A CORBA/XML-Based Architecture for Distributed Network Planning Tools.
Anton Riedl · 2001
This paper presents a novel architecture for network planning tools where functionality of the tools is distributed over the network and algorithms can be contributed by various providers. The concept is based on a client/server architecture with CORBA as the middleware and XML as common information exchange language. The framework breaks up the functionalities, which are commonly implemented in one tool, into several independent modules, which then can run on different machines in an IP network. This type of realization allows for easy extendibility and administration of the tool and offers possibilities to implement features like load sharing, accounting, or authentication. Furthermore, the platform could be used to provide planning services and algorithm implementations over the Internet. We describe a first prototype, which implements the concept of this distributed architecture and discuss implementation issues. In this context a very generic and versatile Java client is introduced, which establishes the front end of the network planning platform. To allow this client to adapt to the dynamic environment and to integrate different algorithms within one graphical user interface, we specify a data exchange format, which is based on XML. 1.