KR20000001676A - Method for controlling interface between mediation device and network element - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: An interface method between a mediation device and a network element is provided in a telecommunication management network. CONSTITUTION: An interface method between a mediation device and a network element sets a physical connection between a mediation device and a network element, sets a logical connection between the mediation device and the network element, makes a gateway request a network element to perform a message transmission, interrupts a message transmitted from the network element, and restarts a transmission of the interrupted message. In addition, the interface method checks a connection state between the mediation device and a network element. The gateway transmits a long-distance MML(man machine language) to a network element, receive its result, and releases the connection.

Description

Interface method between mediation device and network element

The present invention relates to a Telecommunication Management Network (TMN). In particular, the present invention relates to an interface method between a mediation device and a network element.

1 is a block diagram of a network management system to help explain the present invention. Currently operating Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) system is a mobile station (MS) provided with a service, a base transceiver system (BTS) providing a service and a base station for managing the base station Base Station Controller (BSC), Base Station Management System (BSM) that operates and manages base station controllers, and Mobile Stations that connect base stations to public switched telephone networks (PSTNs) Center (MSC), home location register system (HLR) that manages mobile terminal subscriber information and location information.

The arbitration device 102, which operates in conjunction with the Operation and Maintenance Center (OMC) 101, is composed of a management agent (104), a mobile station and a gateway (105). 102 operates in conjunction with a network element 103 having a drive and maintenance processor 106, a potential processor 107, and a back end processor 108.

The Network Management System (NMS) uses the agent 104 of the mediation device 102 to perform the performance, fault, configuration, and charging of the network element 103. It performs account and security management functions.

However, the conventional network management system manages network elements 103 having different configurations for each manufacturer, and for the management of such network elements 103, the mediation device 102 is used for different network elements 103 for each network element. There was a problem that the configuration of the type interface.

The present invention is to solve the problems described above, when the management agent is included in the mediation device connected to the operation maintenance center through the communication management network standard Q3 Interface (NMS Standard Q3 Interface), mediation device and network elements The purpose is to provide a method of inter-interface.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the invention and the accompanying drawings.

1 is a block diagram of a network management system to which the present invention is applied.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a process for establishing a physical and logical connection between an arbitration apparatus and a network element according to an embodiment of the present invention, and for a gateway to receive a message from the network element.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a connection state checking method performed at intervals of 1 minute after receiving a message from a network element according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a case in which an MML command is performed from a managed object to a gateway according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a process flow diagram when a message is received through four ports from a network element according to an embodiment of the present invention.

6 is a table showing different message types for each port received from a network device through four ports according to an embodiment of the present invention.

<Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

101: drive and maintenance center (OMC) 102: mediation unit

103: network element 104: management agent

105: gateway 106: drive and maintenance processor (OMP)

107: potential processor (FEP) 108: back-end processor (BEP)

In order to achieve the above object, a preferred embodiment of an interface method between an arbitration apparatus and a network element according to the present invention is provided. The interface method between the arbitration apparatus and a network element is a gateway for connecting between the arbitration apparatus and a network element.

Establishing a physical connection between the arbitration device and the network element;

Establishing a logical connection between the arbitration device and a network element;

Establishing, by the gateway, a physical connection between the arbitration device and a network element;

Requesting a message transmission from the gateway to the network device;

Resuming the interrupted message transmission;

Checking a connection state between the arbitration device and a network element;

Transmitting, by the gateway, a remote MML (Man Machine Language) to a network device and receiving a result; And

The process of releasing the connection is provided.

In an embodiment of the present invention, it is preferable to create one socket per port for transmitting and receiving a message through four ports in the gateway,

The process for the gateway to establish a physical connection between the arbitration device and the network element is

Attempting to connect from the gateway to a network element;

Retrying the connection if the connection is not successful even after waiting for the threshold of the connection establishment timer;

Waiting for the threshold value of the reconnection establishment timer and generating an alarm if the connection fails again to inform the administrator that there is a software failure in the network device; And

It is further desirable to further include the step of retrying the connection.

In addition, the process for the gateway to establish a logical connection between the arbitration device and the network element

Transmitting a connection request message;

Retransmitting the connection request message if the connection request response message is not received even after waiting for the threshold value of the connection request response timer after transmitting the connection request message;

Repeating the procedure of waiting twice as much as the threshold of the reconnection request response timer; And

If the connection request response is not received after the step, it is preferable to further comprise the step of generating an alarm,

In the step of generating the alarm, it is preferable to notify the network device that there is a software failure, send a disconnect request message, close the socket, and then start the physical connection between the arbitration device and the network device again.

