Network outage assessment

• US 8,040,812 B1
• Filed: 05/05/2009
• Issued: 10/18/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/05/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Mahmood, Muhammad
• Primary Examiner(s): Moe; Aung S
• Assistant Examiner(s): Elliott, IV; Benjamin H
• Application Number:
  US12/435,855
• Time in Patent Office: 896 Days
• Field of Search: 370/236, 370/236.2, 370/241.1, 370/242, 370/251, 398/10, 398/17, 455/423
• US Class Current: 370/241.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/22 using redundant apparatus to increase reliability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/62 Establishing a time schedule for servicing the requests

Abstract

A system is provided for network outage assessment. An outage tool retrieves a scheduled site list from a network management interface for a data network. The scheduled site list specifies sites associated with the network management interface that are scheduled to be active and sites that are scheduled to be inactive. The outage tool retrieves communication site lists from gateways associated with the network management interface. Each of the communication site lists is associated with a corresponding gateway and specifies sites that are in communication with the corresponding gateway. The outage tool identifies sites that are listed as the sites associated that are scheduled to be active and absent from the sites that are in communication with the corresponding gateway as a list of outage sites. The outage tool outputs outage site data based on the list of outage sites to the user interface to enable a management action.

Claims

1. A system for network outage assessment, comprising:

a processor;

a user interface; and

an outage tool that, when executed by the processor,

retrieves a scheduled site list from a network management interface for a data network, wherein the scheduled site list specifies sites associated with the network management interface that are scheduled to be active and sites associated with the network management interface that are scheduled to be inactive,

retrieves a plurality of communication site lists from a plurality of gateways associated with the network management interface, wherein each of the plurality of communication site lists is associated with a corresponding one of the plurality of gateways and specifies sites that are in communication with the corresponding one of the plurality of gateways and sites that are lacking communication with the corresponding one of the plurality of gateways,

identifies a list of outage sites based on sites that are listed, in the scheduled site list, as the sites associated with the network management interface that are scheduled to be active and based on sites that are absent from the sites that are listed, in the communication site lists, as being in communication with the corresponding one of the plurality of gateways, and

outputs outage site data based on the list of outage sites to the user interface to enable a management action, wherein the management action identifies at least one of a network element in a path of network elements from the network management interface to a site on the list of outage sites and a connection to the network element.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the user interface is associated with one of the processor and a network component.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the network management interface is an operation and maintenance console.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the sites associated with the network management interface comprise base transceiver stations.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the sites associated with the network management interface that are scheduled to be inactive, in the scheduled site list, are scheduled to be one of pre-cut and post-cut.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of gateways is at least one of a plurality of mobile data gateways and a plurality of vocoding interfaces.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the outage tool further identifies the list of outage sites based on sites that are listed, in the communication site lists, as being in communication with the corresponding one of the plurality of gateways and based on sites that are listed, in the scheduled site list, as the sites associated with the network management interface that are scheduled to be inactive.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the outage site data specifies a number of the plurality of communication site lists that specifies a site is in communication with the corresponding one of the plurality of gateways and a number of the plurality of communication site lists that specifies the site lacks communication with the corresponding one of the plurality of gateways.

9. A computer implemented method for network outage assessment, comprising:

selecting a network management interface;

retrieving a scheduled site list from a selected network management interface for a dispatch network, wherein the scheduled site list specifies sites associated with the selected network management interface that are scheduled to be active and sites associated with the selected network management interface that are scheduled to be inactive;

identifying a plurality of active master processors associated with the selected network management interface;

retrieving a plurality of communication site lists from the plurality of active master processors, wherein each of the plurality of communication site lists is associated with a corresponding one of the plurality of active master processors and specifies sites that are in communication with the corresponding one of the plurality of active master processors and sites that are lacking communication with the corresponding one of the plurality of active master processors;

identifying a list of outage sites based on sites that are listed, in the scheduled site list, as the sites associated with the network management interface that are scheduled to be active and based on sites that are absent from the sites that are listed, in the communication site lists, as being in communication with the corresponding one of the plurality of active master processors; and

outputting outage site data based on the list of outage sites to a user interface to enable a management action, wherein the management action identifies at least one of a network element in a path of network elements from the network management interface to a site on the list of outage sites and a connection to the network element.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 9, wherein the plurality of active master processors is a plurality of highly available dispatch application processors.

