High availability system for network elements

• US 7,093,013 B1
• Filed: 06/19/2002
• Issued: 08/15/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: Alcatel SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Bullock, Steve M., Brown, Bradley Allen, Hornok, Jr., Michael Ronald
• Primary Examiner(s): SALAD, ABDULLAHI ELMI
• Application Number:
  US10/174,776
• Time in Patent Office: 1,518 Days
• Field of Search: 709/224, 709/202, 709/223, 714/47, 714/4, 714/25, 370/241.1
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1482 by means of middleware or OS functionality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2028 eliminating a faulty processor or activating a spare

Abstract

A method, computer program product, and data processing system for establishing high-availability of network resources through automatic failover, while cooperating with existing telecommunications equipment management and other systems is disclosed. Events are filtered through a series of software modules, each having a particular role to play with respect to the event. External systems may register with a “Notification Dispatcher” module, included within the series of modules, to receive notifications when particular events occur. In this way, conflicts between the high-availability system and other systems are avoided through well-defined sharing of information and delegation of responsibilities. Other modules may include “Resource Agents” and a “Resource Agent Adapter” for performing monitoring and control functions with respect to individual resources through a unified interface, a “Node Failover Manager” for actually performing an automatic failover, and a “Failover Rules Engine” for intelligently deciding when a given resource should experience a failover.

Claims

1. A data processing system for establishing high availability of a telecommunications network resource through automatic failover while cooperating with an Operations, Administration, Maintenance, and Procedures (OAM&

P) telecommunications equipment management (TEM) system, comprising;

a plurality of software modules which can be enabled to be executed in a currently executing process, said software modules including

a node failover manager for servicing, when enabled, an event selected from events including a resource failure event and a request from the TEM system, wherein said servicing can include performing a failover of a monitored resource,

a resource agent, including resource-dependent code, for monitoring, when enabled, a resource and forwarding an event, based on said monitoring, toward the node failover manager,

a notification dispatcher for receiving, when enabled, notification of an event from the node failover manager and notifying a TEM system which has subscribed to receive such notifications;

at least one processor configured to

receive configuration information identifying at least one of the software modules to be executed in the currently executing process and

enable the at least one software module to be executed in the currently executing process;

providing for one or more of said software modules to be enabled to implement a delegation of responsibilities between the TEM system and said data processing system for establishing high availability, and to provide for communications of requests and events between the TEM system and the data processing system.

2. The data processing system of claim 1, wherein said plurality of software modules includes a failover rules engine receiving an event from a monitored resource, wherein said failover rules engine and failover manager are enabled, and wherein executing the failover rules engine includes:

determining, based on the received event and a set of failover rules, whether the failover manager should perform the failover of the monitored resource; and

including an indication to the failover manager as to whether the failover of the monitored resource should be performed.

3. The data processing system of claim 1, wherein said plurality of software modules includes a resource agent adapter, wherein a resource agent adapter and a resource agent are enabled, and wherein executing the resource agent adapter includes:

receiving an event from a resource agent, wherein the resource agent is one of a set containing at least one resource agent.

4. The data processing system of claim 3, wherein the resource agent is one of a process, a thread, and an object.

5. The data processing system of claim 1, wherein the resource agent performs an identification of an event from the monitored resource, including:

executing said resource-dependent code that is specific to a type of the monitored resource to identify the event; and

returning the identification of the event through an interface that is generic with respect to all types of monitored resources.

6. The data processing system of claim 1, wherein the event serviced by the node failover manager is a hardware failure.

7. The data processing system of claim 1, wherein the event serviced by the node failover manager is a software failure.

8. The data processing system of claim 1, wherein the event serviced by the node failover manager is a data communication failure.

9. The data processing system of claim 8, wherein the data communication failure is within a network.

10. The data processing system of claim 1, wherein the monitored resource includes hardware equipment.

11. The data processing system of claim 1, wherein the monitored resource includes a software process.

12. The data processing system of claim 1, wherein enabling the at least one software module to be executed in the currently executing process includes dynamically linking at least a portion of the at least one software module in the currently executing process.