Circuit-trending system and method

• US 7,263,636 B1
• Filed: 06/10/2004
• Issued: 08/28/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Buller, Victor Anthony, MacLeod, Jeffrey D., Berg, Robert Steven
• Primary Examiner(s): DUNCAN, MARC M
• Application Number:
  US10/865,034
• Time in Patent Office: 1,174 Days
• Field of Search: 714/47, 702/187
• US Class Current: 714/47.2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0748 in a remote unit communicating with a single-box computer node experiencing an error/fault remote testing G06F11/2294
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0775 Content or structure details of the error report, e.g. specific table structure, specific error fields
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/065 related to network devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06

Abstract

A method for trending the functionality of the circuits of a switch, router or other piece of equipment. The method accesses error logs for the equipment. These error logs are normally maintained in a data base associated with the piece of equipment. Next, a historical report is generated. This historical report comprises historical information regarding the operability of at least one circuit. Finally, the historical information in the report is used to predict the future operability of the circuit, or circuits.

Claims

1. A method of monitoring the functionality of circuits in a circuit network comprising:

obtaining data regarding the functionality of at least one circuit over a period of time;

generating a historical report comprising historical information regarding the operability of said at least one circuit;

using said historical information to predict the future operability of said at least one circuit

attempting to access log files regarding the functionality of at least one circuit over a period of time from a database associated with a piece of equipment which includes said at least one circuit; and

emailing a user if the attempt to access said log files through a primary IP address fails, wherein the piece of equipment and the primary IP address are identified in the email.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said generating step includes an additional step of:

including the historical information in a table.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said step of including the historical information in a table comprises:

chronologically presenting a total number of errors occurring for said at least one circuit for a series of intervals so that the user may observe trends in said errors.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein said step of including the historical information in a table comprises:

identifying customer information with respect to said at least one circuit in said table.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein said at least one circuit is included in a piece of equipment, said step of including the historical information in a table comprises:

matching up said at least one circuit with said piece of equipment in said table.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein said step of including the historical information in a table comprises:

chronologically presenting a total number of errors occurring for said at least one circuit over a series of days of the week so that the user may observe trends in said errors.

7. The method of claim 6, comprising:

selecting said series of days to be days immediately preceding a date on which the data regarding the functionality of at least one circuit is obtained and used to generate the report.

8. The method of claim 2, comprising:

including a description of the particular errors which have occurred in the table.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said obtaining step comprises:

accessing log files including said data regarding the functionality of at least one circuit over a period of time from a database associated with a piece of equipment which includes said at least one circuit.

10. The method of claim 1, comprising:

attempting to access log files regarding the functionality of at least one circuit via a secondary IP address for said equipment if the initial attempt to access said log files fails.

11. The method of claim 10, comprising:

sending a second email to said user if the attempt to access said log files through said secondary IP address fails.

12. The method of claim 11, comprising:

identifying the piece of equipment and the primary IP address in said second email.

13. The method of claim 1, comprising:

emailing said report to a user so that said user may use said historical information to predict the future operability of said at least one circuit.

14. The method of claim 1, comprising:

placing data in a database after said obtaining step.

15. The method of claim 14, comprising:

identifying at least one data source having one or more data items;

identifying a database to be populated; and

without user intervention, populating said database with elements derived from dynamically performing one or more operations on said one or more data items.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein at least one of the operations is a database function to be performed with respect to one or more data items.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein performing at least one of the operations alters at least a portion of the data items in the database.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein performing at least one of the operations truncates at least a portion of the data items in the database.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein performing at least one of the operations formats at least a portion of the data items in the database.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising creating an insertion command that incorporates said set of data to be placed in to the database and said operations.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising providing the insertion command to said database, whereby the identified data and the operations are inputted into the database.

22. The method of claim 15, further comprising inserting at least a portion of said data items into said database, wherein said insertion instructs the database to perform said operations with respect to at least a portion of said data items.

23. The method of claim 15, further comprising populating said database with content derived from dynamically performing one or more operations.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein said content is not associated with the one or more data items.

25. One or more computer-storage media having computer-useable instructions embodied thereon to perform the method of claim 1.

26. A method of monitoring the functionality of circuitry in equipment, comprising:

retrieving circuitry error data from the equipment for different intervals;

delimiting the data to create a delimited data set;

populating a data base with said delimited data set;

generating a report using data from said populated data base, said data reflecting the error total for each interval;

analyzing said report to determine functionality trends in said equipments and

generating at least one of port information and customer information in XML for use in said report.

27. The method of claim 26, comprising:

identifying said database;

referencing said database;

creating an insertion command that incorporates said error data to be placed in to the database, wherein said insertion command instructs the database to perform one or more operations with respect to at least a portion of said error data; and

providing for the execution of the insertion command by said database, whereby the error data is inputted into the database, and wherein said execution includes populating said database with content derived from dynamically performing said one or more operations.

28. One or more computer-storage media having computer-useable instructions embodied thereon to perform the method of claim 26.

29. The method of claim 26, comprising:

removing data which does not apply to selected trend time lines after said populating step.

30. The method of claim 29, comprising:

making an SQL query to accomplish said removing step.

31. The method of claim 30, said generating step comprising:

running a second query that generates trend data from a remaining data set which was not eliminated in said removing step.

32. The method of claim 31, comprising:

making an SQL query to execute said second query.

33. The method of claim 26, comprising:

placing data from said populated data base into a separate table.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein said placing step comprises:

running an SQL query.

35. The method of claim 26, comprising:

pulling circuit information from said delimited data set.

36. The method of claim 26, comprising:

calling mutt to email said report to a system administrator.

37. A method of monitoring the functionality of circuitry in equipment, comprising:

retrieving circuitry error data from the equipment for different intervals;

delimiting the data to create a delimited data set;

populating a data base with said delimited data set;

generating a report using data from said populated data base, said data reflecting the error total for each interval;

analyzing said report to determine functionality trends in said equipment; and

calling mutt to email said report to a system administrator.