Method and management agent for event notifications correlation

• US 8,069,452 B2
• Filed: 12/01/2005
• Issued: 11/29/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Power, John, Petersen, Robert, Tse, Edwin
• Primary Examiner(s): Truong; Lechi
• Assistant Examiner(s): SEYE, ABDOU K
• Application Number:
  US11/290,597
• Publication Number:
  US 20070130319A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,189 Days
• Field of Search: 719/318
• US Class Current: 719/318
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/042 comprising distributed management centres cooperatively managing the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/046 comprising network management agents or mobile agents therefor
• 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 41/069 using logs of notifications; Post-processing of notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services

Abstract

Methods and agent for correlating event notifications are provided wherein the agent comprises an interface receiving an event notification, a Peer Agent Notification Category List (PANCL) storing peer agent notification categories of event notifications that other agents are interested in receiving from the agent, and a notifications processing engine that determines if the event notification matches the peer agent notification categories of the PANCL. Upon positive determination the first event notification is sent at least to a second agent associated with the matched peer agent notification category of the PANCL. In another aspect, the agent comprises a manager notifications log storing identities of event notifications sent from the agent to the manager and a notifications processing engine that determines if a received peer agent event notification matches any event notifications of the log. Upon positive determination, the engine correlates the peer agent event notification with the event notification of the log.

Claims

1. A method for correlating event notifications comprising the steps of:

a. receiving at a first peer agent of a management network a peer agent event notification from a second peer agent;

b. determining if the received peer agent event notification matches any peer notification categories;

c. identifying a local notification category associated with the received peer agent event notification;

d. determining if the identified local notification category matches any stored event notification that the first peer agent previously sent to a manager;

e. upon determining that the identified local notification category matches an event notification that the first peer agent previously sent to the manager, adding a correlation attribute to the received peer agent event notification; and

sending the received peer agent event notification, including the correlation attribute, to the manager; and

f. upon determining that the identified local notification category does not match an event notification that the first peer agent previously sent to the manager, storing the received peer agent event notification in a buffer;

wherein the first and second peer agents report event notifications to the manager.

2. The method claimed in claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

upon determining that the identified local notification category does not match an event notification that the first peer agent previously sent to the manager, storing the received peer agent event notification for a pre-determined period of time by the first peer agent prior to sending the received peer agent event notification to the manager.

3. The method claimed in claim 1, wherein the correlation attribute includes an identity of the event notification that the first peer agent sent to the manager.

4. A first agent of a management network for correlating event notifications, comprising:

a network interface for receiving an agent event notification from a second agent;

a memory for storing a Notifications Category List (NCL) including local notification categories of event notifications received by the first agent from Network resources (NRs); and

a manager notifications log including event notifications sent from the first agent to a manager of the management network;

a processor for receiving the agent event notification from the network interface;

determining if the received agent event notification matches any peer notification categories;

identifying local notifications categories of the NCL that are associated with the received agent event notification;

determining if any event notifications of the manager notifications log match any of the identified local notification categories; and

upon determining that an identified local notification category matches an event notification of the manager notification log, adding a correlation attribute to the received agent event notification; and

instructing the network interface to send the received agent event notification, including the correlation attribute, to the manager; and

a buffer for storing agent event notifications received by the first agent from agents;

the processor, upon determining that the identified local notification category does not match any event notifications of the manager notifications log, stores the received agent event notification in the buffer;

wherein the first and second agents report event notifications to the manager.

5. The first agent claimed in claim 4, wherein

the processor, upon determining that the identified local notification category does not match any event notifications of the manager notifications log, stores the received agent event notification for a pre-determined period of time in the buffer.

6. The first agent claimed in claim 4, wherein the correlation attribute includes an identity of the event notification that the first agent sent to the manager.