The next big hurdle for the Internet.

A shortage of qualified technical personnel could interfere with the automatic configuration needs of the world's most uncoordinated network.

As the Internet expands and sweeps effortlessly into the daily routine of our lives, we are developing a pervasive dependence on its availability. Behind the scenes, the practical implementation of this revolutionary network rollout is not quite such a well-orchestrated phenomenon. Any time an Internet service provider (ISP) rolls out a new service, hundreds or even thousands of "devices" (such as routers, switches, Web servers) must be deployed, then a team of engineers has to configure each one individually. If even a single device is not configured properly, it can result in service outages and other problems.

While the existing practice of device configuration has moved the Internet through its initial stages, it is rapidly reaching the end of its useful existence. In order to roll out new services on the Internet in the coming years, service providers will need to deploy millions of devices, and there simply are not enough qualified engineers available to handle the configuration work.

This leaves us with one of the biggest challenges facing the future of the Internet: network configuration--ISPs and other service providers must find a new way to configure the Internet if it is to evolve beyond where it is today.

A BRIEF HISTORY

Historically, the Internet has configured itself through an automated methodology known as dynamic routing protocols, in which a collection of interconnected IP routers can exchange information with a relatively minimal set of initial information. These routers automatically figure out a mutually agreeable working configuration that results in the usable flow of information in the network.

These protocols allowed the early versions of the Internet to grow almost organically and without any one location knowing the precise overall configuration of the network to which it was connected. To a large extent, this remains true to this day and is the reason that unabated growth of the Internet can continue without any global coordination of configuration actions.

From a global perspective, this "uncoordinated Internet" has provided acceptable performance thus far. When a service provider wants to improve the productivity of its network resources, however, or when a user wants to improve network performance, configuration information must be managed more effectively.

Control of configuration information is also necessary to ensure that the distributed algorithms that have served so well are correctly implemented in the fast-growing Internet. This is particularly true in the core of the network.

Internet configuration today involves substantial human intervention and relies on some combination of e-mails, faxes, handwritten notes, scripts, "configuration-fests" and explicit operator configuration of individual routers/devices. Many times, this results in unknown (and potentially unrecoverable) configurations, security loopholes, lost passwords, trivial passwords, absence of audit trails and software upgrades.

While this improvisation has worked admirably thus far (witness the growth of the Internet), the sheer scale of Internet growth forecast for the coming years requires a complete overhaul of the science of network operations.

ISPs are responding to the demand for new services by building huge Internet data centers around the globe, each housing thousands of pieces of IP-capable equipment, all of which must be coherently configured in order to deliver the desired set of services. There simply are not enough skilled hands to continue the manual configuration of this equipment and, as new devices are introduced, there will not be proper protocols to allow automated configuration. This is a major problem, since many providers already have discovered that improperly configured routers jeopardize their ability to provide acceptable service quality to customers.

SOLVING THE PROBLEM

The Web has been in existence for less than a decade, while the telephone network has been around for more than a century. Thus, many of the operational capabilities of the telephone network--such as the widespread availability of automated configuration software--are still not available for the Internet.

The Internet, however, is evolving faster than any network in history and has largely taken on a life of its own, with innovative technology companies delivering products that help it clear the next big hurdle. Configuration management is just now becoming the new hurdle on the Internet, and it is a problem that, if not solved, will delay progress.

Currently, a handful of companies are working to solve this problem with new software packages that can automate the configuration of Internet device. The challenges associated with creating such software are considerable, because the Internet is by far the largest network on Earth and continues to grow exponentially.

The degree of success these companies have in developing effective Internet configuration management software will have a major impact on the future of the Internet, and will largely determine if the Internet will, indeed, one day permeate every facet of our lives.

Wolf is the founder and president of Gold Wire Technology Inc., Waltham, MA.