Headend provisioning agent

• US 6,195,689 B1
• Filed: 05/05/1999
• Issued: 02/27/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 05/05/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Comcast MO Group Incorporated (Comcast Corporation)
• Original Assignee: MediaOne Group Inc. (Comcast Corporation)
• Inventors: Bahlmann, Bruce F.
• Primary Examiner(s): Meky, Moustafa M.
• Application Number:
  US09/305,680
• Time in Patent Office: 664 Days
• Field of Search: 709/200, 709/201, 709/203, 709/206, 709/207, 709/212, 709/213, 709/214, 709/216, 709/217, 709/218, 709/219, 709/220, 709/221, 379/201
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0843 based on generic templates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0894 Policy-based network configuration management

Abstract

An apparatus and method for controlling network provisioning servers. Users are provided with a common user interface that is independent of each provisioning server vendor'"'"'s unique user interface. Tools are provided to allow the user to add, view, modify and delete parameters for network definitions, headend nodes, network policies, custom devices and static Internet Protocol addresses used by the provisioning servers. Tools are also provided to view, and modify top level network policy group definitions. The parameters are stored in a database. Locks are provided on the database as a whole, and for individual records within the database to prevent simultaneous changes by multiple users. Requested changes to the database are validated before being implemented. Reports can be generated from the information within the database. Access to various tool features is limited based upon a user level assigned to each user. A log file provides a history of all user initiated transactions.

Claims

1. An apparatus to provide a user with an interface to a provisioning system having at least one provisioning server, the apparatus comprising:

a database providing for at least one record;

a tool application program in communication with the database and the at least one provisioning server; and

a server program providing a set of protocols to facilitate communications between the tool application program and the user,

wherein the tool application program is operative in response to commands received from the user to add a new record to the at least one record, delete a selected record of the at least one record, modify the selected record of the at least one record, and communicate the additions, deletions and modifications to the at least one provisioning server.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the at least one record includes at least one policy record having a state name, a city name, a headend name, a policy number, an alias name zone, at least one alias name server address, a lease time, a rebind time and a renewal time.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the at least one record includes at least one network record each network having a headend name, a use selection, a primary network base address, a subnet mask, and at least one gateway address.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein the at least one network record further includes a link to a selected policy record of the at least one record, at least one secondary network base address, and at least one network dynamic address range.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the at least one network record further includes a service group, a transmit frequency, a receive frequency, and a loop delay, and

wherein upon receipt of a generate bootstrap file command and a selected network record of the at least one network record from the user, the tool application program is operative to generate a bootstrap file and provide the bootstrap file to the at least one provisioning server.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the at least one record includes at least one address record having has a state name, a city name, a static Internet Protocol address and a unique name.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein the at least one address record further includes an alias name, and

wherein upon receipt of a generate alias name command and a selected address record of the at least one address record from the user, the tool application program is operative to generate the alias name, and provide the alias name to the at least one provisioning server.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising at least one service group record stored in the database, and

wherein the tool application program is operative in response to commands from the user to modify a selected service group record of the at least one service group record, and communicate the modifications to the at least one provisioning server.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein each service group record of the at least one service group record has a downstream bandwidth, an upstream bandwidth, an access priority, an burst traffic rate, a headend reference node flag, a number of local network nodes supported, a modem file type name and a filter setting.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the at least one record includes at least one headend node record having a state name, a city name, a headend name, a node number, a medium access control address, an Internet Protocol address and a link to a selected service group of the at least one service group.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the at least one headend node record further includes an alias name, and

wherein upon receipt of a generate alias name command and a selected headend node record of the at least one headend node record from the user, the tool application program is operative to generate the alias name and communicate the alias name to the at least one provisioning server.

12. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the at least one record includes at least one custom device record having a state name, a city name, a headend name, a node number, a medium access control address, a unique name and a link to a selected service group of the at least one service group.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the at least one custom device record further includes a static Internet Protocol address.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the at least one custom device record further includes a network base address and at least one authorized medium access control address.

15. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the tool application program is operative to validate each added record to the at least one record, modifications to each record of the at least one record, and modifications to each service group record of the at least one service group record received from the user against the database.

16. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein upon receipt of a report command and at least one report parameter from the user, the tool application program is operative to provide the user with a report display page generated from the database in accordance with the at least one report parameter.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein a first report parameter of the at least one report parameter is selected from groups of parameters consisting of headend names, primary network base addresses, and headend names plus primary network base addresses.

18. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein a second report parameter of the at least one report parameter is selected from a group of parameters consisting of excluding secondary networks, including secondary networks, and showing only secondary networks.

19. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:

a log file accessible to the tool application program for recording a plurality of transactions of the tool application program, and

wherein upon receipt of a log command from the user, the tool application program is operative to read a predetermined number of most recent transactions of the plurality of transactions from the log file and provide the user with a log display page containing the predetermined number of most recent transactions of the plurality of transactions.

20. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a lock file accessible to the tool application program and having a master lock for preventing simultaneous changes to the database.

21. The apparatus of claim 20 wherein the lock file further includes a record lock for each record in the database for preventing simultaneous modifications and deletions to each record.

22. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a user level file accessible to the tool application program and linking a plurality of user names to a plurality of passwords and a plurality of user levels,

wherein the tool application program receives an entered user name and an entered password from the user, and validates the entered user name and the entered password against the plurality of user names and the plurality of passwords to determine a respective user level of the plurality of user levels, and

wherein after successful validation of the entered user name the entered password, the tool application program is operative to validate each command received from the user against the respective user level.

23. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a browser program having one interface to the network and another interface to the user to facilitate communications between the user and the server program.

24. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a shell script program between the tool application program and the server program to facilitate communications between the tool application program and the server program.

25. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising an application program interface program between the tool application program and the at least one provisioning server to facilitate communications between the tool application program and the at least one provisioning server.

26. A method to provide a user with an interface to a provisioning system having at least one provisioning server, the method comprising:

storing at least one record;

adding a new record to the at least one record in response to receiving a change command and the new record from the user;

deleting a selected record of the at least one record in response to receiving a delete command from the user;

modifying the selected record of the at least one record in response to receiving the change command and modifications to the selected record of the at least one record from the user; and

communicating additions, deletions and modifications to each record of the at least one record to the at least one provisioning server in response to the additions, deletions and modifications.

27. The method of claim 26 wherein the at least one record includes at least one network record, the method further comprising:

generating a bootstrap file based upon a selected network record of the at least one network record in response to receiving a generate bootstrap file command from the user; and

communicating the bootstrap file to the at least one provisioning server upon completing the bootstrap file generation.

28. The method of claim 26 wherein the at least one record includes at least one address record, the method further comprising:

generating an alias name based upon a selected address record of the at least one address record in response to receiving a generate alias name command from the user; and

providing the alias name to the at least one provisioning server in response to generating the alias name.

29. The method of claim 26 wherein the at least one record includes at least one headend node record, the method further comprising:

generating an alias name based upon a selected headend node record of the at least one headend node record in response to receiving a generate alias name command from the user; and

providing the alias name to the at least one provisioning server in response to generating the alias name.

30. The method of claim 26 further comprising:

storing at least one service group record;

modifying a selected service group record of the at least one service group record in response to receiving the change service group command and modifications to the selected service group record of the at least one service group record from the user; and

communicating modifications to the selected service group record to the at least one provisioning server in response to receiving the modifications to the selected service group of the at least one service group.

31. The method of claim 30 further comprising validating each added record to the at least one record, each modified service group record of the at least one service group record, and each modified record of the at least one record in response to receiving each added record to the at least on record, each modified service group record of the at least one service group record, and each modified record of the at least one record from the user.

32. The method of claim 26 further comprising:

generating a report based upon a report parameter in response to receiving a report command and the report parameter from the user; and

communicating the report to the user in response to completing the report generation.

33. The method of claim 26 further comprising:

recording a plurality of transactions initiated by the user;

creating a log display page containing a predetermined number of transactions of the plurality of transactions in response to receiving a log command from the user; and

communicating the log display page to the user in response to completing the log display page creation.

34. The method of claim 26 further comprising:

setting a master lock prior to storing, adding, deleting, modifying and generating; and

releasing the master lock in response to completing storing, adding, deleting, modifying and generating.

35. The method of claim 34 further comprising:

setting a respective record lock prior to deleting, and modifying each record of the at least one record; and

releasing the respective record lock in response to completing the deleting and modifying.

36. The method of claim 26 further comprising:

linking a plurality of user names to a plurality of passwords and a plurality of user levels;

validating an entered user name and an entered password against the plurality of user names and the plurality of passwords to determine a respective user level of the plurality of user levels in response to receiving the entered user name and the entered password from the user; and

validating each command received from the user against the respective user level in response to successfully validating the entered user name and the entered user password.