Auto-configuration of OSPFv3 routing in fixed IPv6 networks

Today´s Network Management highly depends on manual configuration of networking devices. On one hand, this leads to a high number of configuration related errors in the network, which must be compensated with additional OPEX (operational expenditure) effort. On the other hand, Network Management is not able to cope with the growing size of networks and the variety of devices due to manual configuration. This paper applies concepts from the area of Autonomic Network Management in order to develop components and algorithms for the auto-configuration of OSPFv3 routing in IPv6 based fixed network environments. A reference model for autonomic networks is applied for the design of the components. The developed key functionalities include: the automated computation and dissemination of OSPFv3 protocol configurations, topology discovery, automated partitioning of the network into OSPF areas, and in-band/in-network configuration and management of OSPFv3 routing. The proposed concepts are evaluated based on a prototype implementation and on measurements of its performance in the testbed of a large scale European project.