METHODS FOR RECONCILING TRUNK GROUP IDENTIFICATION INFORMATION AMONG VARIOUS TELECOMMUNICATION NETWORK MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

• US 20100080147A1
• Filed: 12/07/2009
• Published: 04/01/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Simon, Richard, Bajpay, Paritosh, Eslambolchi, Hossein, McCanuel, John, Best, Robert, Glozzy, Richard
• Granted Patent: US 8,995,285 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/254
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/082 the condition being updates or upgrades of network functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0886 Fully automatic configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0062 Provisions for network management

Abstract

A method includes retrieving a first data set from a switch within a network, the first data set including a set of switch records. Among the switch records included in the first data set is a first switch record associated with and including a field identifying a first trunk group from a set of trunk groups included within the switch. A second data set is retrieved from a configuration management system configured to facilitate an operation associated with the network. The second data set includes a plurality of configuration records, which includes a first configuration record associated with and including a field identifying the first trunk group. When the field included in the first configuration record differs from the field included in the first switch record a report is produced.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

retrieving a first data set from a switch within a network, the first data set including a plurality of switch records, the plurality of switch records including a first switch record associated with and including a field identifying a first trunk group from a plurality of trunk groups included within the switch;

retrieving a second data set from a configuration management system configured to facilitate an operation associated with the network, the second data set including a plurality of configuration records, the plurality of configurations records including a first configuration record including a field identifying the first trunk group; and

producing a report when the field included in the first configuration record differs from the field included in the first switch record.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

updating automatically the second data set to replace the field included in the first configuration record with the field included in the first switch record; and

transmitting the updated second data set to the configuration management system.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the field included within the first switch record and the field included within the first configuration record includes a base traffic number associated with the first trunk group.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the report includes any one of:

an identification of the switch, an identification of the configuration management system, the first configuration record, or the first switch record.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first data set is retrieved automatically.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the second data set is retrieved automatically.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the report is produced automatically.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration management system includes any one of:

an ordering system, an inventory system, a provisioning system, a billing system, or a network maintenance system.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the configuration management system is one of a plurality of configuration management systems; and

the second data set is one of a plurality of second data sets, each second data set from the plurality of second data sets being uniquely associated with and retrieved from a configuration management system from the plurality of configuration management systems.

10. A method, comprising:

retrieving a first data set from a switch within a network, the first data set including a plurality of switch records, each switch record from the plurality of switch records being associated with a trunk group from a plurality of trunk groups included within the switch, the plurality of switch records including a first switch record associated with a first trunk group from the plurality of trunk groups;

retrieving a second data set from a configuration management system configured to facilitate an operation associated with the network, the second data set including a plurality of configuration records, each configuration record from the plurality of configuration records being associated with a trunk group from the plurality of trunk groups; and

producing a report when the second data set does not include a configuration record from the plurality of configuration records that is associated with the first trunk group.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

updating automatically the second data set to include a configuration record associated with the first trunk group; and

transmitting the second data set to the configuration management system.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein each switch record from the plurality of switch records and each configuration record from the plurality of configuration records includes a base traffic number associated with a trunk group from the plurality of trunk groups.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the configuration management system includes any one of an ordering system, an inventory system, a provisioning system, a billing system, or a network maintenance system.

14. A processor-readable medium storing code representing instructions to cause a processor to perform a process, the code comprising code for:

retrieving a first data set from a switch within a network, the first data set including a plurality of switch records, the plurality of switch records including a first switch record associated with and including a field identifying a first trunk group from a plurality of trunk groups included within the switch;

retrieving a second data set from a configuration management system configured to facilitate an operation associated with the network, the second data set including a plurality of configuration records, the plurality of configurations records including a first configuration record including a field identifying the first trunk group; and

producing a report when the field included in the first configuration record differs from the field included in the first switch record.

15. The processor-readable medium of claim 14, further comprising:

updating automatically the second data set to replace the field included in the first configuration record with the field included in the first switch record; and

transmitting the updated second data set to the configuration management system.

16. The processor-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the field included within the first switch record and the field included within the first configuration record includes a base traffic number associated with the first trunk group.

17. The processor-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the report includes any one of:

an identification of the switch, an identification of the configuration management system, the first configuration record, or the first switch record.

18. The processor-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the first data set is retrieved automatically, wherein the second data set is retrieved automatically, and wherein the report is produced automatically.

19. The processor-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the configuration management system includes any one of:

an ordering system, an inventory system, a provisioning system, a billing system, or a network maintenance system.

20. The processor-readable medium of claim 14, wherein:

the configuration management system is one of a plurality of configuration management systems; and

the second data set is one of a plurality of second data sets, each second data set from the plurality of second data sets being uniquely associated with and retrieved from a configuration management system from the plurality of configuration management systems.