Method and system for automatically identifying a logical circuit failure in a data network

• US 20050172174A1
• Filed: 12/23/2003
• Published: 08/04/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Taylor, William, Massengill, David, Hollingsworth, John
• Granted Patent: US 8,203,933 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/43
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0233 Object-oriented techniques, for representation of network management data, e.g. common object request broker architecture [CORBA]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning

Abstract

A method and computer system are provided for automatically identifying a failure in a logical circuit in a data network without manual intervention. The logical circuit includes one or more logical connections for communicating data in the data network. A network management module periodically requests trap data indicating the status of the logical connections in the logical circuit. After the trap data has been received by the network management module, the trap data is analyzed to determine whether any of the logical connections has failed. If it is determined that a logical connection has failed, the network management module may wait a predetermined time period to determine whether the failed logical connection has been restored. If after the predetermined time period the logical connection has not been restored, then the logical circuit is identified as having failed.

Claims

1. A method for automatically identifying a failure in a logical circuit in a data network, the method comprising:

periodically monitoring the logical circuit in the data network for status information pertinent to the logical circuit; and

identifying a failure of the logical circuit based on the status information without manual intervention.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the logical circuit comprises at least one logical connection for communicating data in the data network.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein periodically monitoring the logical circuit comprises periodically monitoring the at least one logical connection in the logical circuit.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein periodically monitoring the at least one logical connection in the logical circuit comprises periodically requesting trap data for the logical connection, wherein the trap data includes status information for the at least one logical connection.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein identifying a failure of the logical circuit comprises:

analyzing the status information for the at least one logical connection;

if the status information for the at least one logical connection indicates that the logical connection is no longer communicating data, then determining that the logical connection has failed;

after determining that the at least one logical connection has failed, waiting a predetermined time period to determine whether the at least one failed logical connection has been restored; and

if after the predetermined time period, the at least one logical connection has not been restored, then determining that the logical circuit has failed.

6. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

identifying a logical identifier for the logical circuit; and

based on the logical identifier, accessing a database to identify each logical connection in the logical circuit.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the logical identifier is a data link connection identifier (DLCI).

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the logical identifier is a virtual path/virtual circuit identifier (VPI/VCI).

9. The method of claim 2, wherein each logical connection comprises a network-to-network interface.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the logical circuit is a permanent virtual circuit.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the logical circuit is a switched virtual circuit.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the data network is a frame relay network.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the data network is an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network.

14. A system for automatically identifying a logical circuit failure in a data network, the system comprising:

a network device for collecting trap data for the logical circuit in the data network, wherein the trap data comprises status information for the logical circuit;

a logical element module in communication with the network device for receiving the trap data for the logical circuit; and

a network management module, in communication with the logical element module, for;

periodically retrieving the trap data for the logical circuit; and

identifying a failure of the logical circuit based on the trap data without manual intervention.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the logical circuit comprises at least one logical connection for communicating data in the data network.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the trap data comprises status information for the at least one logical connection in the logical circuit.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the network management module in identifying a failure of the logical circuit is operative to:

analyze the status information for the at least one logical connection;

if the status information for the at least one logical connection indicates that the logical connection is no longer communicating data, then determine that the logical connection has failed;

after determining that the at least one logical connection has failed, wait a predetermined time period to determine whether the at least one failed logical connection has been restored; and

if after the predetermined time period, the at least one logical connection has not been restored, then determine that the logical circuit has failed.

18. The system of claim 15, further comprising a database for storing a logical identifier for the logical circuit.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the network management module is operative to access the database and is further operative to:

retrieve the logical identifier for the logical circuit; and

based on the logical identifier, identify each logical connection in the logical circuit.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the logical identifier is a data link connection identifier (DLCI).

21. The system of claim 18, wherein the logical identifier is a virtual path/virtual circuit identifier (VPI/VCI).

22. The system of claim 15, wherein each logical connection comprises a network-to-network interface.

23. The system of claim 14, wherein the logical circuit is a permanent virtual circuit.

24. The system of claim 14, wherein the logical circuit is a switched virtual circuit.

25. The system of claim 14, wherein the data network is a frame relay network.

26. The system of claim 14, wherein the data network is an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network.

27. A method for automatically identifying a failure in a logical circuit in a data network, the method comprising:

requesting trap data for at least one logical connection in the logical circuit, wherein the trap data includes status information for the at least one logical connection;

analyzing the status information for the at least one logical connection;

if the status information for the at least one logical connection indicates that the logical connection is no longer communicating data, then determining that the logical connection has failed;

after determining that the at least one logical connection has failed, waiting a predetermined time period to determine whether the at least one failed logical connection has been restored; and

if after the predetermined time period, the at least one logical connection has not been restored, then determining that the logical circuit has failed.