Using RDF to describe networks

Conventions such as iGrid 2005 and SuperComputing show that there is increasing demand for more service options on networks. For such networks, large teams of experts are needed to configure and manage them. In order to make the full potential of hybrid networks available to the ordinary user, the complexity must be reduced.

This paper presents the idea of the Network Description Language (NDL), which builds on Semantic Web techniques to create a distributed Topology Knowledge Base (TKB). The TKB can provide a collection of reachability graphs, showing connectivity rules among physical and/or virtual entities.

Latching onto the Semantic Web provides network management with a new breed of tools—bots, compilers, browsers, both commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) and open source. The approach appears to be applicable to the Global Lambda Integrated Facility (GLIF) as well as other experimental communities.