Methods and systems for managing auditor instances in a network environment

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to methods and systems for managing auditor instances in a network environment In one example, the present disclosure encompasses receiving, by a transceiver unit [402] at an Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM) module [302], a registration request from an auditor instance [306] associated with an auditor instance cluster [304]. Then, based on the registration request, the auditor instance [306] is registered by a registration unit [404]. Then a registration status of the registered auditor instance [306] is broadcasted, by a broadcasting unit [406], to at least one or more services associated with the registered auditor instance [306]. Then the present disclosure encompasses determining, by a determination unit [408], a health status of the registered auditor instance [306].

Description

METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR MANAGING AUDITOR INSTANCES IN A NETWORK ENVIRONMENTFIELD OF INVENTION

[0001] Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to network management systems. More particularly, embodiments of the present disclosure relate to methods and systems for managing auditor instances in a network environment.BACKGROUND

[0002] The following description of the related art is intended to provide background information pertaining to the field of the disclosure. This section may include certain aspects of the art that may be related to various features of the present disclosure. However, it should be appreciated that this section is used only to enhance the understanding of the reader with respect to the present disclosure, and not as admissions of the prior art.

[0003] In communication network such as 5G communication network, different microservices perform different services, jobs and tasks in the network. The Auditor service / microservice audits the resources in terms of physical memory, RAM and CPU at Inventory Manager (IM) microservice. The auditor brings inventory in close sync with real-time available or used resources and minimizes the mismatch between IM and real time hardware. Further, the auditor for data accuracy may communicate primarily on Swarm Adaptor (SA) and Inventory Manager (IM). The auditor detects whether the hosts contain lesser / more containers than the amount present in inventory managed by IM. The auditor AU accordingly sends API request to IM to update its inventory. AU interacts with these microservices to fetch the real time data using various APIs.

[0004] However, to handle multiple instances of AU microservices is cumbersome task and current available solution is not efficient for managing AU instances in the network. The existing solutions are not able to provide high availability service due to absence of a fault tolerance mechanism for any event failure. Hence, in the existing solutions, if one inventory instance went down during request processing, then there is no solution which would be able to take care of such requests. Further, the existing solutions are not able to effectively manage multiple instances of the auditor microservices and are not able to handle the alarms for such auditor microservices effectively.

[0005] Thus, there exists an imperative need in the art to provide a solution which solves the above-mentioned problems and other problems known in the art and is effective, provides high availability service, enables fault tolerance, and effectively manage instances and alarms associated with the auditor microservices.SUMMARY

[0006] This section is provided to introduce certain aspects of the present disclosure in a simplified form that are further described below in the detailed description. This summary is not intended to identify the key features or the scope of the claimed subject matter.

[0007] An aspect of the present disclosure may relate to a method for managing auditor instances in a network environment. The method comprises receiving, by a transceiver unit at an Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (0AM) module, a registration request from an auditor instance, wherein the auditor instance is associated with an auditor instance cluster. Then based on the registration request, the method leads to registering, by a registration unit, the auditor instance. The method further comprises broadcasting, by a broadcasting unit, a registration status of the registered auditor instance to at least one or more services associated with the registered auditor instance. The method then leads to determining, by a determination unit, a health status of the registered auditor instance.

[0008] In an exemplary aspect of the present disclosure, the auditor instance and the 0AM module are communicatively coupled over an AU OA interface, wherein the AU OA interface is one of a HTTP-based connection and a Web Socket-based connection.

[0009] In another exemplary aspect of the present disclosure, the registration request comprises at least one of IP addresses, ports, paths, and subscribe component type, and broadcast contexts associated with the auditor instance.

[0010] In another exemplary aspect of the present disclosure, the step of registering, by the registration unit, the auditor instance based on the registration request comprises adding, by the registration unit, the auditor instance to an active instance list maintained at the 0AM module.

[0011] In another exemplary aspect of the present disclosure, pursuant to the registration of the auditor instance, the method involves establishing, by a processing unit, a secondary connection between the registered auditor instance and the 0AM module.

[0012] In another exemplary aspect of the present disclosure, the method further comprises continuously transmitting, by the transceiver unit, at a pre-defined time interval, a set of FCAPS (Fault, Configuration, Accounting, Performance, and Security) requests to the registered auditor instance. Then the method may comprise receiving, by the transceiver unit, a response from said auditor instance, wherein the response comprises FCAPS data associated with said auditor instance.

[0013] In another exemplary aspect of the present disclosure, based on the received response from the auditor instance, the method further comprises determining, by the determination unit, the health status of said auditor instance, wherein the health status comprises one of a success status and a failure status.

[0014] In another exemplary aspect of the present disclosure, wherein upon determining the failure status of the auditor instance, the method further comprises deregistering, by the registration unit, a failed auditor instance, wherein the failed auditor instance is the auditor instance having the failure status. Then the method moves to broadcasting, by the broadcasting unit, the failure status associated with the failed auditor instance to one or more services associated with the failed auditor instance.

[0015] In another exemplary aspect of the present disclosure, the step of deregistering the failed auditor instance comprises adding, by the registration unit, the failed auditor instance to an inactive instance list maintained at the 0AM module.

[0016] In another exemplary aspect of the present disclosure, the method further comprises broadcasting, by the broadcasting unit, at least one of a registration data and a deregistration data associated with the auditor instance to a plurality of other instances of said auditor instance.

[0017] In another exemplary aspect of the present disclosure, the method further comprises receiving, by the transceiver unit, a synchronization data from the registered auditor instance. The method further comprises transmitting, by the transceiver unit, the synchronization data to a plurality of other instances of said registered auditor instance.

[0018] Another aspect of the present disclosure may relate to a system for managing auditor instances in a network environment. The system comprises a transceiver unit, a registration unit, a broadcasting unit, and a determination unit connected to each other. The transceiver unit is configured to receive, at an Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (0AM) module, a registration request from an auditor instance, wherein the auditor instance is associated with an auditor instance cluster. Based on the registration request, the registration unit

[0404] is configured to register the auditor instance

[0306] , The broadcasting unit

[0406] is configured to broadcast a registration status of the registered auditor instance

[0306] to at least one or more services associated with the registered auditor instance

[0306] , Then the determination unit

[0408] is configured to determine a health status of the registered auditor instance

[0306] ,

[0019] Yet another aspect of the present disclosure may relate to a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more instructions for managing auditor instances in a network environment, the one or more instructions include executable code which, when executed by one or more units of a system, causes the one or more units to perform certain functions. The one or more instructions when executed causes a transceiver unit to receive, at an Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (0AM) module, a registration request from an auditor instance. The auditor instance is associated with an auditor instance cluster. The one or more instructions when executed further causes a registration unit to register the auditor instance based on the registration request. The one or more instructions when executed further causes a broadcasting unit to broadcast a registration status of the registered auditor instance to at least one or more services associated with the registered auditor instance. The one or more instructions when executed further causes a determination unit to determine a health status of the registered auditor instance.OBJECTS OF THE DISCLOSURE

[0020] Some of the objects of the present disclosure, which at least one embodiment disclosed herein satisfies are listed herein below.

[0021] It is an object of the present disclosure to provide a system and a method for managing auditor instances in a network environment.

[0022] It is another object of the present disclosure to provide a system and a method for handling multiple instances of auditor microservices via AU OA interface.

[0023] It is another object of the present disclosure to provide a system and a method for handling registration, deregistration, tracking live and gone down instances using AU OA interface.

