This invention relates in general to network diagnostics, and more particularly to a network administration system for automatically executing instruction sets in response to generation of error logs in a network.
It is well known in traditional computer and digital communication networks for technicians to respond to the generation of error logs by notifying affected users of system problems, analyzing and then fixing the problems using an assortment of software commands and/or tools. The use of such software commands is often repetitive and requires the technician to manually enter the commands upon each observation of a specific log.
According to the present invention, a network administration system is provided for automatically executing instructions programmed by the technician in response to receipt of particular logs. Thus, the technician is relieved of the requirement to manually and repetitively entering commands to correct repeated errors. Accordingly, the network administration system of the present invention may be advantageously used to implement automated self-repairing networks.
A detailed description of the preferred embodiment is set forth herein below with reference to the following drawings, in which:
Traditionally, system error logs have been analyzed through human intervention in order to determine the sources of and to correct system errors. Thousands of logs can be generated by a single problem. For example, if a T1 line goes down, error logs could be generated by thousands of phones that cannot find a dial tone. It is known in the prior art to automatically filter error logs through “rule sets” to determine if a combination of logs satisfies a given criteria. One example of such an automated process is a product from Plexis (http://www.triadhc.com/edi.shtml) called Plexis EDI Toolkit. If the criteria is satisfied, it is known in the art either to generate a further log or to provide an overall summary for describing the problem to the technician. Thus, it is known to generate Higher Level Logs (HLL) from Lower Level Logs (LLL) in response to predetermined rule sets being satisfied The Lower Level Logs (LLL) are generated by network applications or devices. Such systems are valuable because the HLLs help to explain to the system administrator/designer what is really going on in the system.
There are instances where HLL's generate more HLL logs, or combinations of LLL's and HLL's generate new HLL's. Since HLL's are generated by LLL's and possibly other HLL's, the technician needs to see how the HLL's are triggered since rule-sets can be complex and not easily understood.
According to the present invention, each of these types of logs can be associated with a set of execution instructions. Preferably, the execution sets are implemented as software applications (e.g. shell scripts, command function utilities, etc.) that read each command line and execute its instructions. Thus, specific execution sets may be implemented on many levels of network/system analysis and repair.
As indicated above,
According to the invention, a network administration system is provided for entering execution sets which are designed to execute specific commands in response to receiving a log in connection with which such an execution set has been programmed. In
As shown in
For the illustrated example, error logs P6000, P6001 and P6002 are generated by devices in the network, resulting in creation of HLL001. According to the invention, an execution set has been programmed for P6001 to display “not fully functional” if the phone has an LED display, and an execution set has been programmed to page the technician and send a medium level alarm upon receipt of the HLL001 log.
The execution sets are triggered by using software tools (e.g. Visual Basic, C++) to read the logs and determine if the logs generated have an associated execution set, as shown in
Exemplary pseudo-code of the process for implementing the network administration system of the present invention is as follows:
Alternatives and modifications of the invention are possible within the sphere and scope as set forth in the claims appended hereto.
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