JP2000181824A - Multi-level management system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a multi-level management system by which processing contents of each management system are simplified and an operation such as event route setting and event transmission tracking is easily executed the system. SOLUTION: This multi-level management system consists of an element management system 105, a network management system 104, a service management system 103 and a business management system 102 and is provided with an event management device 101 for managing in-management system event transmission, re-transmission mechanism, queuing and an event transmission state. Thus, the processing contents of each management system are simplified and necessity for executing the buffering of an event reception recognizing message and an event message, the re-transmission of them and the health check of a transmission destination management system is eliminated at the side of the management system.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a multi-level management system comprising a plurality of management systems forming a hierarchical structure.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An element management system for managing the configuration, failure, performance, and the like of a network that provides a communication service, a service management system positioned at an upper layer in a multi-layer structure of a network management system and a management system, and an event in a business management system Is important. The reason is that the event includes an alarm for notifying the occurrence of a network failure, and when an alarm occurs, it is necessary to quickly recover from the failure and care for a communication service user. Therefore, a situation where an event is lost in the management system or between management systems is a critical problem. The event notification method in the conventional network management system is disclosed in
247146, and JP-A-4-345248. What is common to all of these Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publications is to mention only the event notification method between the communication device and the network management system that manages the device, but not to the event notification between the multi-layer management systems. That is.

[0003]

The network device described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-247146 is provided with a sequence number assigning means. When an event occurs in the network device, an event number is set in a sequence. Upon receiving the trap, the workstation, which is a network device, detects whether or not the loss trap information has been generated based on the sequence number, and outputs an alarm when the loss trap information is detected. However, this prior art includes:
There were the following problems. The first problem is that a mechanism by which a workstation obtains a lost event when an alarm is output is not described. The reason is that, as described above, the loss of an event is a critical problem in a communication service. The second problem is that in order for a network device to resend an event, the event must be stored in a storage device, and the resources required for that event become enormous. The reason is that mounting a large amount of storage devices in network equipment increases costs. JP
In the managed device of the network management system described in 4-345248, when a huge amount of failure events occur in a short time, the number of events is deleted in order to suppress a sudden increase in the load on communication processing Is set in the managed device, and if the reference value is exceeded, non-critical events are filtered out. This suppresses an increase in traffic between the managed device and the network management system. However, this conventional technique has the following problems. The problem is that the event between the managed device and the network management system is lost, the retransmission mechanism when the network management system is shut down for maintenance, etc., whether the network management system is operating,
It does not mention health check for checking whether a communication path for transmitting an event is active or not. The reason is that, as described above, the loss of an event is a critical problem in a communication service.

The present invention has been made under such a background, and in event notification between management systems which are components of a multi-tier management system group, the processing contents of each management system are simplified, and It is an object of the present invention to provide a multi-tier management system that can facilitate operations such as setting of event and tracking of event transmission.

[0005]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
Element management system, network management system,
A multi-tier management system including a service management system and a business management system is characterized by including an event management device that executes management of event transmission, retransmission mechanism, queuing, and event transmission state between management systems. According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the multi-tier management system according to the first aspect, all event messages are transmitted to the event management device, and the event transmission tracking is simplified by using a user interface of the event management device. It is characterized by doing.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the multi-tier management system according to any one of the first and second aspects, when the event management device receives an event from a certain network management system, service management system, or business management system, The management system is characterized in that the event is regarded as normally received from the lower layer management system. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the multi-tier management system according to any one of the first to third aspects,
The configuration of an event filter and an event route is set in the event management device. According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the multi-tier management system according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, a transmission / reception communication path between the event management system and the event management device is managed, and the path has a fault. It is characterized in that no event is transmitted at times.

[0006]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention provides a multi-level management system group.
The management system (102, 1 in FIG. 1) which is a component of (107 in FIG. 1)
03, 104, 105), by implementing the following functions in the event management device (101 in FIG. 1),
It simplifies the processing contents of each management system (102, 103, 104, 105 in FIG. 1) and facilitates operations such as setting of an event route and tracking of event transmission.

