Published: 2005
Total Pages: 27
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Today, computer networks are a vital communications tool, central to the day-to-day operations of the facility. To assist administrative personnel in maintaining and monitoring a computer network, commercial network management tools are used that collect data regarding network functionality and availability to assist in recording and visualizing the current state of the network. These tools most commonly use the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) to communicate with all network-attached devices. Often a site will contain several networks, each running at a different security level. Each network must be managed individually due to security regulations which require separation of the networks. Personnel responsible for multiple networks currently are not able to view the operational status of a specific network without physically sitting at the network management station (NMS) dedicated to that network. Administrators have expressed a need to form a "network common operational picture" (NCOP) showing the status of all networks in the same view. The Security-Enhanced Multi-Domain Network Management project (SE-MDNM) was established to develop an SNMP proxy to serve as a management boundary device. Such boundary devices are used to connect multiple networks of varying security levels to a single, secure network containing a centralized network management station.