Method and apparatus for determining the configuration of voice over internet protocol equipment in remote locations

• US 8,064,438 B1
• Filed: 11/22/2004
• Issued: 11/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/22/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• 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): Tsang; Fan
• Assistant Examiner(s): King; Simon
• Application Number:
  US10/994,546
• Time in Patent Office: 2,556 Days
• Field of Search: 713/156, 348/156, 348/143, 370/242, 370/252, 370/260, 370/356, 370/241, 709/221, 709/224, 709/225
• US Class Current: 370/356
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/24 Testing correct operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0853 by actively collecting configuration information or by backing up configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0866 Checking the configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network

Abstract

The present invention enables equipment housed in unmanned facilities to be periodically scanned by remote systems for information regarding physical hardware and software configurations. The captured configurations can be compared against a reference configuration that represents the healthy state of the installed equipment. During outages, these captured configurations can be analyzed to determine possible root causes and resolutions for restoration.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring a network equipment deployed in a communications network, comprising:

remotely capturing a configuration of the network equipment;

comparing, via a processor, the configuration that is captured with a reference configuration; and

determining a root cause for causing a difference between the configuration that is captured and the reference configuration.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the communications network is a voice over internet protocol network.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the network equipment is a voice over internet protocol network equipment.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the voice over internet protocol network equipment comprises a voice over internet protocol gateway.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration comprises a hardware configuration of the network equipment.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the remotely capturing is performed periodically in accordance with a predefined time interval.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

storing the configuration that is captured by a maintenance server.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the remotely capturing is performed by the maintenance server.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the predefined time interval is a user selectable parameter.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the comparing further comprises:

highlighting the difference between the captured configuration that is captured and the reference configuration.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a restoration technique for resolving the difference between the configuration that is captured and the reference configuration.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration comprises an internet protocol address of the network equipment.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration comprises a software configuration of the network equipment.

14. A 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 a method for monitoring a network equipment deployed in a communications network, comprising:

remotely capturing a configuration of the network equipment;

comparing, via a processor, the configuration that is captured with a reference configuration; and

determining a root cause for causing a difference between the configuration that is captured and the reference configuration.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the communications network is a voice over internet protocol network.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the network equipment is a voice over internet protocol network equipment.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the voice over internet protocol network equipment comprises a voice over internet protocol gateway.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the configuration comprises a hardware configuration of the network equipment.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, further comprising:

storing the configuration that is captured by a maintenance server, and wherein the remotely capturing is performed by the maintenance server.

20. An apparatus for monitoring a network equipment deployed in a communications network, comprising:

means for remotely capturing a configuration of the network equipment;

means for comparing the configuration that is captured with a reference configuration; and

means for determining a root cause for causing a difference between the configuration that is captured and the reference configuration.