Dynamic polling algorithm based on network management information values

Network monitoring is one of the most significant functions in network mana gement to understand the state of a network in real-time. In SNMP (Simple N etwork Management Protocol), polling is used for this purpose. If the time interval for two consecutive polling requests is too long, then we cannot u nderstand the state of the network in real-time. Conversely, if it is too s hort, then the polling message traffic increases and imposes a heavy load o n the network. Many dynamic polling algorithms have been proposed for contr olling the increase in the polling message traffic. However, they cannot ke ep track of the time variations of management information values, since the ir main objectives are to check whether or not a network node is active and the next polling interval is determined being independent of the time vari ations of the values. The existing polling algorithms are thereby not appli cable to the case where monitoring the time variation of management informa tion values is critical. This paper proposes a new dynamic polling algorith m which, by making use of Discrete Fourier Transformation, enables not only to control the increase in the polling message traffic but also to keep tr ack of the time variations of network management information values. We sho w the availability of the proposed algorithm by evaluating it through both simulations and experiments in actual network environment.