After the preliminary planning stages it is useful to consider the information flows between the entities responsible for each domain to get a clear understanding on what information is needed to manage the domain, who is supposed to provide this information and who should receive it. Usually, the operation of the links is in the charge of the entity closer to the core, with every entity being responsible for its interfaces which are connected to links which have terminations in different domains.

From this information, operational procedures can be designed and written down (as an example, the reader can refer to deliverable D6.1.2 [D6.1.2], where this “theoretical exercise” has been applied to the 6NET network management). Looking back after completion of the project it can be stated that the process was useful and efficient. For many months nobody complained about the way the network – mainly the core network – was managed. Additionally, operational procedures for implementing test phases for experiments and tests were identified and implemented. This was not easy since the goal was to accommodate requirements both for production-like traffic and test constraints.