An architecture for building scalable, web-based management services

We present the architecture of Marvel, a distributed computing environment for building scalable management services using intelligent agents and the world-wide web. Marvel is based on an information model that generates computed views of management information and a distributed computing model that makes these views available to a variety of client applications. Computed views consist of monitoring, control and event views of information collected from network elements and subsequently aggregated using a series of spatial and temporal filters. Marvel does not replace existing element management agents but rather builds on top of them a hierarchy of servers that generate computed views and present them to client applications in a number of formats, including Java-enriched web pages. It uses a distributed persistent store to reduce the cost associated with centralized network management systems and mobile agent technology to: (a) support thin clients by uploading the necessary code to access Marvel services; and (b) extend its functionality dynamically by downloading code that incorporates new objects and services. A prototype implementation in Java is presented together with results from its first application on a residential broadband access system using cable modems. © 1999 Plenum Publishing Corporation.