[0024] It is yet another object of the present disclosure to provide a system and a method for enabling fault tolerance for any event failure, this interface can also work in a high availability mode and if one inventory instance went down during request processing, then next available instance may take care of this request.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0025] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein, and constitute a part of this disclosure, illustrate exemplary embodiments of the disclosed methods and systems in which like reference numerals refer to the same parts throughout the different drawings. Components in the drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the present disclosure. Also, the embodiments shown in the figures are not to be construed as limiting the disclosure, but the possible variants of the method and system according to the disclosure are illustrated herein to highlight the advantages of the disclosure. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that disclosure of such drawings includes disclosure of electrical components or circuitry commonly used to implement such components.

[0026] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary block diagram representation of a management and orchestration (MANO) architecture / platform in accordance with exemplary implementation of the present disclosure.

[0027] FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a computing device upon which the features of the present disclosure may be implemented in accordance with exemplary implementation of the present disclosure.

[0028] FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a network environment used for managing auditor instances in a network environment, in accordance with exemplary implementations of the present disclosure.

[0029] FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a system for managing auditor instances in the network environment, in accordance with exemplary implementations of the present disclosure.

[0030] FIG. 5 illustrates a method flow diagram for managing auditor instances in the network environment, in accordance with exemplary implementations of the present disclosure.

[0031] The foregoing shall be more apparent from the following more detailed description of the disclosure.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0032] In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, various specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the present disclosure. It will be apparent, however, that embodiments of the present disclosure may be practiced without these specific details. Several features described hereafter may each be used independently of one another or with any combination of other features. An individual feature may not address any of the problems discussed above or might address only some of the problems discussed above.

[0033] The ensuing description provides exemplary embodiments only, and is not intended to limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of the disclosure. Rather, the ensuing description of the exemplary embodiments will provide those skilled in the art with an enabling description for implementing an exemplary embodiment. It should be understood that various changes may be made in the function and arrangement of elements without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure as set forth.

[0034] Specific details are given in the following description to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments. However, it will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that the embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. For example, circuits, systems, processes, and other components may be shown as components in block diagram form in order not to obscure the embodiments in unnecessary detail.

[0035] It should be noted that the terms "first", "second", "primary", "secondary", "target" and the like, herein do not denote any order, ranking, quantity, or importance, but rather are used to distinguish one element from another.

[0036] Also, it is noted that individual embodiments may be described as a process which is depicted as a flowchart, a flow diagram, a data flow diagram, a structure diagram, or a block diagram. Although a flowchart may describe the operations as a sequential process, many of the operations may be performed in parallel or concurrently. In addition, the order of the operations may be re-arranged. A process may be terminated when its operations are completed but could also have additional steps that may not be included in the figures.

[0037] The word “exemplary” and / or “demonstrative” is used herein to mean serving as an example, instance, or illustration. For the avoidance of doubt, the subject matter disclosed herein is not limited by such examples. In addition, any aspect or design described herein as “exemplary” and / or “demonstrative” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects or designs, nor is it meant to preclude equivalent exemplary structures and techniques known to those of ordinary skill in the art. Furthermore, to the extent that the terms “includes,” “has,” “contains,” and other similar words are used in either the detailed description or the claims, such terms are intended to be inclusive — in a manner similar to the term “comprising” as an open transition word — without precluding any additional or other elements.

[0038] As used herein, a “processing unit” or “processor” or “operating processor” includes one or more processors, wherein processor refers to any logic circuitry for processing instructions. A processor may be a general-purpose processor, a special purpose processor, a conventional processor, a digital signal processor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in association with a Digital Signal Processing (DSP) core, a controller, a microcontroller, Application Specific Integrated Circuits, Field Programmable Gate Array circuits, any other type of integrated circuits, etc. The processor may perform signal coding data processing, input / output processing, and / or any other functionality that enables the working of the system according to the present disclosure. More specifically, the processor or processing unit is a hardware processor.

[0039] As used herein, “a user equipment”, “a user device”, “a smart-user-device”, “a smartdevice”, “an electronic device”, “a mobile device”, “a handheld device”, “a wireless communication device”, “a mobile communication device”, “a communication device” may be any electrical, electronic and / or computing device or equipment, capable of implementing the features of the present disclosure. The user equipment / device may include, but is not limited to, a mobile phone, smart phone, laptop, a general-purpose computer, desktop, personal digital assistant, tablet computer, wearable device or any other computing device which is capable ofimplementing the features of the present disclosure. Also, the user device may contain at least one input means configured to receive an input from unit(s) which are required to implement the features of the present disclosure.

[0040] As used herein, “storage unit” or “memory unit” refers to a machine or computer-readable medium including any mechanism for storing information in a form readable by a computer or similar machine. For example, a computer-readable medium includes read-only memory (“ROM”), random access memory (“RAM”), magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, flash memory devices or other types of machine-accessible storage media. The storage unit stores at least the data that may be required by one or more units of the system to perform their respective functions.

[0041] As used herein “interface” or “user interface refers to a shared boundary across which two or more separate components of a system exchange information or data. The interface may also be referred to a set of rules or protocols that define communication or interaction of one or more modules or one or more units with each other, which also includes the methods, functions, or procedures that may be called.

[0042] All modules, units, components used herein, unless explicitly excluded herein, may be software modules or hardware processors, the processors being a general-purpose processor, a special purpose processor, a conventional processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in association with a DSP core, a controller, a microcontroller, Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC), Field Programmable Gate Array circuits (FPGA), any other type of integrated circuits, etc.

[0043] As used herein the transceiver unit include at least one receiver and at least one transmitter configured respectively for receiving and transmitting data, signals, information or a combination thereof between units / components within the system and / or connected with the system.

[0044] As discussed in the background section, the current known solutions have several shortcomings. The present disclosure aims to overcome the above-mentioned and other existing problems in this field of technology by providing method and system of managing auditor instances in a network environment.

[0045] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary block diagram representation of a management and orchestration (MANO) architecture / platform

[0100] , in accordance with exemplary implementation of the present disclosure. The MANO architecture

[0100] may be developed for managing telecom cloud infrastructure automatically, managing design or deployment design, managing instantiation of a network node(s) etc / service(s). The MANO architecture

[0100] deploys the network node(s) in the form of Virtual Network Function (VNF) and Cloud-native / Container Network Function (CNF). The system as provided by the present disclosure may comprise one or more components of the MANO architecture

[0100] , The MANO architecture

[0100] may be used to automatically instantiate the VNFs into the corresponding environment of the present disclosure so that it could help in onboarding other vendor(s) CNFs and VNFs to the platform. In an implementation, the system may comprise a NFV Platform Decision Analytics (NPDA)

[1096] component.

[0046] As shown in FIG. 1, the MANO architecture

[0100] comprises a user interface layer

[0102] , a network function virtualization (NFV) and software defined network (SDN) design function module

[0104] , a platform foundation services module

[0106] , a platform core services module

[0108] and a platform resource adapters and utilities module

[0112] All the components may be assumed to be connected to each other in a manner as obvious to the person skilled in the art for implementing features of the present disclosure.

