Automated Fault Isolation System for Network Alarm Correlation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Modern communication networks face challenges in quickly identifying and resolving faults, leading to network downtime, which is costly and disrupts business operations due to the overwhelming volume of alarm reports and lack of end-to-end visibility, especially when issues arise from third-party providers.
Innovation Solution
An automated fault isolation and resolution system that receives alarms, generates trouble tickets, correlates them with existing tickets, and associates new tickets with existing ones, using an integrated network management platform to automate fault detection, testing, and reporting, enabling rapid fault isolation and resolution without human intervention.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If network monitoring systems manually process alarm reports, then network faults can be detected and resolved, but the volume of alarms overwhelms network surveillance engineers and increases processing time
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables self-service automation where the network management system automatically processes alarm reports, creates trouble tickets, correlates alarms with existing tickets, and initiates resolution workflows without requiring manual intervention from network surveillance engineers, thereby eliminating the bottleneck of human processing capacity
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by automatically creating trouble tickets and correlating alarms with existing tickets before human intervention is needed, preparing the fault resolution process in advance and reducing the time required for manual processing and response
2Measurement precision
If network monitors manually analyze alarm reports, then fault causes can be identified, but the process requires retrieving information from multiple sources and increases resolution time
Solution Approach 1:
The system merges multiple information retrieval operations into a single automated process, combining alarm analysis, trouble ticket creation, correlation with existing tickets, and resolution workflow initiation into one integrated automated flow, eliminating the need for manual information gathering from multiple sources
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces manual mechanical processes of information retrieval and analysis with automated electronic processing, using software algorithms to correlate alarms with existing tickets and manage resolution workflows, substituting human manual operations with automated computer-based systems
3Reliability
If organizations implement their own network management systems, then they can monitor and resolve faults, but they incur heavy financial costs for hardware, software and human capital
Solution Approach 1:
The system acts as an intermediary solution that provides advanced network fault management capabilities through automated alarm processing and trouble ticket management, serving as a mediating layer between network monitoring needs and resource consumption, enabling effective fault resolution without requiring full ownership of expensive infrastructure
Data Source
AI summary
An approach for supporting automated fault isolation and recovery is provided. An alarm indicative of a fault within a customer network is received. An event within a workflow is created in response to the alarm, wherein a new trouble ticket is generated as part of the workflow. Communication with a trouble management system is performed to correlate the alarm with an existing trouble ticket. The new trouble ticket is associated with the existing trouble ticket.