JPH07143227A - Software update control method for network element - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To flexibly and accurately set retrieval conditions and to store failure examples in the past as knowledge by dividing conditions for retrieving a warning message into the retrieval conditions depending on a software and the retrieval conditions not depending on the software and holding them. CONSTITUTION:A Based on the failure examples in the past in software update or the like, a maintenance operator uses a retrieval condition editing function part 10, sets warning message retrieval conditions for which a software development origin basically corresponds to the characteristics of the software in a chart 1 and sets the warning message retrieval conditions in common to the entire softwares in the chart 2. An exchange interface part 30 uses a message reception function 6, receives the message originated from a network element 50 at all times and stores it in a message DB 4. A software update execution part 20 performs retrieval corresponding to the conditions described in the charts 1 and 2 when the opportunity of the software update is given and interrupts the update when the pertinent message is present.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a software updating method, and more particularly to a software updating method for a storage program control type exchange (hereinafter referred to as "network element") which is a component of an information communication network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a network element is a system for processing a user's call for 24 hours, and it is required to have higher reliability than a general information processing system. Since the software update is also performed during the call processing operation, it is necessary to avoid the risk of the system going down due to the software update as much as possible. Therefore, in general, when updating the software of a network element, check the various states (normality of hardware, etc.) of the network element in advance to determine whether the software update can be executed normally. ing. The conventional network element software update system is introduced to reduce such human operation, and before the actual software update is executed, according to the statically held search condition, the network element precursor message ( After a message (which may be a condition for failing to update the target software) is searched to determine whether or not the software can be updated, a command for executing the actual software update is input to the network element. In addition, the precursor message, which is a material for determining whether or not the software can be updated, is variable depending on the type of software to be updated, changes in hardware specifications, and the like. Furthermore, since the test environment that can be tested by the software developer is limited, when updating the software in the actual operation system,
Sometimes it may be necessary to search for a totally unpredictable precursor message. In such a case, it is possible to change the search conditions, but since the search conditions for each software and the search conditions common to the maintenance system are collectively managed, it is necessary to update the software of the maintenance system itself. . Further, when the search condition is changed by such a management method, the operation is stopped, so it is necessary to avoid the change during the online operation.

[0003]

In the above prior art, since the predecessor message search condition that is the most common divisor is statically held, the following problems occur. 1. Even if the search conditions are too strict and the software can actually be updated, it is determined to be impossible. 2. The software update failure example in a certain network element is not reflected. 3. In order to change the search condition in the above cases,
It is necessary to change the specifications of the maintenance system itself, resulting in enormous development costs. 4. It is difficult to change the search conditions while driving online. An object of the present invention is to provide a software update control method for a network element that solves such problems, enables flexible and accurate search condition setting, and accumulates past failure cases as knowledge.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object, a software update control method for a network element according to the present invention is interconnected with a network element of a storage program control system by an information communication network, and the network element is issued. Means to store messages,
And a message that can be a condition for software update failure in a maintenance system that automatically updates software of a plurality of network elements in parallel by providing a means for searching a stored message that satisfies a specific condition (message search condition) ( The condition for retrieving (precursor message) is divided into a search condition unique to the system and a search condition dependent on each software and retained (retained in 1 and 2 in FIG. 1), and these retrievals are performed before the software update is executed. It is characterized in that the stored message is searched according to the condition and the software update is stopped if there is a corresponding message. Further, it is characterized in that the message search conditions are updated during online operation of the maintenance system.

[0005]

