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Architectural Highlights and Benefits
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Benefits |
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1. |
Data persistence using RDBMS |
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2. |
Multi-Tier Open Framework (refer to components overview) |
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3. |
Stateless, Loosely Coupled Architecture with XML messaging |
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4. |
Separation of database views and database commits |
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5. |
Thin and Rich Clients |
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Web NMS is designed to provide the following key management solution capabilities:
Multi-protocol support : The management server mediation framework for the southbound protocol mediation and the JMX agent for the northbound protocol mediation make it easier to support multiple protocols, such as CORBA, HTTP, RMI, SNMP, TL1, CLI/Telnet etc. It is also easy to integrate any proprietary protocol.
Deployment options : “Build once, deploy many ways support” using which the same management solution can be deployed as a craft management console (or) as an EMS / NMS system. The solution can also be integrated with OSS, provisioning and other decision support systems such as capacity planning tools etc.
Application integration : It is easy to integrate domain-specific applications, such as SONET, WDM, DSL, Storage etc. The support for application packaging independent of the platform enables easy installation and uninstallation of applications on the platform.
Evolution with business growth : The management solution can grow along with business, where components and services can be added to the deployed solution to meet the performance, scalability, and availability goals.
Ease of administration : Web NMS has a rich set of administration tools, which make the task of administration including service provisioning, configuration, performance tuning etc. easy.
Maintenance and upgrade : Web NMS is designed for easy maintenance with fast and low-risk upgrades.
The following diagram gives an overview of the different components in Web NMS and the interactions between them:
Fig 1 - AdventNet Web NMS Platform Architecture
Each one of the components of this n-tier design can be distributed. Also, there can be one or more components of each type, based on the performance, scalability and availability requirements. An overview of the key features and benefits of each component is given below:
Database Tier : Any RDBMS that provides a JDBC driver is supported. The key benefits of the database tier are as follows:
Enables quick and focused application development around data due to the availability of tools and expertise.
State can be maintained in the database, making it easier to distribute the different components and handle fail-over to meet the high-availability goals.
Leverage the benefits of transaction support, database synchronization, and object locking for data integrity, security and availability.
Management Server Tier : The management server provides XML mediation for all southbound management protocols such as SNMP, TL1, CORBA, TFTP, XML, CLI/Telnet etc. The benefits of the management server mediation tier are as follows:
Simple provider interface facilitates easy integration of any other protocol support. Supports dynamic deployment and mediation of new protocols.
The common management functions are handled in the mediation layer, making the protocol providers with protocol specific operations only.
Provides multiple interfaces for application development such as XML message interface, Java API etc. Supports many transports out-of-the-box such as TCP, RMI, CORBA, HTTP etc. Also, provides powerful registration capabilities for accessing the services of the mediation tier.
Back-end Server Tier :The back-end server tier consists of the core business logic related to management functions such as fault, configuration, performance, security, service provisioning etc. The benefits of the back-end server tier are
Rich out-of-the-box functions : The core management modules support advanced functions such as event correlation, alarm notification and management, template based provisioning, batch configuration and rollback etc. These modules are highly customizable and extensible.
Module management : The back-end tier provides a powerful module control interface for managing modules independently.
Security and Audit : All the back-end tier modules support authorization and audit, so that it is easy to trace the various administrative operations that result in provisioning, reconfiguration etc.
Front-end Server Tier : The front-end tier consists of the web container that provides web access to management information, the client communication management module and the session beans for the different management functions that generate views for the clients and forward commit requests to the back-end tier. The benefits offered by the front-end server tier are as follows:
Client communication : Option to choose from a range of transport protocols such as TCP, RMI, HTTP, HTTPS, SSL etc. Flexibility to have the transport of your choice, with the powerful transport provider interface.
Session beans : The stateless, EJB deployable session beans directly generate views from the database, based on client requests. Session beans can be customized to generate any view, based on requirements, making it easy to build rich clients. Various database tools, bundled with the product, make it easy to generate various views for the clients.
Updates to client : A powerful subscription-based notification model, making it easy for the FE to handle very high rates of updates to the client. In this model, clients register for updates (they are interested in) and the FE server notifies them on any change in data.
Client Tier : Multiple options such as Java client (for rich GUI) and HTML client (for web access over low speed links) are supported. The key features of the client are
Rich set of operator and administrator functions : The client facilitates administrative tasks such as user administration, discovery configuration, security administration, audit logs etc. It also provides excellent operator interface for management information in terms of fully functional network maps, alert administration, performance reports, etc.
Extensive customizability : Configuration files facilitate customization of menus, toolbars, tooltip-text, fonts, severity, color, icons, etc. The client can be extended by integrating custom management applications such as NMS Panels, NMS Frames, etc. The AdventNet Look and Feel Guideline (ALF Guide) makes it easy to build interfaces that are consistent with the Web NMS client interface.
Multi-lingual clients : The support for internationalization and localization makes it easy to build and deploy client interfaces that are independent of language, country, time zone etc.
