Method and system for network management

• US 6,970,919 B1
• Filed: 08/06/1999
• Issued: 11/29/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 01/11/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Hattori, Atsushi, Mishima, Masaki, Doi, Yoshiko, Kakumi, Yujo, Sato, Miyuki
• Primary Examiner(s): Najjar, Saleh
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGUYEN, THU HA T
• Application Number:
  US09/369,776
• Time in Patent Office: 2,307 Days
• Field of Search: 709220-224, 709/202, 709/229, 707/3, 707/103, 707/104, 713/201, 345/356, 345/357, 345/440, 345/734, 370/255, 370/408, 370/254, 340/506, 725/111
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0631 using root cause analysis; using analysis of correlation between notifications, alarms or events based on decision criteria, e.g. hierarchy, tree or time analysis
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0677 Localisation of faults
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/08 Configuration management of networks or network elements address allocation H04L61/50
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0853 by actively collecting configuration information or by backing up configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0883 Semiautomatic configuration, e.g. proposals from system
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]

Abstract

A method of controlling a network, which includes network elements connected via links and provides services, includes the steps of creating view-configuration information based on network-configuration information with respect to each of the services such that the view-configuration information is related to the network-configuration information, and displaying a view based on the view-configuration information with respect to each of the services, the view including both or either one of a physical network configuration of the network and a logical network configuration of the network.

Claims

1. A method of controlling a network which includes a plurality of network elements connected via a plurality of links, and provides a plurality of communications services to end-users of the network, said method comprising the steps of:

creating view-configuration information based on network-configuration information with respect to each of the plurality of communications services such that the view-configuration information is related to the network-configuration information;

registering the view-configuration information and the network-configuration information in a database, said registered view-configuration information and registered network-configuration information being further capable of being updated;

creating a plurality of communications service-specific views of the network that correspond to respective one of the communications services, wherein each communications service-specific view includes ones of the plurality of networks elements and ones of the plurality of links that are required for providing an associated communications service to the end-users of the network;

displaying a selected one or more of the communications service-specific views by presenting each selected view based on the view-configuration information for respective one of the communications services, said selected view including both or either one of a plurality of a physical network configuration of the network and a logical network configuration of the network;

providing matches between failure levels and failure labels with respect to different types of failures, the failure levels indicating significance of failures either as physical failures or as communications service failures; and

displaying a failure level of a failure occurring in the network in association with the displaying of the selected view.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said step of creating includes the steps of:

selecting network elements and links from a network configuration represented by the network-configuration information; and

creating the view-configuration information according to the selected network elements and links.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said step of creating includes the steps of:

selecting a connection from a network configuration represented by the network-configuration information, and

creating the view-configuration information according to the selected connection.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said step of creating includes the steps of:

selecting ports of network elements from a network configuration represented by the network-configuration information; and

creating the view-configuration information according to the selected ports.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said step of creating includes the steps of:

specifying attribute conditions of connections; and

creating the view-configuration information by extracting network elements and links relating to at least one connection that matches the specified attribute conditions.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said step of creating includes the steps of:

specifying a communications service name; and

creating the view-configuration information by extracting network elements and links relating to connections that provide the specified communications service name.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

providing matches between failure levels and failure labels with respect to different types of failures, the failure levels indicating significance of failures either as physical failures or as communications service failures; and

displaying a failure level of a failure occurring in the network in association with the displayed view.

8. The method as claimed in claim 7, further comprising the steps of:

controlling the failures by a unit of a node or a port of a node; and

selecting a failure level of a connection by finding a largest failure level along the connection, and displaying the failure level of the connection in association with the displayed view.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a step of selecting nodes and links on the displayed physical network configuration to set a route between edges.

10. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said step of selecting includes the steps of:

selecting the edges on the displayed physical network configuration; and

setting the route between the edges by extracting nodes and links so as to use as small a number of intervening edges and links between the selected edges.

11. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the view-configuration information is created such that network elements and links that are added during operation of the displayed communications services are added in real time to the selected one or more communications service-specific views.

12. A system for controlling a network including a plurality of network elements and a plurality of links, said system comprising:

a database which stores network-configuration information and view-configuration information such that the view-configuration information is related to the network-configuration information;

a service-management server which attends to registering and updating of the information stored in the database, and defines communications service-specific views of a physical network configuration and a logical network configuration with respect to each of a plurality of communications services provided to end-users of the network, based on the view-configuration information stored on said database, wherein each communications service-specific view includes ones of the plurality of network elements and ones of the plurality of links that that are required for providing an associated communications service to the end-users of the network;

a network-management server which collects information on configurations of the network elements and the links as well as information on failures, and informs said service-management server of a change in at least one of the configurations and the failures for a purpose of said updating; and

a client which displays both or either one of the physical network configuration and the logical network configuration with respect to said client'"'"'s own communications service by selecting one of the communications service-specific views that corresponds to said client'"'"'s own communications service,

wherein said network-management server includes a failure-level-conversion table that provides matches between failure levels and failure labels with respect to different types of failures, the failure levels indicating significance of failures either as physical failure or as communications service failures, and wherein the client displays a failure level of a failure occurring in the network in associated with the displaying of selected view.

13. The system as claimed in claim 12, wherein said service-management server includes a connection-setting unit which controls settings of a connection between edges based on the edges, nodes and links selected from the physical network configuration.

14. The system as claimed in claim 12, wherein the client adds network elements and links that are added during operation of the client'"'"'s communications service to the display of the selected communications service-specific view in real time.

15. A method of controlling a network which includes a plurality of network elements connected via a plurality of links, and provides a plurality of communications services to end-users of the network, said method comprising the steps of:

creating view-configuration information based on network-configuration information with respect to each of the plurality of communications services such that the view-configuration information is related to the network-configuration information;

registering the view-configuration information and the network-configuration information in a database, said registered view-configuration information and registered network-configuration information being further capable of being updated;

creating a plurality of communications service-specific views of the network that correspond to respective one of the communications services, wherein each communications service-specific view includes ones of the plurality of networks elements and ones of the plurality of links and ones of a plurality of logical links that are required for providing an associated communications service to the end-users of the network;

displaying a selected one or more of the communications service-specific views by presenting each selected view based on the view-configuration information for respective one of the communications services, said selected view including both or either one of a plurality of a physical network configuration of the network and a logical network configuration of the network;

providing matches between failure levels and failure labels with respect to different types of failures, the failure levels indicating significance of failures either as physical failures or as communications service failures; and

displaying a failure level of a failure occurring in the network in association with the displaying of the selected view.