Performance and Fault Management

Defining Network Policies

Policy-based networking is a recent approach to network configuration that transcends the traditional command line by converting business-related policies into network-configurable commands. The technology underlying the policies is generally nothing new: access lists, queuing mechanisms, and network protocols.

However, policy-based networking adds a level of abstraction to the typical command-line approach to configuration. It involves describing a policy in a human-readable form and using network management software to translate the policy into router and switch commands.

The strength of this approach is the capability to define a central set of policies and distribute them to affected routers and switches. It eliminates ...