Communications network management system

Details Communications network management system Communications network management system

1998-04-15

2001-06-05

Olms, Douglas (Department: 2661)

Multiplex communications

Communication techniques for information carried in plural...

Adaptive

C370S465000, C709S202000, C709S201000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06243396

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a management system for a communication network.
Heretofore, there have been two primary approaches to control of distributed communication resources. The first approach is generally referred to as centralised management in which a centralised controller receives all network status data to a single logical entry point, processes this data, and then presents it to the network operator or controlling software, and finally issues commands in response to the status data. This creates a serial processing bottleneck which establishes a trade-off between the number of devices which can be controlled and the precision with which they can be controlled. While it has these disadvantages, centralised management does have a number of desirable qualities including the ability to allow a global state of the network to be presented, and it is relatively easy to integrate devices such as client software.
The other primary approach has been distributed control in which relatively fast control is provided locally at the devices so that any problems which arise are handled locally. The global behaviour of such a system is difficult to understand, validate, and extend or modify.
The problems of both of these approaches have been recognised and it has been proposed, for example, in the paper “Decentralising Control and Intelligence in Network Management” by K. Meyer, N. Erlinger, J. Betser, and C. Sunshine (Proceedings on the Fourth Symposium on Integrated Network Management, 1995) to provide a “hybrid” structure, although little specific information is given. PCT Patent Specification No. WO 95/15635 (British Telecom) describes a communications network distributed control system which is single-layered and comprises intelligent software agents, each linked with a communications network node. The agents can enter a negotiation process with customer agents in the provision of new services so as to meet the constraints of both customer requirements and the interest of the relevant service provider. While this system undoubtedly provides good improvements over many other systems for control of complex communications networks, there is still some room for improvement in providing for control of complex communication networks in a simple manner.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In particular, the invention is directed towards providing a management system which allows control of complex communication networks in a relatively simple manner in which upgrades are easily performed and conflicting requirements simply dealt with.
Another objective is to allow faster management response generally.
According to the invention, there is provided a communications network management system comprising interconnected management authorities controlling network resources, wherein:
the authorities are interconnected in a hierarchial structure;
each authority comprises a plurality of agents having means for intra-authority and inter-authority agent-to-agent asynchronous communication in a uniform protocol, at least one of the agents in each authority being an intelligent agent; and
authorities above a hierarchial base level comprise means for transmission of control signals to authorities at a lower hierarchial level, said control signals including goal and constraint commands to allow operation according to global management system objectives.
In this specification, the term “intelligent agent” means a software agent which is both reactive and proactive, and so can actively select actions to exhibit goal-directed behaviour. In addition, it must be “social” whereby it must be capable of not only communicating with other agents but also maintaining a meaningful dialogue with them. This definition is based on that established in “Agents, Theories, Architectures and Languages: A Survey”, Jennings N. R. & Woodridge M. J., in Proc. Intelligent Agents, Lecture Notes in Computer Science Series, Jennings and Woodridge (eds.), Springer-Verlag 1995, pp3-18.
By providing the hierarchial structure, the uniform communication, and goal and constraint commands as described, the invention in a simple manner achieves the benefits of centralised control with a degree of autonomous behaviour.
In one embodiment, each authority comprises:
a platform comprising means for performing communications routing, name resolution, directory services, and fault tolerance operations; and
an upper layer using the operations of the platform and comprising agents for performing communications network management functions.
Preferably, the agents of the upper layer comprise means for performing fault, configuration, accounting, performance, services trading, resource representation and security management functions. Preferably, there is at any one time a dedicated agent for performing each of the telecommunications management functions.
In one embodiment, each authority comprises means for allowing agent-to-agent intra-authority communication without restriction, and for allowing agent-to-agent inter-authority communication only between agents performing like functions.
In another embodiment, the asynchronous communication is carried out according to a protocol allowing transmission of messages including goal commands preceded by control signals indicating message language and ontology. Preferably, the protocol is according to the Knowledge Query Manipulation Language standard. Ideally, the standard is implemented in an infrastructure in which agent and authority object servers are defined, each object server presenting a public interface and a management interface.
In one embodiment, each agent comprises a shell and a portable knowledge structure. Preferably, the shell comprises a communication module, a task stack, and an agenda module.
In another embodiment, the knowledge structure comprises a skill knowledge base defining the agent function, and a stored set of facts and beliefs related to the authority of the agent. Preferably, the skill knowledge base includes scripts, each comprising a sequence of actions associated with a triggering event. Preferably, the skill knowledge base comprises a negotiation script.
In one embodiment, each authority comprises means for assigning a resident or a reference status to each resource with which it is associated, whereby a resource having resident status may be directly controlled by the authority in an autonomous manner and a resource having reference status may be directly controlled in an autonomous manner within the constraints or indirectly after reference to the authority for which the resource has resident status if outside of the constraints.
Preferably, a plurality of authorities assign reference status to a resource and a spanning authority at a higher hierarchial level assigns resident status to that resource. Ideally, the spanning authority comprises means for performing conflict resolution operations upon requests from the lower-level authorities.
In one embodiment, each authority comprises a configuration agent comprising means for exchanging goal and constraint information with other authorities with which it is in conflict. In the later embodiment, the configuration agent preferably comprises means for exchanging goal information in the form of a hierarchial tree having resource links.
In one embodiment, each authority comprises means for recognising as a resource both physical devices and communication routes established between devices at any one time.
Preferably, a route resource is resident to an authority which spans all authorities assigning resident status to devices of the route.
In one embodiment, each authority comprises a resource agent in an upper layer for resource representation.
Preferably, the resource agent stores a resource hierarchial information model comprising resource fabric, termination point, and trial entities in which a fabric is an entity which provides a switching capability and supports the creation of trails which connect traffic between pairs of termination points.
In another embodiment, the model fur

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