JP2931341B2 - Centralized maintenance method by switching network management equipment - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a centralized maintenance method by a switching network management apparatus that centrally manages a switching network in which a storage program control type electronic switch is configured as a communication node. is there.

[Conventional technology]

The operation and maintenance work of conventional general electronic exchanges can be roughly classified into configuration management associated with the generation and change of configuration data that constitutes the exchange, performance management that measures and analyzes the usage rate of resources in the exchange, etc. There is a task called fault management for managing faults of various devices constituting the exchange. In this type of conventional apparatus, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Sho 62-293862, a station information setting method in a stored program control switch is set for each switch (generally, one or more switches). When changing the office information such as the numbering plan and the number of trunk lines during the operation of the exchange, the maintenance person inputs the information from the maintenance terminal device provided with the exchange at each site. Further, as described in JP-A-63-160446, in a communication system in which a master station and a plurality of slave stations following each other communicate with each other, a plurality of pieces of route information stored in each station are stored in the master station when the system is started. It is more downloaded. Further, as described in JP-A-63-142948, the fault management and maintenance system of an electronic exchange is to improve maintenance work of a failure package or the like by linking a central processing unit for controlling the exchange with a maintenance console processor. Had become.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, the station information setting method described in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-293862 is a method for realizing a single electronic exchange, and the maintenance person can store the configuration data for each station for each of a plurality of exchanges constituting a company network. The maintenance staff must go to each station because there is a work to change using the maintenance terminal equipment.However, the exchange offices installed in the globalization of the network are scattered around the world, However, there is a problem that the load of the battery reaches the limit. Also, in the communication network route information creation method described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-160446, performance information such as the resource usage rate in the switching network dynamically changes under various conditions even after the station operates. Therefore, there is a problem that it is not considered that the route information needs to be dynamically changeable. Furthermore,
In the maintenance system associated with the occurrence of a failure in the electronic exchange described in JP-A-63-142948, a maintenance person goes to an exchange office and refers to a maintenance manual and the like, as in JP-A-62-293862. Because maintenance work is to be performed manually,
There were problems such as a heavy load on maintenance personnel.

An object of the present invention is to use a switching network management device for centrally managing a plurality of (managed) exchanges scattered and installed in various places, so that a maintenance person can concentrate on each of them without going to the site. By creating the configuration data of the exchanges and downloading the configuration data to each exchange, the configuration data of the exchanges is automatically generated and the opening of the exchanges is facilitated. A further development of this is to provide a centralized maintenance method by the switching network management device, particularly for the following purposes.

That is, the first object is to simplify the exchange maintenance work by centrally managing the configuration information accompanying the addition, change, or deletion after the operation of the exchange by the exchange network management device, and to maintain the consistency of the maintenance work. Checks can be automated by the switching network management device by inquiring each switching center, which can reduce maintenance work.
A centralized maintenance method by a switching network management device is provided.

A second object is that after operating a switching network in which the switching devices are configured as communication nodes, the switching network management device collects the line utilization rates managed in each switching device by cyclic polling, and uses the switching network simple device to perform the above-mentioned traffic connection. Is recognized, a change command to the detour route table is automatically issued to the switching center linked to the line, thereby dynamically changing the detour route in the switching network, and the operator in charge It is an object of the present invention to provide a centralized maintenance method using a switching network management device, which can support the facility planning and maintenance work of the operator.

The third object is that when any failure occurs in the equipment constituting the exchange managed by each exchange itself,
By notifying the maintenance terminal of each site to output a failure message, but notifying the switching network management device of the occurrence of the failure,
Centralized by the switching network management device so that the switching network management device can centrally monitor the occurrence of failures in the switching network, eliminating the need for maintenance personnel to be resident at each switching center and saving labor. Provide maintenance methods.

A fourth object is that when a maintenance person needs to investigate the detailed contents of the failure notified to the switching network management device via the display of the switching network management device, conventionally, the information is created individually for each switching device. In general, a maintenance person refers to a maintenance manual and executes commands / messages, which are generally a sequence of alphanumeric characters. Still another object of the present invention is to provide a centralized maintenance method using a switching network management device that can support a maintenance staff's troubleshooting procedure by programming a maintenance work procedure described in a maintenance manual as a rule.

