A Generic Network and System Management Framework

Networks and distributed systems have formed the basis of an ongoing communications revolution that has led to the genesis of a wide variety of services. The constantly increasing size and complexity of these systems does not come without problems. In some organisations, the deployment of Information Technology has reached a state where the benefits from downsizing and rightsizing by adding new services are undermined by the effort required to keep the system running. Management of networks and distributed systems in general has a straightforward goal: to provide a productive environment in which work can be performed effectively. The work required for management should be a small fraction of the total effort. Most IT systems are still managed in an ad hoc style without any carefully elaborated plan. In such an environment the success of management decisions depends totally on the qualification and knowledge of the administrator. The thesis provides an analysis of the state of the art in the area of Network and System Management and identifies the key requirements that must be addressed for the provisioning of Integrated Management Services. These include the integration of the different management related aspects (i.e. integration of heterogeneous Network, System and Service Management). The thesis then proposes a new framework, INSMware, for the provision of Management Services. It provides a fundamental basis for the realisation of a new approach to Network and System Management. It is argued that Management Systems can be derived from a set of pre-fabricated and reusable Building Blocks that break up the required functionality into a number of separate entities rather than being developed from scratch. It proposes a high-level logical model in order to accommodate the range of requirements and environments applicable to Integrated Network and System Management that can be used as a reference model. A development methodology is introduced that reflects principles of the proposed approach, and provides guidelines to structure the analysis, design and implementation phases of a management system. The INSMware approach can further be combined with the componentware paradigm for the implementation of the management system. Based on these principles, a prototype for the management of SNMP systems has been implemented using industry standard middleware technologies. It is argued that development of a management system based on Componentware principles can offer a number of benefits. INSMware Components may be re-used and system solutions will become more modular and thereby easier to construct and maintain

Managing Next Generation Networks (NGNs) based on the Service-Oriented Architechture (SOA). Design, Development and testing of a message-based Network Management platform for the integration of heterogeneous management systems.

Next Generation Networks (NGNs) aim to provide a unified network infrastructure to offer multimedia data and telecommunication services through IP convergence. NGNs utilize multiple broadband, QoS-enabled transport technologies, creating a converged packet-switched network infrastructure, where service-related functions are separated from the transport functions. This requires significant changes in the way how networks are managed to handle the complexity and heterogeneity of NGNs. This thesis proposes a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) based management framework that integrates heterogeneous management systems in a loose coupling manner. The key benefit of the proposed management architecture is the reduction of the complexity through service and data integration. A network management middleware layer that merges low level management functionality with higher level management operations to resolve the problem of heterogeneity was proposed. A prototype was implemented using Web Services and a testbed was developed using trouble ticket systems as the management application to demonstrate the functionality of the proposed framework. Test results show the correcting functioning of the system. It also concludes that the proposed framework fulfils the principles behind the SOA philosophy

Transnational Municipal Networks: Local action on climate change through global networks

Transnational Municipal Networks (TMNs) are prominent networks in the international climate governance arena serving as drivers of and advocates for local action on climate change. The main objective of this exploratory research is to establish the relation between the internal governance structure of the TMNs and their ability to carry out certain types of activities. Internal governance encompasses the means through which a TMN regulates the authority and structure within the organization. External governance refers to interaction of the network with other stakeholders and the ability to respond to external pressures as well as to position the operation of the network in the multi-level climate governance arena. From the examined cases, namely ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI), C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40), and 100 Resilient Cities (100RC), and a networking event, it is clear that there is a considerable amount of similar internal governance practices utilised by networks with different historical backgrounds and structures. The applied analytical criteria, based on a framework developed by Kern and Bulkeley (2009), constituted such arrangements as information and communication, project funding and cooperation, and recognition, benchmarking and certification. These can be seen to be instrumental in delineating internal governance formation of the network. Considering key functional aspirations of TMNs which include learning, advocacy and financing, the examination of their internal governance architecture lead to the suggestion that there are preferred methods of internal governing capable of synergistic relation with the external governance dimensions and, hence, facilitating performance of their functions. Established patterns were evaluated in the context of international climate governance to reveal the importance of collaborative and cooperative interactions, climate negotiations and climate financing mechanisms in determining the factors potentially affecting the internal governance composition of TMNs

Mobile Oriented Future Internet (MOFI)

This Special Issue consists of seven papers that discuss how to enhance mobility management and its associated performance in the mobile-oriented future Internet (MOFI) environment. The first two papers deal with the architectural design and experimentation of mobility management schemes, in which new schemes are proposed and real-world testbed experimentations are performed. The subsequent three papers focus on the use of software-defined networks (SDN) for effective service provisioning in the MOFI environment, together with real-world practices and testbed experimentations. The remaining two papers discuss the network engineering issues in newly emerging mobile networks, such as flying ad-hoc networks (FANET) and connected vehicular networks

