Wireless ad-hoc networks do not rely on a pre-existing network structure and are characterized by dynamic changes in the topology. This characteristic makes it difficult to perform the intrusion detection in such networks. The problem gets more complicated with the topological changes in determining whether the node participating in the network transmission is Byzantine or indeed an authenticated node. The thrust of this paper is to develop an efficient design of an architectural framework for authentication of nodes involved in a mobile ad-hoc network. Keywords - Mobile Agents, Mobile Adhoc Networks, Authentication, Certificates, Key Management.