Method of saving operating data of a network element, and controller for a network element

• US 6,338,070 B1
• Filed: 06/17/1999
• Issued: 01/08/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 06/20/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: Alcatel SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Knebel, Uwe, Nusch, Dietmar, Banzhaf, Monika
• Primary Examiner(s): MIZRAHI, DIANE D
• Application Number:
  US09/334,606
• Time in Patent Office: 936 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1, 707/102, 707/103, 707/104, 709/223, 709/220, 709/231, 705/54, 370/249
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/1305 Software aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13057 Object-oriented software
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13103 Memory
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13104 Central control, computer control
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13166 Fault prevention
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13167 Redundant apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/54583 Software development, e.g. procedural, object oriented, software generation, software testing
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/54591 Supervision, e.g. fault localisation, traffic measurements, avoiding errors, failure recovery, monitoring, statistical analysis
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure

Abstract

Operating data of a controller for a network element must be saved in a nonvolatile storage. The operating data are present in the form of managed objects. The method of saving the operating data involves dividing the managed objects into groups (A, B, C) and assigning a group-specific software module to each of the groups. To save one of the managed objects (MO) the operating data of the object are stored using the associated group-specific software module (MOD_A, MOD_B, MOD_C). This makes it possible to take into account the different requirements with respect to access capabilities, robustness, and speed of the different managed objects, and to increase access speed.

Claims

1. A method of saving operating data of a controller of a network element which are present in the form of managed objects, said method comprising the step of writing said operating data into a nonvolatile storage of the controller after said data is updated, wherein the managed objects are divided into groups (A, B, C), with at least one of said groups containing managed objects selected from managed objects whose data entries have variable length, managed objects for log files and managed objects for performance monitoring, to each of which groups a group-specific software module is assigned, and said writing step comprises writing the operating data of a managed object to be saved using the assigned group-specific software module (MOD_B).

2. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the nonvolatile storage is structured as a database.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the operating data of the managed objects are stored in separate areas of the nonvolatile storage according to the group membership of the managed objects.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein one (A) of the groups comprises managed objects whose data entries have a variable length, and wherein, to store a managed object of said group (A) to be saved, the operating data of the managed object to be saved are written into a free area of the nonvolatile storage and, after successful completion of the write access, the area containing the prior version of the object is marked as free.

5. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein one (B) of the groups comprises managed objects for log files, and wherein, to store a managed object of said group to be saved, the operating data of the managed object to be saved are written into an area of the nonvolatile storage of a predetermined size and, when the capacity of said area has been used up, said area is cleared by deleting old entries.

6. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein one (C) of the groups comprises managed objects for performance monitoring, and wherein for managed objects of said group, a predetermined number of data entries are provided in the nonvolatile storage which are periodically replaced for storing objects of said group.

7. A method as claimed in claim 2 wherein two or more changes made to managed objects are combined in a transaction, and wherein the changes are not transferred into the database before the transaction has been successfully completed.

8. A method as claimed in claim 2 wherein the group membership of a managed object to be saved is predetermined based on the object class of said managed object, and wherein an access key (KEY) which indicates the location of the managed object in the nonvolatile storage is entered in a table (TAB).

9. A controller for a network element comprising a processor, a memory, and a nonvolatile storage containing operating data of the network element in the form of managed objects, wherein the controller comprises group-specific software modules (MOD_A, MOD_B, MOD_C) for storing the data of managed objects to be saved, and the managed objects are divided into groups (A, B, C), to each of which one of the group-specific software modules is assigned, with at least one of said groups containing managed objects selected from managed objects whose data entries have variable length, managed objects for log files and managed objects for performance monitoring.

10. A controller as claimed in claim 9 wherein the nonvolatile storage is structured as a database.

11. A controller as claimed in claim 9 wherein separate areas are provided in the nonvolatile storage for the individual groups (A, B, C).