Security issues in distributed network management

• Main Author: Hu, Shiek Koon.
• Other Authors: Miao, Yuan
• Format: Theses and Dissertations
• Published: 2008
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Electrical and electronic engineering::Computer hardware, software and systems
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/4415
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Security has always been the one of the most pressing issues faced by the information systems today. This is especially so when enterprises have turned to distributed management systems to support their business activities. The Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) has always been the most widely used standard management protocol in the business world today. Despite its popularity, it lacked the essential security features in its earlier versions. Enterprises mainly relied on firewall for their network security but obviously that is not enough. However, the SNMP security deficiencies seem to be solved with the recent evolution of SNMP version 3 which incorporates security features in its proposed framework. The Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA), originally not targeted specifically at management tasks, has also been brought forward in recent years for managing networks. It is very suitable for distributed network management, specifically in the top tier of the management hierarchy where the management applications (managers) exist. In this dissertation, the security aspects of both SNMP and CORBA are looked into and how both of their security features can be merged in a proposed distributed network management security framework.