1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and system for updating a synchronization status of a Managed Object (MO) of a management system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Management systems are well known in the art. They are used for monitoring and managing the quality of communications over various networks, such as for example Local Area Networks (LANs), Wide Area Networks (WANs), Public Local Mobile Networks (PLMNs), and Public Switching Telephone Networks (PSTNs), hereinafter designated as the managed or monitored networks. Exemplary functions of a typical management system comprise, but are not limited to, providing configuration and status information about Network Elements (NEs) or NEs' components, collecting alarm/event notifications, correlating the alarm/event notifications with each other, diagnosing and repairing errors and malfunctions. In such systems, pieces of information called events (or event notifications or alarms) are issued by the NEs of the managed network and acquired by the management system, which is responsible of their treatment. The information issued by the processing of the alarm/event notifications may be monitored, either automatically or by system administrators, with the general purpose of maintaining or increasing the quality of the communications of the managed network. On the other side, another function of the management system comprises updating configuration attributes related to the managed network's elements using a user interface, and deploying the updates toward the managed network's elements.
Reference is now made to
In a typical management system, the management information stored in the Manager 160 comprises virtual entities known as Managed Objects (MOs), which are virtual representations of the managed network's Network Elements (NEs), or NEs' components. For example, the NE BSC 1120 is represented in the Manager 160 as an MO. Furthermore, the NE BSC 1120 may comprise a plurality of NE components, such as for example radio controllers 170-179, which are also represented in the Manager 160 as a corresponding plurality of MOs 170′-179′, that depend upon the high level MO corresponding to BSC 1120.
Such a virtual representation of each NE and NE component of the managed network 102 allows system administrators of terminals 162-168 to be able to view and edit the related attributes of each MO, which updates are then deployed as configuration attributes to corresponding NEs in the managed network 102. In this manner, system administrators are able to monitor and improve the quality of the communications of the managed network 102.
Reference is now made to
While the NEs of the managed network 102, such as the BSC 1120 (shown in
Reference is now made to
However, it has been noticed that in various instances it is not sufficient to have a perfect synchronization between the management information relative to a given MO of the Manager and its corresponding NE of the managed network. For example, updates of an MO's attributes performed in the Manager's MIB may not only need to be propagated to the corresponding NE, but also to other NEs of the managed network. An instance wherein this situation occurs is, for example, when a system administrator updates a radio channel attribute relative to a component (e.g. a radio cell) of the MO 302 that represents the NE BSC 1120 of the managed network. Since a radio channel attribute has been changed, such change not only affects the corresponding NE BSC 1120 but also its neighbour BSC that controls the cells that are adjacent to the radio cell which radio channel attribute has been changed. In the present exemplary scenario, it is assumed that the NE BSC 2126 is the BSC that controls a neighbouring radio cell of the given cell, and therefore, the update of the radio channel attribute needs also to be propagated to the NE BSC 2126 (better shown in
However, current management systems not always perform this task. Furthermore, even when they perform synchronization of a given MO of a Manager with multiple NEs of the managed network, current management systems fail to set the MO's synchronization status within the Manager based on the result of the synchronization process with the multiple Agents from the managed network. In current management systems it is rather only the result of a single synchronization of one MO with its corresponding NE that yields the synchronization status of the MO, i.e. if the single synchronization between the MO and its NE is successful, the MO's synchronization status is set to “IN SYNCH”.
Although there is no prior art solution as the one proposed hereinafter for solving the above-mentioned deficiencies, the U.S. Pat. No. 6,041,342 issued to Yamaguchi on Mar. 21, 2000 (hereinafter called Yamaguchi) bears some relation with the field of the present invention. Yamaguchi teaches a synchronization process between a management station and an agent station, wherein responsive to an execution request message sent from the management station to the agent station, the latter estimates the time required for execution of a synchronization and informs the management station. At the expiration of the time period, the management station inquires about the status of the synchronization, and receives another time estimate from the agent station. If the time estimate is zero, the management station concludes that the synchronization process is completed. Otherwise, the management station waits for the length of the second time estimate, and concludes the synchronization process at its expiration.
