Network element managing system

• US 5,729,688 A
• Filed: 12/07/1995
• Issued: 03/17/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/1993
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Wakamoto, Masaaki, Kim, Moowan, Fukazawa, Mitsunori, Ushiki, Kazumasa, Fukuda, Kenichi, Matsumoto, Shinichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Harrity, John E.
• Application Number:
  US08/448,361
• Time in Patent Office: 831 Days
• Field of Search: 395/200.06, 395/200.01, 395/200.53, 395/200.56, 395/200.59, 364/242.94, 364/DIG. 1
• US Class Current: 709/226
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/046 comprising network management agents or mobile agents therefor

Abstract

A network element managing system includes a management control section for maintaining and managing network elements such as an exchange or a telecommunication line and a communication control section for controlling the communication processing of the network so that an interface is commonly used between the management control section and the communication control section, thereby satisfying a required performance in both of a processing request relating to maintenance, management and operation and a processing request relating to communication. That is, the system of the invention includes a scheduling section for determining execution order on the basis of the attribute of the processing request, and the loads of the communication control section and the management control section. Also, the communication control section and the management control section have a function for scheduling the processing request on the basis of the attribute of the object to be processed, respectively.

Claims

1. A network element managing system comprising:

manager means for managing a plurality of network elements including an exchange or a telecommunication line which constitutes a telecommunication network to transmit a processing request from a specified subscriber to a corresponding network element;

agent means for analyzing the processing request transmitted from said manager means to discriminate whether the processing request is a processing request relating to maintenance/management of the network or a processing request relating to a communication processing, said agent means converting the processing request into a command form which is capable of being processed by the network element to transmit the converted processing request to the network element and to transmit the execution result of said processing request to said manager means if the processing request is of the processing request relating to the communication processing;

wherein said agent means includes a scheduling section for delivering data with respect to said manager means to discriminate whether the communication processing received by said manager means is a processing request relating to maintenance/management of the network or a processing request relating to the communication processing, if said processing request is of the processing request relating to the communication processing, said scheduling section assigning a precedence order higher than that of the processing request relating to the maintenance/management to the processing request, and if said processing request is of the processing request relating to the maintenance/management of the network, said scheduling section assigning a precedence order lower than that of processing request relating to the communication processing to the processing request; and

an operation processing section which executes said processing request according to a precedence order determined by said scheduling section if said processing request is of a processing request relating to the maintenance/management of the network, converts said processing request into a command form which is capable of being processed by the network element to allow the network element to execute the processing request after conversion according to a precedence order determined by said scheduling section, and to transmit the execution result to said manager means; and

wherein said operation executing section includes communication control section which allows said network element to execute the processing request relating to the communication processing to transmit the execution result to said manager means; and

a management control means for executing the processing request relating to the maintenance/management of said network to transmit the execution result to said manager means.

2. A network managing system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said management control means includes an object data storing section for storing a resource identifier for specifying the respective resources within said network, an object identifier where the respective resources have been converted into logic models and attribute data of the respective resources, and

wherein said management control section executes a step of extracting the object identifier of the resource to be processed from the processing request;

a step of retrieving said object data storing section on the basis of said object identifier to read the attribute information of said resource; and

a step of transmitting said attribute information to said manager means.

3. A network element managing system as claimed in claim 2, wherein said object data storing section has an attribute information including the operation history of said respective resources.

4. A network element managing system as claimed in claim 2, wherein said object data storing section includes a precedence degree table for storing a precedence degree which determines the execution order of the processing request to the respective objects, and

wherein said management control section including a processing content analyzing section, upon receiving the processing request relating to maintenance/management from said manager means, for detecting an object identifier of the object to be processed from the processing request and retrieving said precedence degree table on the basis of the object identifier to judge the precedence degree of said processing request;

a processing task producing section for producing the processing task which executes said processing request; and

a processing task scheduling section for starting said processing task on the basis of the precedence degree which is judged by said processing content analyzing section.

5. A network element managing system as claimed in claim 4, wherein said processing task scheduling section, when restarting the processing of the processing task which has been interrupted, sets the execution order of said processing task to be higher than that other processing tasks.

6. A network element managing system as claimed in claim 4, wherein said management control section further includes a response message producing section, upon recognition of a processing task the processing of which is interrupted because of waiting for information from the network element, for forcedly finishing said processing task and receives information from said network element instead of said processing task to produce a message to be transmitted to said manager means on the basis of that information.

