Research paper Scalability of peer configuration management in partially reliable and ad hoc networks Mark Burgess, Oslo University College, Cort Adelers gate 30 0254 Oslo Norway mark@iu.hio.no Geoffrey Canright, Telenor Research, Snarøyveien 30 1331 Fornebu, Norway geoffrey.canright@telenor.com ABSTRACT Current interest in ad hoc and peer-to-peer networking technologies prompts a re-examination of models for configuration management, within these frameworks. In the future, network management methods may have to scale to millions of nodes within a single organization, with complex social constraints. In this paper, we discuss whether it is possible to manage the configuration of large numbers of network devices using well-known and no-so-well-known configuration models, and we discuss how the special characteristics of ad hoc and peer-to-peer networks are reflected in this problem. 1