ARCHITECTURE FOR OPERATIONAL SUPPORT SYSTEM

• US 20090222540A1
• Filed: 11/17/2006
• Published: 09/03/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/18/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amdocs Development Limited (Amdocs Ltd.), Amdocs Systems Limited (Amdocs Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Amdocs Development Limited (Amdocs Ltd.), Amdocs Systems Limited (Amdocs Ltd.)
• Inventors: Glendinning, Johnston Harden Graham, Geyer, Manfred, Buchner, Markus, Pope, Adan K., Ettle, David Roy, Mishra, Richard
• Granted Patent: US 9,660,868 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/222
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/00 Arrangements for maintenance, administration or management of data switching networks, e.g. of packet switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/082 the condition being updates or upgrades of network functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0843 based on generic templates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/085 Retrieval of network configuration; Tracking network configuration history
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0886 Fully automatic configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0896 Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities flow or congestion control using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation, H04L47/76
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/145 involving simulating, designing, planning or modelling of a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/147 for predicting network behaviour
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/149 for prediction of maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5009 Determining service level performance parameters or violations of service level contracts, e.g. violations of agreed response time or mean time between failures [MTBF]
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5087 wherein the managed service relates to voice services management of VoIP services H04M7/0081

Abstract

A network management system for management of a communications network is disclosed. The system comprises an inventory database storing a network inventory comprising information representative of network resources of the communications network. The system comprises means for receiving a change request specifying a modification to be made to the network, and an inventory update component adapted to modify the network inventory in response to the change request. The system also includes an implementation component adapted to access the inventory database, identify modifications made to the network inventory, and transmit configuration data to the network to implement the inventory modifications in the network.

Claims

1-52. -52. (canceled)

53. A system, comprising:

an inventory database storing a network inventory comprising information representative of network resources of a communications network;

means for receiving a change request specifying a modification to be made to the communications network;

an inventory update component adapted to modify the network inventory in response to the change request; and

an implementation component adapted to access the inventory database, identify modifications made to the network inventory, and transmit configuration data to the communications network to implement the network inventory modifications in the communications network.

54. A system according to claim 53, wherein the implementation component is adapted to retrieve information relating to the network inventory modifications from the inventory database and generate the configuration data in dependence on the retrieved information.

55. A system according to claim 53, wherein the system is adapted to generate one or more change records identifying modifications made to the network inventory, and wherein the implementation component is adapted to receive the change records and identify the network inventory modifications in dependence on the change records.

56. A system according to claim 55, wherein the change records specify inventory entities that have been modified by the inventory update component, the implementation component being adapted to access the specified inventory entities in the database and retrieve information relating to the specified inventory entities from the database.

57. A system according to claim 53, wherein the inventory update component is adapted to select one of a plurality of stored scripts in dependence on the change request, each script specifying inventory modification actions for performing a given modification, and executing the modification actions specified by the selected script in the inventory database.

58. A system according to claim 53, wherein the change request relates to changes requiring external action in addition to inventory updates, the system comprising means for interfacing with one or more external systems for carrying out the required external action.

59. A system according to claim 53, wherein the implementation component is adapted to receive a plurality of change records generated in response to one or more change requests, to access the inventory database and identify inventory modifications in dependence on the plurality of change records, and to generate a set of network configuration actions corresponding to the identified inventory modifications.

60. A system according to claim 59, wherein the implementation component is adapted to combine two or more related network modifications into a same network configuration action.

61. A system according to claim 59, wherein the implementation component is adapted to combine at least two network modifications relating to a same network resource or device into a single network configuration action relating to the network resource or device.

62. A system according to claim 59, wherein the configuration actions comprise configuration commands for network devices, the implementation component being adapted to transmit the configuration commands to the network devices.

63. A system according to claim 53, wherein the system is adapted to receive change requests from one or more network management applications.

64. A system according to claim 63, wherein the network management applications comprise one or more of:

a network design application, a network resource management application, a network planning application, a service provisioning application, and a reporting application.

65. A system according to claim 53, wherein the network inventory provides a model of the communications network, the model defining network entities, attributes of network entities and connections between network entities, the system further comprising an interface for receiving inventory update requests expressed in terms of the model and issuing database update requests corresponding to the inventory update requests to the database.

66. A method, comprising:

storing a network inventory comprising information representative of network resources of a communications network;

receiving a change request specifying a modification to be made to the communications network;

modifying the network inventory in response to the change request;

accessing the network inventory to identify modifications made to the network inventory; and

implementing the identified modifications in the communications network.

67. A method according to claim 66, wherein implementing the identified modifications comprises:

transmitting configuration data to the communications network to implement the identified modifications in the communications network.

