Universal Health Indicators for Scalable Network Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current communication network management systems face scalability issues due to increased overhead and complexity as the number of monitored attributes and network elements grows, requiring large amounts of data to be transmitted and processed, and lack universal health indicators that can be easily interpreted across different network technologies.
Innovation Solution
Defining universal health indicators in a top-down manner, organized in a hierarchical tree-like structure, allowing network elements to compute and store raw measurements and health indicators, minimizing data transmission and enabling easy interpretation across multiple network technologies.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the number of monitored attributes on network elements increases, then the comprehensiveness of network monitoring improves, but the overhead attributable to network management increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the management information into hierarchical levels: network element level (raw measurements), network level (computed measurements), and service level (health indicators). This segmentation allows comprehensive monitoring to be achieved at appropriate levels without overwhelming the network management overhead at any single level.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a hierarchical dimension to network management information organization, moving from flat comprehensive data collection to a multi-level structure. This adds a vertical dimension (hierarchy levels) to the traditional horizontal data collection approach, enabling comprehensive monitoring while managing overhead through selective data transmission up the hierarchy.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the number of network elements on the communication network increases, then the coverage of the network management system improves, but the scalability of the network is limited due to increased overhead
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and computes health indicators at the network element level before transmission to the management station. By taking out the computation function from the management station and placing it at the network element level, the system can scale to more network elements without proportionally increasing management station processing overhead.
Solution Approach 2:
Network elements perform self-service by computing their own health indicators from raw measurements and storing them locally. This self-service capability reduces the burden on the management station and enables the system to scale to larger numbers of network elements without linearly increasing management complexity.
3Loss of information
If the volume of management information collected and processed increases, then the detail and accuracy of network monitoring improves, but the scalability of the network is impacted
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential health indicator information from the comprehensive raw measurements for transmission to the management station. By taking out only the computed health indicators rather than transmitting all raw measurement data, the system maintains monitoring detail and accuracy while significantly reducing the volume of transmitted information to improve scalability.
4Adaptability or versatility
If network elements are configured to generate different management information by numerous companies, then the adaptability to specific technologies improves, but the complexity of the management station software increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent defines a universal health indicator framework that can represent multiple technology-specific measurements through a common structure. This universal approach allows the management station to handle diverse network element types from different manufacturers through a single interface, maintaining technology-specific adaptability while reducing management station software complexity.
5Loss of substance
If specialized queries are created on network elements to monitor specific key measurements, then the need to transport all management information is alleviated, but scalability problems occur with large devices or networks
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary computation of health indicators at the network element level before data transmission. This preliminary action of computing and caching health indicators locally eliminates the need for specialized queries and repeated data requests from the management station, reducing transmitted information volume and enabling scalability to large devices and networks.
Data Source
AI summary
A method and apparatus for collecting management information on a communication network enables universal health indicators to be defined so that management information may be presented to a network operator on a management station. The universal health indicators may be defined in a top-down manner such that the definitions of the health indicators may be used across multiple network elements without changing the health indicator definitions. The health indicators may be organized in a tree-like hierarchical structure to enable additional information to be obtained about the health of the reporting network element in a predictable and organized fashion. Network element raw measurements and computed measurements are used to provide data to the health indicators, and are selected on a network technology type or MIB type basis to enable the same health indicators to be supported by multiple network technology types.