[0047] The NFV and SDN design function module

[0104] comprises a network manager

[1042] , a VNF catalogue

[1044] , a network services catalogue

[1046] , a network slicing and service chaining manager

[1048] , a physical and virtual resource manager

[1050] and a CNF lifecycle manager

[1052] , The network manager

[1042] may be responsible for deciding on which server of the communication network the microservice may be instantiated. The network manager

[1042] may manage the overall flow of incoming / outgoing requests during interaction with the user. The network manager may have a VNF lifecycle manager and the CNF lifecycle manager in case the network is working utilising the VNF and CNF. The network manager

[1042] may be responsible for determining which sequence to be followed for executing the process. For e.g. in an AMF network function of the communication network (such as a 5G network), sequence for execution of processes Pl and P2 etc. The VNF catalogue

[1044] stores the metadata of all the VNFs (also CNFs in some cases). The network services catalogue

[1046] stores the information of the services that need to be run. The network slicing and service chaining manager

[1048] manages the slicing (an ordered and connected sequence of network service / network functions (NFs)) that must be applied to a specific networked data packet. The physical and virtual resource manager

[1050] stores the logical and physical inventory of the VNFs. Just like the network manager

[1042] , the CNF lifecycle manager

[1052] may be similarly used for the CNFs lifecycle management.

[0048] The platforms foundation services module

[0106] comprises a microservices elastic load balancer

[1062] , an identity & access manager

[1064] , a command line interface (CLI)

[1066] , a central logging manager

[1068] , and an event routing manager

[1070] , The microservices elastic load balancer

[1062] may be used for maintaining the load balancing of the request for the services. The identity & access manager

[1064] may be used for logging purposes. The command line interface (CLI)

[1066] may be used to provide commands to execute certain processes which requires changes during the run time. The central logging manager

[1068] may be responsible for keeping the logs of every service. These logs are generated by the MANO platform

[0100] , These logs may be used for debugging purposes. The event routing manager

[1070] may be responsible for routing the events i.e., the application programming interface (API) hits to the corresponding services.

[0049] The platforms core services module

[0108] comprises NFV infrastructure monitoring manager

[1082] , an assure manager

[1084] , a performance manager

[1086] , a policy execution engine

[1088] , a capacity monitoring manager

[1090] , a release management (mgmt.) repository

[1092] , a configuration manager & golden configuration template (GCT)

[1094] , an NFV platform decision analytics

[1096] , a platform NoSQL DB

[1098] , a platform schedulers and cron jobs

[1100] , a VNF backup & upgrade manager

[1102] , a microservice auditor

[1104] , and a platform operations, administration and maintenance manager

[1106] , The NFV infrastructure monitoring manager

[1082] may monitor the infrastructure part of the NFs. For e.g., any metrics such as CPU utilization by the VNF. The assure manager

[1084] may be responsible for supervising the alarms the vendor may be generating. The performance manager

[1086] may be responsible for managing the performance counters. The policy execution engine (PEEGN)

[1088] may be responsible for managing all the policies. The capacity monitoring manager (CMM)

[1090] may be responsible for sending the request to the PEEGN

[1088] , The release management repository (RMR)

[1092] may be responsible for managing the releases and the images of all of the vendor’s network nodes. The configuration manager & GCT

[1094] manages the configuration and GCT of all the vendors. The NFV platform decision analytics (NPDA)

[1096] helps in deciding the priority of using the network resources. It is further noted that the policy execution engine (PEEGN)

[1088] , the configuration manager & (GCT)

[1094] and the (NPDA)

[1096] work together. The platform NoSQL DB

[1098] may be a platform database for storing all the inventory (both physical and logical) as well as the metadata of the VNFs and CNF.It may be noted that the platform NoSQL DB

[1098] may be just a narrower implementation of the present disclosure, and any other kind of structure for the database may be implemented for the platform database such as relational or non-relational database. The platform schedulers and cron jobs

[1100] may schedule the task such as but not limited to triggering of an event, traverse the network graph etc. The VNF backup & upgrade manager

[1102] takes backup of the images, binaries of the VNFs and the CNFs and produces those backups on demand in case of server failure. The microservice auditor

[1104] audits the microservices. For e.g., in a hypothetical case, instances not being instantiated by the MANO architecture

[0100] may be using the network resources. In such case, the microservice auditor

[1104] audits and informs the same so that resources can be released for services running in the MANO architecture

[0100] , The audit assures that the services only run on the MANO platform

[0100] , The platform operations, administration and maintenance manager

[1106] may be used for newer instances that are spawning.

[0050] The platform resource adapters and utilities module

[0112] further comprises a platform external API adaptor and gateway

[1122] , a generic decoder and indexer (XML, CSV, JSON)

[1124] , a service adaptor

[1126] , an API adapter

[1128] , and aNFV gateway

[1130] , The platform external API adaptor and gateway

[1122] may be responsible for handling the external services (to the MANO platform

[0100] ) that requires the network resources. The generic decoder and indexer (XML, CSV, JSON)

[1124] may get directly the data of the vendor system in the XML, CSV, JSON format. The service adaptor

[1126] may be the interface provided between the telecom cloud and the MANO architecture

[0100] for communication. The API adapter

[1128] may be used to connect with the virtual machines (VMs). The NFV gateway

[1130] may be responsible for providing the path to each services going to / incoming from the MANO architecture

[0100] ,

[0051] The Service Adapter (SA)

[1126] may be a microservices-based component that may be designed to deploy and manage Container Network Functions (CNFs) and their components (CNFCs) across nodes. The SA

[1126] may offer REST endpoints for key operations, such as uploading container images to a registry, terminating CNFC instances, and creating volumes and networks. The CNFs, that may be network functions packaged as containers, may consist of multiple CNFCs. The SA

[1126] facilitates the deployment, configuration, and management of these components by interacting with API, ensuring proper setup and scalability within a containerized environment. The SA

[1126] provides a modular and flexible framework for handling network functions in a virtualized network setup.

[0052] FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a computing device

[0200] upon which the features of the present disclosure may be implemented in accordance with exemplary implementation of the present disclosure. In an implementation, the computing device

[0200] may also implement a method for managing auditor instances in a network environment utilising a system

[0400] , In another implementation, the computing device

[0200] itself implements the method for managing auditor instances in the network environment using one or more units configured within the computing device

[0200] , wherein said one or more units are capable of implementing the features as disclosed in the present disclosure. In another exemplary implementation, the computing device

[0200] may also implement the method for managing auditor instance in the network environment using an environment

[0300] ,

[0053] The computing device

[0200] may include a bus

[0202] or other communication mechanism for communicating information, and a hardware processor

[0204] coupled with bus

[0202] for processing information. The hardware processor

[0204] may be, for example, a general-purpose microprocessor. The computing device

[0200] may also include a main memory

[0206] , such as a random-access memory (RAM), or other dynamic storage device, coupled to the bus

[0202] for storing information and instructions to be executed by the processor

[0204] , The main memory

[0206] also may be used for storing temporary variables or other intermediate information during execution of the instructions to be executed by the processor

[0204] , Such instructions, when stored in non-transitory storage media accessible to the processor

[0204] , render the computing device

[0200] into a special-purpose machine that is customized to perform the operations specified in the instructions. The computing device

[0200] further includes a read only memory (ROM)

[0208] or other static storage device coupled to the bus

[0202] for storing static information and instructions for the processor

[0204] ,

[0054] A storage device

[0210] , such as a magnetic disk, optical disk, or solid-state drive is provided and coupled to the bus

[0202] for storing information and instructions. The computing device

[0200] may be coupled via the bus

[0202] to a display

[0212] , such as a cathode ray tube (CRT), Liquid crystal Display (LCD), Light Emitting Diode (LED) display, Organic LED (OLED) display, etc. for displaying information to a computer user. An input device

[0214] , including alphanumeric and other keys, touch screen input means, etc. may be coupled to the bus

[0202] for communicating information and command selections to the processor

[0204] , Another type of user input device may be a cursor controller

[0216] , such as a mouse, a trackball, or cursor direction keys, for communicating direction information and command selections to the processor

[0204] , and forcontrolling cursor movement on the display

[0212] , The input device typically has two degrees of freedom in two axes, a first axis (e.g., x) and a second axis (e.g., y), that allow the device to specify positions in a plane.