11. The computer implemented method of claim 9, wherein identifying the plurality of active master processors associated with the selected network management interface comprises determining which of a pair of master processors is an active master processor and which of the pair of master processors is a standby master processor.

12. The computer implemented method of claim 9, further comprising identifying the list of outage sites based on sites that are listed, in the communication site lists, as being in communication with the corresponding one of the plurality of active master processors and based on sites that are listed, in the scheduled site list, as the sites associated with the network management interface that are scheduled to be inactive.

13. The computer implemented method of claim 9, wherein the outage site data specifies a number of the plurality of communication site lists that specifies a site is in communication with the corresponding one of the plurality of master processors and a number of the plurality of communication site lists that specifies the site lacks communication with the corresponding one of the plurality of master processors.

14. A system for network outage assessment, comprising:

a processor;

a user interface; and

an outage tool that, when executed by the processor,

retrieves a scheduled site list from a network management interface for a data network and a dispatch network, wherein the scheduled site list specifies sites associated with the network management interface that are scheduled to be active and sites associated with the network management interface that are scheduled to be inactive,

retrieves a plurality of data communication site lists from a plurality of gateways associated with the network management interface, wherein each of the plurality of data communication site lists is associated with a corresponding one of the plurality of gateways and specifies sites that are in data communication with the corresponding one of the plurality of gateways and sites that are lacking data communication with the corresponding one of the plurality of gateways,

retrieves a plurality of dispatch communication site lists from a plurality of master processors associated with the network management interface, wherein each of the plurality of dispatch communication site lists is associated with a corresponding one of the plurality of master processors and specifies sites that are in dispatch communication with the corresponding one of the plurality of master processors and sites that are lacking dispatch communication with the corresponding one of the plurality of master processors,

identifies a list of outage sites based on sites that are listed, in the scheduled site list, as the sites associated with the network management interface that are scheduled to be active and based on sites that are absent from at least one of the sites that are listed, in the data communication site lists, as being in data communication with the corresponding one of the plurality of gateways and based on sites that are absent from at least one of the sites that are listed, in the dispatch communication site lists, as being the sites that are in dispatch communication with the corresponding one of the plurality of master processors as a list of outage sites, and

outputs outage site data based on the list of outage sites to the user interface to enable a management action, wherein the management action identifies at least one of a network element in a path of network elements from the network management interface to a site on the list of outage sites and a connection to the network element.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the outage site data identifies a path of network components from the network management interface to a site on the list of outage sites.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the network components comprise at least one of a vocoding processor unit and a router.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the outage site data identifies a vocoding processing unit associated with a site on the list of outage sites.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the outage site data identifies at least one of a common path of network components from one network component to another network component for a plurality of sites on the list of outage sites and a common network component for a plurality of sites on the list of outage sites.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein the list of outage sites is based on sites that are listed, in the scheduled site list, as the sites associated with the network management interface that are scheduled to be active, based on sites that are absent from the sites that are listed, in the data communications site lists, as being in data communication with the corresponding one of the plurality of gateways, and based on sites that are present among the sites that are listed, in the dispatch communications site lists, as being in dispatch communication with the corresponding one of the plurality of master processors, and the management action identifies at least one of a network element in a path of network elements from the network management interface to a site listed, in the list of outage sites, and a connection to the network element.

20. The system of claim 14, wherein the list of outage sites is based on sites that are listed, in the scheduled site list, as the sites associated with the network management interface that are scheduled to be active, based on sites that are present among the sites that are listed, in the data communications site lists, as being in data communication with the corresponding one of the plurality of gateways, and based on sites that are absent from the sites that are listed, in the dispatch communications site lists, as being in dispatch communication with the corresponding one of the plurality of master processors as a list of outage cites, and the management action identifies at least one of a network element in a path of network elements from the network management interface to a site listed, in the list of outage sites, and a connection to the network element.