5.1 Requirements for Metapolicies

Policies are seen as advantageous for management. They have been chosen for management of various areas in network and systems management. Management includes, among other areas, the management of performance, configuration, security, and fault. In this section, we show that these areas are included in the developed enhanced policy life cycle and its elaborated related processes. Consequently, we (re-)apply the policy-based management approach leading us to the definition of metapolicies.

Configuration

The overall process of moving policies is complex, not only because different processes work in an interconnected fashion. The characteristics of the processes responsible for moving policies, as described in subsection , show some of the configuration needs: The processes use different sources of input. The processed information has different formats. The processes exchange and share all kinds of data, e.g. policies, notifications, responsibilities, etc. It is important, that the processes are configured consistently. A unified and central configuration management eases this task tremendously.

Performance

Performance management is strongly connected to ensuring and raising efficiency. This is an important task in network and systems management as it is for the management of the policy supporting processes.

Only by a detailed description of the workflow, a policy has some degree of guarantee that it will move through the appropriate states of the life cycle and become enforced. Guidance and management activities are necessary to ensure this in an efficient manner.

Fault

Various kinds of errors occur in the processes related to the policy life cycle: policy conflicts, enforcement and distribution problems, etc. Their detection and strategies for resolving them are tasks of management.

Security

Ensuring a secure operation and preventing fraud entails management of the system as of the supporting processes. The specification of access rights and responsibilities are tasks ensuring a secure operation. Although security concerns are valid in the supporting processes and must be managed, they are mentioned occasionally but are not considered in depth in this thesis.