Method for computer internet remote management of a telecommunication network element

• US 6,363,421 B2
• Filed: 05/31/1998
• Issued: 03/26/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: WSOU Investments, LLC (WSOU Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Lucent Technologies, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Rog, Jerome E., Rai, Girish, Parsons, Philip M., Macfarlane, Kenneth R., Foley, Michael P., Eggert, Marvin A., Connelly, Lisa M., Barker, William E., Vangsness, Kurt A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Rinehart, Mark H.
• Assistant Examiner(s): KANG, PAUL H
• Application Number:
  US09/088,463
• Publication Number:
  US 20010052006A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,395 Days
• Field of Search: 709/224, 709/200, 709/250, 709/223, 709/318, 709/232, 709/235, 709/202, 370/245
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0213 Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0253 using browsers or web-pages for accessing management information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/028 for synchronisation between service call and response
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/045 comprising client-server management architectures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/046 comprising network management agents or mobile agents therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]

Abstract

In accordance with the invention, a method is provided for remotely managing a plurality of network element of a telecommunications network through a special communication link including a computer internet such as a local area network, the world wide web or the Internet. A management computer is connected to an element management system server through a communication link including the computer internet. At least one of the plurality of network elements is also coupled to the element management server through the computer internet and the at least one of the plurality of network elements is managed via communications conveyed through the element management server between the management computer and the at least one network element.

Claims

1. In a telecommunications network having a plurality of network elements, a method of managing at least one of the network elements, comprising the steps of:

connecting a management computer to an element management server through a communication link including a computer internet;

coupling the at least one of the plurality of network elements to the element management server through the computer internet including coupling the at least one of the plurality of network elements to an associated applications processor with a management agent application for interfacing the element management server with the network element; and

managing the at least one of the plurality of network elements via communications conveyed through the element management server between the management computer and the at least one network element, including the steps of

receiving requests at the network element from a plurality of different management computers to poll for network element attributes which are the same,

polling for the attributes which are the same only as if there were only one request for polling of the same attributes, and

providing the results of the polling of the same attributes to all of the different management computers that requested polling of the same attributes.

2. The method of claim 1 in which the step of managing includes the steps of

generating from the management server an interactive web page with objects associated with management of the at least one network element,

transmitting the interactive web page from the management server through the computer internet to the management computer, and

displaying the interactive web page at the management computer for management communications between the management computer and the at least one network element.

3. The method of claim 2 in which the objects of the interactive web page include objects associated with at least one of operation, administration and maintenance of the at least one network element.

4. The method of claim 3 in which the web page includes objects associated with all three of operation, administration and maintenance of the at least one network element.

5. The method of claim 2 including the step of generating signals through interaction with the interactive web page at the management computer to achieve at least one of command, control and fault management of the network element.

6. The method of claim 5 in which the step of generating includes the step of generating signals through interaction with the interactive web page at the management computer to achieve all three of command, control and fault management of the network element.

7. The method of claim 2 in which the interactive web page includes a menu of individual maintenance unit command options.

8. The method of claim 2 in which the interactive web page includes a detailed status summary page for the at least one individual network element.

9. The method of claim 2 in which the interactive web page includes a high level system status summary of all the plurality of network elements.

10. The method of claim 2 in which the interactive web page includes a list of all active alarms within the telecommunications network.

11. The method of claim 1 in which

the applications processor includes a maintenance application for performing maintenance of the network element, and the step of coupling includes the step of

interfacing command request from the element management server through the management agent application to the maintenance application to selectively perform maintenance tasks.

12. The method of claim 1 in which the step of interfacing by the network element includes the step of providing the element management server with applications processor specific events and command acknowledgements.

13. The method of claim 1 in which the computer internet is the world wide web and the steps of connecting and coupling include the step of operating world wide web based JAVA applications at the management computer and the element management server.

14. The method of claim 1 in which the management agent application responds to various actions and the step of managing includes the step of correlating responses from the management agent application with the actions which caused the actions.

15. The method of claim 1 in which the step of managing includes the step of automatically routing command responses, polling results and traps back to the management computer.

16. The method of claim 1 in which the step of connecting includes the step of enabling the connection in response to entry of a correct password at the management computer.

17. The method of claim 16 including the step of encrypting the password prior to sending to the management server.

18. The method of claim 1 in which the step of managing includes the steps of

selecting network element attributes from a plurality of network element attributes available for polling, and

polling for only the selected network element attributes.

19. The method of claim 1 including the step of automatically updating a list of active alarms of the network element upon occurrence of either one of actuation of a new alarm and clearing of a former alarm.

20. In a communication network having a plurality of network elements, a method for managing a network element, comprising the steps of:

selectively running a management application at a plurality of different work stations for command, control and fault management of the network element;

interfacing an element management server through a computer internet to the plurality of different work stations to provide distributed network element management services to the management application at all of the plurality of work stations;

interfacing the network element with the element management server through a management agent application associated with the network element for communicating command acknowledgment and command requests through the computer Internet between the element management server and the network element using a simple node management protocol, and including the steps of

establishing a set of SNMP service objects that communicate with the network element, establishing a SNMP mediator process that communicates with the SNMP service objects,

polling for the SNMP service objects, and

converting commands of a managed object to SNMP set commands;

monitoring the operation of events within the communication network; and

diminishing the operation of events to prevent overloading of the communication system.

21. The method of claim 20 in which the element management server includes an object server having managed objects representing the network element and other resources of the system.

22. The method of claim 20 including the step of filtering events of the network element.

23. The method of claim 22 in which the events of the step of filtering events includes at least one of the events of alarm notification, state change and configuration change to the element network system server.

24. The method of claim 20 in which the step of interfacing the network element includes the step of maintaining within the element management server a list of current active alarms within the network.

25. The method of claim 20 in which

the management application is written in JAVA, and

the step of interfacing the work stations with the element management server is performed through an interactive web page that visually displays a menu of command, control and fault management options.

26. The method of claim 25 in which the web page includes a separate status summary display for each of the command, control and fault management options.

27. The method of claim 25 in which the web page includes a display of a list of active alarms for all network elements within the communication network.

28. In a telecommunications network having a plurality of network elements, a method of managing at least one of the network elements, comprising the steps of:

connecting a management computer to an element management server through a communication link including a computer internet;

coupling the at least one of the plurality of network elements to the element management server through the computer internet in which the network element has a management agent application;

managing the at least one of the plurality of network elements via communications conveyed through the element management server between the management computer and the at least one network element;

queuing multiple commands simultaneously received from a plurality of different management computers including the one management computer; and

successive responding to the multiple commands by sending responses to appropriate ones of the different management computers that originated the commands, respectively.