LAN early warning system

• US 5,822,302 A
• Filed: 11/25/1996
• Issued: 10/13/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 11/25/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: MCI Communications Corporation (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Royce, Kevin M., Scheetz, Jeffrey P., Landry, Hayes J. Jr., Cole, John D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Jung, Min
• Application Number:
  US08/758,112
• Time in Patent Office: 687 Days
• Field of Search: 370/242, 370/245, 370/248, 370/400, 395/182.02, 395/183.01, 395/183.02, 395/183.13, 395/200.53, 395/200.54, 364/551.01, 371/67.1, 371/68.2
• US Class Current: 370/245
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/06 Management of faults, events, alarms or notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/26 using dedicated tools for LAN [Local Area Network] management

Abstract

The present invention automatically monitors a Data Center Operations (DCO) network (or any LAN/WAN network) for circuit outages and sends a notification if an outage is detected. A console at a Remote Operations Center periodically pings a console at each Data Center (pinging may also be on-demand). The remote console receives responses from each pinged Data Center console. A response will be received for each possible route between the Data Center and the Remote Operations Center. These responses will indicate the route that was taken. The routes indicated in the responses are then compared with a table of routes previously identified as routes of concern or interest. Also listed in this table is a circuit identifier for each route. Any route listed in this table for which a response was not received is identified as unavailable. An automatic notification, such as a page, is then sent identifying this route by the circuit identifier.

Claims

1. In a system including at least one Remote Operations Center (ROC) having a remote console connected to the ROC by a LAN and subsequently connected to a plurality of Data Centers through a WAN, a plurality of local consoles respectively connected to the Data Centers by additional LANs, a method performed by the remote console for monitoring possible outages occurring in the resulting LAN/WAN network and comprising the steps:

initiating a ping process at the remote console;

reading a file of prestored LAN/WAN network addresses at the remote console;

pinging each of the prestored addresses of the LAN/WAN network, execution of the pinging process occurring at the remote console;

receiving multiple responses from each ping of the addresses indicating the multiple routes that may be taken between each Data Center and the ROC;

continuing the receiving of responses for a preselected time period to ensure all responses taking relevant routes are received, but that responses taking extended, rogue routes are not collected;

generating a list of routes taken by each response received;

comparing a list of routes taken by each response received to a preselected list of routes desired for determining respective matches;

identifying routes desired that lack a match of routes taken, indicative of a possible outage in the unmatched route; and

generating a notification of the unmatched routes.

2. The method set forth in claim 1 wherein the step of initiating the ping process at the remote console occurs in accordance with a defined schedule and/or on demand by a user.

3. The method set forth in claim 1 wherein the step of pinging each of the addresses at the remote console includes executing a ping command at the remote console, the command having a plurality of switches (extended command parameters), one of which specifies that the route taken by the response be identified in the response.

4. The method set forth in claim 1 wherein the plurality of local consoles are interconnected by a LAN at the Data Center, and further wherein only one console at each Data Center will be pinged, this being sufficient to determine availability of routes between that Data Center and the Remote Operations Center.

5. The method set forth in claim 1 wherein each desired route is formatted to identify the nodes therealong and a circuit identifier respectively identified with the route.

6. The method set forth in claim 5 together with the step of providing autonotification for routes where matches are lacking, the circuit identifier being included in the autonotification.

7. In a system for automatically monitoring a Data Center Operations (DCO) network including at least one Remote Operations Center (ROC) having a remote console connected to the ROC by a LAN and subsequently connected to a plurality of Data Centers through a WAN, local consoles respectively connected to the Data Centers by additional LANs, a method performed by the remote console for monitoring possible outages occurring in the resulting LAN/WAN network and comprising the steps:

initiating a ping process at the remote console in accordance with a defined schedule and/or on demand by a user;

reading a file of prestored LAN/WAN network addresses at the remote console;

pinging each of the prestored addresses of the LAN/WAN network, execution of the pinging process occurring at the remote console, including executing a ping command that has a plurality of switches (extended command parameters), one of which specifies that the route taken by the response be identified in the response;

wherein only one console at each Data Center will be pinged, this being sufficient to determine availability of routes between that Data Center and the Remote Operations Center;

receiving multiple responses from each ping of the addresses indicating the multiple routes that may be taken between each Data Center and the ROC;

continuing the receiving of responses for a preselected time period to ensure all responses taking relevant routes are received, but that responses taking extended, rogue routes are not collected;

generating a list of routes taken by each response received;

comparing a list of routes taken by each response received to a preselected list of routes desired for determining respective matches;

the list of desired routes being formatted to identify the nodes therealong and a circuit identifier respectively identified with the route;

identifying routes desired that lack a match of routes taken, indicative of a possible outage in the unmatched route; and

generating a notification of the unmatched routes.

8. The method set forth in claim 7 further comprising the step of providing autonotification for routes where matches are lacking, the circuit identifier being included in the autonotification.

9. The method set forth in claim 8 wherein the circuit identifier is used to identify the possible circuit outage in the autonotification.

10. The method set forth in claim 9 wherein the list of desired routes contains the actual text message to be sent in an autonotification of lacking matches, the text concerning possible outages of the circuits corresponding to the circuit identifiers.