Carrier-grade SNMP interface for fault monitoring

Details Carrier-grade SNMP interface for fault monitoring Carrier-grade SNMP interface for fault monitoring

1999-11-19

2003-05-13

Iqbal, Nadeem (Department: 2184)

Error detection/correction and fault detection/recovery

Data processing system error or fault handling

Reliability and availability

C370S241000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06564341

ABSTRACT:

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This is the first application filed for the present invention.
MICROFICHE APPENDIX
Not applicable.
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to Network Management Systems, and in particular to a method and system for enabling reliable network fault monitoring in an inherently unreliable network transport environment.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The conventional network space comprises a layered architecture of a network transport fabric comprising Network Elements (NEs) (e.g., switches, routers etc.) for end-to-end transport of payload data across the network, and a network management layer for controlling operation of the NEs and providing network administrative services.
Network Management Architecture
A typical network management model includes: Management Stations; a Management Information Base (MIB); Management Agents; and a Management Protocol.
Management Stations are also known as network managers, and may comprise stand-alone devices and/or a distributed platform which communicate with one or more Management Agents. Management Stations typically have a set of management applications for monitoring, analyzing and presenting management data. They may also provide a user interface and access point for human operators.
A Management Information Base (MIB) is a collection of managed objects. Each MIB object is generally defined as a data variable representing network resources, resource components, as well as their respective attributes, status and performance statistics. MIBs represent the data model of the network, and typically provide an open interface for multi-vendor inter-operability.
Management Agents typically implement the MIB for the managed resources in their context, and support the required protocol interactions with the Management Stations. These agents may also serve as proxies for devices that do not have the capability to support the standard protocol suite.
The Management Protocol specifies interaction models between the Management Stations and the Management Agents via operation directives and notification mechanisms. This includes predefined message sets exchanged between a manager and an agent.
Within the above-described network management model, the Management Stations are conveniently divided into Network Management Systems (NMSs), and Element Management Systems (EMSs). Each EMS is connected to one or more NEs, and operates to manage the operation of the NEs within its domain. Each EMS interfaces with an NMS which operates to provide end-to-end network administration and management functionality (including, where applicable, user interfaces for human operators).
Currently, three major standards organizations are working on standards for network management systems. They include: Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF); Open Systems Interconnection (OSI); and, International Telecommunications Union-Telecommunications Standards Sector (ITU-TS). The standard adopted by ITEF is the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). SNMP is designed for enterprise data communications networks, and its flexibility and simplicity make it the most popular standards implemented in such networks. The OSI and ITU-TS are each working on a standard called “Common Management Information System (CMIS). CMIS is an object-oriented network/system management solution with well-defined management objects information and is recommended as a solution for carrier-grade network management.
SNMP is a set of standards for network management that includes: a Management Protocol; a MIB specification methodology; and administrative control to handle manager-agent interactions. SNMP resides at the application layer of the OSI model and is typically implemented over an unreliable transport service, namely the User Datagram Protocol (UDP), which is a connectionless protocol over Internet Protocol (IP). SNMP has undergone a number of revisions to provide functional enhancements. For example, SNMP v2c enhances the SMI, offers manager-to-manager notification capability, defines powerful protocol operations and an elaborate set of return codes. SNMP v3 augments SNMP v2 by introducing a security and administration framework.
As mentioned above, UDP is a connectionless protocol over IP, so delivery of SNMP notifications transmitted between an EMS and an NMS over UDP cannot be guaranteed. This inherent unreliability of the network signaling environment precludes carrier-grade reliable network management.
Accordingly, there is a need for systems for enabling carrier-grade reliable network management in an inherently unreliable network transport environment.
Network Management Areas
Network management includes the following five functional areas:
1) Fault management;
2) Performance management;
3) Accounting;
4) Configuration; and
5) Security management.
Each functional area includes many related management functions. One important function of fault management is fault monitoring. The fault monitoring function detects the failure of systems to meet their operational objectives. Fault monitoring is the basis for further fault diagnosis and correction. Fault monitoring is always important, especially in a carrier-grade network. A carrier-grade fault monitoring system must conform to a few basic criteria:
a) 100% Reliability—Any method and system designed for achieving the carrier grade network management should provide 100% reliability in collecting and receiving network fault information.
b) Synchronization—The monitoring system must define a procedure to keep the monitoring system and the monitored system in synchronization with respect to the fault information at a given point. Synchronization includes:
a. initial startup synchronization
b. lose/regain communication synchronization
c. continuous out-of-synchronization recovery
c) Sequence—To avoid corrupting the integrity of alarm information. It is generally necessary to process the alarm information in time sequence. The managed system should send alarm information in the time sequence. The management system should also process alarm events in time sequence.
d) Timeliness—The mechanism should permit the recovery of lost alarm information in a timely fashion (within the tolerance of network management requirements).
e) Efficiency—The network traffic involved in achieving reliable fault monitoring should be kept as low as possible. Generally, the network management traffic should not consume more than about 5% of network capacity under normal conditions.
f) Standards Based Open Interface—The interface defined and employed by the system should adhere to certain standards to achieve the maximum openness.
Issues Related to Fault Monitoring
Due to the recent convergence of data communications and telecommunications, as well as the high cost of CMIS, network administrators have begun to use SNMP to manage carrier-grade networks. As mentioned above, the SNMP has great flexibility and simplicity. To achieve the flexibility and the simplicity, SNMP has not standardized what should be defined in the MIB.
However, OSI/ITU-T standards specify useful management information that is appropriate for carrier grade fault monitoring. There therefore exists a need for an SNMP MIB that includes key management data to provide a richer data model that is more functional and useful for reliable fault monitoring. As mentioned above, SNMP is typically implemented over UDP, which offers no transport service guarantees, and this inherent unreliability challenges carrier-grade fault monitoring.
There therefore exists a need for an innovative solution to defining the required MIB data and specifying expected behavior in the application layer protocol engines of management system to ensure accurate data synchronization under various network conditions.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a system for enabling carrier-grade reliable fault monitoring using a simple, inherently unreliable management protocol such as SNMP by incorporating the surveillance data specified by the OSI/ITU-TS standards for t

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