[Means for solving the problem]

The first object is that when the configuration data in each of the exchanges needs to be changed, the exchange network management device creates the changed configuration data and then sends the changed configuration data to each of the exchange transmission devices. While the configuration data is changed in each of the exchanges by the download, the configuration data in each of the exchanges is collected and analyzed by the exchange network management device by periodic cyclic polling from the exchange network management device. This is achieved by performing a consistency check of the switching network. The switching network management device checks the configuration information of the switching network system for mutual inconsistency by collecting configuration data at each switch by periodic cyclic polling and performing statistical analysis. When an inconsistency is found, a maintenance person or the like is to be notified via a man-machine interface of the switching network management device.

The second purpose is as follows. The switching network management device performs a cyclic polling of each of the exchanges, and in each of those exchanges, the trunk line utilization rate is measured for each of the trunk lines connected to the exchange, and then collected and analyzed by the switching network management device. If the reference value is exceeded, this is achieved by rewriting the detour information in each of the exchanges by the exchange network management device. In the stored program control electronic exchange, in addition to the original call control, configuration information and performance information of various resources (such as a relay line and a terminal line) constituting the exchange are managed by control system software.
The switching network management device collects the resource usage rate in the switch unit after the switching center is operated by periodic cyclic polling,
When the switching network management device makes a global assessment of the collected data from the total viewpoint of the network and finds an abnormality in the utilization rate of the trunk line, that is, there is a utilization rate of the line linking certain exchanges A and B. If an abnormality is detected, such as exceeding the reference value within a certain period of time, the switching network management device switches the switching stations A and B.
By rewriting the detour table of the exchange itself or the outgoing / incoming call control table for each of the
Routing control such as bypassing a call between exchanges A and B is dynamically performed.

A third object of the present invention is to provide a system in which, when a failure occurs in an exchange, the exchange generates a failure in the exchange network management device, and the logical address number in the network of the exchange as a parameter;
While automatic notification is provided together with fault information including at least a fault occurrence time and a fault occurrence content logical code, the switching network management device immediately stores the fault information from each of the exchanges into various databases included in the fault information. This is achieved by being converted into Japanese or the like by data and managed as a state in which it is displayed visually. In a stored program controlled electronic exchange, the failure detection and automatic disconnection functions of the system equipment that constitutes the exchange are also managed by the control system software.Conventionally, just print out when a failure occurs in the maintenance terminal of each exchange. Therefore, maintenance personnel had to be resident at each exchange site, but in this method, if the fault information detected by the exchange can be notified to the switching network management device by the autonomous dial-up function, At the same time, the failure occurrence notification message is provided with parameters such as the time of failure occurrence, the location of the failure, the content of the failure occurrence, and the exchange number logically assigned in the switching network to be managed. If the equipment has a database of basic data for converting these parameters into Japanese, etc. There are those that can be centrally displayed by Japanese, etc. In switching network management device immediately.

The fourth object of the present invention is that when a failure occurrence notification is sent to the switching network management apparatus, the failure switching apparatus can execute the switching network management by various test commands in accordance with the maintenance work procedure which is set in a database rule in the switching network management apparatus. Automatically accessed from the device, the detailed fault information from the faulty switch is automatically collected and analyzed by the switching network management device, and the result of the collection and analysis is visually displayed to maintenance personnel. Achieved.

[Action]

The stored program control system electronic exchange is roughly divided into a communication path system, a control system, an input / output system hardware and software, and system management of the electronic exchange itself, performance management such as the usage rate of the resource, and the above configuration. Fault detection such as fault detection of equipment and fault management such as automatic disconnection are all realized by control system software. An electronic exchange having these functions is used as a communication node, and a relay line (a dedicated line or a public line) connecting the communication nodes. A switching network composed of a telephone network, an ISDN network, etc. is to be centrally managed by a switching network management device (information processing device, generally a workstation) having an advanced man-machine interface and a database. By providing a control link for performing data communication using out-of-band signals between the switching network management device and each of the exchanges, inter-processor communication between the switching network management device and the control processor of the switching device is enabled. The management device is used as a centralized maintenance terminal of a switching network composed of a plurality of switching stations.

Now, when it is necessary to change the station data or subscriber data after the operation of the station, the switching network management device can instruct the change by sending a command to the switching station after setting the data link with the switching station. Accordingly, the maintenance data can be remotely maintained without requiring the maintenance staff to go to the local station. In addition, after collecting exchange configuration data held by the exchange alone from the exchange network management device by a known means,
The data is collated with the configuration data created by the switching network management apparatus, and if there is a difference as a result of the collation, the fact can be notified to a maintenance person via a man-machine interface to call attention. .

