GENERIC MULTI-LAYER PROVISIONING SERVICE MANAGEMENT LAYER SYSTEMS AND METHODS

• US 20130238774A1
• Filed: 03/09/2012
• Published: 09/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/09/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ciena Corporation
• Original Assignee: Ciena Corporation
• Inventors: DAVISON, Eric Stewart, PRASANNA, Chandrashekar Lalapet Srinivas
• Granted Patent: US 8,683,028 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/145 involving simulating, designing, planning or modelling of a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/40 using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5041 characterised by the time relationship between creation and deployment of a service

Abstract

Network planning/provisioning systems and methods with a Generic Multi-Layer Provisioning (GMLP) service management layer that is configured to operate on any of deployed network elements and spoofed network elements to provide abstract service modeling thereon. The GMLP layer may include a spoofing engine configured to simulate network elements and provisioning functions associated therewith. The associated abstraction of the GMLP layer enables layer 0-4 topologies and services to be modeled, planned, and provisioned.

Claims

1. A planning system, comprising:

a processing device comprising a generic multi-layer provisioning service management layer configured to operate on any of deployed network elements and spoofed network elements to provide abstract service modeling thereon;

wherein the generic multi-layer provisioning service management layer is communicatively coupled to a user interface and a management system.

2. The planning system of claim 1, wherein the generic multi-layer provisioning service management layer comprises:

a spoofing engine configured to simulate network elements and provisioning functions associated therewith.

3. The planning system of claim 1, wherein the generic multi-layer provisioning service management layer comprises:

a Service Abstraction Layer;

a Transport/Protocol Abstraction Layer; and

a Hardware Abstraction Layer.

4. The planning system of claim 3, wherein the generic multi-layer provisioning service management layer comprises:

a spoofing engine configured to simulate network elements and provisioning functions associated therewith.

5. The planning system of claim 3, wherein the Service Abstraction Layer is configured to interface through the user interface to provide creation of end-to-end services through an abstract model of termination points.

6. The planning system of claim 3, wherein the Transport/Protocol Abstraction Layer is configured to interface between the Service Abstraction Layer and the Hardware Abstraction Layer to enable creation of services independent of underlying transport connectivity, protocols, and encapsulations.

7. The planning system of claim 3, wherein the Hardware Abstraction Layer is configured to interface to the management system to gather network element information therefrom and to form an abstract model of each network element including termination points, system nodes, links, and aggregations.

8. The planning system of claim 3, wherein the generic multi-layer provisioning service management layer comprises:

a Service Associated Object-Oriented Relational Database providing a relational repository for services, tunnels, and device specific attributes.

9. The planning system of claim 4, wherein the spoofing engine is configured to intercept any request between the Service Abstraction Layer, the Transport/Protocol Abstraction Layer, and the Hardware Abstraction Layer related to the spoofed network elements and to provide an appropriate response thereto.

10. The planning system of claim 3, wherein the generic multi-layer provisioning service management layer comprises:

a Transaction Lanaguage-1 and Simple Network Management Protocol library providing device discovery.

11. The planning system of claim 3, wherein the generic multi-layer provisioning service management layer is configured to model networking components comprising connectivity group components, protection type components, service type components, and resource tracking components.

12. The planning system of claim 11, wherein the connectivity group components utilize graph theory for building blocks of connectivity objects with the objects comprising one of an Order 2 object and an Order !2 object.

13. The planning system of claim 11, wherein the generic multi-layer provisioning service management layer is configured to provision a Carrier Ethernet service.

14. A network system, comprising:

a planning/provisioning system;

a management system communicatively coupled to the planning/provisioning system;

at least one network element communicatively coupled to the management system; and

at least one spoofed network element managed in the planning/provisioning system;

wherein the planning/provisioning system is configured to implement a generic multi-layer provisioning service management layer configured to operate on the at least one network element and the at least one spoofed network element to provide abstract service modeling thereon.

15. The network system of claim 14, wherein the generic multi-layer provisioning service management layer comprises:

a Service Abstraction Layer;

a Transport/Protocol Abstraction Layer; and

a Hardware Abstraction Layer.

16. The network system of claim 15, wherein the generic multi-layer provisioning service management layer comprises:

a spoofing engine configured to simulate network elements and provisioning functions associated therewith.

17. The network system of claim 15, wherein:

the Service Abstraction Layer is configured to interface through the user interface to provide creation of end-to-end services through an abstract model of termination points;

the Transport/Protocol Abstraction Layer is configured to interface between the Service Abstraction Layer and the Hardware Abstraction Layer to enable creation of services independent of underlying transport connectivity, protocols, and encapsulations; and

the Hardware Abstraction Layer is configured to interface to the management system to gather network element information therefrom and to form an abstract model of each network element including termination points, system nodes, links, and aggregations.

18. The network system of claim 15, wherein the generic multi-layer provisioning service management layer is configured to provision a Carrier Ethernet service.

19. A network planning method, comprising:

obtaining information from a management system related to deployed network elements;

spoofing at least one network element;

abstracting each of the deployed network elements and the at least one spoofed network element through a plurality of managed objects; and

performing service modeling on the deployed network elements and the at least one spoofed network through the plurality of managed objects.