A management system (102, 103, 104, 10 in FIG. 1)
Confirmation of reception of events transmitted between 5)-Event message buffering and transmission status management function-Event transmission retry setting-Health check of management system (102, 103, 104, 105 in Fig. 1)

[0008] The operation representing the features of the present invention will be described below. The event receiver (101 in FIG. 1) is a management system (FIG. 1).
(102, 103, 104, 105), the source management system name is read from the event message.
The source management system name is the network management system (Figure 1
In case 104), the event receiving means (35 in FIG. 2) requests the event processing means (34 in FIG. 2) to process using the event ID included in the received event as a parameter. The event processing means (34 in FIG. 2) requests processing from the event state management means (38 in FIG. 2) and the event buffer management means (39 in FIG. 2), and manages the state until both processes are completed.

The event status management means (38 in FIG. 2) uses the event ID as a parameter to store the event status in memory (42 in FIG. 2).
Reads state data from and updates the state. The update contents are flag data indicating that the event has been transmitted and received by the source management system name (104 in FIG. 1) in the event route, event transmission time and reception time. This allows the service management system (103 in FIG. 1) to
(104 in FIG. 1), and a mechanism for buffering and retransmitting the event message by the network management system (104 in FIG. 1) is not required. , 103,104,1
The processing of 05) is simplified. Next, event status management means
(38 in FIG. 2) acquires the management system name to which the transmission source management system name of the updated state data points first, and the management system name to which it points further. Next, the event state management means (38 in FIG. 2) reads whether or not flag data is written in all management system names pointed to later. Here, as an example, the element route management system (105 in FIG. 1) to which the source network management system (104 in FIG. 1) points ahead is an event route that does not send an event to any other network management system (104 in FIG. 1). Is set in the event route storage unit (41 in FIG. 2). In this case, a request is made to the event buffer management means (39 in FIG. 2) using the event ID and the element management system name as keys, and the corresponding event message is deleted from the event content storage unit (43 in FIG. 2). Next, the event buffer management means (39 in FIG. 2) adds the source management system name, the destination management system name, the event management system (FIG. 1) to the contents of the event message received from the network management system (104 in FIG. 1). 101) adds the time at which the event was received, and writes it to the event content storage unit (43 in FIG. 2).

The event processing means (34 in FIG. 2) comprises an event state management means (38 in FIG. 2) and an event buffer management means (38 in FIG. 2).
When the end signal is received from both of 2) and 39), a process is requested to the event transmitting means (33 in FIG. 2). Event transmission means (Figure
2) 33) is an event route management means (FIG. 2) using the event ID and the source network management system name as parameters.
The management system name (service management system (103 in FIG. 1)) to be transmitted next is received from (37), and a process is requested to the connection probability state management means (32 in FIG. 2). When a transmission / reception communication path between the destination management system and the event management device (101 in FIG. 1) is established, an event transmission unit (33 in FIG. 2)
Sends an event to the management system. The process of checking the establishment of the transmission / reception communication path has the advantage of reducing the processing of the event management device.

Referring to FIG. 1, an embodiment of the present invention is an event management apparatus 101 which is the subject of the present invention, a communication apparatus 106 which exists in a network and is to be managed, and a multi-tier management system group mounted on a plurality of computers. Consists of seven.

The event management device 101 is a device that manages transmission and reception of events between management systems that are components of the multi-tier management system group 107. The details will be described in the following paragraph.

The communication device is managed by the element management system 105, which is a component of the multi-tier management system group 107, for configuration information, fault information, performance information, and the like.

The multi-layer management system group 107 is divided into a plurality of layers, each of which is classified into a business management layer, a service management layer, a network management layer, and an element management layer.