In addition, the switching network management device collects data on the utilization rates of the trunk lines connected to each of the exchanges by cyclic polling from each of the exchanges, and as a result of statistical analysis, as a result, an abnormality is found in the utilization rate of the trunk line for a certain trunk line. If it is approved, a detour route is created based on the configuration data managed in the switching network management device, and a detour route pattern table is distributed to the relevant switching center. Since the call is detoured according to the detour pattern, a situation in which the line is used at an abnormally high utilization rate due to a concentrated call or the like can be avoided beforehand.

Further, when a failure occurs in a device constituting the exchange, an autonomous dial-up function via the exchange I / O control device sends a failure message after establishing a data link with the exchange network management device. However,
The failure message is sent with parameters such as failure time and location, the logical address in the network of the exchange, and the content of the failure as parameters. Therefore, when a Japanese translation table of a fault message is created in advance on the database of the switching network management device, the fault message from the faulty switch can be immediately converted to Japanese and displayed visually. The failure occurrence status can be easily grasped from the display.

Further, when the operator of the switching network management device that has learned of the failure collects detailed information from the switching center in which the failure has occurred in order to investigate the cause of the failure, etc., the switching network management device sends a specific remote command to the switching center concerned. It is possible to issue commands to the relevant exchange by accessing the system and using only a mouse pick on the display screen displayed on the menu driven screen, so maintenance personnel are burdened with troubleshooting and investigating the cause. Can be reduced and early failure support can be provided.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

First, FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of a system configuration showing an embodiment of a centralized maintenance method by a switching network management apparatus according to the present invention. As shown in the figure, the exchange EX to be managed and the switching network management device NME can perform data communication via a management control line LNK.

FIG. 2 also shows a schematic hardware configuration of the managed exchange EX. As shown in the figure, the exchange EX to be managed by the stored program control method includes a central office interface circuit CIF for the central office CO, an exchange telephone system SP including an internal interface circuit LIF for the extension terminal LIN and an exchange switch NW, It is composed of a central control unit CPU, which is a processor that controls the system SP, an exchange input / output control system CP consisting of a main storage device MM, and an interface IOC with various external input / output devices, and is the main purpose of the exchange EX. The call control and the operation management of the exchange EX itself have an architecture that can be realized by the software SFT of the control system CP shown in FIG.

To explain the software SFT of the control system CP, as shown in FIG.
A configuration management program package CNF dedicated to management of X components, a program package TRB that monitors and manages failures in those components, and a program package PF that measures and monitors the performance status of the resources of the exchange EX
M is operation management software, and various dedicated function program packages FC1 to FCn for performing call control are configured as call control software. These unit function packages are exchange operating system EXOS and an input / output interface shown in FIG. The configuration is such that it can be started directly from the external switching network management device NME via the IOC. As shown in FIG. 4, the software MSFT of the switching network management device NME includes a process MCNF dedicated to managing the components constituting the exchange EX in the switching network and a failure management process of the components of the exchange EX. Network management consisting of MTRB, process MPFM for managing the performance of resources in the switching network, and various call service realization processes SC1 to SCn.These management processes are responsible for data communication control with the exchange EX and execution control of the management process. Data communication is possible with each of the exchanges EX via an exclusive band operating system NMOS with out-band signals.

FIG. 5 also shows a schematic hardware configuration of the switching network management device NME. As shown, the switching network management device NME includes a network management control processor MCP, a display device CRT that is a man-machine interface, a keyboard KBD, a mouse MUS, a proppy disk FD,
It consists of an information storage device (database disk device) DB.

With the respective software configurations of the exchange EX and the exchange network management device NME based on the above system configuration and network architecture, a centralized maintenance method for centrally managing an exchange network configured with the exchange EX as a communication node will be described below. It is like.