The process of requesting a message transmission to the network device by the gateway

Sending a message transfer start request message;

Retransmitting the message transmission start request message if the message transmission start request response message is not received even after waiting for the threshold of the timer after transmitting the message transmission start request message;

Repeating until a message transmission start request response message is received;

Checking whether a message is registered when a message is received from a network element;

Delivering a message to the registered management object if it is registered; And

If not registered, it is preferable to further include a step of discarding the message,

When the message can be received, it is preferable to periodically transmit a heartbeat message from the gateway to the network element,

In the transmission of the heartbeat message, if it is not received even after waiting for the heartbeat message transmission period after transmitting the heartbeat message, retransmitting the heartbeat message and generating an alarm if it is not received even if waiting for the threshold of the heartbeat response timer again. Desirable,

It is preferable to notify the administrator that there is a software failure in the network element due to the alarm, transmit a disconnect request message, close the socket, and then start the physical connection between the arbitration device and the network element again.

In response to the heartbeat message, the information of the file and file pointer currently being transmitted is included in the file name and file pointer field of the heartbeat packet and received and maintained, and is a reference for retransmission when a link failure occurs. Desirable,

The gateway delivers the remote MML message to the network device and receives the result.

Requesting a managed object to perform an MML command to a gateway;

Requesting, by the gateway, to perform an MML command to a network element;

Sending, by the gateway, a remote MML request message including an operator MML command to a network element;

When the result of the execution of the MML command is received, delivering, by the gateway, the result of the execution of the MML command to the management object that requested to perform the MML command; And

If the result of the execution of the MML command is not received even if the user waits for the threshold of the MML response timer, the management object may further include generating a timeout message.

While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, only specific embodiments thereof are shown in the drawings and will be described in detail. It is to be understood, however, that the present invention is not limited to the specific forms referred to in the specification, but rather that the invention is intended to cover all modifications, equivalents, and substitutions within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. It should be understood to include.

Hereinafter, an interface method between the arbitration apparatus 102 and the network element 103 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 to 6.

2 illustrates a process in which a physical and logical connection between the arbitration apparatus 102 and the network element 103 is established, and a preparation process for the gateway 105 to receive a message from the network element 103. One socket is created per port for message transmission and reception through four ports between the arbitration device 102 and the network element 103 (201). Attempt to connect to the network element 103 (server) from the arbitration device 102 (management agent) using the socket created in 201 (202), and set the threshold of the connection establishment timer to 20 seconds (203). ). Check whether the timer value has exceeded the threshold (204). If the connection is unsuccessful within 20 seconds set in the timer, the number of failures is checked and if the connection is less than two, the connection is retried (205). If more than three failures are made, the socket is closed (206), the network element 103 is notified through the failure information that a software failure has occurred (207), and then the process 250 is performed again.

If the connection is successful within 20 seconds, a connection request (ConnectionReq) message in the form of a HeartBeat packet is transmitted to the network element 103 (208). After setting the threshold value of the connection request timer to 10 seconds (209), it is checked whether the timer value exceeds the threshold value (210). If the connection request response (ConnectionReq) message is not received within 10 seconds set in the timer, if the number of failures is less than three times, the connection request message is retransmitted to the network element 103 (211). If more than three failures are sent, a Disconnectreq message is transmitted, the socket element is closed and the network element 103 is notified through the failure alert (212), and the process 250 is performed again. .

If the timer has not exceeded the threshold value of 10 seconds, a connection request response (ConnectionReqAck) message is received (213), and a full packet message transmission start request (MessageTxStartReq) message is transmitted to the network element 103 (214). . The threshold value of the message transmission start request response timer is set to 30 seconds (215). After checking whether the timer value has exceeded the threshold value, the message transmission start request response (MessageTxStartReqAck) message is retransmitted within 30 seconds set in the timer (216). If the timer has not exceeded the threshold of 30 seconds, the message transmission start request response is received (217).

After the network device 103 receives the message transmission start request response message 218, the network device 103 periodically checks the connection establishment status every 1 minute, and then receives the message from the network device 103. If the process 550 is requested to perform the MML command from the managed object (450) is performed.

