METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR GENERATING CONFIGURATION INFORMATION FOR A COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

• US 20080043719A1
• Filed: 08/07/2006
• Published: 02/21/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/07/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Atlassian US, Inc. (Atlassian Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sbc Knowledge Ventures, L.P.
• Inventors: RAFTELIS, MICHAEL, POK, CHOU LAN
• Granted Patent: US 9,419,865 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0894 Policy-based network configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5003 Managing SLA; Interaction between SLA and QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5048 Automatic or semi-automatic definitions, e.g. definition templates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5054 Automatic deployment of services triggered by the service manager, e.g. service implementation by automatic configuration of network components

Abstract

A method and apparatus for generating configuration information for a communication system is disclosed. An apparatus that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a network policy manager can have a collection element that receives a plurality of service component definitions associated with a corresponding plurality of services of a communication system, a service bundle generation element that generates a plurality of service bundles from the plurality of service component definitions, and a policy element that determines a network configuration for each of the plurality of service bundles. Additional embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A network policy manager (NPM), comprising:

a collection element that receives a plurality of service component definitions associated with a corresponding plurality of services of a communication system;

a service bundle generation element that generates a plurality of service bundles from the plurality of service component definitions; and

a policy element that determines a network configuration for each of the plurality of service bundles.

2. The NPM of claim 1, wherein each of the service component definitions comprises one or more business rules for configuring the service associated with the service component definition.

3. The NPM of claim 1, wherein the plurality of service bundles are determine according to one or more network operating constraints.

4. The NPM of claim 3, wherein the one or more network operating constraints correspond to at least one among a bandwidth capacity of the communication system, and a network topology of the communication system.

5. The NPM of claim 1, wherein the network configuration for each of the plurality of service bundles comprises at least one among a Quality of Service (QoS) policy, a security policy, a queuing policy, and a portal redirect policy.

6. The NPM of claim 1, wherein the plurality of services comprise a Voice over IP (VoIP) service, an IPTV service, an Internet service, and a portal service.

7. The NPM of claim 1, comprising:

a storage element that stores the network configuration for each of the plurality of service bundles; and

an application element that receives an activation request associated with a select one of the plurality of service bundles, retrieves the network configuration associated with the select one of the plurality of service bundles, and configures the communication system according to the retrieved network configuration.

8. The NPM of claim 1, wherein the network configuration of each service bundle comprises a plurality of network configuration components.

9. The NPM of claim 8, wherein the collection element receives a new service component definition, wherein the service bundle generation element generates one or more additional service bundles according to the new service component definition, and wherein the policy element determines a network configuration for each of the one or more additional service bundles by reusing one or more of the plurality of network configuration components.

10. The NPM of claim 1, wherein the collection element receives a modified service component definition, and wherein the policy element updates one or more network configurations affected by the modified service component definition.

11. The NPM of claim 8, wherein each of the plurality of network configuration components comprises at least one among a Quality of Service (QoS) policy, a security policy, a queuing policy, and a portal redirect policy.

12. A computer-readable storage medium, comprising computer instructions for:

generating a plurality of service bundles from a plurality of service component definitions associated with a corresponding plurality of services of a communication system; and

determining a network configuration for each of the plurality of service bundles.

13. The storage medium of claim 12, wherein each of the service component definitions comprises one or more business rules for configuring the service associated with the service component definition, and wherein the plurality of service bundles are determine according to one or more network operating constraints.

14. The storage medium of claim 13, wherein the one or more network operating constraints correspond to at least one among a bandwidth capacity of the communication system, and a network topology of the communication system.

15. The storage medium of claim 12, wherein the network configuration for each of the plurality of service bundles comprises at least one among a Quality of Service (QoS) policy, a security policy, a queuing policy, and a portal redirect policy.

16. The storage medium of claim 12, wherein the plurality of services comprise a Voice over IP (VoIP) service, an IPTV service, an Internet service, and a portal service.

17. The storage medium of claim 12, comprising computer instructions for:

storing the network configuration for each of the plurality of service bundles according to an identifier associated with each of the plurality of service bundles;

receiving an activation request associated with a select one of the plurality of service bundles for a select customer;

retrieving the network configuration associated with the select one of the plurality of service bundles according to its corresponding identifier; and

configuring the communication system according to the retrieved network configuration for the select customer.

18. The storage medium of claim 12, wherein the network configuration of each service bundle comprises a plurality of network configuration components, and wherein the storage medium comprises computer instructions for:

receiving a new service component definition;

generating one or more additional service bundles according to the new service component definition; and

determining a network configuration for each of the one or more additional service bundles by reusing one or more of the plurality of network configuration components.

19. The storage medium of claim 18, wherein each of the plurality of network configuration components comprises at least one among a Quality of Service (QoS) policy, a security policy, a queuing policy, and a portal redirect policy.

20. A method, comprising generating a network configuration for each of a plurality of service bundles determined from a plurality of service component definitions associated with a corresponding plurality of services of a communication system.

21. The method of claim 20, comprising:

storing the network configuration for each of the plurality of service bundles;

receiving an activation request associated with a select one of the plurality of service bundles;

retrieving the network configuration associated with the select one of the plurality of service bundles; and

configuring the communication system according to the retrieved network configuration.