COMPONENT TECHNOLOGIES AND THEIR IMPACT UPON SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT

Software development is beset with problems relating to development productivity, resulting in projects delivered late and over budget. While the term software engineering was first introduced in the late sixties, its current state reflects no other engineering discipline. Component-orientation has been proposed as a technique to address the problems of development productivity and much industrial literature extols the benefits of a component-oriented approach to software development. This research programme assesses the use of component technologies within industrial software development. From this assessment, consideration is given to how organisations can best adopt such techniques. Initial work focuses upon the nature of component-orientation, drawing from the considerable body of industrial literature in the area. Conventional wisdom regarding componentorientation is identified from the review. Academic literature relevant to the research programme focuses upon knowledge regarding the assessment of software technologies and models for the adoption of emergent technologies. The method pays particular attention to literature concerning practitioner focussed research, in particular case studies. The application of the case study method is demonstrated. The study of two industrial software development projects enables an examination of specific propositions related to the effect of using component technologies. Each case study is presented, and the impact of component-orientation is each case is demonstrated. Theories regarding the impact of component technologies upon software development are drawn from case study results. These theories are validated through a survey of practitioners. This enabled further examination of experience in component-based development and also understanding how developers learn about the techniques. A strategy for the transfer of research findings into organisational knowledge focuses upon the packaging of previous experience in the use of component-orientation in such a way that it was usable by other developers. This strategy returns to adoption theories in light of the research findings and identifies a pattern-based approach as the most suitable for the research aims. A pattern language, placed in the context of the research programme, is developed from this strategy. Research demonstrates that component-orientation undoubtedly does affect the development process, and it is necessary to challenge conventional wisdom regarding their use. While component-orientation provides the mechanisms for increased productivity in software development, these benefits cannot be exploited without a sound knowledge base around the domain

Education as an Ethnic Defence Strategy: The Case of the Iraqi Disputed Territories

The oil-rich northern districts of Iraq were long considered a reflection of the country with a diversity of ethnic and religious groups; Arabs, Turkmen, Kurds, Assyrians, and Yezidi, living together and portraying Iraq’s demographic makeup. However, the Ba’ath party’s brutal policy of Arabisation in the twentieth century created a false demographic and instigated the escalation of identity politics. Consequently, the region is currently highly contested with the disputed territories consisting of 15 districts stretching across four northern governorates and curving from the Syrian to Iranian borders. The official contest over the regions administration has resulted in a tug-of-war between Baghdad and Erbil that has frequently stalled the Iraqi political system. Subsequently, across the region, minority groups have been pulled into a clash over demographic composition as each disputed districts faces ethnically defined claims. The ethnic basis to territorial claims has amplified the discourse over linguistic presence, cultural representation and minority rights; and the insecure environment, in which sectarian based attacks are frequent, has elevated debates over territorial representation to the height of ethnic survival issues. The existing literature and research on the region focuses heavily on the governance outcomes and little has been written about the impact of heightened identity politics on the everyday lives of citizens. It is in this respect that the thesis examines the evolution of the education system post 2003. Drawing on over 50 interviews with regional education officials and community representatives, the thesis presents the impact of amplified ethno-politics on the reconstruction of education in Iraq. The research provides the first academic exploration into education in the region, exploring the significance of cultural reproduction and the link between demands for ethnically specific education, societal security and the wider political contestation over the territory.ESRC - Conflict in Citie

IP Mobility Support in Multi-hop Vehicular Communications Networks

The combination of infrastructure-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-vehicle communications, namely the multi-hop Vehicular Communications Network (VCN) , appears as a promising solution for the ubiquitous access to IP services in vehicular environments. In this thesis, we address the challenges of multi-hop VCN, and investigate the seamless provision of IP services over such network. Three different schemes are proposed and analyzed. First, we study the limitations of current standards for the provision of IP services, such as 802.11p/WAVE, and propose a framework that enables multi-hop communications and a robust IP mobility mechanism over WAVE. An accurate analytical model is developed to evaluate the throughput performance, and to determine the feasibility of the deployment of IP-based services in 802.11p/WAVE networks. Next, the IP mobility support is extended to asymmetric multi-hop VCN. The proposed IP mobility and routing mechanisms react to the asymmetric links, and also employ geographic location and road traffic information to enable predictive handovers. Moreover, since multi-hop communications suffer from security threats, it ensures that all mobility signalling is authenticated among the participant vehicles. Last, we extend our study to a heterogeneous multi-hop VCN, and propose a hybrid scheme that allows for the on-going IP sessions to be transferred along the heterogeneous communications system. The proposed global IP mobility scheme focuses on urban vehicular scenarios, and enables seamless communications for in-vehicle networks, commuters, and pedestrians. The overall performance of IP applications over multi-hop VCN are improved substantially by the proposed schemes. This is demonstrated by means of analytical evaluations, as well as extensive simulations that are carried out in realistic highway and urban vehicular scenarios. More importantly, we believe that our dissertation provides useful analytical tools, for evaluating the throughput and delay performance of IP applications in multi-hop vehicular environments. In addition, we provide a set of practical and efficient solutions for the seamless support of IP tra c along the heterogeneous and multi-hop vehicular network, which will help on achieving ubiquitous drive-thru Internet, and infotainment traffic access in both urban and highway scenarios