The business management layer is realized by the business management system 102 and is used for the business strategy of the communication provider. The service management layer is realized by the service management system 103, and is mainly used for customer service management of a communication provider. The network management layer is realized by the network management system 104, and manages an entire network including a plurality of communication devices, or a subnetwork. The element management layer is realized by the element management system 105 and manages individual communication devices. The business management system 102, the service management system 103, the network management system 104, and the element management system 105 are mounted on a computer, and the hierarchical relationship between the layers is determined. Also,
The transfer order of events notified from the communication device 106 is also fixed, and the order is element management → network management → service management → business management.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an event notification route in the present embodiment.
Shown by the straight line of 1. Communication device 106 → Element management system
105 → Event management device 101 → Network management system
104 → Event management device 101 → Service management system 103
→ Event management apparatus 101 → Business management system 102

Next, the event management device (101 in FIG. 1) will be described in detail. Referring to FIG. 2, an event management device
(101 in FIG. 1) is an input device 1 such as a keyboard, an output device 2 such as a display device or a printing device, a management system constituting a multi-tier management system group and a data processing device 3 operated by program control, and stores information. It is composed of a storage device 4.

The storage device 4 includes an event ID storage unit 44, an event content storage unit 43, an event state storage unit 42, and an event route storage unit 41.

All events transmitted from the communication device (106 in FIG. 1) are transmitted to the event management device (101 in FIG. 1).
A unique identifier is assigned to the multi-tier management system group (107 in FIG. 1). The identifier assigned to the event is the event
The event ID is recorded in the event ID storage unit 44, and the event ID is used for searching for an event processed in the past and for determining a newly received event ID.

The event content storage unit 43 records an event message received by the event management device from the management system. The event message contains the event ID,
Event source, event destination, event sending time,
It includes the time at which the event management device received the event, the content of a message transmitted from the management system to the management system, and the like.

The event status storage unit 42 is used to manage which management system has transmitted an event to which management system in the multi-tier management system group. The status data of a single event includes event I
D, includes a management system name to which the event is transmitted and an event route indicating the order thereof, an event transmission time and a reception time of each management system, and flag data indicating transmitted / received or not transmitted / received.

The event route storage unit 41 stores a certain event in the element management system (105 in FIG. 1) by the communication device (10 in FIG. 1).
After receiving from step 6), the data of the order in which the event is transferred to which management system is stored. The event transmission order of the management layer that groups the multi-tier management system group (107 in FIG. 1) is fixed, and is composed of the element management layer, network management layer, service management layer, and business management layer. Management systems 5 and 6
Used to specify the transmission order between 5 and 6. Also,
A route in which one management system 6 transmits an event to a plurality of management systems 6 and a route in which one management system 6 receives an event from a plurality of management systems 5 are allowed.

The data processing means 3 includes a connection establishment state managing means 32, an event transmitting means 33, and an event processing means 3.
4. It comprises an event receiving means 35, an event confirmation transmitting means 36, an event route managing means 37, an event state managing means 38, an event buffer managing means 39, an event ID managing means 3A, and a user interface processing means 31.

The connection establishment status management means 32 is a management system 5 to which the event management device sends an event.
It manages whether or not a communication path between the communication device and the event management device is established. When the communication path is established, a transmission permission signal is sent to the event transmitting means 33. When the communication path is not established, a processing interruption signal is sent. Further, when the communication path is disconnected or established, the event is detected and the state is managed.

The event transmission means 33 receives the transmission permission signal from the connection establishment state management means 32 and transmits an event to the management system 5.

The event processing means 34 includes an event receiving means 35
Receiving the processing request from the
A request is made to 38 and the event buffer management means 39 for processing. After the request, both the event state management means 38 and the event buffer management means 39 manage the transaction until the processing ends, and after all the processing ends, the event transmission means
Requests 33 to process.

The event receiving means 35 receives an event from the management system 6.

