Automated Design of Modular SNMP-CORBA Gateways and Their Application for the Development of an ADSL Access Network Manager

Abstract

In this paper we address the problem of the specification and design of extensible CORBA/SNMP gateways which allow to embed legacy SNMP managed devices into a Distributed Processing Environment (DPE). Our approach is that of a generic Resource Adapter (RA) which is staged in two layers. A first Layer-1 contains stateless CORBA-IDL/SMI-SNMP stubs and a second Layer-2, runs on top of Layer-1 and adds logical behavior to the gateway. The Layer-1 builds upon a fully new specification and interaction translation of the MIB, whose creation is automated via a tool chain called the MibCompiler platform. In outlining the informational, computational and engineering viewpoint of the Resource Adapter architecture according to the ODP framework, two extra servers called the Resource Adapter Factory (RAF) and the Resource Adapter Factory Dispatcher (RAFD) are introduced. These servers enhance the CORBA/SNMP mediation platform in both performance and scalability. The Resource Adapter approach has been applied for the design and implementation of an ADSL access network manager, which was used for the ACTS VITAL project. This ADSL access network manager is now integrated with a similar ATM access network manager in order to support an ADSL provisioning support tool for the Belgian Public Network Operator.