FAULT TOLERANCE FRAMEWORK FOR NETWORKS OF NODES

• US 20090097397A1
• Filed: 10/12/2007
• Published: 04/16/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/12/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Moreira Sa de Souza, Luciana
• Granted Patent: US 8,527,622 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/216
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0233 Object-oriented techniques, for representation of network management data, e.g. common object request broker architecture [CORBA]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0273 using web services for network management, e.g. simple object access protocol [SOAP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0636 based on a decision tree analysis
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0663 Performing the actions predefined by failover planning, e.g. switching to standby network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/08 Protocols for interworking; Protocol conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06

Abstract

In some implementations, a first message handler may be configured to receive first network-related data associated with a first network of nodes, the first network of nodes using a first communications protocol. A second message handler may be configured to receive second network-related data associated with a second network of nodes, the second network of nodes using a second communications protocol. A message transport system may be configured to receive the first network-related data and the second network-related data and further configured to route the first network-related data and the second network-related data in a common protocol, and a fault manager may be configured to receive the network-related data in the common protocol and configured to determine a fault associated with an operation of one or more of the first network of nodes and the second network of nodes, based on the network-related data in the common protocol.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a first message handler configured to receive first network-related data associated with a first network of nodes, the first network of nodes using a first communications protocol;

a second message handler configured to receive second network-related data associated with a second network of nodes, the second network of nodes using a second communications protocol;

a message transport system configured to receive the first network-related data and the second network-related data and further configured to route the first network-related data and the second network-related data in a common protocol; and

a fault manager configured to receive the network-related data in the common protocol and configured to determine a fault associated with an operation of one or more of the first network of nodes and the second network of nodes, based on the network-related data in the common protocol.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the first message handler comprises:

a native message handler in communication with a message bridge to receive the first network-related data, the message bridge being in communication with at least one device of the first network of nodes using the first communications protocol,

wherein the native message handler is configured to translate the first network-related data from the first communications protocol to the common communications protocol.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the second message handler comprises:

a gateway message handler in communication with a service gateway to receive the second network-related data, the service gateway being in communication with at least one device of the second network of nodes and being compatible with the second communications protocol,

wherein the gateway message handler is configured to receive the second network-related data in the common communications protocol from the service gateway for forwarding to the message transport system.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the message transport system comprises a notification broker configured to publish at least some of the first network-related data and/or the second network-related data using the common protocol, for determination of the fault based thereon.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the message transport system comprises:

a request processor that is configured to;

receive a request for additional network-related data,

select the first network as being configured to provide the additional network-related data, based on a content of the request, and

forward the request to the first message handler.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the fault manager includes a state model that is configured to store events occurring in the first network of nodes and the second network of nodes.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the fault manager includes a fault diagnosis manager configured to determine that an event associated with at least the first network of nodes is associated with the fault.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein the fault diagnosis manager comprises:

a fault detector configured to determine a type of fault and a fault detection algorithm associated with the type of fault, and to detect the fault based on the fault detection algorithm and the event.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the fault diagnosis manager comprises:

a fault isolator configured to receive the detected fault from the fault detector and configured to determine a cause of the fault relative to the networks of nodes.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the fault manager comprises:

a fault recovery manager configured to determine a recovery method for recovering an operation of the networks of nodes despite the fault.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the fault recovery manager comprises:

decision making logic configured to determine the recovery method from among a plurality of recover methods including one or more of triggering a workflow, performing a sensor value fusion, and deploying a service within a node of the networks of nodes; and

a recovery module configured to implement the determined recovery method.

12. The system of claim 10 comprising:

a code distribution manager configured to determine a target node within the first network of nodes and a service executable for deploying a service in response to the fault and based on a mapping of the service to the target node by the fault recovery manager; and

a service injector configured to deploy the service executable to the target node, wherein the service injector is selected from a plurality of service injectors as being compatible with the first communications protocol.

13. A system comprising:

a middleware layer configured to communicate with a plurality of networks of nodes and configured to communicate with at least one back-end application, the middleware layer including

a platform abstraction layer configured to receive, from the plurality of networks of nodes, first network-related data and second network-related data in a first communications protocol and a second communications protocol, respectively, and configured to provide the first network-related data and the second network-related data in a common protocol; and

a fault management layer configured to receive the first network-related data and the second network-related data in the common protocol, and configured to determine a fault associated with an operation of the plurality of networks, based thereon.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the platform abstraction layer comprises a plurality of message handlers, each message handler being configured to translate a corresponding one of at least the first communications protocol and the second communications protocol into the common protocol.

15. The system of claim 13 wherein the platform abstraction layer comprises a plurality of service injectors, each service injector being configured to deploy a service executable to a corresponding one of the networks of nodes, using a corresponding one of the first communications protocol and the second communications protocol.

16. The system of claim 13 wherein the fault management layer comprises:

a fault diagnosis manager configured to determine that an event associated with an operation of the networks of nodes is associated with the fault, and configured to determine a cause of the fault.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the fault management layer comprises:

a fault recovery manager configured to receive a fault-related message from the fault diagnosis manager related to the event, the fault, and the cause, and configured to determine a recovery method for responding to the fault.

18. A method comprising:

receiving network-related data associated with a plurality of networks of nodes at one of a plurality of message handlers, the plurality of message handlers each associated with a corresponding network of nodes and a corresponding communications protocol that is used by the corresponding network of nodes;

translating the network-related data from the corresponding communications protocol into a common communications protocol;

providing the network-related data in the common communications protocol to a state model describing state information related to the plurality of networks of nodes;

diagnosing a fault associated with an operation of the plurality of networks of nodes, based on the state model; and

recovering the fault by deploying a service to a node of the networks of nodes using the corresponding communications protocol used by the node.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein providing the network-related data in the common communications protocol comprises:

publishing a notification of the network-related data to the state model, based on a content of the network-related data and on a subscription of the state model to the content.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein diagnosing the fault comprises:

determining an event associated with the networks of nodes from the state model; and

determining a type of fault; and

determining that the event is associated with the type of fault.