Methods and systems for automatically configuring network monitoring system

• US 20030105850A1
• Filed: 05/23/2002
• Published: 06/05/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 05/23/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tekelec Global, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Tekelec
• Inventors: Trimmer, Merl Allen Jr., Sapp, Kevin Allen, Minnich, David Wayne, Lean, Yoogin, Spangler, Richard James
• Granted Patent: US 7,155,512 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/06 Management of faults, events, alarms or notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0856 by backing up or archiving configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0869 Validating the configuration within one network element
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0886 Fully automatic configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/00 Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/06 Generation of reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/062 related to network traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0811 by checking connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0829 Packet loss
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0882 Utilisation of link capacity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/106 using time related information in packets, e.g. by adding timestamps
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/12 Network monitoring probes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/12 Avoiding congestion; Recovering from congestion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/32 by discarding or delaying data units, e.g. packets or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements

Abstract

An automatically configurable network monitoring system includes a network monitoring communications protocol used for communications between a network monitoring client executing on a routing node (100) being monitored and a network monitoring server executing on a network monitoring processor (106). According to the network monitoring communications protocol, the network monitoring client broadcasts a network monitoring service request message to the network monitoring servers. The service request message identifies a signaling link for which network monitoring service is being requested. The network monitoring servers provisioned to the requested provide network monitoring service respond affirmatively and thereby automatically grant network monitoring service. The network monitoring system may be completely probeless or, alternatively, used in conjunction with probe-based network monitoring devices.

Claims

1. A method for automatically configuring a network monitoring system to monitor signaling links connected to a network routing node:

(a) instantiating a plurality of network monitoring servers on a plurality of network monitoring devices, each network monitoring server being provisioned to monitor a predetermined set of signaling links;

(b) instantiating a network monitoring client on the network routing node, the network monitoring client being associated with one or more signaling links connected to the network routing node;

(c) sending a network monitoring service request from the network monitoring client to the network monitoring servers, the network monitoring service request including information for identifying the signaling link or links for which network monitoring service is being requested;

(d) at the network monitoring servers, determining whether the network monitoring service request relates to one of the signaling links in the predetermined set of signaling links for which each server is provisioned to monitor;

(e) in response to determining that the network monitoring request relates to a signaling link for which a network monitoring server is provisioned to monitor, sending a network monitoring service accept message from that network monitoring server to the network monitoring client; and

(f) establishing a network monitoring connection between the network monitoring client and the accepting network monitoring server.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein instantiating a network monitoring client on a network routing node includes instantiating a network monitoring client on a signal transfer point.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein instantiating a network monitoring client on a network routing node includes instantiating a network monitoring client on an SS7/IP signaling gateway.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein instantiating a plurality of network monitoring servers includes instantiating a plurality of network monitoring servers on a plurality of adjunct processors coupled to the signal transfer point.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein instantiating a plurality of network monitoring servers includes instantiating a plurality of network monitoring servers on a plurality of adjunct processors coupled to the SS7/IP gateway.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein sending a network monitoring service request from the network monitoring client to the network monitoring servers includes sending a request for transmitting signaling link data from the network monitoring client to the network monitoring servers.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein sending a network monitoring service request from the network monitoring client to the network monitoring servers includes sending a request for transmitting system alarm data from the network monitoring client to the network monitoring servers.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein sending a network monitoring service request from the network monitoring client to the network monitoring servers includes broadcasting the network monitoring service request from the network monitoring client to the network monitoring servers.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein broadcasting the network monitoring service request includes broadcasting a UDP message to the network monitoring servers.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein sending a network monitoring service request from the network monitoring client to the network monitoring servers includes multicasting the network monitoring service request from the network monitoring client to the network monitoring servers.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein establishing a network monitoring connection includes establishing a TCP connection between the network monitoring client and the responding network monitoring server.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein establishing the network monitoring connection comprises, after establishing the TCP connection, sending a provisioning information message from the network monitoring client to the network monitoring server, the provisioning information message including signaling link data for verifying the signaling link identification information sent in the network monitoring request message.

13. An automatically-configurable network monitoring system comprising:

(a) a network routing node including link interface modules for sending and receiving messages over external signaling links and for copying at least some of the messages, each of the link interface modules including a network monitoring client associated with one or more signaling links, wherein the network monitoring clients are adapted to generate network monitoring service request messages including provisioning information for their respective signaling links; and

(b) a plurality of network monitoring processors coupled to the network routing node, each of the network monitoring processors including one or more network monitoring servers, wherein the network monitoring servers obtain signaling link configuration information from the network monitoring service request messages.

14. The network monitoring system of claim 13 wherein the network routing node comprises a signal transfer point.

15. The network monitoring system of claim 13 wherein the network routing node comprises an SS7/IP gateway.

16. The network monitoring system of claim 13 wherein the link interface modules comprise SS7 link interface modules.

17. The network monitoring system of claim 13 wherein the link interface modules comprise data communications modules capable of sending and receiving IP messages.

18. The network monitoring system of claim 17 wherein each of the IP messages comprise transport adapter layer interface messages, and wherein the link interface modules are adapted to copy and send the transport adapter layer interface messages to the network monitoring servers.

19. The network monitoring system of claim 13 wherein the network monitoring clients are adapted to broadcast the network monitoring service request messages to the network monitoring servers.

