A system for managing an optical communication system having an optical transmission path disposed between at least two cable landing stations (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) and a plurality of network elements disposed along the optical transmission path, the system comprising: a network element table, the network element table defining a plurality of network element definitions that each represent a different network element of the optical communication system; a partition mapping table to associate each of the plurality of network element definitions with at least one domain identifier based at least in part on a fiber pair and/or channel wavelength assigned to each network element, a network management system controller associated with a network management system (104-1, 204) to: receive a user request to access a network element from a user, the user request being associated with a first domain identifier and including an identifier of an operation to perform; determine the user request is authorized to access the network element based on the partition mapping table indicating that the first domain identifier is associated with the network element of the user request; and in response to determining the user request is authorized, performing the operation, the system being characterized by a plurality of authenticator servers for storing a plurality of user access credentials and associated user access attributes, wherein the NMS includes an authentication interface to communicate with the plurality of authenticator servers to validate user credentials received within a user request, and wherein each of the plurality of authenticator servers is associated with a different domain identifier. a network element table, the network element table defining a plurality of network element definitions that each represent a different network element of the optical communication system; a partition mapping table to associate each of the plurality of network element definitions with at least one domain identifier based at least in part on a fiber pair and/or channel wavelength assigned to each network element, a network management system controller associated with a network management system (104-1, 204) to: receive a user request to access a network element from a user, the user request being associated with a first domain identifier and including an identifier of an operation to perform; determine the user request is authorized to access the network element based on the partition mapping table indicating that the first domain identifier is associated with the network element of the user request; and in response to determining the user request is authorized, performing the operation, the system being characterized by a plurality of authenticator servers for storing a plurality of user access credentials and associated user access attributes, wherein the NMS includes an authentication interface to communicate with the plurality of authenticator servers to validate user credentials received within a user request, and wherein each of the plurality of authenticator servers is associated with a different domain identifier. receive a user request to access a network element from a user, the user request being associated with a first domain identifier and including an identifier of an operation to perform; determine the user request is authorized to access the network element based on the partition mapping table indicating that the first domain identifier is associated with the network element of the user request; and in response to determining the user request is authorized, performing the operation, the system being characterized by a plurality of authenticator servers for storing a plurality of user access credentials and associated user access attributes, wherein the NMS includes an authentication interface to communicate with the plurality of authenticator servers to validate user credentials received within a user request, and wherein each of the plurality of authenticator servers is associated with a different domain identifier.