Communications network management system

• US 6,243,396 B1
• Filed: 04/15/1998
• Issued: 06/05/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 08/15/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Somers, Fergal Thomas
• Primary Examiner(s): Olms, Douglas
• Assistant Examiner(s): Pizarro, Ricardo M.
• Application Number:
  US09/011,662
• Time in Patent Office: 1,147 Days
• Field of Search: 370/428, 370/235, 370/252, 370/230, 370/469, 379/112, 379/114, 709/202, 709/201, 709/223, 709/250
• US Class Current: 370/469
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/1305 Software aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13503 object-oriented systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13504 client/server architectures
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13516 agents or brokers - user, terminal etc., also OSI agent/managers
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13526 resource management
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0062 Provisions for network management

Abstract

A management system has a hierarchical structure of interconnected management authorities controlling communication network resources. The system also includes user interfaces. Each authority has a number of agents which communicate internally with other agents and externally with other agents in a uniform manner using KQML semantics. Agents may be intelligent or simply reactive. Generally, reactive agents are located within a platform part of an authority and intelligent agents are located within the controlling part of an authority. Agents within the controlling part are grouped into functional components to provide FCAPS functionality.

Claims

1. A communications network management system comprising:

a plurality of interconnected management authorities controlling network resources;

means for interconnecting in a hierarchial structure;

each management authority comprises a plurality of agents, the agents having means for intra-authority and inter-authority agent-to-agent asynchronous communication in a uniform protocol and at least one of the agents in each management authority being an intelligent agent;

said management authorities above a hierarchical base level comprising means for transmission of control signals to authorities at a lower hierarchical level, said control signals including goal and constraint commands to allow operation according to global management system objectives; and

each authority comprises means for assigning a resident or a reference status to each resource with which it is associated, whereby a resource having resident status may be directly controlled by the authority in an autonomous manner and a resource having reference status may be directly controlled in an autonomous manner within the constraints or indirectly after reference to the authority for which the resource has resident status if outside of the constraints.

2. The management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein each authority comprises:

a platform comprising means for performing communications routing, name resolution, directory services, and fault tolerance operations; and

an upper layer using the operations of the platform and comprising agents for performing communications network management functions.

3. The management system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the agents of the upper layer comprise means for performing fault, configuration, accounting, performance, services trading, resource representation and security management functions.

4. The management system as claimed in claim 3, wherein there is at any one time a dedicated agent for performing each of the telecommunications management functions.

5. The management system as claimed in claim 4, wherein each authority comprises means for allowing agent-to-agent intra-authority communication without restriction, and for allowing agent-to-agent inter-authority communication only between agents performing like functions.

6. The management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the asynchronous communication is carried out according to a protocol allowing transmission of messages including goal commands preceded by control signals indicating message language and ontology.

7. The management system as claimed in claim 6, wherein the protocol is according to the Knowledge Query Manipulation Language standard.

8. The management system as claimed in claim 7, wherein the standard is implemented in an infrastructure in which agent and authority object servers are defined, each object server presenting a public interface and a management interface.

9. The management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein each agent comprises a shell and a portable knowledge structure.

10. The management system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the shell comprises a communication module, a task stack, and an agenda module.

11. The management system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the knowledge structure comprises a skill knowledge base defining the agent function, and a stored set of facts and beliefs related to the authority of the agent.

12. The management system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the skill knowledge base includes scripts, each comprising a sequence of actions associated with a triggering event.

13. The management system as claimed in claim 12, wherein the skill knowledge base comprises a negotiation script.

14. The management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein a plurality of authorities assign reference status to a resource and a spanning authority at a higher hierarchial level assigns resident status to that source.

15. The management system as claimed in claim 14, wherein the spanning authority comprises means for performing conflict resolution operations upon requests from the lower-level authorities.

16. The management system as claimed in claim 15, wherein each authority comprises a configuration agent comprising means for exchanging goal and constraint information with other authorities with which it is in conflict.

17. The management system as claimed in claim 16, wherein the configuration agent comprises means for exchanging goal information in the form of a hierarchial tree having resource links.

18. The management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein each authority comprises means for recognising as a resource both physical devices and communication routes established between devices at any one time.

19. The management system as claimed in claim 18, wherein a route resource is resident to an authority which spans all authorities assigning resident status to devices of the route.

20. The management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein each authority comprises a resource agent in an upper layer for resource representation.

21. The management system as claimed in claim 20, wherein the resource agent stores a resource hierarchial information model comprising resource fabric, termination point, and trail entities in which a fabric is an entity which provides a switching capability and supports the creation of trails which connect traffic between pairs of termination points.

22. The management system as claimed in claim 21, wherein the model further comprises domain, link and complex trail entities, in which a domain is a sub-class of fabric and may contain other fabrics, a link is a permanent connection, and a complex trail has a sequence of links between fabrics and trails.

23. The management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein authorities comprise means for service negotiation interactively with user interfaces or other authorities for resources allocation in real-time.

24. The management system as claimed in claim 23, wherein the service negotiation means comprises means for performing a five-stage negotiation process to determine a Service Level Agreement.

25. The management system as claimed in claim 24, wherein an intelligent service agent in each authority comprises means for performing service negotiation.

26. The management system as claimed in claim 25, wherein each service agent maintains a list of performance indices including both service and management performance indices for reference during service negotiation.

27. The management system as claimed in claim 26, wherein service agents in authorities above the base level comprise means for transmitting a modified version of the Service Level Agreement to like agents in sub-authorities after service negotiation.

28. The management system as claimed in claim 27, wherein a configuration agent in each authority comprises means for performing local re-configuration upon receipt of the modified Service Level Agreement.