That is, FIG. 6 shows a schematic flow of an automatic generation and distribution function of configuration data by the switching network management device NME. In this case, first, configuration data for each of the exchanges EX1 to EX3 is centrally created by an operator of the switching network management device NME via an advanced man-machine interface including a display device CRT, a keyboard KBD, and a mouse MUS. The data is stored in a database in the information storage device DB, and the above configuration data is sequentially downloaded from the switching network management device NME to a specific area in the main storage device MM which is a management range of the configuration management software CNF of each of the exchanges EX1 to EX3. It has become something. An instruction is given by remote power-on so that the exchange EX is initialized with the downloaded configuration data. The exchange EX that has received the remote power-on instruction performs the software-based initial setting so that the exchange EX can operate with the downloaded configuration data. According to the above flow (1), the function of automatically generating and distributing configuration data by the switching network management device NME for each of the exchanges EX1 to EX3 is realized.

FIG. 7 shows a schematic flow of a network configuration data consistency check function by the switching network management device NME. In the exchange EX, management of configuration data such as office data and subscriber data accompanying expansion or change after the operation of the office is realized by configuration management software CNF, which is a component of the control software SFT. The network configuration management software MCNF of the switching network management device NME can interact with the configuration management software CNF of each exchange EX via a specific standard interface. Therefore, in FIG.
E inquires the exchange EX about the latest configuration data managed by the configuration management software CNF of the exchange EX, and the exchange EX receiving the inquiry notifies the exchange network management device NME of the latest configuration data. The above is executed by cyclic polling for all of the exchanges EX, and the consistency is checked whether or not the configuration data has been updated. If it is recognized that the update has been performed, the exchange E in which the display device CRT has been updated is displayed.
Displays the X station name and details of the update data. More than~
Thus, the consistency check of the network configuration data after the operation of the exchange EX is realized.

FIG. 8 shows a schematic flow of the switching network performance management detour instruction function by the switching network management device NME. In this case, the switching network management device NME instructs the performance management software PFM of the exchange EX to measure the trunk line utilization at a specific time. The performance management software PFM of the exchange EX that has received the instruction measures the usage rate of each trunk line calculated from the traffic, and notifies the switching network management device NME of the measurement result.
The switching network management device NME cyclically polls the above, determines the usage rate of the trunk line collected by the cyclic polling, and compares with a reference value set in the switching network management device NME to determine whether there is an abnormal line. The switching network management unit NME instructs the exchange EX to rewrite the outgoing / incoming table and the detour route table for each line in each exchange EX so that the incoming call to the line considered abnormal can be regulated. In this way, the incoming call is restricted / rerouted to a line having a certain abnormal value. As described above, the switching network performance management bypass instruction function is realized.

FIG. 9 shows a schematic flow of the fault management and maintenance support function by the switching network management device NME. In this case, the exchange EX2 is monitoring whether there is a failure in the component equipment.
If the fault management software TRB detects a fault in a component device, the exchange EX2 raises the fault event by using a known means such as autonomous dial-up to the switching network management device NME. Notify. The event parameters include the EX2 fault management software T
It contains the in-network logical address of the exchange EX2 itself, the failure occurrence time, and the failure occurrence logic code that were edited in the RB. Converts, enables instant display of the failure occurrence in Japanese via the display device CRT, analyzes the failure occurrence, and automatically tests the exchange EX2 according to the maintenance procedure set in the switching network management unit NME A command is transmitted, the fault management software TRB of the exchange EX2 is started by the command, and various fault detailed information is created, and the result of the investigation is reported to the switching network management device NME.
The switching network management device NME analyzes the result of the investigation and presents it to the operator via the display device CRT. As described above, the failure management and maintenance support function by the switching network management device NME is realized.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

The exchange network management unit simplifies switch maintenance work by centrally managing the configuration information accompanying expansion, change, and deletion after the switching office is activated, and also checks the consistency of maintenance work by each switching network management unit. It can be automated by inquiring the exchange to reduce the work of maintenance personnel.

The switching network management device collects the line utilization rate managed in each switching device by cyclic polling after the operation of the switching network in which the switching device is configured as a communication node, and when the switching network management device recognizes an abnormal traffic line, Automatically changes the detour route in the switching network by automatically issuing a command to change to the detour route table to the exchange linked to the line, thereby enabling the operator of the facility planning and maintenance personnel to change the detour route. Can help you work.

If any failure occurs in the equipment constituting the exchange managed by each exchange itself, instead of outputting a failure message to the maintenance terminal at each site, the failure is notified to the switching network management device. By doing so, the switching network management device can centrally monitor the occurrence of a failure in the switching network, and it is not necessary for a maintenance person to be stationed at each switching center, thereby saving labor.