3 illustrates a connection state checking procedure performed at intervals of one minute after receiving a message from the network element 103.

The arbitration device 102 sends (301) a heartbeat message to the network element 103. After setting the threshold of the heartbeat response timer to 1 minute (302), it is checked whether the timer value exceeds the threshold (303). The heartbeat response message is retransmitted within one minute set in the timer (304). ). If the timer does not exceed the threshold of 1 minute, the device receives a heartbeat response message (305), waits until 1 minute has elapsed, and repeats the process from step 301 (306).

If more than two failures are sent, a DisconnectReq message is sent (307), the socket is closed (308), and the network element 103 is notified via a warning that a software failure has occurred and the process 250 is executed again. .

FIG. 4 is performed only when MML command execution is requested from the management object to the gateway 105.

Check whether the MML command execution is requested from the managed object (401). When the MML command is requested to be performed, the MML command including the MML command requested for execution is included in the data field of the remote MML request (RemoteMMLReq) message in full packet, and then transmitted to the network device 103 (403). ) Receive the message (403).

The threshold of the MML response timer is set to 1 minute (404), and it is checked whether the timer value exceeds the threshold (405). If the timer does not exceed the threshold of 1 minute, an MML response is received via port 10004 (406), and an MML response is forwarded (407) to the management object that requested to perform the MML command. If a response is not received within one minute, the message notifies that it times out (408).

5 is a flowchart 550 illustrating a case where a message is received from the network element 103 through four ports. It is checked whether a message is received from the network element 103 (501). Whether the received message is registered by the management object is checked (502), if it is not registered (503), and if registered, the message is delivered to the management object that registered the message (504).

6 shows different types of messages for each port received from the network element 103 through four ports. Alerts and faults are received through 10001 port, command execution history is received through 10002 port, 5 minute statistics are received through 10003 port, and MML (Man Machine Language) command execution result is received by 10004 port.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the interface method between the network element 103 of the arbitration apparatus 102 is largely the first process of establishing a physical connection between the mediation apparatus 102 and the network element 103, the arbitration apparatus. A second process of establishing a logical connection between the network element 103 and the network element 103, a third process of the gateway 105 requesting the network element 103 to transmit a message, from the network element 103 A fourth process of suspending a transmitted message, a fifth process of resuming the suspended message transmission, a sixth process of checking a connection state between the arbitration apparatus 102 and the network element 103, the gateway A seventh process of transmitting 105 the remote MML (Man Machine Language) to the network element 103 and receiving the result, and the eighth process of disconnecting the connection. It can control.

In the first step, the gateway 105 attempts to connect to the network element 103 after creating one socket per port for sending and receiving messages through four ports. At this time, if the network element 103 is waiting for a connection attempt from the network element 103 through the four ports after creating the socket, the physical connection establishment is completed and a message between the arbitration device 102 and the network element 103 is completed. Sending and receiving is possible.

However, if the connection to the network element 103 does not succeed even after waiting 20 seconds, the connection is retried and waits 20 seconds again. Also, if the connection fails, an alarm is generated to inform the administrator that there is a software failure in the network element 103 and try to connect again.

In the second step, when the connection request message in the form of a heartbeat packet is transmitted and the connection request response message is received, the logical connection establishment is completed. However, if the connection request response is not received even after waiting 10 seconds, it retransmits the connection request message and waits for 10 seconds again.

If the connection request response message is not received even though the same procedure is repeated two more times, a failure alert is generated to notify the administrator that there is a software failure in the network element 103, and a disconnect request message in the form of a semi packet is transmitted. . And a message transmission start request response message is received. Thus, the gateway 105 can receive periodic and aperiodic messages from the network element 103 through the four ports such as alarms and failures of the home location register, status, 5 minute statistics, and results for the remote MML.

If a message is received from the network element 103, the message is discarded if it is not registered.

In the fifth process, when the third process is completed and the message from the network element 103 can be received, the heartbeat message in the form of a heartbeat packet is transmitted and received between the arbitration device 102 and the network element 103. In order to increase the reliability of the message to be transmitted periodically from the gateway 105 to the network element 103 every minute.

If the heartbeat response (HeartBeatAck) message is not received even after waiting for one minute, which is the transmission period of the heartbeat message, it retransmits the heartbeat message and waits another minute.

If the heartbeat response message is still not received, a failure alert is generated to inform the network element 103 that the network element 103 has a software failure, send a disconnect request message in the form of a semi-packet, and close the socket. Do it again.