[0055] The computing device

[0200] may implement the techniques described herein using customized hard-wired logic, one or more ASICs or FPGAs, firmware and / or program logic which in combination with the computing device

[0200] causes or programs the computing device

[0200] to be a special-purpose machine. According to one implementation, the techniques herein are performed by the computing device

[0200] in response to the processor

[0204] executing one or more sequences of one or more instructions contained in the main memory

[0206] , Such instructions may be read into the main memory

[0206] from another storage medium, such as the storage device

[0210] , Execution of the sequences of instructions contained in the main memory

[0206] causes the processor

[0204] to perform the process steps described herein. In alternative implementations of the present disclosure, hard-wired circuitry may be used in place of or in combination with software instructions.

[0056] The computing device

[0200] also may include a communication interface

[0218] coupled to the bus

[0202] , The communication interface

[0218] provides a two-way data communication coupling to a network link

[0220] that is connected to a local network

[0222] , For example, the communication interface

[0218] may be an integrated services digital network (ISDN) card, cable modem, satellite modem, or a modem to provide a data communication connection to a corresponding type of telephone line. As another example, the communication interface

[0218] may be a local area network (LAN) card to provide a data communication connection to a compatible LAN. Wireless links may also be implemented. In any such implementation, the communication interface

[0218] sends and receives electrical, electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital data streams representing various types of information.

[0057] The computing device

[0200] can send messages and receive data, including program code, through the network(s), the network link

[0220] and the communication interface

[0218] , In the Internet example, a server

[0230] might transmit a requested code for an application program through the Internet

[0228] , the ISP

[0226] , the local network

[0222] , a host

[0224] and the communication interface

[0218] , The received code may be executed by the processor

[0204] as it is received, and / or stored in the storage device

[0210] , or other non-volatile storage for later execution.

[0058] Referring to FIG. 3, an exemplary block diagram of a network environment

[0300] used for managing auditor instances in a network environment is shown in accordance with exemplary implementations of the present disclosure. The environment

[0300] comprises at least an operations, administration, and maintenance (0AM) module

[0302] and at least one auditor instance cluster

[0304] connected to each other via an interface, referred to as an AU OA interface

[0308] ,

[0059] The 0AM module

[0302] is a component responsible for managing operations within the network, administration of several components within the network, and ensuring maintenance of several components within the network. Further, the 0AM module

[0302] may be considered to be similar to the platform operations, administration, and maintenance manager

[1106] as may be understood in conjunction with FIG. 1.

[0060] The auditor instance cluster

[0304] may refer to a cluster of multiple instances of auditor instances

[0306] , The auditor instance

[0306] may refer to an instance or a component for auditor which is responsible for audits of several components within the network, such as microservices. The auditor instance

[0306] may audit the network resources such as physical memory, RAM, CPU, etc. and may bring the resource in synchronization with real-time available / used resources and may minimize the mismatch between other components. Further, the auditor instance

[0306] may be considered to be similar to the microservice auditor

[1104] as may be understood in conjunction with FIG. 1.

[0061] The AU OA interface

[0308] may refer to a communication link between the 0AM module

[0302] and the auditor instance cluster

[0304] / auditor instance

[0306] which enables communication between the components. In one example, the AU_0 A interface

[0308] may be considered to utilize a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)-based connection or Web Socket-based connection for enablement of communication. In some of the exemplary implementations, the interface that may be used for communication may, in one example, be the HTTP -based connection, and may in another example, be a Web Socket-based connection.

[0062] In some of the exemplary implementations of the present disclosure, the AU OA interface may be configured to facilitate exchange of information using the HTTP- REST Application Programming Interface (API). In another exemplary implementation, the HTTP REST API may be used in conjunction with a JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) format and / or an extensible markup language (XML) format for carrying the information. As would be understood, the websocket connection may involve establishing a persistent connectivity between the connectingcomponents, such as a transmission control protocol (TCP) connection. In such a connection, information of different components may be exchanged through the interface using a ping-pong- based communication. In such examples, for some information HTTP based connection may be used and for some information web-socket connection as explained in above example and for other type of information exchange, it uses a web-socket connection as explained above.

[0063] It may be noted that any other network entities / components not depicted in FIG. 3 and known to a person skilled in the art, may also be present within the environment

[0300] , and in communication with the 0AM module

[0302] and Auditor Instance Cluster

[0304] , Such network entities / components have not been depicted in FIG. 3 and have not been explained here for the sake of brevity.

[0064] Referring to FIG. 4, an exemplary block diagram representation of a system

[0400] for managing auditor instances in the network environment, is shown, in accordance with the exemplary implementations of the present disclosure. The system

[0400] may in an example reside within the environment

[0300] , and may in another example be connected with the environment

[0300] for implementation of the solutions provided by the present disclosure.

[0065] In one example, the system

[0400] may be implemented as or within the operations, administration, and maintenance (0AM) module

[0302] , as explained in conjunction with FIG. 3. In another example, such 0AM module may also be considered to be similar to the platform operations, administration, and maintenance manager

[1106] as may be understood in conjunction with the FIG. 1.

[0066] As depicted in FIG. 4, the system

[0400] may include at least one transceiver unit

[0402] , at least one registration unit

[0404] , at least one broadcasting unit

[0406] , at least one determination unit

[0408] , and at least one processing unit

[0410] , It may be noted that the system

[0400] may comprise all such units or any of such units for implementation of the present disclosure. Also, all of the components / units of the system

[0400] are assumed to be connected to each other unless otherwise indicated below. As shown in FIG. 4, all units shown within the system

[0400] should also be assumed to be connected to each other. Also, in FIG. 4, only a few units are shown, however, the system

[0400] may comprise multiple such units or the system

[0400] may comprise any such numbers of said units, as required to implement the features of the present disclosure. Further, in an implementation, the system

[0400] may be present in a user device / user equipment to implement the features of the present disclosure. The system

[0400] may be a part of the userdevice / or may be independent of but in communication with the user device (may also referred herein as a UE). In another implementation, the system

[0400] may reside in a server or a network entity. In yet another implementation, the system

[0400] may reside partly in the server / network entity and partly in the user device.

[0067] It may be noted that FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 are explained simultaneously in the foregoing description for describing in detail the solutions provided by the present disclosure and may be read in conjunction with each other.

[0068] In an example, the system

[0400] may be configured for managing auditor instances in the network environment, with the help of the interconnection between the components / units of the system

[0400] , In another example, the system

[0400] may be configured for managing auditor instances in the network environment, with the help of the interconnection between the components / units of the system

[0400] and the network environment

[0300] ,

[0069] As would be understood, the network environment

[0300] may also refer to the network of telecommunication components used for providing telecommunication services. The management of the auditor instance may refer to managing different auditor instances present within the network environment.

