ABSTRACT
A Network Management System is supposed to assist in and sometimes automate some or all of the management functions. Network management processes are commonly grouped into five categories: Accounting Management, Performance Management, Security Management, Configuration Management, and Alarm Management. Accounting Management contains information collection activities that lead to some sort of measurement of resource usage by user. By creating a centralized database the network management function can be improved in two ways: first, the collection of data from the local storage in the network elements can be automated; second, the network manager now has access to data from multiple network elements at the same time. Network management interface designers seem to have settled on the "map metaphor" for the user interface. That is, most network management systems will present the user a network map as the starting point for management operations.
