METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATING HUB AND SPOKE INTERNET PROTOCOL VIRTUAL PRIVATE NETWORK TROUBLE DIAGNOSTICS

• US 20090219823A1
• Filed: 02/28/2008
• Published: 09/03/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: QIAN, ZHIQIANG, Bajpay, Paritosh, Liu, Jackson, Zinnikas, Michael, Anderson, Thomas, Mohapatra, Sanjeeta, Rowan, John
• Granted Patent: US 7,898,971 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/250
• 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 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0866 Checking the configuration

Abstract

A method and apparatus for automating hub and spoke network trouble diagnostics in a communication network are disclosed. For example, the method retrieves provisioning and configuration data, access interface alarm information, and network facility status data related to the communication network by a diagnostic system, and identifies at least one of: a network configuration error, an access interface error, or a configuration error associated with at least one hub router or at least one spoke router, as the root cause of the problem of the communication network.

Claims

1. A method for determining a root cause of a problem in a communication network, comprising:

retrieving provisioning and configuration data, access interface alarm information, and network facility status data related to the communication network by a diagnostic system; and

identifying at least one of;

a network configuration error, an access interface error, or a configuration error associated with at least one hub router or at least one spoke router, as said root cause of said problem of the communication network.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

notifying a network care center of said identified root cause of said problem.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said communication network is a hub and spoke Internet Protocol (IP) Virtual Private Network (VPN).

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said retrieving comprises:

retrieving said provisioning and configuration data, said network facility status data from said at least one hub router and said at least one spoke router within said communication network;

retrieving said provisioning and configuration data from an inventory database associated with said communication network; and

retrieving said access interface alarm information from a fault monitoring system associated with said communication network.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said provisioning and configuration data comprise at least one of:

virtual access interface information, route target information, or virtual routing and forwarding information associated with said communication network.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein said network facility status data comprises a virtual access interface connectivity status and a link and protocol status from said at least one hub router and said at least one spoke router within said communication network:

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said identifying comprises:

comparing said provisioning and configuration data retrieved from said at least one hub router and said at least one spoke router with said provisioning and configuration data retrieved from an inventory database to check if said two sets of provisioning and configuration data match each other;

checking said provisioning and configuration data are consistent between all hub and spoke router pairs in said communication network;

checking said network facility status data for detecting if a virtual access interface connectivity problem or a link and protocol problem exists; and

checking said access interface alarm information for detecting if an access interface alarm exists.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein consistency between each of said hub and spoke router pairs in said communication network is verified by checking whether a spoke export route target value is equal to a hub import route target value and whether a spoke import target value is equal to a hub export route target value.

9. The method of claim 2, wherein said notifying comprises:

notifying said network care center of said configuration error associated with at least one hub router or at least one spoke router if the provisioning and configuration data are found to be inconsistent or mismatched in said communication network;

notifying said network care center of said access interface error if an access interface alarm exists;

notifying said network care center of said network configuration error if a virtual access interface connectivity identifies at least one virtual access interface that is not connected;

or

notifying said network care center of a potential network layer 1 problem or a potential network layer 2 problem if a link and protocol problem is identified.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprises:

performing a ping command network connectivity test using a source Internet Protocol (IP) address of said at least one hub router and a destination IP address of a customer edge router (CER) between all hub routers and customer CER pairs if said network configuration error, said access interface error, or said configuration error associated with at least one hub router or at least one spoke router is not found.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said performing further comprises:

closing a trouble ticket associated with said problem of said communication network if said ping command network connectivity test has passed successfully;

or

notifying a network care center of a potential network layer 1 problem and or a potential network layer 2 problem if said ping command network connectivity test has failed.

12. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions, the plurality of instructions including instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the steps of a method for determining a root cause of a problem in a communication network, comprising:

retrieving provisioning and configuration data, access interface alarm information, and network facility status data related to the communication network by a diagnostic system; and

identifying at least one of;

a network configuration error, an access interface error, or a configuration error associated with at least one hub router or at least one spoke router, as said root cause of said problem of the communication network.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, further comprising:

notifying a network care center of said identified root cause of said problem.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein said communication network is a hub and spoke Internet Protocol (IP) Virtual Private Network (VPN).

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein said retrieving comprises:

retrieving said provisioning and configuration data, said network facility status data from said at least one hub router and said at least one spoke router within said communication network;

retrieving said provisioning and configuration data from an inventory database associated with said communication network; and

retrieving said access interface alarm information from a fault monitoring system associated with said communication network.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein said provisioning and configuration data comprise at least one of:

virtual access interface information, route target information, or virtual routing and forwarding information associated with said communication network.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein said network facility status data comprises a virtual access interface connectivity status and a link and protocol status from said at least one hub router and said at least one spoke router within said communication network:

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein said identifying comprises:

comparing said provisioning and configuration data retrieved from said at least one hub router and said at least one spoke router with said provisioning and configuration data retrieved from an inventory database to check if said two sets of provisioning and configuration data match each other;

checking said provisioning and configuration data are consistent between all hub and spoke router pairs in said communication network;

checking said network facility status data for detecting if a virtual access interface connectivity problem or a link and protocol problem exists; and

checking said access interface alarm information for detecting if an access interface alarm exists.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein consistency between each of said hub and spoke router pairs in said communication network is verified by checking whether a spoke export route target value is equal to a hub import route target value and whether a spoke import target value is equal to a hub export route target value.

20. An apparatus for determining a root cause of a problem in a communication network, comprising:

means for retrieving provisioning and configuration data, access interface alarm information, and network facility status data related to the communication network by a diagnostic system; and

means for identifying at least one of;

a network configuration error, an access interface error, or a configuration error associated with at least one hub router or at least one spoke router, as said root cause of said problem of the communication network.