[0070] In operation, for managing auditor instances in the network environment, the transceiver unit

[0402] may receive a registration request from an auditor instance

[0306] , The auditor instance

[0306] may be associated with the auditor instance cluster

[0304] , It may be noted that the registration request may in one example, be received at the Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (0AM) module

[0302] , In examples where the system

[0400] may be implemented as or within the 0 AM module

[0302] , then in such cases, the system

[0400] may itself receive the registration request from the auditor instance

[0306] , In other examples, where the system

[0400] may be connected with the 0AM module

[0302] , then in such cases, the system

[0400] may first receive the registration request from the auditor instance

[0306] and then transmit the same to the 0AM module

[0302] ,

[0071] The registration request may refer to a request for registration of an instance of the auditor component i.e. the auditor instance

[0306] ,

[0072] It may be noted that, although the present description has been explained with respect to a single auditor instance transmitting the registration request to the 0AM module, however, the sameis done only for the sake of explanation and clarity. The approaches of the present subject matter may be implemented to any number of auditor instances. All such examples and variations would lie within the scope of the present subject matter.

[0073] Continuing further, the association of the auditor instance

[0306] with the auditor instance cluster

[0304] may, in an example, be the presence of auditor instance

[0306] along with various other instances of auditor instance

[0306] in the auditor instance cluster

[0304] ,

[0074] In an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, the registration request may include Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, ports, paths, and subscribe component type, and broadcast contexts associated with the auditor instance

[0306] , As would be understood, the IP address may refer to a unique string of characters which are used in the Internet Protocol for identification of a device on the internet or the network. Port may refer to a logical address of a 16-bit unsigned integer allotted to multiple applications on the device that using the internet to send or receive data. The path may refer to a route between the starting point of communication and the ending point of the communication. The subscribe component type may refer to a type of component for which the auditor instance

[0306] has subscribed. The broadcast context may refer to an information associated with policies for broadcasting the registration of the auditor instance

[0306] ,

[0075] In another exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, as described previously, the auditor instance

[0306] and the 0AM module

[0302] may be communicatively coupled over the AU OA interface

[0308] , The AU OA interface

[0308] may be either the HTTP-based connection or the WebSocket-based connection as has been already provided above.

[0076] Continuing further, based on the registration request, the registration unit

[0404] may register the auditor instance

[0306] ,

[0077] In further exemplary implementations of the present disclosure, for registering the auditor instance

[0306] , the registration unit

[0404] may be further configured to add the auditor instance

[0306] to an active instance list maintained at the 0AM module

[0302] , For example, there may be various records associated with the auditor instances, such as one or more lists / databases / registers / spreadsheets, etc., which may comprise information associated with multiple components. One such record may be the active instance list which may be responsible for storing information associated with active instances of the auditor instance

[0306] ,

[0078] In various exemplary implementations of the present disclosure, such records may be stored within a storage unit which may be provided within the system

[0400] or may be connected with the system

[0400] , From such records, some records may be associated with the auditor instances

[0306] and may store certain information associated with auditor instances and the auditor instance cluster

[0304] ,

[0079] The active instance list may store information for all such auditor instances

[0306] that are currently actively performing the functions of the auditor instance

[0306] , The auditor instances

[0306] that are registered are the active instances that are actively performing the functions of the auditor instance

[0306] ,

[0080] The registration of the auditor instance in such records may be done while registering the auditor instance such as by entering the details of the auditor instance in such records.

[0081] In another example, after successful registration, the processing unit

[0410] is further configured to establish a secondary connection between the registered auditor instance

[0306] and the 0AM module

[0302] , The secondary connection between the 0AM module

[0302] and the auditor instance

[0306] may act as a secondary or a backup communication channel, in addition to the already present communication channel. The secondary connection may allow the auditor instance

[0306] to communicate with the 0AM module

[0302] in cases where the available communication channel goes down. In one example, the secondary connection may be one of a HTTP-based connection and a Web Socket-based connection.

[0082] Continuing further, after registering the auditor instance

[0306] , the broadcasting unit

[0406] may broadcast a registration status of the registered auditor instance

[0306] to at least one or more services associated with the registered auditor instance

[0306] , As would be understood, the one or more services associated with the registered auditor instance

[0306] may refer to the set of services that may use the registered auditor instance and have subscribed to the registered auditor instance

[0306] , For example, the registered auditor instance

[0306] may be subscribed by the one or more services such as the load balancer service, inventory / re source manager services, etc.

[0083] The registration status may refer to a status associated with the successful or unsuccessful registration of the auditor instance

[0306] in the records stored in storage unit, or within the 0AM module

[0302] , For broadcasting the registration status, the records stored in storage unit or the 0AM module

[0302] may be fetched and then used for broadcasting the registration status. Forexample, the active instance list stored in the storage unit or the OAM module

[0302] , which may have information associated with the active instances of the auditor instances

[0306] , may be sent for broadcasting the registration status.

[0084] Continuing further, after the broadcast of the registration status, the determination unit

[0408] may be configured to determine a health status of the registered auditor instance

[0306] , The health status of the registered auditor instance

[0306] may refer to a health of the auditor instance associated with existence of issues and alarms related to the components / instances of the auditor instance

[0306] that was registered.

[0085] In one example, for determining the health status of the registered auditor instance

[0306] , the determination unit

[0408] may ping the auditor instance

[0306] repeatedly by sending a HTTP request. In another example, for determining the health status, various alarms associated with the auditor instance

[0306] may be fetched and checked for the health of the auditor instance.

[0086] In an exemplary aspect of the present disclosure, the determination unit

[0408] may be further configured to determine the health status of said auditor instance

[0306] based on the received response from the auditor instance

[0306] , The health status may comprise one of a success status and a failure status. The success status of the health status may refer to an indication that there does not exist any critical issues or alarms which may interfere with the performance of functions of the registered auditor instance

[0306] , The failure status of the health status may refer to an indication that there exists certain critical issues or alarms which may cause interference with the performance of functions of the registered auditor instance

[0306] and may result in downtime of the registered auditor instance.

[0087] In yet another example, for determining the health status of registered auditor instance, the transceiver unit

[0402] may continuously transmit, at a pre-defined time interval, a set of Fault, Configuration, Accounting, Performance, and Security (FCAPS) requests to the registered auditor instance

[0306] , For example, the FCAPS request may be associated with the auditing of the FCAPS data. In an example, the pre-defined time interval may refer to a period of time within which the FCAPS requests may be transmitted repeatedly and, in another example may also be dynamically configurable. For example, the FCAPS request may be sent over a time interval of 5 seconds.

[0088] After the FCAPS request is transmitted, then the transceiver unit

[0402] may receive a response from said auditor instance

[0306] , The response may comprise FCAPS data associatedwith said auditor instance

[0306] , The determination unit

[0408] , based on the received FCAPS data, may determine the health status of the auditor instance.

[0089] In another example, it may be the case that the 0AM module

[0302] may be transmitting FCAPS request to a plurality of auditor instances. In such cases, the 0AM module

[0302] may receive respective responses from each of the auditor instance and may consolidate all the received responses to generate a consolidated response. Thereafter, the 0AM module

[0302] may transmit the consolidated response to an Element Management System (EMS).

[0090] It may be noted, along with determining the health status of the registered auditor instance, the FCAPS data received from the auditor instance may be used for other purposes as well, known to a person skilled in the art.

[0091] It may be further noted that any other techniques than the aforementioned techniques may also be used to determine the health of the auditor instance. All such techniques would lie within the scope of the present subject matter.