In the case of Heartbeat Packet (HeartBeatAck) message in the form of heartbeat packet, the information of the file and file pointer being transmitted is included in the file name and file pointer field of the packet, so it is a standard for retransmission in case of a link failure. Also, in case of connection request message in the form of heartbeat packet, the file and file pointer fields are filled with null when they are first transmitted, but otherwise, the file and file pointer values maintained by the reception of the heartbeat response message are used. .

In the sixth step, when the MML command is requested to be performed from the management object to the gateway 105, the MML request message in the form of a full packet including the MML command is transmitted to receive the MMM request response message. The execution result of the requested MML command is received, and the execution result of the received MML command is transmitted to the management object that requested the execution of the MML command. However, if it is not received even after waiting for 1 minute, a timeout message is generated.

The present invention operating as described above, it is possible to improve the characteristics that can manage the network elements having different configurations for each manufacturer by the management agent using the same type of interface.

Claims (11)

In the gateway connecting between the arbitration device and the network element, Establishing a physical connection between the arbitration device and the network element; Establishing a logical connection between the arbitration device and a network element; Establishing, by the gateway, a physical connection between the arbitration device and a network element; Requesting a message transmission from the gateway to the network device; Resuming the interrupted message transmission; Checking a connection state between the arbitration device and a network element; The gateway transmitting a remote MML message to a network device and receiving a result; And And disconnecting the connection. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the gateway creates one socket per port for sending and receiving messages over four ports at the gateway. The process of claim 1, wherein the gateway establishes a physical connection between the arbitration device and a network element. Attempting to connect from the gateway to a network element; Retrying the connection if the connection is not successful even after waiting for the threshold of the connection establishment timer; Waiting for the threshold value of the reconnection establishment timer and generating an alarm if the connection fails again to inform the administrator that there is a software failure in the network device; And Further comprising the step of re-establishing the connection attempt. The process of claim 1, wherein the gateway establishes a logical connection between the arbitration device and a network element. Transmitting a connection request message; Retransmitting the connection request message if the connection request response message is not received even after waiting for the threshold value of the connection request response timer after transmitting the connection request message; Repeating the procedure of waiting twice as much as the threshold of the reconnection request response timer; And And if no connection request response is received after the step, generating an alarm. 5. The method of claim 4, wherein in the generating of the alarm, the network element is notified to the administrator that there is a software failure, a disconnection request message is sent, the socket is closed, and the physical device establishes a physical connection between the arbitration device and the network element again. Interface method between the mediation device and the network element. The process of claim 1, wherein the gateway requests the network device to transmit a message. Sending a message transfer start request message; Retransmitting the message transmission start request message if the message transmission start request response message is not received even after waiting for the threshold of the timer after transmitting the message transmission start request message; Repeating until a message transmission start request response message is received; Checking whether a message is registered when a message is received from a network element; Delivering a message to the registered management object if it is registered; And And if not registered, discarding the message. The method of claim 1, wherein the heartbeat message is periodically transmitted from the gateway to the network element when the message is enabled. 8. The method of claim 7, wherein in the transmission of the heartbeat message, if it is not received even after waiting for the heartbeat message transmission period after transmitting the heartbeat message, it is not received even if the heartbeat message is retransmitted and waited again by the threshold of the heartbeat response timer. Otherwise, an alarm is generated. The method of claim 8, wherein the network device is notified of a software failure due to the alarm and transmits a disconnect request message, and after the socket is closed, the process of reestablishing a physical connection between the arbitration device and the network device is performed again. Interface method between the arbitration device and the network element. 8. The method of claim 7, wherein, in response to the heartbeat message, information of a file and a file pointer currently being transmitted are included in the file name and file pointer field of the heartbeat packet and received and maintained, and a link failure occurs. An interface method between an arbitration device and a network element upon which retransmission is based. The method of claim 1, wherein the gateway delivers a remote MML message to a network device and receives the result. Requesting a managed object to perform an MML command to a gateway; Requesting, by the gateway, to perform an MML command to a network element; Sending, by the gateway, a remote MML request message including an MML command to a network element; When the result of the execution of the MML command is received, delivering, by the gateway, the result of the execution of the MML command to the management object that requested to perform the MML command; And If the result of the execution of the MML command is not received even after waiting by the threshold of the MML response timer, the management object further comprising the step of generating a timeout message.