SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR HANDLING PERFORMANCE MONITORING DATA

• US 20100082632A1
• Filed: 11/11/2008
• Published: 04/01/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/19/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ciena Corporation
• Original Assignee: Ciena Corporation
• Inventors: KUMAR, Vikas
• Granted Patent: US 8,949,285 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/741
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/211 Schema design and management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5003 Managing SLA; Interaction between SLA and QoS
• 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]

Abstract

The present disclosure provides systems and methods for handling performance monitoring (PM) data in a database in a manner that supports different PM data sets from different network element (NE) device types in an integrated manner. The present invention defines a single database structure that can be utilized to store, handle, retrieve, etc. PM counters from multiple NEs including NEs of different types, e.g. SONET/SDH NE, DWDM NE, optical switch, Ethernet switch, etc. The single database enables an efficient mechanism to handle PM data in a uniform way across a network with different device types.

Claims

1. A method for handling historical performance monitoring data, comprising:

receiving a set of performance monitoring counters from a network element comprising a device type of a plurality of device types;

creating a new record in a database;

filling in common columns in the new record;

mapping the set of performance monitoring counters to generic columns in the database responsive to the device type; and

storing the new record.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request for performance monitoring information;

accessing the database to retrieve a record in the database responsive to the request;

creating a logical view from the record responsive a device type of the record;

mapping columns in the record to performance monitoring counters; and

presenting the performance monitoring columns.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the new record comprises a set of common columns and a set of generic columns.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the common columns comprise a timestamp, a network element device type, and a network element identification;

and

wherein the set of common columns is the same for each of the plurality of device types.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the set of generic columns comprises a quantity of columns sufficient to store a number of performance monitoring counters for each of the plurality of device types.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the mapping the set of performance monitoring counters to generic columns comprises utilizing a database schema for mapping columns responsive to the device type of the plurality of device types into a logical view from the record.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the database schema comprises one of schema definitions for logical views which define respective mappings for each device type of the plurality of device types and an extensible mark-up language file for each device type of the plurality of device types.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the plurality of device types comprise a wavelength division multiplexing system, an optical switch, an Ethernet switch, and a SONET/SDH network element.

9. A database for handling historical performance monitoring data, comprising:

a data store; and

a database stored in the data store, wherein the database comprises a plurality of records, and wherein each of the plurality of records comprises;

a set of common columns; and

a set of generic columns, wherein each column in the set of generic columns is defined responsive to a device type of a plurality of device types;

wherein performance monitoring counters for the plurality of device types are stored in the database.

10. The database of claim 9, wherein the set of common columns comprise a timestamp, a network element device type, and a network element identification;

and

wherein the set of common columns is the same for each of the plurality of device types.

11. The database of claim 9, wherein the set of generic columns comprises a quantity of columns sufficient to store a number of performance monitoring counters for each of the plurality of device types.

12. The database of claim 9, wherein the performance monitoring counters for a specific device type of the plurality of device types are mapped to the set of generic columns utilizing a database schema for mapping columns responsive to the device type of the plurality of device types into a logical view.

13. The database of claim 12, wherein the database schema comprises one of schema definitions for logical views which define respective mappings for each device type of the plurality of device types and an extensible mark-up language file for each device type of the plurality of device types.

14. The database of claim 13, wherein the plurality of device types comprise a wavelength division multiplexing system, an optical switch, an Ethernet switch, and a SONET/SDH network element.

15. The database of claim 14, wherein a new device type is added to the plurality of device types in the database by defining a new extensible mark-up language file for the new device type.

16. A management system, comprising:

a data store;

memory;

a network interface configured to receive performance monitoring counters from a plurality of devices, wherein each of the plurality of devices comprises one of a plurality of device types;

input/output interfaces;

a processor, wherein each of the processor, the data store, the memory, the network interface, and the input/output interfaces are communicatively coupled;

a mechanism to map received performance monitoring counters to a database in the data store responsive to a device type of the plurality of device types; and

a mechanism to retrieve performance monitoring counters from the database;

wherein the database is configured to store performance monitoring counters from a plurality of network elements each comprising one of the plurality of device types.

17. The management system of claim 16, wherein the database comprises a plurality of records;

wherein each of the plurality of records comprises a set of common data and a set of generic data;

wherein the set of common data comprises a timestamp, a network element device type, and a network element identification; and

wherein the set of common data is the same for each of the plurality of device types.

18. The management system of claim 17, wherein the set of generic data comprises a quantity sufficient to store a number of performance monitoring counters for each of the plurality of device types;

wherein the performance monitoring counters for a specific device type of the plurality of device types are mapped to the set of generic data utilizing a database schema for mapping data responsive to the device type of the plurality of device types into a logical view; and

wherein the database schema comprises one of schema definitions for logical views which define respective mappings for each device type of the plurality of device types and an extensible mark-up language file for each device type of the plurality of device types.

19. The management system of claim 18, wherein the plurality of device types comprise a wavelength division multiplexing system, an optical switch, an Ethernet switch, and a SONET/SDH network element.

20. The management system of claim 19, wherein a new device type is added to the plurality of device types in the database by defining a new extensible mark-up language file for the new device type.