Constraint-based configuration complexity model for autonomic network configuration management

Networks and services are constantly changing under the influence of evolving technologies, environment, infrastructure, user demands, etc. To ensure their permanent consistency and cut downtime and costs, service providers need efficient means for assessing the complexity of network management tasks and choosing the most adequate change strategies in terms of efficiency, speed and reliability. We present a novel rule-based approach that introduces metrics adequate for quantifying the complexity of network device configuration validation.