Management of virtual and physical network inventories

• US 8,364,801 B2
• Filed: 12/15/2008
• Issued: 01/29/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/01/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Qwest Communications International Incorporated (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Qwest Communications International Incorporated (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Cerami, Richard S., Storaasli, Roxanna
• Primary Examiner(s): TODD, GREGORY G
• Application Number:
  US12/335,101
• Publication Number:
  US 20090164619A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,506 Days
• Field of Search: 709223-226, 370/468, 370/230, 715733-739
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/06 Management of faults, events, alarms or notifications
• 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 41/0654 using network fault recovery ring fault isolation or reconfiguration in loop networks without recovery actions by a network management system H04L12/437
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0896 Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities flow or congestion control using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation, H04L47/76
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/32 Specific management aspects for broadband networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/40 using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5003 Managing SLA; Interaction between SLA and QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5009 Determining service level performance parameters or violations of service level contracts, e.g. violations of agreed response time or mean time between failures [MTBF]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5025 by proactively reacting to service quality change, e.g. by reconfiguration after service quality degradation or upgrade
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5032 Generating service level reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5061 characterised by the interaction between service providers and their network customers, e.g. customer relationship management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5067 Customer-centric QoS measurements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/507 Filtering out customers affected by service problems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5074 Handling of user complaints or trouble tickets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/509 wherein the managed service relates to media content delivery, e.g. audio, video or TV
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/00 Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0811 by checking connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 : by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0823 : Errors, e.g. transmission errors
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0882 : Utilisation of link capacity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/091 : Measuring contribution of individual network components to actual service level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 : Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 : Threshold monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/20 : the monitoring system or the monitored elements being virtualised, abstracted or software-defined entities, e.g. SDN or NFV
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/50 : Testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 : for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/062 : using different frequency bands for speech and other data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6125 : involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6473 : Monitoring network processes errors for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity H04L69/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64738 : Monitoring network characteristics, e.g. bandwidth, congestion level data switched network analysis H04L41/14; monitoring functioning in data switched networks H04L43/0817; flow control in packet networks H04L47/10
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 : Database or file accessing

Abstract

A method for managing a network element inventory for a video and data network is provided. The method includes self-discovering a physical network inventory of the video and data network. Additionally, a logical network inventory of the video and data network is self-discovered. Further, a planned network inventory of the video and data network is provided. Once the planned, logical, and physical network inventories are collected, the physical network inventory, logical network inventory, and planned network inventory are loaded into the network element inventory. After loading, synchronization of the physical network inventory, logical network inventory, and planned network inventory in the network element inventory is performed. A view is then provided using the synchronized physical network inventory, logical network inventory, and planned network inventory when a request for the view of the network element inventory is received.

Claims

1. A method for managing a network element inventory for a video and data network comprising:

receiving, at a computer system, before deployment of new equipment is completed, a planned network inventory of the video and data network, wherein the video and data network comprises both a plurality of customer networks and a shared network in communication with the plurality of customer networks;

self-discovering a physical network inventory of physical network elements of the video and data network after deployment of new equipment is completed;

self discovering a logical network inventory of logical network elements of the video and data network after deployment of new equipment is completed;

loading, at a computer system, the physical network inventory, logical network inventory, and planned network inventory into the network element inventory;

parsing the physical network inventory and the logical network inventory to normalize data received from different network elements that manage and send data in different formats;

synchronizing the physical network inventory, logical network inventory, and planned network inventory in the network element inventory to determine any difference between (i) the physical network inventory or the logical network inventory, and (ii) the planned network inventory;

identifying an overlap between (i) the physical network inventory or the logical network inventory, and (ii) the planned network inventory;

determining, based on the overlap, whether the video and data network, after deployment of new equipment is completed, matches the planned network inventory received before deployment of new equipment is completed;

receiving, at the computer system, a request for a view of the network element inventory;

updating the physical network inventory and the logical network inventory, after receiving the request; and

providing, from the computer system, the view using an updated physical network inventory, an updated logical network inventory, and the planned network inventory.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the video and data network comprises a Very high bit rate Digital Subscriber Line (VDSL) network.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the video and data network comprises a Digital Subscriber Line (xDSL) network.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the planned network inventory comprises planned virtual network inventory.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the planned network inventory comprises planned physical network inventory.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein synchronizing the physical network inventory, logical network inventory, and planned network inventory comprises comparing the planned network inventory with the self-discovered physical and logical network inventory.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising creating a repair ticket if the comparison of the planned network inventory with the self-discovered physical and logical network inventory is not substantially equal.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the view comprises:

if differences between (i) the physical network inventory or the logical network inventory and (ii) the planned network inventory are determined, showing the differences.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the view comprises:

if differences between (i) the physical network inventory or the logical network inventory and (ii) the planned network inventory are determined, selecting an inventory from the group consisting of the physical network inventory, the logical network inventory, and the planned network inventory; and

providing a view of the selected inventory.

