1 for construct.

Figure 14: TLV Encoding Strucutre

Figure 15: Values of class in Type

MACROS

The data types and values that discussed so far use ASN.I notation of syntax directly and explicitly,
ASN.I language permits extension of this capability to define new data types and values by defining
ASN.l macros. The ASN.I macros also facilitate grouping of instances of an object or concisely
defining various characteristics associated with an object. The structure of a macro shown below:

<macroname> MACRO :=
BEGIN
TYPE NOTATION :: = <syntaxOfNewType>
VALUE NOTATION ::= <syntaxOfNewValue>
<auxiliaryAssignments>
End

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FUNCTIONAL MODEL
 The functional model component addresses the user-oriented applications, which are
formally specified in the OSI model (Figure: 16).
 The functional model consists of 5 sub-models: configuration management, fault
management, performance management, security management and accounting
management.

Figure 16: Functional Model

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