METHOD FOR COMPUTER INTERNET REMOTE MANAGEMENT OF A TELECOMMUNICATION NETWORK ELEMENT

• US 20010052006A1
• Filed: 05/31/1998
• Published: 12/13/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: WSOU Investments, LLC (WSOU Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Lucent Technologies, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: BARKER, WILLIAM E., FOLEY, MICHAEL P., MACFARLANE, KENNETH R., VANGSNESS, KURT A., PARSONS, PHILIP M., ROG, JEROME E., EGGERT, MARVIN A., CONNELLY, LISA M., RAI, GIRISH
• Granted Patent: US 6,363,421 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0213 Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0253 using browsers or web-pages for accessing management information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/028 for synchronisation between service call and response
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/045 comprising client-server management architectures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/046 comprising network management agents or mobile agents therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]

Abstract

In accordance with the invention, a method is provided for remotely managing a plurality of network element of a telecommunications network through a special communication link including a computer internet such as a local area network, the world wide web or the Internet. A management computer is connected to an element management system server through a communication link including the computer internet At least one of the plurality of network elements is also coupled to the element management server through the computer internet and the at least one of the plurality of network elements is managed via communications conveyed through the element management server between the management computer and the at least one network element. Preferably, management is facilitated by the management server generating an interactive web page at a client workstation with objects associated with management of the at least one network element. The interactive web page is transmitting from the management server through the computer internet to the management computer and displayed at the interactive web page at the management computer for management communications between the management computer and the network element. Objects of the interactive web page include objects associated with preferably all three of operation, administration and maintenance of the network lement. The interactive web page includes detailed status summary page for each network element of the telecommunications network, a relatively high system status summary of all the plurality of network elements and a list of all active alarms within the telecommunications network. The plurality of network elements each have an associated applications processor with a management agent application for interfacing the element management server with the network element. The application processor includes a maintenance application for performing maintenance of the network element command request are interfaced from the element management server through the management agent application to the maintenance application to selectively perform maintenance tasks. The element management server is provided with application processor specific events and command acknowledgments.

Claims

1. In a telecommunications network having a plurality of network elements, a method of managing at least one of the network elements, comprising the steps of:

connecting a management computer to an element management server through a communication link including a computer internet;

coupling the at least one of the plurality of network elements to the element management server through the computer internet; and

managing the at least one of the plurality of network elements via communications conveyed through the element management server between the management computer and the at least one network element.

2. The method of

claim 1

in which the step of managing includes the steps of

generating from the management server an interactive web page with objects associated with management of the at least one network element,

transmitting the interactive web page from the management server through the computer internet to the management computer, and

displaying the interactive web page at the management computer for management communications between the management computer and the at least one network element.

3. The method of

claim 2

in which the objects of the interactive web page include objects associated with at least one of operation, administration and maintenance of the at least one network element.

4. The method of

claim 3

in which the web page includes objects associated with all three of operation, administration and maintenance of the at least one network element.

5. The method of

claim 2

including the step of generating signals through interaction with the interactive web page at the management computer to achieve at least one of command, control and fault management of the network element.

6. The method of

claim 5

in which the step of generating includes the step of generating signals through interaction with the interactive web page at the management computer to achieve all three of command, control and fault management of the network element.

7. The method of

claim 2

in which the interactive web page includes a menu of individual maintenance unit command options.

8. The method of

claim 2

in which the interactive web page includes a detailed status summary page for the at least one individual network element.

9. The method of

claim 2

in which the interactive web page includes a high level system status summary of all the plurality of network elements.

10. The method of

claim 2

in which the interactive web page includes a list of all active alarms within the telecommunications network.

11. The method of

claim 1

in which the step of coupling includes the step of coupling the at least one of the plurality of network elements to an associated applications processor with a management agent application for interfacing the element management server with the network element.

12. The method of

claim 11

in which

the AP includes a maintenance application for performing maintenance of the network element, and the step of coupling includes the step of

interfacing command request from the element management server through the management agent application to the maintenance application to selectively perform maintenance tasks.

13. The method of

claim 11

in which the step of interfacing by the network element includes the step of providing the element management server with AP specific events and command acknowledgments.

14. The method of

claim 1

in which the computer internet is the world wide web and the steps of connecting and coupling include the step of operating world wide web based JAVA applications at the management computer and the element management server.

15. The method of

claim 1

in which the network element has a management agent application which responds to various actions and the step of managing includes the step of correlating responses from the agent with the actions which caused the actions.

16. The method of

claim 1

in which the step of managing includes the step of automatically routing command responses, polling results and traps back to the management computer.

17. The method of

claim 1

in which

the network element has a management agent application, and including the steps of

queuing multiple commands simultaneously received from a plurality of different management computers including the one management computer, and

successive responding to the multiple commands by sending reponses to appropriated ones of the different management computers that originated the commands, respectively.

18. The method of

claim 1

in which the step of connecting includes the step of enabling the connection in response to entry of a correct password at the management computer.

19. The method of

claim 18

including the step of encrypting the password prior to sending to the management server.

20. The method of

claim 1

in which the step of managing includes the steps of

selecting network element attributes from a plurality of network element attributes available for polling, and

polling for only the selected network element attributes.

21. The method of

claim 1

in which the step of managing includes the steps of

receiving requests at the network element from a plurality of different management computers to poll for network element attributes which are the same,

polling for the attributes which are the same only as if there were only one request for polling of the same attributes, and

providing the results of the polling of the same attributes to all of the different management computers that requested polling of the same attributes.

22. The method of

claim 1

including the step of automatically updating a list of active alarms of the network element upon occurrence of either one of actuation of a new alarm and clearing of a former alarm.

33. The method of

claim 3

in which the web page includes a display of a list of active alarms for all network elements within the communication network.

23. In a communication network having a plurality of network elements, a method for managing the network element, comprising the steps of:

selectively running a management application at a plurality of different work station for command, control and fault management of the network element;

interfacing an element management server through a computer internet to the plurality of different work stations to provide distributed network element management services to the client application at all of the plurality of work stations; and

interfacing the network element with the element management server through a management agent application associated with the network element for communicating command acknowledgment and command requests through the computer internet between the network management server and the network element.

24. The method of

claim 23

in which the element management server includes an object server having managed objects representing the network element and other resources of the system.

25. The method of

claim 23

in which the step of communicating command acknowledgment and command request between the element management server and the network element is conducted using a simple node management protocol.

26. The method of

claim 23

in which the step of communicating includes the steps of

establishing a set of SNMP service objects that communicate with the SNMP network element;

establishing a SNMP mediator process that communicates with the SNMP service objects;

polling for the SNMP service objects; and

converting commands of the managed object to SNMP set commands.

27. The method of

claim 23

including the step of filtering events of the network element.

28. The method of

claim 27

in which the events of the step of filtering events includes at least one of the events of alarm notification, state change and configuration change to the element network system server.

29. The method of

claim 23

in which the step of interfacing the network element includes the step of maintaining within the element management server a list of current active alarms within the network.

30. The method of

claim 23

including the steps of

monitoring the operation of events within the communication network, and

diminishing the operation of events to prevent overloading of the communication system.

31. The method of

claim 23

in which

the management application is written in JAVA, and

the step of interfacing the work stations with the element management server is performed through an interactive web page that visually displays a menu of command, control and fault management options.

32. The method of

claim 31

in which the web page includes a separate status summary display for each of the command, control and fault management options.