In the present invention, the first search condition table corresponds to the software to be updated, and the search condition can be set according to the characteristics of the software. Therefore, it is possible to avoid searching for unnecessary precursor messages, and to avoid software update interruption due to too strong search conditions. The second search condition table is
System-specific search conditions (search conditions that do not depend on the software to be updated) can be set. Therefore, past software update failure cases can be stored in the condition table, and troubles occurring in other network elements can be prevented. For example, as a result of investigating the cause of failure, if it is found that the software update fails when the message A is issued, by registering the message A in the second search condition table,
The effect that repeated troubles due to the same cause will not be repeated in subsequent software updates can be expected. The search condition editing function is for online editing the first and second search condition tables. With this function, it is possible to easily change the search condition during the online operation, which requires the software update of the system itself in the conventional technique.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a network element maintenance system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG.
Reference numeral 40 is a maintenance system that updates the message search conditions according to an instruction from a maintenance person, and 50 is a network element (switch) that sends a message according to an instruction from the maintenance system. Further, the maintenance system 40 executes a search condition editing function unit 10 that edits search conditions (search condition table 1 and search condition table 2) according to an input instruction from a maintenance person, and updates the software 3 while the system is online. A software update execution control unit 20, a command input function 5 and a message reception function 6, and an exchange interface unit 30 serving as an interface between the maintenance system and the network element, and the network element 5.
And a message database (message DB) 4 for accumulating messages sent from 0. The search condition table 1 is supplied at the same time as the software (patch, system file, etc.) 3 to be updated (corresponding to 1: 1), and holds the precursor message search condition according to the characteristics of the software 3. For example, when the supplied software is a patch to the driver software of the device A, if the message "the operation of the device A is unstable" is output, execution of this patch should be avoided. A message such as "the operation of the device A is unstable" is registered in the search condition table 1 together with conditions such as a search range and a message occurrence frequency. On the other hand, the search condition table 2 is a system-specific search condition table, and sets search conditions independent of the type of the software 3 to be updated. For example, the message “CPU failure” is a message that should be avoided for any software, and the search condition table 2 shows “C
A message such as “PU failure” is registered together with conditions such as a search range and message occurrence frequency. Further, the search condition editing function unit 10 has a function of editing the search condition tables 1 and 2 according to a request from the outside (a request from a maintenance person in this embodiment). It should be noted that a system for automatically inputting an editing request from the knowledge-making function may be constructed by providing the present embodiment with a function for automatically making the failure case knowledgeable.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an operation sequence of the network element maintenance system in the embodiment of the present invention. Note that (a) shows the processing of the search condition editing function unit 10, and (b) shows the processing of the software update execution control unit 20. In the present embodiment, as shown in (a), the search condition editing function unit 10 follows the search request tables 1 and 2 in accordance with a request from the outside such as a maintenance person (step 201).
Is edited (step 202). In this case, the maintainer
Based on past failure cases in updating the software,
The search condition editing function is used to edit the search condition tables 1 and 2 (addition and deletion of search conditions). That is, basically, in the search condition table 1, the software developer sets a precursor message search condition according to the characteristics of the software. When it becomes necessary to change the condition, the maintenance person uses the search condition editing function to change the condition. Further, in the search condition table 2, a precursor message search condition common to all software is set. In this way, the search condition tables 1 and 2 are arbitrarily set. Further, the exchange interface unit 30 uses the message receiving function 6 to constantly receive a message issued from the network element 50 and accumulate it in the message DB 4. On the other hand, the software update execution control unit 20, as shown in (b),
When a trigger for software update (for example, maintenance person instruction, start from timer, etc.) is given, the precursor message search function is used, and the network element messages accumulated in the message DB 4 are described in the search condition tables 1 and 2. Search according to the specified conditions (step 21)
1). As a result, if there is a corresponding message (step 2
12) The software update is suspended. Further, as a result of the search, if there is no corresponding message (step 21
2) Using the software update execution function, the software update command is input to the network element 50 through the exchange interface unit 30 (command input function 5) (step 213).

Next, a specific example of the retrieval process will be shown. Figure 3
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a search process using a search condition table according to an embodiment of the present invention. When a new precursor message search condition is added, the search condition editing function 10a is used to add the condition to the search condition table 1 or 2 according to the characteristics of the search condition. Further, the message DB 4 has a format (MODULE, INSTANCE, TIME, T) shown in FIG.
YPE, message content, etc.), the message from the network element 50 is stored. On the other hand, the precursor message search function 20a, which is one of the functions of the software update execution control unit 20, refers to the contents of both search condition tables and executes S
A QL sentence is generated and the message DB 4 is searched. As a result, if the corresponding record is found in the message DB 4,
Since the precursor message has been output, the software update of the module is stopped. In this embodiment,
One precursor message search condition that was fixedly set in the conventional system is unique to the system (search condition table 2)
It is possible to set up more accurate search conditions during online operation by avoiding unnecessary message searches, by dividing it into one that depends on software and software (search condition table 1) and making each editable. Become. Furthermore, by setting past software update failure cases in the search condition table 2 as needed, failure cases can be accumulated and reflected without maintenance system renewal.

[0009]

According to the present invention, accurate setting of precursor message search conditions and accumulation of past failure cases are possible during online operation, and more flexible and reliable software update automation is possible.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a network element maintenance system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an operation sequence of the network element maintenance system in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a search process using a search condition table according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Retrieval condition table 2 Retrieval condition table 3 Software 4 Message DB 5 Command input function 6 Message receiving function 10 Retrieval condition editing function unit 10a Retrieval condition editing function 20 Software update execution control unit 20a Predictive message retrieval function 30 Switch interface unit 40 Maintenance system 50 exchanges (network elements)

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A means for accumulating a message issued by the network element, which is interconnected with a network element of a storage program control system by an information communication network, and a means for searching a stored message satisfying a specific condition. In a control method of a maintenance system that automatically updates software of multiple network elements in parallel, the search conditions that are unique to the system and the search conditions that depend on each software are used as search conditions for messages that may cause software update to fail. A method for controlling software update of a network element, characterized in that the stored message is divided into two and held, the stored message is searched according to the search conditions before the software update is executed, and the software update is stopped if there is a corresponding message. 2. The software update control method for a network element according to claim 1, wherein the message search condition is updated during online operation of the maintenance system.