The event confirmation transmission means 36 is used to transmit an event confirmation message to the element management system (105 in FIG. 1).
(105 in FIG. 1) that the event has been received. The element management system (Fig. 1
105), the event ID assigned by the event management apparatus, and the like. If the element management system (105 in FIG. 1) detects a timeout before receiving the event confirmation message, the event is retransmitted a set number of times.

The event route management means 37 provides an access interface to the event route management storage 41. In response to a request from the user interface processing means 31, reading and writing of an event route, and in response to requests from the event transmitting means 33 and the event state managing means 38, reading of an event route and the like are performed.

The event status management means 38 provides an access interface to the event status management storage unit 42. In response to the request from the event processing means 34, the status of the received event is updated, and in response to the request from the user interface processing means 31, the event state is read.

The event buffer management means 39 provides an access interface to the event content storage unit 43. In response to the request of the event processing unit 34, the received event content is written in the event content storage unit 43, and in response to the request of the user interface processing unit 31,
Read the contents of the event.

The event ID management means 3A is an event ID storage unit
Provides an access interface to 44. In response to a request from the event receiving means 35, a function of determining the ID of a newly received event is provided.

The user interface processing means 31 provides the input device 1 and the output device 2 with an operation interface of the event management device. The reading of event contents by accessing the event content storage unit 31 and the tracking of event transmission by accessing the event state storage unit 42 are realized.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described in three points in detail. First, the operation when the event management device (101 in FIG. 1) receives an event from the management system 5 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 2 and FIGS.

When the event receiving apparatus (101 in FIG. 1) receives an event from the management system 5, it reads the source management system name from the event message (step A1, FIG. 4).
A2). It is determined whether the read management system name 5 is an element management system, a network management system, a service management system, or a business management system (step A3).

If the event ID is determined to be the element management system, the event ID management means 3A reads the stored event ID from the event ID storage unit 44 (step A11) and sets the event ID to be added to the newly received event. Determined (A12). The received event also includes the event ID assigned by the element management system. The event receiving unit 35 requests the event confirmation transmitting unit 34 to perform processing using the pair of the event ID assigned by the element management system and the event ID assigned by the event management device as a parameter, and transmits an event confirmation message to the element management system. Is performed (step A13). If the element management system detects a timeout without receiving an event confirmation message, the corresponding event has the same event ID
And resent.

Next, processing is requested to the event processing means 34, and the request is transferred to the event state management means 38 and the event buffer management means 39.

The event state management means 38 requests the event route management means 37 to perform processing using the transmission source element management system name as a parameter. Management system 5 to which the event is forwarded from the corresponding source element management system
And an event route indicating the order are read from the event route storage unit 41 (step A21). The event state management means 38 writes the event state data into the event state storage unit 42 (Step A22). In the event state data, an event ID, an event transmission time and reception time of the element management system, and flag data indicating transmission / reception have been written (see FIG. 3). After the processing is completed, an end signal is transmitted to the event processing means 34.

The event buffer management means 39 adds the event ID, the source management system name, the destination management system name, the time at which the event management system received the event, and the like to the content of the event message received from the element management system. Is written to the event content storage unit 43 (step A31). After the processing is completed, an end signal is transmitted to the event processing means 34.

When the event processing means 34 receives an end signal from both the event state management means 38 and the event buffer management means 39, it requests the event transmission means 33 for processing. The event transmission unit 33 receives the management system name 5 to be transmitted next from the event route management unit 37 using the event ID and the transmission source element management system name 6 as parameters (step A41), and uses the transmission destination management system name 5 as a parameter. It requests the connection state management means 32 for processing.

If the transmission / reception communication path between the destination management system 5 and the event management device has not been established, the connection establishment status management means 32 responds that processing has ended.

