Server probing for server and agent based active network management

Abstract

In Server and Agent Based Active Network Management (SAAM) architecture, a server will make routing and other important decisions on behalf of the routers in its region. In order to make the right decisions and to support QoS (e.g., IntServ and DiffServ), the SAAM server needs to maintain an accurate region-wide view of network performance. This will be achieved as routers periodically send Link State Advertisement (LSA) messages to the SAAM server. Currently, the LSA messages report two key Link Performance Statistics, the average delay and the loss rate experienced by packets. Moreover, the server needs to perform sanity checks of these statistics by probing specific links. This thesis describes a server probing solution in which the SAAM server probes a router by dynamically injecting customized probing programs into the adjacent routers. In other words, the probing will be done with the active networking approach. An important feature of the server probing solution is that the probing activities cannot be detected by the router being probed.