1. A method comprising: employing an element management system (“EMS”) application within a network; implementing an XML agent on a plurality of network elements, the plurality of network elements including a subtending network element that monitors a port to identify management data from the EMS application; configuring a connection between the EMS application and a gateway network element; delegating a proxy from the gateway network element to the subtending network element, such that the subtending network element is addressed by the EMS application; tunneling proxy management traffic to the subtending network element from the gateway network element; supplying the proxy management traffic from the subtending network element to remaining ones of the network elements; and transmitting packets having a plurality of communication data fields, wherein the plurality of communication data fields comprise information related to a Proxy IP, a Target IP, a Proxy Port and a Target Port, the plurality of communication data fields being indicative of tunneling and chaining characteristics between the subtending network element and the gateway network element.