On the Management Performance of Networked Environments Using Web Services Technologies

Abstract

The management of telecommunication and data networks has been based on standards defined in historical contexts quite different than the current times. As a consequence, traditional management technologies are not able to address important challenges posed by the modern infrastructures. Web Services technologies enable the proper communication of processes deployed on quite hostile environments such as the Internet. The use of Web Services for management allows the integration of low-level activities (e.g., retrieving monitoring information from gateways) with high-level business processes (e.g., creating a new product and its marketing strategy.) Despite clear advantages, Web Services-based management does not come for free; since Web Services are based on XML documents, its performance, compared with traditional management technologies, may represent an important drawback. This chapter covers the aspects of using Web Services for management focusing on the different interactions between managers and devices and the performance associated with it.