Alarm Clustering for Network Root Cause Visualization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional network management systems lack effective correlation of related alarms across multiple layers, requiring manual traversal and increasing the time and complexity for network experts to identify root causes and prioritize issues, leading to potential human errors and unaddressed problems.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that utilize an interactive Graphical User Interface (GUI) to visually represent alarm clusters as geometrical shapes, correlating alarms based on time and service across multi-layer networks, allowing for automated grouping and prioritization of potential root-cause events, thereby reducing manual effort and enhancing accuracy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If alarms are displayed as a simple list with basic correlation, then the system is easy to operate, but the completeness of service impact information is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges alarms across multiple network layers into unified alarm clusters that represent root-cause events. Instead of displaying separate alarms for each layer, the system combines related alarms into single clustered representations that aggregate service impact information, eliminating the need for manual traversal while preserving complete information about affected services across all layers.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a nested structure where alarm clusters contain individual alarms, and each alarm contains details about affected services. This hierarchical nesting allows the system to present a simplified view at the cluster level while maintaining access to detailed service impact information within each nested layer, resolving the contradiction between information completeness and operational simplicity.
2Loss of information
If manual traversal of network layers is performed to identify all affected services, then complete information can be obtained, but the time and complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary correlation of alarms across all network layers before presentation to the operator. The system proactively identifies and groups related alarms into clusters, pre-computes the service impact information, and organizes the data structure in advance. This preliminary action eliminates the need for time-consuming manual traversal during incident response while ensuring complete service impact information is available immediately.
3Reliability
If detailed alarm information is presented without correlation, then all data is visible, but the system complexity and difficulty of analysis increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the complex set of correlated alarms into distinct alarm clusters, each representing a specific root-cause event. By dividing the overall alarm set into manageable clusters with clear boundaries and relationships, the system reduces analytical complexity while maintaining accurate root cause identification. Each cluster can be independently analyzed without being overwhelmed by the full scope of all alarms.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods are provided for correlating alarms throughout a multi-layer network and visualizing alarm clusters in a display of an interactive Graphical User Interface (GUI) to enable a network operator to prioritize urgent network issues. In one embodiment, an interactive GUI includes a main display area configured to display one or more geometrical shapes representing one or more alarm clusters, respectively. Each alarm cluster may represent a potential root-cause event in a network. The interactive GUI also includes one or more interactive objects that, when selected by a user, provide additional information associated with the one or more alarm clusters.