Auto-discovery at the network and service management layer

Auto-discovery capabilities of management systems typically pertain to network elements as a whole, i.e., the ability to automatically detect which network elements are connected to a network and to discover their type and physical and logical configuration. Service- and network-layer information, on the other hand, is in general not discovered but provisioned and provided by the organization operating the network and services. There are however scenarios in which the ability to auto-discover such information provides a lot of value. This paper describes the challenges that we encountered, the approach we took, and the lessons we learned in providing auto-discovery capabilities beyond the network element layer in the context of packet telephony and of metropolitan Ethernet. We believe that these experiences will also be applicable to other contexts.