Self-healing hierarchical network management system, and methods and apparatus therefor

Abstract

A hierarchical network management system (NMS) in which a plurality of NMS managers, each responsible for different portions or aggregations of a communications network, are logically arranged in a tree structure. The NMS managers are further organized into various sub-groups. The NMS managers within each sub-group monitor the status of one another in order to detect when one of them is no longer operational. If this happens, the remaining operational NMS managers of the sub-group collectively elect one of them to assume the responsibility of the non-operational NMS manager. The NMS is thus "self-healing" in the sense that one NMS manager can dynamically, without operator intervention, assume the responsibilities for another NMS manager.

Description

[0001] The invention generally relates to the field of network management systems and more specifically to fault-tolerant network management systems that supervise and / or control communication networks.BACKGROUND OF INVENTION[0002] A network management system (NMS) typically interfaces with the individual nodes or exchanges of a data communications network through an overlay network, e.g., an out-of-band data transmission infrastructure dedicated to handling network management traffic. Through such an interface the NMS provides a variety of functions required to effectively manage the network from a system-wide perspective. These functionalities, as conceptualized for instance by the M Series Recommendations of the ITU-T Telecommunication Management Network (TMN) standards, include system-wide issues such as fault management, configuration management, accounting, security and performance management.[0003] For example, in a connection-orientated network such as an ATM network or a sw...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0009] Preferably, the NMS managers within a given sub-group are duplicate copies of one another, i.e., provide the same functionality. To effect this, it is preferred to group together NMS manager that are siblings, i.e., situated at the same level in the hierarchy and have a common parent. Furthermore, the NMS managers within a sub-group preferably maintain, or have access to, state information pertaining to all portions or aggregations of the communications network under the collective administration of all the NMS managers within the sub-group. This allows the elected, replacement NMS manager to assume quickly and readily the responsibility for the non-operational NMS manager, including information aggregation functions.

Problems solved by technology

Fault tolerance is an important issue for service providers, particularly since one of the business parameters service providers often negotiate with their customers is network availability or permissible "down" time.

However, one aspect of network availability that may be overlooked is the fault-tolerant capability of the NMS itself.

The failure of one such NMS element could substantially effect the viability of the entire network management system.

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