Implementing policy in enterprise networks

There is a need for a general policy management architecture that can guide one in understanding and implementing policy in diverse management applications. The question of policy in network management has evolved since the early ´70s concern with monitoring and controlling the access rights of multiple users and resources in large distributed systems. It is now generally acknowledged that policy also plays an important role in other areas of network management, including configuration, accounting, fault, and performance management. Furthermore, it is agreed that a general policy framework is needed for controlling the behavior of the agents the enterprise network comprises, including network users, administrators, troubleshooters, the applications running on the network, and the operational parameters of network hardware. The authors present a framework for understanding and implementing policy in the management of enterprise networks. We describe typical network scenarios in which policy plays a role, a general architecture for policy management and the components and operations of the architecture at a level of abstraction that renders it applicable to specific management tasks which require policy. We also provide an example of the architecture in configuration management. The article draws from work on policy management, including two ESPRIT projects