Usually, from a network operation point of view, peer-to-peer (P2P)
systems often mean problems due to P2P high bandwidth consumption. In
this presentation, however, we take a different perspective and look at
P2P technologies as an alternative to improve current network management
solutions. P2P networks may be used as flexible inter-domain distributed
management systems able to provide functionalities often absent in
traditional management systems. Three examples of P2P-based network
management are presented: how managed network views can be shared in a
P2P network, how P2P-based application layer routing can improve the
connectivity between management entities, and how groups of peers can be
used to process management tasks in a balanced way. The main goal is to
show that P2P technologies may be a feasible and interesting tool for
network management.