68. A method according to claim 66, wherein implementing the identified modifications comprises one or more of:

installing new equipment in the communications network;

connecting network devices; and

configuring one or more network devices.

77. A method according to claim 66, further comprising analyzing utilization of network resources in the network, and planning changes to the network in dependence on the outcome of the analysis.

78. A method according to claim 77, wherein the analyzing and planning comprises:

measuring the utilization of one or more network resources in the network over time;

analyzing the measured utilization over time of the one or more network resources to determine a utilization trend;

predicting future utilization of the one or more network resources using the determined utilization trend; and

planning changes to the network in dependence on the predicted future utilization.

69. A method, comprising:

receiving a plurality of change requests each specifying a modification to be made to a network;

identifying, for each change request, one or more modification actions required for implementing the modification specified by the change request in the network;

analyzing the modification actions identified for the plurality of change requests to identify at least two modification actions relating to a same network resource;

determining a network configuration action for configuring the network resource so as to implement the at least two modification actions in the network; and

performing the network configuration action in the network.

70. A method, comprising:

storing a network inventory comprising information representative of network resources of a communications network;

receiving a plurality of change requests each specifying a modification to be made to the communications network;

identifying, for each change request, one or more inventory update actions required for implementing the modification specified by the change request in the network inventory, and performing the identified inventory update actions to implement the modification in the network inventory;

analyzing the inventory update actions performed for the plurality of change requests to identify two or more update actions relating to a same network resource;

determining a network configuration action for configuring the network resource so as to implement the two or more update actions in the communications network; and

performing the network configuration action in the communications network.

71. A method according to claim 70, wherein analyzing the modification or inventory update actions comprises identifying a plurality of groups of actions, each group of actions relating to a respective network resource;

the method further comprising;

determining, for each group of actions, a network configuration action for configuring the respective network resource so as to implement the group of actions in the communications network; and

performing the determined network configuration actions in the communications network.

72. A method according to claim 70, wherein performing a network configuration action comprises one or more of:

adding a network resource to the communications network;

removing a network resource from the communications network;

transmitting a configuration command to a network resource; and

adding, modifying or removing a connection to or from a network resource.

73. A method, comprising:

storing a database comprising a master inventory defining network resources available in a network;

storing a database comprising a service inventory, the service inventory being derived from the master inventory and containing information used for the provisioning of services in the network; and

modifying the service inventory in response to modification of the master inventory.

74. A method according to claim 73, further comprising modifying the network by a process including:

modifying the master inventory;

generating change information in response to modification of the master inventory; and

modifying the network in dependence on the change information.

75. A method according to claim 73, further comprising provisioning a service in the network by a process including:

modifying the service inventory;

generating configuration information in response to the modification of the service inventory; and

transmitting the configuration information to the network.

76. A method according to claim 73, further comprising receiving a service order relating to a service, and provisioning the service using the service inventory in response to the service order.

79. A method, comprising:

storing a database comprising a master inventory defining network resources available in a network; and

performing a network modification by a process comprising;

modifying the database storing the master inventory; and

modifying the network in dependence on the modified database.

80. A method according to claim 79, wherein performing the network modification further comprises:

outputting a change record describing the modification made to the database; and

modifying the network using the change record.

81. A method according to claim 80, further comprising collating a plurality of change records describing modifications to the database to generate a network modification plan, the network modification plan defining a group of related network changes, and modifying the network using the network modification plan.

82. A method according to claim 79, wherein the network modification comprises at least one of addition and deletion of one or more network resources at least one of to the network and from the network.

83. A method according to claim 79, wherein the database stores elements representing network resources;

and wherein modifying the database comprises adding, deleting or modifying one or more database elements in the database.

84. A method according to claim 79, further comprising:

storing a service inventory, the service inventory being derived from the master inventory and containing information used for the provisioning of services in the network; and

provisioning services in the network using the service inventory.

85. A method according to claim 84, wherein provisioning a service comprises:

modifying the service inventory in dependence on the service being provisioned; and

configuring the network to provide the service in dependence on the modified service inventory.

86. A method according to claim 85, wherein provisioning the service comprises generating configuration information in dependence on the service inventory modification, and transmitting the configuration information to one or more network resources in the network to configure the network resources to provide the service.

87. A method according to claim 84, further comprising updating the service inventory in response to changes in the master inventory.

88. A tangible computer readable medium storing computer-readable instructions for performing a method, the method comprising:

storing a network inventory comprising information representative of network resources of a communications network;

receiving a change request specifying a modification to be made to the network;

modifying the network inventory in response to the change request;

accessing the network inventory to identify modifications made to the network inventory; and

implementing the identified modifications in the network.