Conventionally, when it becomes necessary for a maintenance person to investigate the detailed contents of the failure notified to the switching network management device via the display of the switching network management device, conventionally, the switching device is created individually, generally in English. The command / message, which is a sequence of numbers, was executed by the maintenance person with reference to the maintenance manual. However, the command / message conversion table is stored in the switching network management device in a database. By programming the maintenance work procedure described in (1) as a rule, it is possible to support the maintenance staff's troubleshooting procedure.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a system form showing an embodiment of a centralized maintenance method by an exchange network management apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing hardware of an exchange as a management target shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a software configuration of a control system in the exchange shown in FIG. 2,
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a software configuration of the switching network management device shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a hardware configuration of the switching network management device shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a schematic flow of a configuration data automatic generation / distribution function by the switching network management device according to the present invention; FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a schematic flow of a network configuration data consistency check function by the switching network management device according to the present invention; FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a schematic flow of a detour instruction function by the switching network management device according to the present invention, and FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a schematic flow of a fault management and maintenance support function by the switching network management device according to the present invention. is there. NME: Switching network management device, EX: Switching system, LNK: Management control line, SP: Switching channel system, CP: Switching input / output control system, LIN: Extension terminal, LIF: Extension interface circuit , NW ... exchange switch, CIF ... office line interface circuit, CO ... office line, CPU ... central control unit, MM ... main storage device, IOC ... input / output interface, SFT ... exchange control software CNF: Switch configuration management software, TRB: Switch fault management software, PFM: Switch performance management software, FC1 to FCn: Call control function software, EXOS ...
Exchange OS, MSFT Network management software, MCNF Network management configuration management software, MTRB Network management fault management software, MP
FM: Network management performance management software, SC1 to SCn: Service control software, NMOS: Network management OS, MCP: Network management control processor, CRT: Display device, MUS: Mouse, FD
…… Floppy disk, DB …… Database (disk) device

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing from the front page (72) Inventor Yasuhiko Nagai 1099 Ozenji Temple, Aso-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture Hitachi Systems Development Laboratory Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-1-166643 (JP, A) JP-A-63-309047 (JP, A) JP-A-63-104540 (JP, A) JP-A-61-264952 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) H04L 12 / 24,12 / 26 H04M 3/00

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A method for maintaining an exchange network comprising at least two exchanges adopting a stored program control system and a trunk line connecting the exchanges, wherein the exchange network is connected to each of the exchanges, and A switching network management device for managing the network, and when the configuration data in each of the exchanges needs to be changed, the configuration data is created in the switching network management device; While the configuration data is changed in each of the exchanges by downloading to each of the exchanges, the configuration data in each of the exchanges is collected in the exchange network management device by periodic cyclic polling from the exchange network management device. A centralized maintenance method by a switching network management device, wherein the integrity of the switching network is checked by being analyzed. 2. The switching network management unit measures the utilization rate of the trunk line for each of the trunk lines connected to the switching unit by cyclic polling of each switching unit, and collects and analyzes the measured data by the switching network management unit. 2. The centralized maintenance method according to claim 1, wherein when the analysis result exceeds a reference value, the detour information in each of the exchanges is rewritten by the switching network management device. . 3. A method for maintaining an exchange network comprising at least two exchanges adopting a stored program control system and a trunk line connecting the exchanges, wherein said exchange network is connected to each of said exchanges. A switching network management device that manages the switching network, wherein each of the exchanges, when a failure occurs in the exchange, notifies the failure of the switching network management device as a parameter; While the automatic notification is performed together with the fault information including at least the occurrence time and the logic code of the fault occurrence content, the switching network management device immediately stores the fault information from each of the exchanges into a database of various parameters included in the fault information. It is converted to Japanese etc. by basic data and managed as a visible display so that intensive fault monitoring is performed Centralized maintenance method according to the exchange network management device for the butterflies. 4. When a faulty switch is automatically accessed from said switch by a variety of test commands in accordance with a maintenance procedure defined in a database rule of said switch, said fault switch is automatically connected to said switch. 4. The centralized maintenance by the switching network management device according to claim 3, wherein the detailed failure information is automatically and centrally analyzed by the switching network management device, and the result of the collection analysis is visually displayed to a maintenance person. Method.