Abstract

Recent endeavors in addressing the challenges of the current and future Internet pursue a clean slate design methodology. Simultaneously, it is argued that the Internet is unlikely to be changed in one fell swoop and that its next generation requires an evolutionary design approach. Recognizing both positions, we claim that cleanness and evolution are not mutually exclusive, but rather complementary and indispensable properties for sustainable management in the future Internet. In this paper we propose the in-network management (INM) paradigm, which adopts a clean slate design approach to the management of future communication networks that is brought about by evolutionary design principles. The proposed paradigm builds on embedded management capabilities to address the intrinsic nature, and hence, close relationship between the network and its management. At the same time, INM assists in the gradual adoption of embedded self-managing processes to progressively achieve adequate and practical degrees of INM. We demonstrate how INM can be exploited in current and future network management by its application to P2P networks.