7. A network element managing system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said communication control section includes an object managing table for registering a resource identifier every object identifier;

and

wherein said communication control section executes, upon reception of a processing request relating to the communication process from said manager means, a step of extracting the object identifier of a resource to be processed from said processing request;

a step of retrieving said object managing table on the basis of said object identifier to read the resource identifier of said resource;

a step of converting said processing request into a command form which can be processed by said network element on said resource identifier;

a step of allowing said network element to execute the processing request converted; and

a step of transmitting the execution result of said processing request to said manager means.

8. A network element managing system as claimed in claim 7, wherein said communication control section executes a step of requesting said management control section to update the object data storing section on the basis of the execution result of said network element;

and a step of updating said object managing table.

9. A network element managing system as claimed in claim 7, wherein said object managing table includes a precedence degree table for storing the precedence degree which determines the execution order of the processing request with respect to the respective objects, and

wherein said communication control section includes a processing content analyzing section, upon receiving a processing request relating to communication from said manager means, detects an object identifier to be processed from the processing request to retrieve said precedence degree table on the basis of the object identifier to judge the precedence degree of said processing request;

a processing task producing section for producing the processing task which executes said processing request; and

a processing task scheduling section for starting said processing task on the basis of the precedence degree which is judged by said processing content analyzing section.

10. A network element managing system as claimed in claim 9, wherein said processing task scheduling section, when restarting the processing of the processing task which has been interrupted, sets the execution order of said processing task to be higher than that other processing tasks.

11. A network element managing system as claimed in claim 9, wherein said communication control section further includes a response message producing section, upon recognition of a processing task the processing of which is interrupted because of waiting for information from the network element, for forcedly finishing said processing task and receives information from said network element instead of said processing task to produce a message to be transmitted to said manager means on the basis of that information.

12. A network element managing system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said scheduling section monitors the processing state of said communication control section and the processing state of said management control section, if the load of said management control section becomes larger than the load of said communication control section, an execution time higher in a precedence order than the processing request relating to the communication processing is assigned to the processing request relating to maintenance/management.

13. A network element managing system, comprising the steps of:

upon receiving a renewal request of an object managing table from a manager means, discriminating data to be updated to discriminate whether the data is in an access prohibition state, or not;

if said data is in an accessible state, then prohibiting access to said data from the interior of the communication control section and access to said data from the exterior of the communication control section;

transmitting the processing request to a network element to receive a reply therefrom if necessary;

updating said data on the basis of said renewal request;

releasing the prohibition of access to said access from the interior of the communication control section;

notifying said manager means of the completion of said data renewal;

transferring said data renewal request to a management control section; and

upon receiving the completion of execution of the renewal request from said management control section, releasing the prohibition of access to said data from the exterior of said communication control section.

14. A network element managing system as claimed in claim 13, wherein said management control section executes, upon receiving said renewal request from said communication control section, a step of prohibiting access to said data to be updated which has been stored in said object data storing section;

a step of updating said data on the basis of said renewal request;

a step of releasing the prohibition of access to said data; and

a step of notifying said communication control section of the completion of execution of said renewal request.

15. A network element managing system, wherein a management control section executes the steps of:

upon receiving a renewal request of a object data storing section from a manager means, discriminating data to be updated and discriminating whether said data has been also stored in the object managing table of a communication control section, or not;

if said data has been stored in said object managing table, requesting said communication control section to prohibit access to said data;

upon receiving a notice of execution of prohibiting access to said data from said communication control section, converting said data in said object data storing section into an access prohibition state;

issuing a processing request to said network element and receiving a reply to said processing request, if necessary;

notifying said communication control section of said renewal request;

upon receiving a notice of the renewal completion from said communication control section, updating said data which has been stored in said object data storing section;

changing said data in said object data storing section from an access prohibition state into an accessible state; and

notifying said manager means of said renewal completion.

16. A network element managing system as claimed in claim 15, wherein said communication control section executes the steps of:

discriminating data to be access-prohibited and discriminating whether said data is in an access prohibition state, or not;

if said data is in an accessible state, prohibiting access to said data from the interior of the communication control section and from the exterior of the communication control section, and notifying said management control section of the execution of prohibiting access;

upon receiving a renewal request of said data from said management control section, updating said data on the basis of that renewal request;

releasing the prohibition of access to said data from the interior of the communication control section;

notifying said management control section of the renewal completion of said data;

upon receiving a notice of the renewal completion of said data from said management control section, releasing the prohibition of access to said data from the exterior of the communication control section; and

if said data is in the access prohibition state, notifying said management control section of an error of execution of the access prohibition.