NMS provide a persistent repository, typically, a commercial database product such as Informix, Oracle, or Ingres. It is this database that the NMS tries to keep synchronized with the network state. This is also the database used by remote management clients . By storing most of the managed data centrally , the outlying components of the NMS can be made as thin as required, even hosted on standard COTS applications such as Web browsers. It also facilitates data security to a degree because the database can be hosted in a secure location with access granted only to authorized clients. Once a network topology has been discovered and stored in the database, the user can execute management operations against it such as:
The database is therefore a key component of the NMS. All of the FCAPS applications use it. Commercial database products are often complex, sophisticated software products in their own right. NNM Data WarehousingNNM provides an embedded relational database into which it stores its management data. |