Theeverincreasingsizeofnetworkshasresultedincorrespondingescalationofadministrationcostsandlengthydeploymentcycles.Clearly,morescalableandflexiblenetworkmanagementsystemsarerequiredtoreplaceexistingcentralisedservices.Theworkdescribedinthispaperformspartofanewnetworkmanagementsystemthat