Yamaguchi only deals with a process for limiting the time required for a synchronization of a management station with an agent station. Therefore, Yamaguchi fails to teach or suggest a method and system for updating synchronization status information of a manager's MO based on synchronization between the manager and multiple agents.
The U.S. Patent Application U.S. 2002/0120733 published in the name of Kring on Aug. 29, 2002 (hereinafter called Kring) also bears some relation with the field of the present invention. Kring teaches a method, program, and system for synchronizing a network manager with an agent, wherein the agent stores three different values. The first value is unique, the second value indicates the number of changes performed to the associated data unit, while the third value indicates the identity of the initiator of the last change to the data unit. A copy of the three values is also stored in the manager and is compared with the agent's three values. When the agent and manager's values do not match, the three values of the manager are synchronized with the three values of the agent.
The teaching of Kring is limited to synchronizing three different values between one agent and one manager. Hence, Kring also fails to teach or suggest a method and system for updating synchronization status information of a manager's MO based on synchronization between the manager and multiple agents.
Accordingly, it should be readily appreciated that in order to overcome the deficiencies and shortcomings of the existing solutions, it would be advantageous to have a method and system for effectively allowing the update of synchronization status information of a manager's MIB based on synchronization processes with multiple agents.
In one aspect, the present invention is a method for setting a synchronization status to a Managed Object (MO) of a management system, the method comprising the steps of:
In another aspect, the present invention is a manager of a management system comprising:
For a more detailed understanding of the invention, for further objects and advantages thereof, reference can now be made to the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
The innovative teachings of the present invention will be described with particular reference to various exemplary embodiments. However, it should be understood that this class of embodiments provides only a few examples of the many advantageous uses of the innovative teachings of the invention. In general, statements made in the specification of the present application do not necessarily limit any of the various claimed aspects of the present invention. Moreover, some statements may apply to some inventive features but not to others. In the drawings, like or similar elements are designated with identical reference numerals throughout the several views.
The present invention provides a method and system wherein synchronization information stored in a Manager's Managed Object (MO) reflects a synchronization status of the Manager with plural Network Elements (NEs) of the managed network. For example, according to the present invention, in the event a change is made to the management information stored in a Manager's (MO) and that this change affects two (2) different NEs of the managed network, such as for example the NE that directly corresponds to the MO and a second NE that neighbors the first NE, the MO propagates the change to the concerned two NEs and expects confirmation of the successful propagation. Upon receipt of successful confirmation from the NE that directly corresponds to the MO, the Manager sets the synchronization status of that MO to “IN SYNCH”, since the management information of the MO is synchronized with the one of the NE following the successful deployment of the change. However, if no successful confirmation is received by the MO from the second NE (the neighbor NE), the Manager sets the synchronization status of the MO that corresponds to the second NE to “OUT-of-SYNCH”, because the second MO could not be synchronized with the latest change performed in the Manager's information.
In order to better understand the present invention, once should first appreciate that instances occur in a management system wherein a change of a given attribute of a given MO that is performed in the Manager may not only affect the managed network's NE corresponding to the given MO, herein called the corresponding NE, but also other NE(s) of the managed network, herein called the related NE(s).
For example, reference is now made to
Reference is now made to
Some MOs of the Manager's MIB 504 may also comprise one or more components that may be representative of sub-elements comprised in their corresponding NEs of the managed network. For example, MO 506 may comprise components C1406′ and C2408′ representative of the radio cells 406 and 408 respectively that were previously discussed with reference to
With further reference being made to
Because the radio cells 408 and 410 (better shown in
When a network administrator alters an attribute related to the MO 506 using the Manager 502, action 558, such as for example when an attribute value of the radio cell component 408′ of the MO 506 is updated, that change needs to be deployed to the corresponding NE BSC 1402 and to the related (neighbor) NE BSC 2404. For this purpose, the Manager 502 sends update messages 560 and 562 to the two concerned NEs 402 and 404. The NE BSC 1402 receives the update message 560, updates its local MIB branch 526 with the information of the message 560, and returns a confirmation message 564 to confirm to the Manager 502 the successful update. Responsive to receipt of confirmation message 564, the Manager 502 sets the synchronization status information 510 of the MO 506 to “IN SYNCH” in order to reflect the fact that the latest change performed to the MO 506 has been successfully deployed to the corresponding NE BSC 1402.
