DTJ Number 3 September 1987 - Digital Technical Journals

New Productsfixed format that are accessible through any programminglanguage.The first phase of report processing ·is controlledby a command file, which can be modifiedby the user. For example, the user can automaticallyproduce daily reports.SummaryNetworks are complex systems at the leadingedge of modern communications engineering.The NMCCjDECnet Monitor syste m creates amodel of a network through a database of informationthat reflects the complex relationshipsbetween the components of that network. Thechallenge in designing this monitor was topresent this complexity as simply as possible tothe network manager. He is ultimately responsiblefor the quality of service that the networkprovides.The monitor was designed to be a truly distributedapplication. Special monitor softwaredoes not have to reside on each node, yet themonitor can collect information about any nodein the network. By separating the I/O-intensivekernel from the compute-intensive user interface,yet allowing them to cooperate in monitoringthe network, the actual monitoring can bedivided between two machines. Both can beoptimized for the tasks assigned to them.This design is a framework within which manynew functions and additional data can fit. As wegain experience with using the monitor, andfeedback on the human engineering of simplepresentations of complex data, we are confidentthat this design can support an evolving managementsystem.References1. DECnet DIGITAL Network ArchitectureI{Phase IV) General Description (Maynard:Digital Equipment Corporation,Order No. AA-N149A-TC, 1982).2. DEC net Digital Network ArchitecturePhase IV Network Management FunctionalSpecification (Maynard: DigitalEquipment Corpodtion, Order No. AA­X437A-TK, 1983). II13. C.A.R. Hoare, "MoQ.itors: An OperatingSystem Structuring Concept," Communicationsof the ACM, vol . 17, no. 10(October 1974): 549-557.4. B. Shneiderman, "Direct Manipulation: AStep Beyond Programming Languages,"Computer (August 983): 57-69.Other ReferencesR. Rubinstein and H. Hersh, The Human Factor(Bedford: Digital Press, 1984).NMCCjDECnet Monitor User's Guide (Maynard:Digital Equipment Cqrporation,.Order No.AA-EW35A-TE, 1986) .ijAcknowledgmentsThe author thanks Jim Critser, Nancy La Pelle,Linsey O'Brien, and Bruce Luhrs for theirthoughtful review. Most of all, he thanks thedevelopers of the NMCCjDECnet Monitor,whose long hours and hard effort made possiblethe realization of this software. Those developerswere Peter Burgess, Bill Gist, Matthew Guertin,Robert Merrifield, Dennis Rogers, ArundhatiSankar, Robert Schuchard, Evelyn Wang, and RiazZolfonoon.Digital TecbnlcaiJournalNo. 3 September 1986141