Mediation Services Architecture
The Web NMS mediation tier provides a framework where various protocol-specific south-bound functions can be integrated to offer a protocol-neutral interface to the application. The mediation tier, available as the Management Server component, offers multiple interfaces for building applications, such as transport independent XML messaging, Java API and RMI/CORBA API access. The protocol-neutral interface, together with the rich set of out-of-the-box services offered by the mediation layer makes it possible to build management services that are independent of the management protocol.
The following diagram provides an overview of the architecture of the Web NMS mediation services:
Fig. 2 - Web NMS Mediation Services Architecture
The core business logic module of the Management Server component offers services, such as data collection (READ), data modification (WRITE), notification / asynchronous event processing, discovery etc. It offers a protocol provider interface using which various southbound management protocols, such as SNMP, TL1, CORBA, XML, RMI etc. can be integrated. The business logic module supports hot deployment of the south-bound providers, and automatic configuration of its services for the new providers. Using the service extension interface, all the business logic services can be extended to suit management solution requirements.
The service management and administration module facilitates deployment of south-bound protocol providers and configuration of the business logic and protocol providers attributes. The service access interface makes it easy to build multi-vendor, multi-technology, multi-protocol management solutions, by providing a protocol independent synchronous (request/response) and asynchronous (subscription-based notification-driven model) communication. The service access interface module also provides XML mediation and messaging over transports such as TCP, RMI, CORBA, JMS, etc. Other transport protocols can be easily integrated with the service access interface module.
Management Services Architecture
Web NMS management services are built on the N-tier architecture model provided by the framework services modules. Each service consists of data modeled as database tables and maintained in the database tier, back-end and front-end tier server components, a client tier with the administrator and operator interfaces and the tools required to customize and extend the services. The goals of this service architecture are
Functions of different modules in each tier is clearly defined, making it easy to build new services, applications. Each module is built to leverage relevant standard technology such as J2EE, EJB, XML, JFC, JNDI etc.
Customizable and extensible business logic layer, making it easy to create required views and operations on the management information.
Stateless business logic layer supports failover and high availability. Also maintaining states in the database facilitates other applications of management information.
The following diagram provides an overview of the architecture of the Web NMS management services
Fig. 3 - Web NMS Management Services Architecture
The various modules and components of each service, along with how they are distributed across the different tiers of the Web NMS framework are explained here.
The database tier hosts the data modeled as different database tables for each Web NMS service. The table data includes the states and status of the different components of a service, facilitating easy testing of applications for data integrity and transaction behavior. The table design also captures the relationship with tables in the other services, i.e., integrity constraints, foreign keys etc.
The business logic module of the back-end performs the various operations of the service, such as processing the requests from the service users and processing the events from the mediation services and the other services. The processing results in state transitions, status updates, notifications to service users, and commits to the database tables. Some of the important aspects of the processing module are the stateless server design, transaction encapsulation for handling database commits including the commits across the different services, and service customization / extension interfaces. Using the service customization interface, the service capabilities can easily be extended and customized to suit management solution requirements.
The following diagram provides an overview of the architecture of the back-end server tier of all Web NMS services:
Fig. 4 - Back-end server tier of Management Services
The back-end server tier also includes other modules, such as service management / administration module, the notification interface, service operations interface, the access control / authorization module, and the service access interface. The service management / administration module facilitates extensive configuration of the service and it includes XML configuration file(s) related to the service configuration. The service access interface provides multiple ways of accessing the service such as Java API, RMI, CORBA and message-based access.
The front-end server component of each service is built on the database and back-end tiers. The business logic module of the front-end tier directly works with the data available in the database tables to create the different views based on user requests. It uses the back-end server for any operation that will result in commits to the database and for the service management / administration requests. The back-end services are accessed using RMI and the message-based interface provided by the back-end server module. The FE business logic layer does not maintain any state and uses extensive caching of data to improve responsiveness. It also facilitates creating views based on tables belonging to different services, by providing extension interfaces. The FE business logic module is built on the subscription-based notification model, which results in service scalability in terms of the number of clients that can be handled and the number of updates that can be processed.
The following diagram provides an overview of the architecture of the front-end server tier of all Web NMS services:
Fig.5 - Front-end server tier of Management Services
The front-end server tier also includes other modules, such as the view generation tools, Web container, session management module, the access control / authorization module, service access interface, and northbound interfaces. The service access interface facilitates customization of the presentation layer and generation of views to suit management solution requirements.
The client tier is built on the services offered through the service access interface of the FE server module. The Java clients access FE services using a message interface over transports such as TCP, HTTP, SSL, RMI etc. The HTML client accesses FE services through the web container interface provided by the FE.
The following diagram provides an overview of the architecture of the client tier of all Web NMS services:
Fig. 6- Client tier of Management Services
The core of the Java client interface is the presentation of management information to suit management solution requirements. The Java client provides an extension interface that facilitates extensive customization of the presentation logic. The Java client is built on the ALF Guide, resulting in consistent user experience. All the parameters of ALF Guide can be configured, making it easy to customize the view to suit management solution requirements.
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