Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput – Computer network managing
Patent
1998-06-16
2000-05-30
Asta, Frank J.
Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput
Computer network managing
709224, 709244, G06F 1516
Patent
active
060701889
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a management system according to the preamble of attached claim 1 for managing a telecommunications network. The telecommunications network to be managed may be e.g. a SDH (Synchronous Digital Hierarchy) network, a PDH (Plesiochronous Digital Hierarchy) network, or a combination of such networks.
The basic situation in network management is usually such that an operator managing a telecommunication networks, e.g. a telephone company, has a plurality of customers (i.e. network users) in addition to the physical network. The operator sells the customers various services that utilize the network. (A public network will be used herein as an example; in principle, however, the same description applies to a private operator managing e.g. an organisation network). To meet customers' data transmission requirements in the physical network, the operator utilises a number of facilities or operative processes for the provision of customer services. These operative processes can be divided into groups in accordance with the functions for which they are intended: including e.g. invoicing customers for services. usage of customer services. One of the most important functions in this respect is the supervision and repair of network faults. operation so as to better meet customers' needs and to increase the overall profitability of the operator enterprise.
As appears from the above, network management takes place on several different levels, depending on the extent to which the functions to be performed on a specific level are associated with the overall management of the operator enterprise. The management of a telecommunications network is generally divided into four different levels, which are from bottom to top as follows:
This division is used e.g. in the ITU-T (the former CCITT) recommendation M.3010, which specifies a kind of framework for the management architecture of a telecommunications network. The bottom layer below the above four layers is the equipment itself; these equipments are managed by installation and field engineering tools.
The network element management layer means the management of an individual network element (such as a multiplexer or a cross-connection device) as a separate component without simultaneously paying attention to the condition of the network or other network elements. The majority of so called "network management" systems commercially available today are actually network element management systems within this layer.
The network management layer is concerned with the management of the entire telecommunications network, such as overall management of network connections. One example is the creation of connections and the end-to-end supervision of their condition. This means that e.g. alarms detected on equipment are not just displayed against that equipment, but they are also propagated to show what services (paths and circuits) are affected by the fault, if any. The present invention is positioned in this layer.
As distinct from the above, the service management layer is not concerned with technical network management. It takes care of e.g. customer data, supervision of services provided to customers, invoicing for services, and considering needs for services of different types.
The business management layer is used to monitor and plan the business activities and economy of the entire enterprise, resulting in decisions affecting the lower levels.
At present, network management systems are changing into systems that manage the telecommunications network as a whole, whereas conventional management systems have handled only the remote control of transmission equipment, especially monitoring alarms produced by the equipment. In conventional network management methods, configuration changes, such as creation of new end-to-end connections, have been laborious and time-consuming, as the end result consists of several configuration events the pre-requisite of which is that the maintenance staff of the network first gets an overall
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Faupel Matthew
French Graham
Grant Colin
Teriaho Paivi
Asta Frank J.
Nokia Telecommunications Oy
Romero Almari
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