Automatic aggregation of network management information in spatial, temporal and functional forms

• US 6,393,472 B1
• Filed: 12/09/1998
• Issued: 05/21/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Anerousis, Nikolaos, Biliris, Alexandros, Jagadish, Hosagrahar Visvesvaraya
• Primary Examiner(s): Wiley, David
• Assistant Examiner(s): DINH, KHANH Q
• Application Number:
  US09/207,975
• Time in Patent Office: 1,259 Days
• Field of Search: 709/220, 709/221, 709/222, 709/223, 709/224, 709/200, 709/219, 709/203, 370/392, 370/258
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0213 Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0226 Mapping or translating multiple network management protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0233 Object-oriented techniques, for representation of network management data, e.g. common object request broker architecture [CORBA]

Abstract

A method and apparatus provide for the automatic aggregation of network management information in spatial, temporal and functional forms. Management information relating to a network is automatically aggregated by computational means in the form of a attribute name-value pair which is stored in an Aggregation Managed Object (AMO). The aggregation of network management information in the form of an AMO supports the spatial, temporal and functional aggregations. The AMOs themselves are stored in a database of a special management agent, the Management Aggregation and Visualization Server (MAVS) which allows network managers to access and set network information to and from the different aggregation forms.

Claims

1. A method for the automatic aggregation of network management information in spatial, temporal and functional forms, the method comprising the steps of:

specifying at least one group containing at least one of at least one network element and at least one element management agent;

providing an aggregation rule defining an attribute of at least one of the at least one network element and the at least one element management agent;

retrieving an attribute value from each one of the at least one network element and the at least one element management agent;

applying a filter function on the retrieved attribute values to calculate a current value of the defined attribute; and

storing the current value of the defined attribute.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of:

storing, at least temporarily, the retrieved attribute values in a data-table structure.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the data-table structure includes the at least one network element origin of the attribute value, the attribute value name and value.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the filter function is specified by reference.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of:

loading the filter function dynamically from an external source.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the external source is a filter function data library.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the current value of the defined attribute is stored in an Aggregation Managed Object (AMO).

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein an AMO is created from retrieving the attribute values, associated with at least one of at least one network element and at least one element management agent, according to the aggregation rule without restriction to any single group of the at least one group.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein a spatial aggregation of network management information is achieved by collection of a plurality of attribute values from the at least one network element.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the spatial form of an Aggregation Managed Object is achieved by a summarization filter.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein a temporal aggregation of network management information is achieved by periodic collection of a plurality of attribute values over a length of time.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the temporal form of an Aggregation Managed Object is achieved by applying a sliding window filter on the retrieved attribute values.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein the functional aggregation of network management information is achieved by collecting at least one attribute value from a functional variety of network elements.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein the functional form of an Aggregation Managed Object is achieved by applying the filter function to the attribute values collected from a functional variety of network elements.

15. The method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one group contains at least one other second group.

16. The method according to claim 1, wherein the current value of the defined attribute is computed dynamically following an operational command to retrieve the attribute value.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the operational command is a “

get”

operation.

18. The method according to claim 1, wherein the current value of the defined attribute is computed on the basis of an update condition.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein the update condition is one of a time interval and an occurrence of an event.

20. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of:

creating a list of at least one current value of the defined attribute in an Aggregation Managed Object (AMO).

21. The method according to claim 20, wherein the AMO acts as a pointer for retrieval of management information relating to at least one of at least one network element and at least one element management agent.

22. The method according to claim 7, further comprising the step of:

accessing the AMO through a network service broker.

23. The method according to claim 7, further comprising the step of:

instantiating the AMO within a Management Aggregation and Visualization Server (MAVS).

24. An apparatus for the automatic aggregation of network management information in spatial, temporal and functional forms, the apparatus comprising:

at least one managed element;

a standards based management protocol;

at least one management application;

a distributed computing environment; and

a middleware management services layer which extracts the network management information from the at least one managed element using the standards based management protocol, processes in spatial, temporal and functional forms the extracted network management information according to a computed view specification, and makes it available to the at least one management application through the distributed computing environment.

25. The apparatus according to claim 24, wherein the at least one managed element is at least one of at least one network element and at least one element management agent.

26. The apparatus according to claim 24, wherein the standards based management protocol is one of SNMP, CMIP and DMI.

27. The apparatus according to claim 24, wherein the at least one management application is a computer based program through which aggregations of network management information may be retrieved.

28. The apparatus according to claim 24, wherein the distributed computing environment is a computer network.