Service configuration assurance

• US 20100195537A1
• Filed: 02/03/2009
• Published: 08/05/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/03/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Pana, Mircea, Butt, Ian, Pelletier, Stephan
• Granted Patent: US 8,370,462 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/255
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0604 using filtering, e.g. reduction of information by using priority, element types, position or time
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0866 Checking the configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5012 determining service availability, e.g. which services are available at a certain point in time
• 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 41/5064 Customer relationship management

Abstract

Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with service configuration assurance are described. One example method includes generating an expected device configuration model based at least in part on service information for a network device. The example method may also include comparing this expected device configuration model with an actual device configuration model for the network device. The example method may also include generating a service-impact event notification when a likely service-impacting configuration change is detected.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method that provides an expected device configuration model for a network device having a network device type, the method comprising:

retrieving service information associated with the network device;

generating one or more expected service configuration items for the network device based at least in part on the retrieved service information;

merging the expected service configuration items to compile an expected device configuration model for the network device; and

communicating the expected device configuration model to a user.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 where the step of retrieving service information comprises retrieving one or more service definitions for the network device and retrieving service realization algorithms specific to the network device type and service types and where the expected service configuration items are generated based at least in part on the service realization algorithms.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 comprising generating an actual device configuration model for the network device and displaying the actual device configuration model for the network device to the user.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 where the actual device configuration model for the network device is generated by:

retrieving a device access method for the network device from a library of network device access methods;

retrieving service configuration modeling patterns for the network device type;

retrieving a current device configuration from the network device using the network device access method;

identifying service-related service configuration items in the current device configuration using the service configuration modeling patterns; and

merging the identified service configuration items to compile the actual device configuration model of the network device.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 comprising comparing the expected device configuration model with the actual device configuration model and communicating results of the comparison to the user.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 where the comparing the expected device configuration model with the actual device configuration model is performed by:

for each service associated with the network device, identifying all expected service configuration items that realize the service;

tagging the identified expected service configuration items with a service identifier for a corresponding service;

retrieving service configuration modeling equivalence rules associated with the network device type; and

matching the expected service configuration items with configuration items in the actual device configuration model based on the service configuration modeling equivalence rules.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 comprising applying the service identifier tags from the expected service configuration items to matching service configuration items in the actual device configuration model and communicating the matching service configuration items and service identifier tags to the user.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 comprising identifying expected service configuration items in the expected device configuration model for which there is no corresponding service configuration item in the actual device configuration model and communicating the service configuration items and the service identifier tags to the user.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 comprising:

identifying configuration items in the actual device configuration model for which there are no corresponding expected service configuration item;

retrieving service configuration modeling patterns for the device type;

determining whether the identified configuration items match any of the service configuration modeling patterns;

and communicating the matching service configuration items and the service identifier tags to the user.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 comprising:

tagging each identified configuration item with service identifiers for all the expected service configuration items that define a context for the identified configuration item;

retrieving service configuration item association rules for the device type;

for each identified configuration item associate any expected service configuration items using service configuration association rules;

tagging each identified configuration item with service identifiers for all expected service configuration items associated using service configuration association rules; and

communicating the service configuration items and the service identifier tags to the user.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 comprising monitoring device events for the network device and where the comparing of the expected device configuration model and the actual device configuration model is performed when a monitored device event meets rules specified by a monitoring policy.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11 comprising generating a service-impact event notification that identifies service impact information for the service-impact event.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 comprising, in response to a user or system command, reconfiguring the network device to the expected device configuration model.

14. A computing system that provides a service-related configuration model for a network device, the system comprising:

an expected device configuration model generation logic comprising;

an inventory determination logic to determine service definitions for the network device;

a service realization determination logic to determine service realization information for the network device associated with the service definitions for the network device; and

an expected service configuration item generation logic to generate one or more expected service configuration items for the network device using the service realization information and to compile the expected service configuration items into an expected device configuration model; and

a communication device that communicates the one or more expected service configuration items in the expected device configuration model.

15. The computing system of claim 14 comprising an actual device configuration model generation logic comprising:

a network device configuration logic to retrieve a current configuration from the network device;

a service configuration item identification logic to identify service-related service configuration items in the current configuration and to merge the identified service-related service configuration items to compile an actual device configuration model for the network device; and

where the communication device communicates the service-related service configuration items in the actual device configuration model.

16. The computing system of claim 15 comprising an audit logic to compare the expected device configuration model to the actual device configuration model and where the communication device communicates a result of the comparison.

17. The computing system of claim 16 comprising a configuration event filter logic to monitor device events and trigger the audit logic to compare the expected device configuration model to the actual device configuration model when a monitored device event meets rules specified by a monitoring policy.

18. The computing system of claim 17 comprising a service-impact event notification generation logic to generate a service-impact event notification based on the comparison of the expected device configuration model and the actual device configuration model.

19. A computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method that provides a service related configuration model for a network device, the method comprising:

retrieving one or more service definitions corresponding to one or more services that are provided by the network device;

retrieving service realization algorithms associated with a device type for the network device; and

generating an expected device configuration model for the network device using the service definitions and service realization algorithms.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 19 where the instructions include:

retrieving a current configuration from the network device;

identifying service-related service configuration items in the current configuration; and

merging the identified service-related service configuration items to compile an actual device configuration model for the network device.

21. The computer-readable medium of claim 20 where the instructions include comparing the actual device configuration model and the expected device configuration model.

22. The computer-readable medium of claim 21 where the instructions include monitoring device events on the network device and comparing the actual device configuration model to the expected device configuration model when a monitored device event meets rules specified by a monitoring policy.

23. The computer-readable medium of claim 22 where the instructions include generating service-impact event notifications that communicate service-impact information based on the results of the comparison between the actual device configuration model and the expected device configuration model.

24. A computer-implemented method that generates an actual device configuration model for a network device having a device type, the method comprising:

retrieving a device access method for the network device from a library of network device access methods;

retrieving service configuration modeling patterns for the network device;

retrieving a current device configuration from the network device using the network device access method;

identifying service-related service configuration items in the current device configuration using the service configuration modeling patterns;

merging the identified service configuration items to compile the actual device configuration model of the network device; and

communicating the actual device configuration model to a user.

25. A system, comprising:

means for generating an expected device configuration model for a network device using one or more service definitions that correspond to services provided by the network device;

means for retrieving a current configuration for the network;

identifying service-related service configuration items in the current configuration, and merging the service-related service configuration items to compile an actual device configuration model of the network device; and

means for comparing the expected device configuration model and the actual device configuration model.