10. A method for managing a network element inventory between one or more operation systems for a video and data network comprising:

receiving, at a computer system, before deployment of new equipment is completed, a planned network inventory of the video and data network, wherein the video and data network comprises both a plurality of customer networks and a shared network in communication with the plurality of customer networks;

self-discovering a physical network inventory of physical network elements of the video and data network after deployment of new equipment is completed;

self discovering a logical network inventory of logical network elements of the video and data network after deployment of new equipment is completed;

loading, at the computer system, the physical network inventory, logical network inventory, and planned network inventory into the network element inventory;

parsing the physical network inventory and the logical network inventory to normalize data received from different network elements that manage and send data in different formats;

synchronizing, at the computer system, the physical network inventory, logical network inventory, and planned network inventory in the network element inventory to determine any difference between (i) the physical network inventory or the logical network inventory, and (ii) the planned network inventory;

identifying an overlap between (i) the physical network inventory or the logical network inventory, and (ii) the planned network inventory;

determining, based on the overlap, whether the video and data network, after deployment of new equipment is completed, matches the planned network inventory received before deployment of new equipment is completed;

updating the physical network inventory and the logical network inventory, in response to receiving a request for a view of the network element inventory;

creating, at the computer system, one or more views of the network element inventory using of an updated the physical network inventory, an updated logical network inventory, and the planned network inventory for the one or more operation systems;

providing, from the computer system, the one or more views to the one or more operation systems.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising receiving an update of self discovered physical, self discovered logical, and planned inventory.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising re-synchronizing the physical network inventory, logical network inventory, and planned network inventory in the network element inventory with the update of self-discovered physical, self discovered logical, and planned inventory.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising creating one or more views of the re-synchronized network element inventory for the one or more operation systems.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising providing the one or more views using the re-synchronized physical network inventory, logical network inventory, and planned network inventory.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the operation systems comprise sales, engineering, and marketing systems.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the video and data network comprises a Very high bit rate Digital Subscriber Line (VDSL) network.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein the video and data network comprises an xDSL network.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein the planned network inventory comprises planned virtual, network inventory.

19. The method of claim 10, wherein the planned network inventory comprises planned physical network inventory.

20. The method of claim 10, wherein synchronizing the physical network inventory, logical network inventory, and planned network inventory comprises comparing the planned network inventory with the self-discovered physical and logical network inventory.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising creating a repair ticket if the comparison of the planned network inventory with the self-discovered physical and logical network inventory is not substantially equal.

22. The method of claim 10, wherein providing the view comprises:

if differences between (i) the physical network inventory or the logical network inventory and (ii) the planned network inventory are determined, showing the differences.

23. The method of claim 10, wherein providing the view comprises:

if differences between (i) the physical network inventory or the logical network inventory and (ii) the planned network inventory are determined, selecting an inventory from the group consisting of the physical network inventory, the logical network inventory, and the planned network inventory; and

providing a view of the selected inventory.

24. A method for managing a network element inventory for a video and data network comprising:

receiving, at a computer system, before deployment of new equipment is completed, a planned network inventory, of the video and data network, wherein the video and data network comprises both a plurality of customer networks and a shared network in communication with the plurality of customer networks;

self-discovering, after deployment of new equipment is completed, a physical network inventory of physical network elements using network elements of the video and data network;

self-discovering, after deployment of new equipment is completed, a logical network inventory of logical network elements using network elements of the video and data network;

parsing the physical network inventory and the logical network inventory to normalize data received from different network elements that manage and send data in different formats;

storing, at the computer system, the physical network inventory, logical network inventory, and planned network inventory into the network element inventory;

comparing, at the computer system, the physical network inventory, logical network inventory, and planned network inventory in the network element inventory to determine differences between (i) physical network inventory or the logical network inventory and (ii) the planned network inventory;

identifying an overlap between (i) the physical network inventory or the logical network inventory, and (ii) the planned network inventory;

determining, based on the overlap, whether the video and data network, after deployment of new equipment is completed, matches the planned network inventory received before deployment of new equipment is completed; and

updating the physical network inventory and the logical network inventory, in response to receiving a request for a view of the network element inventory;

determining, at the computer system, the view of the network element inventory based on an updated physical network inventory, an updated logical network inventory, the planned network inventory, and the comparison between physical network elements of the physical network inventory and logical network elements of the logical network inventory with physical or logical network elements of the planned network inventory.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the planned network inventory comprises planned virtual network inventory.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein the planned network inventory comprises planned physical network inventory.

27. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

receiving a request for a view of the network element inventory; and

providing the view using at least one of the physical network inventory, logical network inventory, planned network inventory, and the comparison between a real-time updated physical network inventory and a real-time updated logical network inventory with the planned network inventory.

28. An apparatus for managing a network element inventory for a video and data network, the apparatus comprising:

a planned network inventory of the video and data network, received before deployment of new equipment is completed, wherein the video and data network comprises both a plurality of customer networks and a shared network in communication with the plurality of customer networks;

a self-discovered physical network inventory of physical network elements using network elements of the video and data network, after deployment of new equipment is completed;

a self discovered logical network inventory of logical network elements using network elements of the video and data network, after deployment of new equipment is completed;

logic for parsing the physical network inventory and the logical network inventory to normalize data received from different network elements that manage and send data in different formats

a database for storing the physical network inventory, logical network inventory, and planned network inventory into the network element inventory;

logic for comparing the physical network inventory, logical network inventory, and planned network inventory in the network element inventory to determine differences between (i) physical network inventory or the logical network inventory and (ii) the planned network inventory;

logic for identifying an overlap between (i) the physical network inventory or the logical network inventory, and (ii) the planned network inventory

logic for determining, based on the overlap, whether the video and data network, after deployment of new equipment is completed, matches the planned network received before deployment of new equipment is completed; and

logic for updating the physical network inventory and the logical network inventory, in response to receiving a request for a view of the network element inventory;

logic for determining a view of the network element inventory based an updated physical network inventory, au updated logical network inventory, the planned network inventory, and the comparison between physical network elements of the physical network inventory and logical network elements of the logical network inventory with physical or logical network elements of the planned network inventory.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, further comprising:

logic for receiving a request for a view of the network element inventory; and

logic for providing the view using at least one of a real-time updated physical network inventory, a real-time updated logical network inventory, and the planned network inventory.

30. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the planned network inventory comprises planned virtual network inventory.

31. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the planned network inventory comprises planned physical network inventory.