Managing application services over service provider networks: architecture and dependency analysis

This paper proposes a novel approach for managing IP-based services and applications, reflecting the authors' experience with the IBM Global Network. It describes how one can extend the existing network and systems management paradigms to address problems in the management of application services hosted by Network Service Providers (NSP). We introduce the concept of 'service management domains' which are virtual domains built from resources and dependency relationships pertaining to physically monitored domains in the network management layer. They form the basis for managing fault, performance and service level agreements related to application service offerings.