[0092] In another exemplary aspect of the present disclosure, upon determining the failure status of the auditor instance

[0306] , the registration unit

[0404] may deregister a failed auditor instance

[0306] , The failed auditor instance

[0306] may be the auditor instance

[0306] having the failure status which may be caused due to certain issues with the auditor instance

[0306] , In another exemplary aspect of the present disclosure, for deregistering the failed auditor instance

[0306] , the registration unit

[0404] is configured to add the failed auditor instance

[0306] to an inactive instance list maintained at the 0AM module

[0302] , As provided above, there may be various records associated with the auditor instances, one such record may be the inactive instance list which may be responsible for storing information associated with inactive instances of the auditor instance

[0306] , The inactive instance list may store information for all such auditor instances

[0306] that are not actively performing the functions of the auditor instance

[0306] such as due to failure status. The auditor instances

[0306] that are deregistered are the inactive instances that are actively performing the functions of the auditor instance

[0306] ,

[0093] Also, in the above-mentioned exemplary aspect, after deregistering the failed auditor instance, the broadcasting unit

[0406] may be further configured to broadcast the failure status associated with the failed auditor instance

[0306] to one or more services associated with the failed auditor instance

[0306] , In such examples, the failure status may be broadcasted such as by sendingthe record associated with failed auditor instances / the inactive instance list to other components within the network / network environment. The one or more services associated with the failed auditor instance

[0306] may refer to the one or more services that have been subscribed to the auditor instance

[0306] ,

[0094] In another exemplary aspect of the present disclosure, the broadcasting unit

[0406] is further configured to broadcast at least one of a registration data and a deregistration data associated with the auditor instance

[0306] to a plurality of other instances of said auditor instance

[0306] , Based on the determination of the health status of the auditor instance

[0306] , the records comprising information associated with registered / active instances of the auditor instance

[0306] and the deregistered / inactive instances of the auditor instance

[0306] may be stored. The records may be broadcasted to the respective entities such as by transmitting the active instance list and the inactive instance list to other entities present within the network.

[0095] In another exemplary aspect of the present disclosure, the transceiver unit

[0402] may be further configured to receive a synchronization data from the registered auditor instance

[0306] , The synchronisation data may refer to the information associated with the current configuration and processes of the active instance of the auditor instance

[0306] , for example, the synchronisation data may comprise information associated with a current state of processes and configuration of the auditor instance

[0306] , Then, based on the synchronization data, the transceiver unit

[0402] may also be configured to transmit the synchronization data to a plurality of other instances of said registered auditor instance

[0306] , The transmission of the synchronization data may result in synchronizing the active instance of the auditor microservice instance

[0306] with the other instance of the auditor instance

[0306] , The plurality of other instance of the registered auditor instance

[0306] may be the other components or instance that may be registered as the active instance in the active instance list.

[0096] Referring to FIG. 5, an exemplary method flow diagram

[0500] for managing auditor instances in a network environment, in accordance with exemplary implementations of the present disclosure is shown. In an implementation the method

[0500] may be performed by the system

[0400] , and in another implementation, the method

[0500] may be performed by the environment

[0300] , Further, in an implementation, the system

[0400] may be present in a server device to implement the features of the present disclosure. Also, as shown in FIG. 5, the method

[0500] starts at step

[0502] .

[0097] As would be understood, the network environment may refer to the network of telecommunication components used for providing telecommunication services. The management of the auditor instance may refer to managing different auditor instances present within the network environment.

[0098] For managing auditor instances in a network environment, the method

[0500] , at step

[0504] , involves receiving, by a transceiver unit

[0402] at an Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (0AM) module

[0302] , a registration request from an auditor instance

[0306] , The auditor instance

[0306] may be associated with an auditor instance cluster

[0304] , It may be noted that the registration request may in a preferred example, be received at the Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (0AM) module

[0302] , In examples, where the system

[0400] may be implemented as or within the 0AM module

[0302] , then in such cases, the system

[0400] may itself receive the registration request from the auditor instance

[0306] , In other examples, where the system

[0400] may be connected with the 0AM module

[0302] , then in such cases, the system

[0400] may first receive the registration request from the auditor instance

[0306] and then transmit the same to the 0AM module

[0302] ,

[0099] The registration request may refer to a request for registration of an instance of the auditor component i.e. the auditor instance

[0306] , The association of the auditor instance

[0306] with the auditor instance cluster

[0304] may in an example be the presence of auditor instance

[0306] along with various other instances of auditor instance

[0306] in the auditor instance cluster

[0304] ,

[0100] In an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, the registration request may include Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, ports, paths, and subscribe component type, and broadcast contexts associated with the auditor instance

[0306] , As would be understood, the IP address may refer to a unique string of characters which are used in the Internet Protocol for identification of a device on the internet or the network. Port may refer to a logical address of a 16-bit unsigned integer allotted to multiple applications on the device that using the internet to send or receive data. The path may refer to a route between the starting point of communication and the ending point of the communication. The subscribe component type may refer to a type of component for which the auditor instance

[0306] has subscribed. The broadcast context may refer to a information associated with policies for broadcasting the registration of the auditor instance

[0306] ,

[0101] In another exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, the auditor instance

[0306] and the 0AM module

[0302] may be communicatively coupled over the AU OA interface

[0308] ,The AU OA interface

[0308] may be either the HTTP -based connection or the WebSocket-based connection as has been already provided above.

[0102] Continuing further, based on the registration request, then at step

[0506] , the method

[0500] involves registering, by a registration unit

[0404] , the auditor instance

[0306] ,

[0103] In further exemplary implementations of the present disclosure, the step of registering the auditor instance

[0306] involves adding, by the registration unit

[0404] , the auditor instance

[0306] to an active instance list maintained at the 0AM module

[0302] , For example, there may be various records associated with the auditor instances, such as one or more lists / databases / registers / spreadsheets, etc., which may comprise information associated with multiple components. One such record may be the active instance list which may be responsible for storing information associated with active instances of the auditor instance

[0306] ,

[0104] In various exemplary implementations of the present disclosure, such records may be stored within a storage unit which may be provided within the system

[0400] or may be connected with the system

[0400] , From such records, some records may be associated with the auditor instances

[0306] and may store certain information associated with auditor instances and the auditor instance cluster

[0304] , The registration of the auditor instance in such records may be done while registering the auditor instance such as by entering the details of the auditor instance in such records.

[0105] In another exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, pursuant to the registration of the auditor instance

[0306] , the method

[0500] further involves establishing, by a processing unit

[0410] , a secondary connection between the registered auditor instance

[0306] and the 0AM module

[0302] , The secondary connection between the 0AM module

[0302] and the auditor instance

[0306] may act as a secondary or a backup communication channel, in addition to the already present communication channel. The secondary connection may allow the auditor instance

[0306] to communicate with the 0AM module

[0302] in cases where the available communication channel goes down. In one example, the secondary connection may be one of a HTTP-based connection and a WebSocket-based connection.

[0106] Continuing further, after registering the auditor instance

[0306] , at step

[0508] , the method

[0500] involves broadcasting, by a broadcasting unit

[0406] , a registration status of the registered auditor instance

[0306] to at least one or more services associated with the registered auditorinstance

[0306] , As would be understood, the one or more services associated with the registered auditor instance

[0306] may refer to the set of services that may use the registered auditor instance and have subscribed to the registered auditor instance

[0306] ,

[0107] For example, the registered auditor instance

[0306] may be subscribed by the one or more services such as the load balancer service, inventory / re source manager services, etc.

