Method and apparatus for controlling logging in a communication network

• US 7,746,771 B1
• Filed: 09/30/2005
• Issued: 06/29/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property II LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Croak, Marian, Eslambolchi, Hossein
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham, Chi H
• Assistant Examiner(s): Faroul, Farah
• Application Number:
  US11/240,064
• Time in Patent Office: 1,733 Days
• Field of Search: 370/229, 370/236, 370/241.1, 370/254, 709/201, 709/223, 709/238
• US Class Current: 370/229
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0681 Configuration of triggering conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0084 Network monitoring; Error detection; Error recovery; Network testing
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0045 involving hybrid, i.e. a mixture of public and private, or multi-vendor systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0087 Network testing or monitoring arrangements

Abstract

A method and apparatus for providing an alerting tool to measure the amount of logging in a network component, for example a network element, and to provide an alarm to a network operator or an automated system when the amount of logging reaches a predefined threshold are disclosed. The network component can then be instructed to reduce the logging activities until all processes appear to be normally utilized and queue lengths return to a normal level.

Claims

1. A method for controlling logging in a communication network, comprising:

monitoring, via a processor, a size of log files stored in a memory space of at least one network element of said communication network;

reducing logging activities in said at least one network element if said size of log files exceeds a predefined threshold;

monitoring if said size of log files remains below said predefined threshold for a predefined period of time; and

resuming a normal level of logging activities if said size of log files remains below said predefined threshold for said predefined period of time.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said communication network is a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network or a Service over Internet Protocol (SoIP) network.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said predefined threshold is a configurable parameter set by a network operator.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending an alarm to a network operator or an automated system indicating that said predefined threshold has been exceeded.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said automated system automatically sends an instruction to said at least one network element to reduce said logging activities.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said reducing logging activities comprises at least one of:

truncating said log files, or reducing a rate of said logging activities.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions, the plurality of instructions including instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the steps of a method for controlling logging in a communication network, comprising:

monitoring a size of log files stored in a memory space of at least one network element of said communication network;

reducing logging activities in said at least one network element if said size of log files exceeds a predefined threshold;

monitoring if said size of log files remains below said predefined threshold for a predefined period of time; and

resuming a normal level of logging activities if said size of log files remains below said predefined threshold for said predefined period of time.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein said communication network is a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network or a Service over Internet Protocol (SoIP) network.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein said predefined threshold is a configurable parameter set by a network operator.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, further comprising:

sending an alarm to a network operator or an automated system indicating that said predefined threshold has been exceeded.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein said automated system automatically sends an instruction to said at least one network element to reduce said logging activities.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein said reducing logging activities comprises at least one of:

truncating said log files, or reducing a rate of said logging activities.

13. An apparatus for controlling logging in a communication network, comprising:

means for monitoring a size of log files stored in a memory space of at least one network element of said communication network;

means for reducing logging activities in said at least one network element if said size of log files exceeds a predefined threshold;

means for monitoring if said size of log files remains below said predefined threshold for a predefined period of time; and

means for resuming a normal level of logging activities if said size of log files remains below said predefined threshold for said predefined period of time.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein said communication network is a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network or a Service over Internet Protocol (SoIP) network.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein said predefined threshold is a configurable parameter set by a network operator.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising:

sending an alarm to a network operator or an automated system indicating that said predefined threshold has been exceeded.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein said reducing logging activities comprises at least one of:

truncating said log files, or reducing a rate of said logging activities.