AutoBAHN Technical Overview

The AutoBAHN system is based on the Inter-Domain Manager (IDM), a module responsible for inter-domain operations of circuit reservation on behalf of a domain. This includes inter-domain communication, resource negotiations with adjacent domains, request handling, and topology advertisements.

The .wsdl definition of the AutoBAHN ‘User Interface’ (see Figure 1) is available here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 1. AutoBAHN system architecture

To build a real end-to-end circuit, the Domain Manager (DM) module is also required to manage intra-domain resources. The DM has an interface to the local IDM, which sits immediately above it, and undertakes all intra-domain functions (abstracting the topology towards the IDM, scheduling and pre-reserving resources, monitoring etc.). This southbound interface of the DM is the part of the AutoBAHN system that needs to be tailored to the domain-specific conditions.

In each domain, the data plane is controlled by the DM module using a range of techniques, including interfaces to the Network Management System (NMS), signalling protocols, or network elements. As part of the AutoBAHN DM, a dedicated Technology Proxy module allows the AutoBAHN system to support a range of technologies and vendors according to domain and global requirements. The .wsdl definition of the AutoBAHN DM ‘Public Interface’ is available here.

The local NMS or service provisioning system, monitoring infrastructure, administration policies, and security, may need to be adjusted for each networking domain, making each Technology Proxy implementation and DM configuration unique. However, the design of the DM has been optimised to support modular deployment and leverage the management infrastructure already deployed in any domain.