If the transmission / reception communication path has been established, the event transmitting means 33 transmits an event to the management system 5 (step A43). Here, the event is not transmitted from the event transmitting unit 33 unless both the transmission and the reception are established for the communication path. If the reception path is not established, the event cannot be received from the destination management system 5 again, and the processing load increases because the destination management system 54 retries the event transmission.

If the network management system, service management system, or business management system is determined, the event receiving means 35
It requests the event processing means 34 to perform processing using the ID as a parameter. The event processing means 34 requests processing from the event state management means 38 and the event buffer management means 39, and manages the state until both processes are completed. The event ID used here is assigned by the event ID management unit 3A after receiving the event from the element management system.

The event state management means 38 reads the state data from the event state storage section 42 using the event ID as a parameter, and updates the state (step A51). The updated contents are flag data indicating that the source management system name 6 has transmitted and received the event in the event route, the event transmission time and the reception time.

Next, the event state management means 38 acquires the management system name pointed to by the source management system name 5 of the updated state data and the management system name pointed to by the updated state data. For example, referring to FIG. 3, if the flag data of the management system name SMS1, the event transmission time and the reception time are updated, the management system name pointed before is NMS1, and the management system name that NMS1 points later is SMS1 and SMS2. Therefore, the event state management means
38 gets SMS1, SMS2. Next, the event state management means 38 reads whether or not flag data is written in all management system names pointed to later (steps A52 and A53). For example, it checks whether or not events have been received from both SMS1 and SMS2.

When all the flag data has been written, a request is made to the event buffer management means 39 using the event ID and the management system name pointed to before as a key, and the corresponding event message is stored in the event content storage section 43. And proceed to the next process (step A5
Four).

If all the flag data has not been written, the process proceeds to the next step.

The event buffer management means 39 adds the name of the source management system, the name of the destination management system, the time at which the event management system received the event, etc. to the contents of the event message received from the network, service, or business management system. , Event content storage
Write to 43 (step A61). After the processing is completed, an end signal is transmitted to the event processing means 34.

When the event processing means 34 receives an end signal from both the event state management means 38 and the event buffer management means 39, the subsequent processing contents are the same as steps A41 to A43 in FIGS. A71).

Second, the operation of registering event route data in the event management device will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. First, the operator of the event management device inputs event route data from the input device 1 using the user interface processing means 31 (step in FIG. 7).
B1). The user interface processing means 31 requests the event route management means 37 for processing, and
37 checks whether there is no contradiction in the input data (step B2).

If there is no contradiction, the event route management means
37 registers the event route data in the event route storage unit 41 (step B3).

If there is a contradiction, the processing is requested to the user interface processing means 31 and an error message is output.
Output to 2 (B4).

Third, referring to FIG. 2 and FIG. 8, the operation of the event management apparatus after the network management system, the service management system, and the business management system that have been shut down will be described in detail. First, when the network management system, the service management system, and the business management system are started (step C1 in FIG. 8), the connection establishment state management means 32 recognizes the establishment of the transmission / reception path between the management systems 5, 6 and the event management device ( Step C
2) Request processing to the event processing means 34 using the activated management system names 5 and 6 as parameters.

The event processing means 34 uses the activated management system names 5 and 6 as parameters, and
A request is made to 38 to search for event state data that satisfies the following conditions (step C3).

The transmitted / received flag which is an attribute of the activation management system name in the event status data is off. -The transmitted / received flag which is an attribute of the management system name pointed before the activation management system name in the event status data is turned on.

The event state management means 38 reads a management system name pointed before the event ID and the activation management system name from the retrieved event state data. For example, when SMS1 is activated in FIG. 3, the event ID and N
MS1 is read (step C4).

Next, the event state management means 38 requests the event buffer management means 39 for processing, and reads an event message from the event content storage section 43 using the event ID and the management system name pointed to before as parameters (step C5). ). The event message read here has been queued in the event management apparatus because the destination management system is in the shutdown state next.

