  Several Mobile Agent based distributed network management models have been
proposed in recent times to address the scalability and flexibility problems of
centralized (SNMP or CMIP management models) models. Though the use of Mobile
Agents to distribute and delegate management tasks comes handy in dealing with
the previously stated issues, many of the agent-based management frameworks
like initial flat bed models and static mid-level managers employing mobile
agents models cannot efficiently meet the demands of current networks which are
growing in size and complexity. Moreover, varied technologies, such as SONET,
ATM, Ethernet, DWDM etc., present at different layers of the Access, Metro and
Core (long haul) sections of the network, have contributed to the complexity in
terms of their own framing and protocol structures. Thus, controlling and
managing the traffic in these networks is a challenging task. This paper
presents an intelligent scalable hierarchical agent based model for the
management of large-scale complex networks to address aforesaid issues. The
cost estimation, carried out with a view to compute the overall management cost
in terms of management data overhead, is being presented. The results obtained
thereafter establish the usefulness of the presented architecture as compare to
centralized and flat bed agent based models.
