Intelligent-topology-driven alarm placement

• US 7,701,843 B1
• Filed: 10/26/2004
• Issued: 04/20/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Licari, Perry Vance, Omolon, John Dexter Ceniza, Sadagopan, Satishkumar
• Primary Examiner(s): Yao; Kwang B
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGO, NGUYEN HOANG
• Application Number:
  US10/973,957
• Time in Patent Office: 2,002 Days
• Field of Search: 370/216, 370/217, 370/241, 370/242, 370/254
• US Class Current: 370/216
• 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 41/0681 Configuration of triggering conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/091 Measuring contribution of individual network components to actual service level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring

Abstract

System and methods are provided for automated alarm handling in a communications network by linking network failures to impacted resources. One embodiment includes correlating one or more network failures to a common network resource in a communications network, associating each network component of the communications network one to another, where the network components include one common network resource, attributing fault data originating from one or more of the network components to an associated common network resource, and collecting in a central data structure the attributed fault data with the associated common network resource.

Claims

1. One or more computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon for performing a method of associating network failures in a communications network to a common network resource, the method comprising:

populating a management data structure with relational data that describes a plurality of network components, wherein the plurality of network components includes the common network resource;

receiving an instance of fault data that indicates a problem with a network component;

associating fault data with the common network resource, thereby providing an association between the fault data and the common network resource;

storing said association in a network-fault data structure;

when multiple associations are present, grouping them into an event;

determining event categories that include,

(1) service-affecting events, which do not impact service to an end user of the communications network but have the potential to do so, and

(2) service-impacting events, which do impact service to the end user;

categorizing a first event as a service-affecting event when the common network resource is an optical facility and a percentage of child network components of the optical facility that are reporting service-affecting alarms is below a predetermined threshold;

categorizing a second event as a service-impacting event when the common network resource is an optical facility and the percentage of the optical facility'"'"'s child network components that are reporting service-affecting alarms is above the predetermined threshold;

categorizing a third event as a service-impacting event when the common network resource is a Digital Signal 3 (DS3) facility; and

storing a result of the categorizing in a memory component.

2. The media according to claim 1, wherein populating the management data structure with relational data further comprises:

communicating with a topology data structure, wherein the topology data structure comprises the plurality of network components of the communications network; and

relating the plurality of network components to the common network resource based upon types of the plurality of network components.

3. The media according to claim 2, further comprising:

receiving by a probe coupled to each of the plurality of network components the fault data; and

associating the fault data with the common network resource based upon the relational data in the management data structure.

4. The media according to claim 3, further comprising the probe collecting in the network fault data structure the associated f fault data with the associated common network resource.

5. The media according to claim 4, wherein the event may be displayed on a presentation device.

6. Computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that, when executed, cause a computing device to perform a method of correlating one or more network failures to a common network resource in a communications network, the method comprising:

associating each of a plurality of network components of the communications network one to another, wherein the plurality of network components include the common network resource;

attributing fault data originating from one or more of the plurality of network components to an associated common network resource;

collecting in at least one central data structure the attributed fault data with the associated common network resource;

grouping of the attributed fault data with the associated common network resource into an event;

determining categories of events that include,

(1) service-affecting events, which do not impact service to an end user of the communications network but have the potential to do so, and

(2) service-impacting events, which do impact service to the end user;

by way of the computing device, categorizing a first event as a service-affecting event when the associated common network resource is an optical facility and a percentage of child network components of the optical facility that are reporting service-affecting alarms is below a predetermined threshold;

by way of the computing device, categorizing a second event as a service-impacting event when the associated common network resource is an optical facility and the percentage of the optical facility'"'"'s child network components that are reporting service-affecting alarms is above the predetermined threshold;

by way of the computing device, categorizing a third event as a service-impacting event when the associated common network resource is a Digital Signal 3 (DS3) facility; and

storing a result of the categorizing in at least one data structure.

7. The media according to claim 6, further comprising communicating with a topology data structure, wherein the topology data structure comprises the plurality of network components of the communications network.

8. The media according to claim 7, further comprising receiving by a probe coupled to each of the plurality of network components the fault data.

9. The media according to claim 8, further comprising the probe collecting in at least one central data structure the attributed fault data with the associated common network resource.

10. The media according to claim 9, wherein the event may be displayed on a presentation device.

11. Computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that, when executed, cause a computing device to perform a method of incorporating into at least one central data structure one or more instances of fault data pertaining to one or more of a plurality of network components, the method comprising:

receiving fault data on one or more of the plurality of network components;

associating the fault data with an associated common network resource;

communicating to the at least one central data structure the associated fault data and the associated common network resource;

grouping the fault data with the associated common network resource into an event;

determining categories of events that include

(1) service-affecting events, which do not impact service to an end user of the communications network but have the potential to do so, and

(2) service-impacting events, which do impact service to the end user;

by way of the computing device, categorizing a first event as a service-affecting event when the associated common network resource is an optical facility and a percentage of child network components of the optical facility that are reporting service-affecting alarms is below a predetermined threshold;

by way of the computing device, categorizing a second event as a service-impacting event when the associated common network resource is an optical facility and the percentage of the optical facility'"'"'s child network components that are reporting service-affecting alarms is above the predetermined threshold;

by way of the computing device, categorizing a third event as a service-impacting event when the associated common network resource is a Digital Signal 3 (DS3) facility; and

storing a result of the categorizing in at least one data structure.

12. The media according to claim 11, further comprising:

communicating with a topology data structure, wherein the topology data structure comprises the plurality of network components of a communications network; and

populating a management data structure with relational data on the plurality of network components, wherein the plurality of network components include the associated common network resource.

13. The media according to claim 12, further comprising:

receiving by a probe coupled to each of the plurality of network components the fault data; and

the probe associating the fault data with the associated common network resource based upon the relational data in the management data structure.

14. The media according to claim 13, further comprising the probe collecting in at least one central data structure the associated fault data with the associated common network resource.

15. The media according to claim 14, wherein the event may be displayed on a presentation device.