Likewise, the Manager 502 also sends the update message 562 to the related NE BSC 2404, so that the later can update its neighbor MIB branch 546 with the new attribute changed by the system administrator. However, the transmission of the message 562 may not occur successfully, or the BSC 2404 may be incapable of successfully updating its MIB branch 546 for various reasons, such as for example because of an internal malfunction like a processor or memory failure. In such a case, the BSC 2404 returns to the Manager 502 an error message 564 informing the later that a successful update was not performed. Alternatively, the Manager 502 may detect un unsuccessful propagation of the update in absence of any response message from the BSC 2404. When the Manager 502 detects that no successful update was performed with the BSC 2404, based on the neighbor association 560, it detects the MO that corresponds to the NE BSC 2404, which in the present case is the MO 508, and changes its synchronization status 512 to “OUT-of-SYNCH” to reflect the fact that the information of the neighbor MIB branch 546 of the NE 404 is not perfectly synchronized with the latest information of the Manager's MIB 504.
In this manner, the present invention allows a synchronization status of a given MO of a Manager to be altered based not only on its synchronization with its corresponding NE from the managed network, but also based on a synchronization between another related MO (such as for example a neighbor MO) and the NE.
Reference is now made to
At a later point I time, the system administrator may further perform an update on the 2nd MO, action 614, and the Manager may detect in action 616 the synchronization status of the 2nd MO. If the synchronization status is detected to be “IN SYNCH”, which is representative of a perfect synchronization between the 2nd MO and its corresponding NE of the managed network, the Manager acts, 616, to propagate the update to the corresponding NE and to its related NEs as well, in an action similar to action 606, previously described. Otherwise, if the synchronization status is detected to be “OUT-of-SYNCH”, the Manager acts, 618, to issue a warning for the system administrator informing of the current lack of synchronization between the 2nd MO and its corresponding NE. The purpose of this warning is to inform the system administrator that performing a further update on management information of the MO that is not synchronized with its corresponding NE from the managed network may further complicate a subsequent rectifying synchronization process.
Based upon the foregoing, it should now be apparent to those of ordinary skills in the art that the present invention provides an advantageous solution, which allows for a synchronization status of an MO of a management system to reflect a status of synchronization of its corresponding NE with management information of other MOs. It should be realized upon reference hereto that the innovative teachings contained herein may be implemented advantageously with any applicable radio telecommunications standard for a managed network. It is believed that the operation and construction of the present invention will be apparent from the foregoing description. While the method and system shown and described have been characterized as being preferred, it will be readily apparent that various changes and modifications could be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the claims set forth hereinbelow. For example, although the exemplary scenarios illustrated herein make reference to only two MOs and NEs, it is understood that the invention can be applied to any given number of MOs and NEs of a management system and managed network. Furthermore, although the invention was described as applicable to a scenario wherein the related NEs are neighboring elements of a PLMN, it is apparent that the nature of the NE, as well as the relation between the NEs that need to be updated following a change in a given MO, is not limited thereto. For example, the NEs may be Personal Computer (PCs) or servers of a Local Area Network (LAN), and their relation may be that of cooperating nodes, or a master-slave relation, or any other type of relationship wherein a change performed to attributes of one node also needs to be propagated into another node.
Although several preferred embodiments of the method and system of the present invention have been illustrated in the accompanying Drawings and described in the foregoing Detailed Description, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed, but is capable of numerous rearrangements, modifications and substitutions without departing from the spirit of the invention as set forth and defined by the following claims.