Next, the event buffer management means requests the event processing means to transmit an event message, and the subsequent processing is the same as steps 41 to 43 in FIGS. 4 and 5 (step C6).

Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Referring to FIG. 9, the present embodiment is different from FIG. 2 in that an event filter storage unit 45 is added in the storage device 4 and an event filter processing unit 3B is added in the data processing device 3.

The event filter storage unit 45 stores an event type transmitted from a certain source management system 6 to a destination management system 5. The event filter processing unit 3B receives the processing from the event buffer management unit 39, reads the filter conditions from the event filter storage unit 45, and executes event filtering.

The input device 1, output device 2, data processing device 3, and event ID storage unit constituting the storage device 4 shown in FIG.
44, event content storage unit 43, event status storage unit
42, an event route storage unit 41, a connection establishment state management unit 32, an event transmission unit 33, an event processing unit 34,
The event receiving means 35, the event confirmation transmitting means 36, the event route managing means 37, the event state managing means 38, the event buffer managing means 39, the event ID managing means 3A, the user interface processing means 31, and the management systems 5 and 6 are shown in FIG.
Are the same as those shown in FIG.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 4 to 6, the event buffer management unit 39 stores the event message read from the event content storage unit 43 in the destination management system.
5 had been sent.

The present embodiment is different in that filtering is performed before transmitting an event. That is, the event buffer management unit 39 requests the event filter processing unit 3B to perform processing before requesting the event processing unit 34 to perform processing,
The filter condition data is read from the event filter storage unit 45 (step D2). Next, the filter condition data includes the source management system name 6, the destination management system name 5, and the event type that can be transmitted, and the event filter processing unit 3B determines whether the attribute of the event to be transmitted is the event type that can be transmitted. Is determined (step D3,). In the case of the sendable event type, the event message is passed as a parameter to the event processing means 34. If the event message is not the sendable event type, the process is terminated. In FIG. 10, the operation of step D1 is the same as steps A1 to A22, 3 of FIGS.
1 is the same as Steps A51 to A54 and 61, and the operation of Step D4 is the same as Steps A41 to 43 of FIGS.

The embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the specific configuration is not limited to this embodiment, and changes in design and the like can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. Even if there is, it is included in the present invention.

[0065]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the processing contents of each management system are simplified, and the reception confirmation message of the event, the buffering of the event message,
It is not necessary to perform retransmission and health check of the destination management system on the management system side. According to the third aspect of the present invention, the event acknowledgment message is not required, and the processing of the event management device can be simplified. According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, it is not necessary to set the configuration of the event route in each management system, and the load on the system administrator can be reduced. According to the invention described in claim 5, the processing load on the event management device can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a multi-tier management system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an event management device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of event state data according to the embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation example of the event management device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation example of the event management device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation example of the event management device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an operation example of the event management device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an operation example of the event management device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of an event management device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of an event management device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

101: an event management device 102: a business management system 103: a service management system
4 Network management system, 105 Element management system 106 Communication device 107 Multi-tier management system group

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A multi-tier management system comprising an element management system, a network management system, a service management system, and a business management system, wherein an event for executing event transmission, retransmission mechanism, queuing, and event transmission state management between the management systems is provided. A multi-tier management system comprising a management device. 2. The multi-tier management system according to claim 1, wherein all event messages are transmitted to the event management device, and the tracking of event transmission is simplified by using a user interface of the event management device. Characteristic multi-tier management system. 3. The multi-tier management system according to claim 1, wherein the event management device is a network management system,
A multi-tier management system characterized in that upon receiving an event from a service management system or a business management system, the management system regards the event as normally received from a lower layer management system. 4. The multi-tier management system according to claim 1, wherein a configuration of an event filter and an event route is set in the event management device. 5. The multi-tier management system according to claim 1, wherein a transmission / reception communication path between the event management system and the event management device is managed, and when a failure occurs in the path, an event is transmitted. A multi-tier management system characterized by not transmitting a message.