Method and system for handling fault messages in a network

• US 20080025227A1
• Filed: 07/31/2006
• Published: 01/31/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Puttu, Sathyanarayana Nagendra, Kiran, Lakshmana Tirtha Katte Simha Vishnu, Shamanna, Aravind
• Granted Patent: US 7,817,564 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/244
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1895 for short real-time information, e.g. alarms, notifications, alerts, updates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0213 Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0631 using root cause analysis; using analysis of correlation between notifications, alarms or events based on decision criteria, e.g. hierarchy, tree or time analysis

Abstract

A method and a system for handling fault messages in a network where a network device publishes fault messages related to the principal cause of the fault. The messages are received by a Network Management System (NMS) that identifies the source of the fault and sends a multicast message to other network devices managed by the NMS. The multicast message comprises information regarding the fault. In response to the multicast message, the other network devices determine whether to publish or drop related fault messages.

Claims

1. In a network comprising a plurality of network devices, a method for handling fault messages generated by the network devices due to a fault in the network, the method comprising:

receiving fault messages that relate to the fault;

correlating the fault messages to determine the principal cause of the fault; and

sending a multicast message identifying the principal cause of the fault to network devices belonging to a multicast group before the network devices send related fault messages.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising defining the multicast group to receive the multicast message when the fault occurs in the network.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the network devices drop related fault messages if the related fault messages have a low severity level.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the fault messages are Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) traps.

5. In a network comprising a plurality of network devices, a method for handling fault messages generated by the network devices due to a fault in the network, the method comprising:

detecting a network event caused by the fault in the network;

generating a related fault message;

waiting for a selected period of time; and

determining an action to be performed on the related fault message.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the determining the action further comprises dropping the related fault message if the related fault message has a low severity level.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the determining the action further comprises publishing the related fault message if the related fault message has a high severity level.

8. The method of claim 5 further comprising receiving a multicast message identifying the principal cause of the fault and dropping the related fault message if the multicast message is received during the selected period of time.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising publishing the related fault message if the multicast message is not received during the selected period of time.

10. In a network comprising a plurality of network devices, a method for minimizing related fault messages generated by the network devices in response to a network event due to a fault in the network, the method comprising:

receiving fault messages from a source network device;

correlating the fault messages to determine the principal cause of the fault; and

broadcasting a multicast message to a multicast group prior to termination of a selected period of time to cause the network devices to drop the related fault messages and thereby minimize the number of received fault messages.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising sending redundant multicast messages to the multicast group.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising dynamically creating the multicast group.

13. In a network comprising a plurality of network devices, a system for handling fault messages generated by the network devices due to a fault in the network, the system comprising:

a Network Management System (NMS), the NMS adapted for;

receiving fault messages that related to the fault;

correlating the fault messages to determine the principal cause of the fault; and

sending a multicast message identifying the principal cause of the fault to network devices belonging to a multicast group before the network devices send related fault messages.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the NMS is further adapted for defining the multicast group to receive the multicast message when the fault occurs in the network.

15. In a network comprising a plurality of network devices, a system for handling fault messages generated by the network devices due to a fault in the network, the system comprising

a plurality of network devices, each of the network devices adapted for:

detecting a network event caused by the fault in the network;

generating a related fault message;

waiting for a selected period of time; and

determining an action to be performed on the related fault message.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein each of the network devices is further adapted for dropping the related fault message if the related fault message has a low severity level.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein each of the network devices is further adapted for publishing the related fault message if the related fault messages has a high severity level.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein each of the network devices is further adapted for publishing the related fault message if the multicast message is not received during the selected period of time.