[0108] The registration status may refer to a status associated with the successful or unsuccessful registration of the auditor instance

[0306] in the records stored in storage unit, or within the 0AM module

[0302] , For broadcasting the registration status, the records stored in storage unit or the 0AM module

[0302] may be fetched and then used for broadcasting the registration status. For example, the active instance list stored in the storage unit or the 0AM module

[0302] , which may have information associated with the active instances of the auditor instances

[0306] , may be sent for broadcasting the registration status.

[0109] After the broadcast of the registration status, then at step

[0510] , the method

[0500] involves determining, by a determination unit

[0408] , a health status of the registered auditor instance

[0306] , The health status of the registered auditor instance

[0306] may refer to a health of the auditor instance associated with existence of issues and alarms related to the components / instances of the auditor instance

[0306] that was registered. In one example, for determining the health status of the registered auditor instance

[0306] , the determination unit

[0408] may ping the auditor instance

[0306] repeatedly by sending a HTTP request. In another example, for determining the health status various alarms associated with the auditor instance

[0306] may be fetched and checked for the health of the auditor instance.

[0110] In an exemplary aspect of the present disclosure, based on the received response from the auditor instance

[0306] , the method

[0500] involves determining, by the determination unit

[0408] , the health status of said auditor instance

[0306] , The health status comprises one of a success status and a failure status. The success status of the health status may refer to an indication that there does not exist any critical issues or alarms which may interfere with the performance of functions of the registered auditor instance

[0306] , The failure status of the health status may refer to an indication that there exists certain critical issues or alarms which may cause interference with the performance of functions of the registered auditor instance

[0306] and may result in downtime of the registered auditor instance.

[0111] In yet another example, for determining the health status of registered auditor instance, the transceiver unit

[0402] may continuously transmit, at a pre-defined time interval, a set of Fault, Configuration, Accounting, Performance, and Security (FCAPS) requests to the registered auditor instance

[0306] , For example, the FCAPS request may be associated with the auditing of the FCAPS data. In an example, the pre-defined time interval may refer to a period of time within which the FCAPS requests may be transmitted repeatedly and, in another example may also be dynamically configurable. For example, the FCAPS request may be sent over a time interval of 5 seconds.

[0112] After the FCAPS request is transmitted, then the transceiver unit

[0402] may receive a response from said auditor instance

[0306] , The response may comprise FCAPS data associated with said auditor instance

[0306] , The determination unit

[0408] , based on the received FCAPS data, may determine the health status of the auditor instance.

[0113] In another example, it may be the case that the 0AM module

[0302] may be transmitting FCAPS request to a plurality of auditor instances. In such cases, the 0AM module

[0302] may receive respective responses from each of the auditor instance and may consolidate all the received responses to generate a consolidated response. Thereafter, the 0AM module

[0302] may transmit the consolidated response to an Element Management System (EMS).

[0114] It may be noted, along with determining the health status of the registered auditor instance, the FCAPS data received from the auditor instance may be used for other purposes as well, known to a person skilled in the art.

[0115] It may be further noted that any other techniques than the aforementioned techniques may also be used to determine the health of the auditor instance. All such techniques would lie within the scope of the present subject matter.

[0116] In another exemplary aspect of the present disclosure, upon determining the failure status of the auditor instance

[0306] , the method

[0500] further comprises deregistering, by the registration unit

[0404] , a failed auditor instance

[0306] , The failed auditor instance

[0306] may be the auditor instance

[0306] having the failure status which may be caused due to certain issues with the auditor instance

[0306] , In another exemplary aspect of the present disclosure, the step of deregistering the failed auditor instance

[0306] , involves adding, by the registration unit

[0404] , the failed auditor instance

[0306] to an inactive instance list maintained at the 0AM module

[0302] , As provided above, there may be various records associated with the auditor instances, one such record may bethe inactive instance list which may be responsible for storing information associated with inactive instances of the auditor instance

[0306] , The inactive instance list may store information for all such auditor instances

[0306] that are not actively performing the functions of the auditor instance

[0306] such as due to failure status. The auditor instances

[0306] that are deregistered are the inactive instances that are actively performing the functions of the auditor instance

[0306] ,

[0117] Also, in the above-mentioned exemplary aspect, after deregistering the failed auditor instance, the method

[0500] may also involve broadcasting, by the broadcasting unit

[0406] , the failure status associated with the failed auditor instance

[0306] to one or more services associated with the failed auditor instance

[0306] , In such examples, the failure status may be broadcasted such as by sending the record associated with failed auditor instances / the inactive instance list to other components within the network / network environment. The one or more services associated with the failed auditor instance

[0306] may refer to the one or more services that have been subscribed to the auditor instance

[0306] ,

[0118] In another exemplary aspect of the present disclosure, the method

[0500] may further involve broadcasting, by the broadcasting unit

[0406] , at least one of a registration data and a deregistration data associated with the auditor instance

[0306] to a plurality of other instances of said auditor instance

[0306] , Based on the determination of the health status of the auditor instance

[0306] , the records comprising information associated with registered / active instances of the auditor instance

[0306] and the deregistered / inactive instances of the auditor instance

[0306] may be stored. The records may be broadcasted to the respective entities such as by transmitting the active instance list and the inactive instance list to other entities present within the network.

[0119] In another exemplary aspect of the present disclosure, the method

[0500] may further comprise receiving, by the transceiver unit

[0402] , a synchronization data from the registered auditor instance

[0306] , The synchronisation data may refer to the information associated with the current configuration and processes of the active instance of the auditor instance

[0306] , for example, the synchronisation data may comprise information associated with a current state of processes and configuration of the auditor instance

[0306] , Then, based on the synchronization data, the method

[0500] may lead to transmitting, by the transceiver unit

[0402] , the synchronization data to a plurality of other instances of said registered auditor instance

[0306] , The transmission of the synchronization data may result in synchronizing the active instance of the auditor microservice instance

[0306] with the other instance of the auditor instance

[0306] , The plurality of other instance of the registered auditor instance

[0306] may be the other components or instance that may beregistered as the active instance in the active instance list. This configuration enables a fault tolerance configuration for any event failure and enables a high availability mode due to the functioning of the multiple auditor instances and the OAM modules using the interface. The configuration provides working with other instances in case one auditor instance went down during request processing, then next available instance may take care of this request.

[0120] Thereafter, at step

[0512] , the method

[0500] may be terminated.

[0121] The present disclosure further discloses a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more instructions for managing auditor instances in a network environment, the one or more instructions include executable code which, when executed by one or more units of a system

[0300] , causes the one or more units to perform certain functions. The one or more instructions when executed causes a transceiver unit

[0402] to receive, at an Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM) module

[0302] , a registration request from an auditor instance

[0306] , The auditor instance

[0306] is associated with an auditor instance cluster

[0304] , The one or more instructions when executed further causes a registration unit

[0404] to register the auditor instance

[0306] based on the registration request. The one or more instructions when executed further causes a broadcasting unit

[0406] to broadcast a registration status of the registered auditor instance

[0306] to at least one or more services associated with the registered auditor instance

[0306] , The one or more instructions when executed further causes a determination unit

[0408] to determine a health status of the registered auditor instance

[0306] ,

[0122] As is evident from the above, the present disclosure provides a technically advanced solution for managing auditor instances in the network environment. The present solution provides handling registration, deregistration of auditor instances and enables live tracking of health of the auditor instances using a common interface. The present solution also provides instance management, alarm management and counter management through various implementations as provided above. The present solution also enables async event-based implementation to utilize interface efficiently. The present system and method provide a solution, which enables fault tolerance for any event failure, this interface can also work in a high availability mode and if one auditor instance went down during request processing, then next available instance may take care of this request.

