Systems and methods for managing network health

• US 10,498,588 B2
• Filed: 08/13/2015
• Issued: 12/03/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/13/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Level 3 Communications LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Level 3 Communications LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hobbs, Orville J., Lockwood, Charles A., Mellecker, Scott C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Rutkowski, Jeffrey M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lee, Chae S
• Application Number:
  US14/825,730
• Publication Number:
  US 20170048121A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,573 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/065 involving logical or physical relationship, e.g. grouping and hierarchies
• 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

Abstract

Implementations described and claimed herein provide systems and methods systems and methods for managing network health, including optimizing a network. In one implementation, an alarm list for a subnetwork of a telecommunications network is obtained. The alarm list has alarm data captured from a plurality of network elements forming the subnetwork. Network data associated with a subset of the network elements is captured by traversing a circuit path in the subnetwork from a source to a destination. The subset of network elements disposed is along the circuit path. The alarm list is correlated with the network data to identify a related network issue. A root cause of the related network issue is determined. One or more recommendations for resolving the root cause of the related network issue are generated, and at least one of the recommendations is deployed in the subnetwork.

Claims

1. A method for optimizing network health, the method comprising:

obtaining an alarm list for a subnetwork of a telecommunications network, the alarm list having alarm data captured from a plurality of network elements forming the subnetwork;

capturing network data including ring data associated with a subset of the plurality of network elements by traversing a circuit path in the subnetwork from a source to a destination, the subset of network elements disposed along the circuit path;

correlating the alarm list with the network data based on the circuit path in the subnetwork to identify a related network issue;

determining that the related network issue is a lower priority compared to other related network issues;

determining a root cause of the related network issue having the lower priority;

generating one or more recommendations including at least one of;

deleting one of the subset of network elements, deleting the subset of network elements, deleting a carrier associated with the circuit path, placing one or more ports in auto, and making one or more optical interfaces associated with at least one of the subset of network elements unswitched, the one or more recommendations for resolving the root cause of the related network issue having the lower priority; and

deploying at least one of the recommendations using a resolution script in the subnetwork to automatically resolve the related network issue having the lower priority prior to resolving higher priority issues.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the network data includes a topology of the subset of the network elements disposed along the circuit path.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the network data includes a cross connect data for each of the subset of the network elements disposed along the circuit path.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the root cause includes at least one of:

an improperly disconnected circuit;

a stranded cross connect;

a unidirectional passthrough;

a missing passthrough;

an incomplete add/drop termination;

a missing protection;

an improperly provisioned protection;

an improper passthrough connection affecting interface switching;

or a port left in alarm after a circuit was disconnected.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the resolution script has one or more commands to the subset of the network elements disposed along the circuit path.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one recommendation is deployed in response to user input.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one recommendation is deployed automatically.

8. One or more non-transitory tangible computer-readable storage media storing computer-executable instructions for performing a computer process on a computing system, the computer process comprising the method of claim 1.

9. A method for optimizing network health, the method comprising:

obtaining alarm data captured from a plurality of network elements in subnetwork of a telecommunications network;

obtaining network data including ring data associated with the plurality of network elements;

storing the alarm data and the network data in one or more databases;

correlating the alarm data with the network data based on one or more circuit paths created by the plurality of network elements in the subnetwork to identify a related network issue associated with at least one of the one or more circuit paths;

determining that the related network issue is a lower priority compared to other related network issues;

generating network health data including an alarm action from the correlated data, the alarm action including one or more recommendations including at least one of;

deleting one of the subset of network elements, deleting the subset of network elements, deleting a carrier associated with the circuit path, placing one or more ports in auto, and making one or more optical interfaces associated with at least one of the subset of network elements unswitched, the one or more recommendations for resolving the related network issue having the lower priority; and

deploying at least one of the recommendations using a resolution script in the subnetwork to automatically resolve the related network issue having the lower priority prior to resolving higher priority issues.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the network health data includes network integrity information.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the network integrity information includes a status of a carrier associated with each of the one or more circuit paths.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the network integrity information includes a status of each of the network elements.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the network health data includes correlated alarm information.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the correlated alarm information includes a list of a plurality of alarms related by a root cause of the related network issue triggering the plurality of alarms.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein at least one recommendation is deployed in the subnetwork automatically.

16. One or more non-transitory tangible computer-readable storage media storing computer-executable instructions for performing a computer process on a computing system, the computer process comprising the method of claim 9.

17. A system for optimizing network health, the system comprising:

a subnetwork having a plurality of network elements, a subset of the network elements disposed along a circuit path in the subnetwork; and

a network health manager executable by at least one computing unit in communication with the plurality of network elements, the network health manager configured to deploy one or more recommendations including at least one of;

deleting one of the subset of network elements deleting the subset of network elements, deleting a carrier associated with the circuit path, placing one or more ports in auto, and making one or more optical interfaces associated with at least one of the subset of network elements unswitched, the one or more recommendations deployed using a resolution script in the subnetwork for automatically resolving a root cause of a related network issue determined as a lower priority prior to resolving higher priority issues, the related network issue identified based on a correlation of an alarm list with network data including ring data, the correlation based on the circuit path in the subnetwork to identify the related network issue, the alarm list having alarm data captured from the network elements, the network data associated with the subset of the network elements.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the network data includes a topology of the subset of the network elements disposed along the circuit path.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the network data includes a cross connect data for each of the subset of the network elements disposed along the circuit path.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the root cause includes at least one of:

an improperly disconnected circuit;

a stranded cross connect;

a unidirectional passthrough;

a missing passthrough;

an incomplete add/drop termination;

a missing protection;

an improperly provisioned protection;

an improper passthrough connection affecting interface switching;

or a port left in alarm after a circuit was disconnected.

21. The system of claim 17, wherein the resolution script has one or more commands to the subset of the network elements disposed along the circuit path.

22. The system of claim 17, wherein at least one recommendation is deployed in response to user input.

23. The system of claim 17, wherein at least one recommendation is deployed automatically.

24. A system for optimizing network health, the system comprising:

a network health manager executable by a processor and configured to generate network health data including an alarm action based on a correlation of alarm data with network data including ring data, the correlation based on one or more circuit paths created by a plurality of network elements deployed within a subnetwork to identify a related network issue associated with at least one of the one or more circuit paths, the alarm data captured from the network elements, the network data associated with the network elements, the alarm action including one or more recommendations including at least one of;

deleting one of the subset of network elements, deleting the subset of network elements, deleting a carrier associated with the circuit path, placing one or more ports in auto, and making one or more optical interfaces associated with at least one of the subset of network elements unswitched, the one or more recommendations for resolving the related network issue, the related network issue determined as a lower priority compared to other related network issues, wherein the one or more recommendations are deployed using a resolution script in the subnetwork to automatically resolve the related network issue having the lower priority prior to resolving higher priority issues.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the network health data includes network integrity information.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the network integrity information includes a status of a carrier associated with each of the one or more circuit paths.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein the network integrity information includes a status of each of the network elements.

28. The system of claim 24, wherein the network health data includes correlated alarm information.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the correlated alarm information includes a plurality of alarms related by a root cause.

30. The system of claim 24, wherein at least one recommendation is deployed in the subnetwork automatically.