Cisco Systems Lucent Technologies Lucent Technologies Hewlett Packard Cisco Systems This document articulates the requirements and basic framework of a policy-based management system for IP networks. It focuses on the storage and retrieval of Policy Rules from a repository, for use in the management and operation of IP networks. This framework document describes functional components and operational characteristics of a system that is intended to be device and vendor independent, interoperable and scalable. There are three basic sections of this draft, addressing: o the motivation for policy-based management that briefly describes the requirements for implementing policy in IP networks; o a reference model that defines a first-level functional decomposition of such a framework, and captures the key concepts in defining policy tools, Policy Rules, the use of a repository and schema, and the mechanisms underlying the definition, storage and retrieval of policies; and o a description of each of the functional components, as well as a narrative about how a policy system can implement prescribed policies.