A comprehensive network management function built into the interconnection network provides a means of meeting user needs of fault tolerance, performance, accounting, and security. However, meeting these needs on a heterogeneous interconnection network is several levels more complex than on a homogeneous network because of the existence of multiple protocol stacks for communication. An architecture that will solve this problem by analyzing the heterogeneous interconnection network as a single entity is proposed. The authors present the design issues evaluated in choosing this approach and establish the need for the various components in this architecture. An overview is presented of each of the components, and their place in the architecture is pointed out.>

The authors present the framework for a downline load service to which users subscribe to be properly loaded with their required code images. They review the user's requirements and present the outline of a service definition and protocol that satisfies the requirements. The analysis of downline-load protocol performance is given from the point of view of the time required to downline load a large number of devices. The authors also examine the impact of the total traffic generated by downline loading. Two downline-loading algorithms are studied and their performance characteristics compared.>

Managing the communications resources of a computer network is critical to the successful operation of the network. A network management system is expected to manage a large collection of network nodes remotely. There is an obvious need for sophisticated network management application software in this process. Previous network management systems have been designed without particular regard for the application programmer's interface requirements. We propose that such software be written in a specialized Network Management Language (NML) that provides the programmer with high-level abstractions rather than low-level communication primitives. The NML would help reduce development costs, promote portability and accommodate multiple standards. We propose an NML which is an extension to the SQL database standard. An implementation of the NML within the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) systems management framework is discussed, and examples of its functionality and expressiveness are presented.