20. The network monitoring system of claim 19 wherein the network monitoring servers are each provisioned to monitoring a predetermined set of signaling links connected to the network routing node and wherein the network monitoring server provisioned to monitor the signaling links specified in a network monitoring service request message responds to the network monitoring service request message.

21. The network monitoring system of claim 13 comprising a plurality of remote servers coupled to the network monitoring processors for receiving copied signaling messages from the network monitoring processors and performing a plurality of network monitoring functions based on the copied signaling messages.

22. The network monitoring system of claim 21 wherein the remote servers include a network monitoring server for performing real time link state reporting, real time link status reporting, and real time protocol analysis.

23. The network monitoring system of claim 21 wherein the remote servers include a data gateway server for generating call detail records.

24. The network monitoring system of claim 21 wherein the remote servers include an alarm server for receiving event notifications from the network monitoring processors and for generating alarms to a user based on the event reports.

25. The network monitoring system of claim 22 wherein the remote servers include a database server coupled to the network monitoring server for storing signaling message information in a database and allowing a user to generate customized reports based on the information stored in the database.

26. A probeless network monitoring system comprising:

(a) a signal transfer point Including a plurality of link interface modules for sending and receiving messages via external signaling links, each link interface module including a client for requesting network monitoring service; and

(b) a plurality of general-purpose processors coupled to the signal transfer point without using external signaling link probes, each general purpose processor including a server for responding to the requests received from the network monitoring clients.

27. The probeless network monitoring device of claim 26 the network monitoring clients are adapted to broadcast network monitoring service request messages to the network monitoring servers.

28. The probeless network monitoring device of claim 27 wherein the network monitoring service request messages include signaling link identification information for identifying signaling links for which network monitoring service is requested.

29. The probeless network monitoring device of claim 28 wherein each of the network monitoring servers is provisioned to service a predetermined set of signaling links.

30. The probeless network monitoring system of claim 29 wherein the predetermined sets of signaling links are exclusive of each other.

31. The probeless network monitoring system of claim 26 wherein the signal transfer point and the general purpose processors are located in the same telecommunications equipment frame.

32. The probeless networ monitoring system of claim 26 wherein the signal transfer point and the general purpose processors are located in separate telecommunications equipment frames.

33. The probeless network monitoring system of claim 26 wherein the signal transfer point and the general purpose processors are connected via Ethernet.

34. The probeless network monitoring system of claim 26 wherein the signal transfer point includes a bus for interconnecting the link interface modules.

35. The probeless network monitoring system of claim 35 comprising a plurality of network monitoring transport cards coupled to the bus for routing network monitoring messages between the link interface modules and the general purpose processors.

36. A computer-implemented network monitoring communications protocol for communicating network monitoring messages between a routing node being monitored and a network monitoring processor, the computer-implemented communications protocol comprising:

(a) computer code adapted to execute on a network routing node for automatically sending network monitoring service request messages to a network monitoring processor; and

(b) computer code adapted to execute on a network monitoring processor for receiving service request messages and formulating service response messages for granting or denying network monitoring service requests based on the service request messages.

37. The computer-implemented network monitoring communications protocol of claim 36 wherein the service request messages each include a header portion for identifying the message as a service request message and a data portion containing signaling link information regarding the signaling link for which network monitoring service is being requested.

38. The computer-implemented network monitoring communications protocol of claim 36 wherein the computer code adapted to execute on the network monitoring processor includes computer-executable instructions for formulating a service accept message in response to granting a service request, the service accept message including a header portion for identifying the message as a service accept message and a data portion including a network address of a network monitoring service providing entity.

39. The computer-implemented network monitoring communications protocol of claim 36 wherein the computer code adapted to execute on the network monitoring processor includes computer-executable instructions for formulating a service reject message in response to denying a service request, the service reject message including a header portion for identifying the message as a service reject message and a data portion including a code indicating a reason for denying the service request.

40. The computer-implemented network monitoring communications protocol of claim 39 wherein the computer code adapted to execute on the routing node includes computer-executable instructions for formulating a provisioning information message in response to receiving a service accept message, the provisioning information message including a header portion for identifying the message as a provisioning information message and a data portion for communication signaling link provisioning information to the network monitoring processor.

41. The computer-implemented network monitoring communications protocol of claim 36 wherein the computer code adapted to execute on the routing node includes computer-executable instructions for formulating and sending an event message to the network monitoring processor, the event message including a header portion for identifying the message as an event message and a data portion for communicating event information to the network monitoring processor.

42. The computer-implemented network monitoring communications protocol of claim 36 wherein the computer code adapted to execute on the routing node includes computer-executable instructions for formulating and sending a link data message, the link data message including a header portion for identifying the message as a link data message and a data portion for carrying recorded signaling messages to the network monitoring processor.

43. The computer-implemented network monitoring communications protocol of claim 36 wherein the computer code adapted to execute on the network monitoring processor includes computer-executable instructions for formulating and sending a service change message, the service change message including a header portion for identifying the message as a service change message and a data portion for storing information for changing the type of network monitoring service being provided.

44. The computer-implemented network monitoring communications protocol of claim 36 wherein the computer code adapted to execute on the network monitoring processor and the computer code adapted to execute on the routing node each include computer executable instructions for sending formulating and sending heartbeat messages at predetermined time intervals.

45. The computer-implemented network monitoring communications protocol of claim 44 wherein the computer code adapted to execute on the network monitoring processor and the computer code adapted to execute on the routing node each include computer instructions for closing network monitoring sessions in response to failing to receive heartbeat messages from a peer node within a predetermined time period.