[0123] While considerable emphasis has been placed herein on the disclosed implementations, it will be appreciated that many implementations can be made and that many changes can be madeto the implementations without departing from the principles of the present disclosure. These and other changes in the implementations of the present disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art, whereby it is to be understood that the foregoing descriptive matter to be implemented is illustrative and non-limiting.

[0124] Further, in accordance with the present disclosure, it is to be acknowledged that the functionality described for the various components / units can be implemented interchangeably. While specific embodiments may disclose a particular functionality of these units for clarity, it is recognized that various configurations and combinations thereof are within the scope of the disclosure. The functionality of specific units as disclosed in the disclosure should not be construed as limiting the scope of the present disclosure. Consequently, alternative arrangements and substitutions of units, provided they achieve the intended functionality described herein, are considered to be encompassed within the scope of the present disclosure.

Claims

We Claim:

1. A method for managing auditor instances in a network environment, the method comprising: receiving, by a transceiver unit [402] at an Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (0AM) module [302], a registration request from an auditor instance [306], wherein the auditor instance [306] is associated with an auditor instance cluster [304];- based on the registration request, registering, by a registration unit [404], the auditor instance [306];- broadcasting, by a broadcasting unit [406], a registration status of the registered auditor instance [306] to at least one or more services associated with the registered auditor instance [306]; and determining, by a determination unit [408], a health status of the registered auditor instance [306],2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the auditor instance [306] and the 0AM module [302] are communicatively coupled over an AU OA interface [308], wherein the AU OA interface [308] is one of a HTTP -based connection and a Web Socket-based connection.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the registration request comprises at least one of IP addresses, ports, paths, and subscribe component type, and broadcast contexts associated with the auditor instance [306],4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of registering, by the registration unit [404], the auditor instance [306] based on the registration request comprises: adding, by the registration unit [404], the auditor instance [306] to an active instance list maintained at the 0AM module [302],5. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising: pursuant to the registration of the auditor instance [306], establishing, by a processing unit [410], a secondary connection between the registered auditor instance [306] and the 0AM module [302],6. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:continuously transmitting, by the transceiver unit [402], at a pre-defined time interval, a set of FCAPS (Fault, Configuration, Accounting, Performance, and Security) requests to the registered auditor instance [306]; and receiving, by the transceiver unit [402], a response from said auditor instance [306], wherein the response comprises FCAPS data associated with said auditor instance [306],7. The method as claimed in claim 6, further comprising:- based on the received response from the auditor instance [306], determining, by the determination unit [408], the health status of said auditor instance [306], wherein the health status comprises one of a success status and a failure status.

8. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein upon determining the failure status of the auditor instance [306], the method further comprises: deregistering, by the registration unit [404], a failed auditor instance [306], wherein the failed auditor instance [306] is the auditor instance [306] having the failure status; and- broadcasting, by the broadcasting unit [406], the failure status associated with the failed auditor instance [306] to one or more services associated with the failed auditor instance [306],9. The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the step of deregistering the failed auditor instance [306] comprises: adding, by the registration unit [404], the failed auditor instance [306] to an inactive instance list maintained at the 0AM module [302],10. The method as claimed in claim 8, further comprising:- broadcasting, by the broadcasting unit [406], at least one of a registration data and a deregistration data associated with the auditor instance [306] to a plurality of other instances of said auditor instance [306],11. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising: receiving, by the transceiver unit [402], a synchronization data from the registered auditor instance [306]; and- transmitting, by the transceiver unit [402], the synchronization data to a plurality of other instances of said registered auditor instance [306],12. A system [400] for managing auditor instances in a network environment, the system [400] comprising: a transceiver unit [402] configured to receive, at an Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (0AM) module [302], a registration request from an auditor instance [306], wherein the auditor instance [306] is associated with an auditor instance cluster [304]; a registration unit [404] connected at least to the transceiver unit [402], and based on the registration request, the registration unit [404] is configured to register the auditor instance [306]; a broadcasting unit [406] connected at least to the registration unit [404], the broadcasting unit [406] configured to broadcast a registration status of the registered auditor instance [306] to at least one or more services associated with the registered auditor instance [306]; and a determination unit [408] connected at least to the broadcasting unit [406], the determination unit [408] configured to determine a health status of the registered auditor instance [306],13. The system [400] as claimed in claim 12, wherein the auditor instance [306] and the 0AM module [302] are communicatively coupled over an AU OA interface [308], wherein the AU OA interface [308] is one of a HTTP -based connection and a Web Socket-based connection.

14. The system [400] as claimed in claim 12, wherein the registration request comprises at least one of IP addresses, ports, paths, and subscribe component type, and broadcast contexts associated with the auditor instance [306],15. The system [400] as claimed in claim 12, wherein for registering the auditor instance [306] based on the registration request, the registration unit [404] is further configured to add the auditor instance [306] to an active instance list maintained at the 0AM module [302],16. The system [400] as claimed in claim 12, further comprising a processing unit [410] connected at least to the transceiver unit [402], and pursuant to the registration of the auditor instance [306], the processing unit [410] further configured to establish a secondary connection between the registered auditor instance [306] and the 0AM module [302],17. The system [400] as claimed in claim 12, wherein the transceiver unit [402] is further configured to:continuously transmit, at a pre-defined time interval, a set of FCAPS (Fault, Configuration, Accounting, Performance, and Security) requests to the registered auditor instance [306]; and receive a response from said auditor instance [306], wherein the response comprises FCAPS data associated with said auditor instance [306],18. The system [400] as claimed in claim 17, wherein the determination unit is further configured to determine the health status of said auditor instance [306] based on the received response from the auditor instance [306], wherein the health status comprises one of a success status and a failure status.

19. The system [400] as claimed in claim 18, wherein upon determining the failure status of the auditor instance [306]:- the registration unit [404] deregister a failed auditor instance [306], wherein the failed auditor instance [306] is the auditor instance [306] having the failure status; and- the broadcasting unit [406] is further configured to broadcast the failure status associated with the failed auditor instance [306] to one or more services associated with the failed auditor instance [306],20. The system [400] as claimed in claim 19, wherein for deregistering the failed auditor instance [306], the registration unit [404] is configured to add the failed auditor instance [306] to an inactive instance list maintained at the 0AM module [302],21. The system [400] as claimed in claim 19, wherein the broadcasting unit [406] is further configured to broadcast at least one of a registration data and a deregistration data associated with the auditor instance [306] to a plurality of other instances of said auditor instance [306],22. The system [400] as claimed in claim 12, wherein the transceiver unit [402] is further configured to: receive a synchronization data from the registered auditor instance [306]; and- transmit the synchronization data to a plurality of other instances of said registered auditor instance [306],23. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions for managing auditor instances in a network environment, the instructions comprising executable code which, when executed by one or more units of a system [400], causes:a transceiver unit [402] to receive, at an Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (0AM) module [302], a registration request from an auditor instance [306], wherein the auditor instance [306] is associated with an auditor instance cluster [304]; a registration unit [404] to register the auditor instance [306], based on the registration request; a broadcasting unit [406] to broadcast a registration status of the registered auditor instance [306] to at least one or more services associated with the registered auditor instance [306]; and a determination unit [408] to determine a health status of the registered auditor instance [306],

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