KR20220127020A - Method and system for 5g network task automation - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for operating a network task automation system. The method includes: a step of setting a network task and at least one network task item forming the network task; a step of registering scripts, which execute the task items from devices for each of the at least one network task item, by a vendor unit of the devices; a step of transmitting the scripts registered by the vendor unit to devices of a corresponding manufacturer; and a step of receiving an execution result of the scripts from the devices. The scripts include commands having a format supported by the manufacturer.

Description

5G network task automation method and system {METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR 5G NETWORK TASK AUTOMATION}

The present invention relates to a method and system for automating 5G network tasks.

Network operators perform various operation tasks by accessing numerous network devices. The operation task is largely divided into the task of inquiring specific information and the task of setting specific information.

As the types of network equipment (eg, PNF (Physical Network Function), VNF (virtual network function), Switch, etc.) and quantity increase and manufacturers diversify in the 5G environment, consistent work is performed with network equipment at once. hard to do This is because each manufacturer has different execution commands, formats, and methods for work items. The method may include NetConf, an application programming interface (API), a command-line interface (CLI), and the like.

Command execution to perform the same work with network devices of different manufacturers must be performed for each device. In the case of existing network equipment, an operator must directly access each equipment and go through a process such as log-in, and then perform tasks such as equipment information inquiry and equipment setting using different CLI commands for each equipment manufacturer.

If equipment, work, or work items from manufacturers that did not exist are added, the system needs to be upgraded.

It is necessary to additionally develop a driver plug-in (PlugIn) suitable for the system for each manufacturer or to develop for the corresponding work inside the system.

The task to be solved is to provide a method and system for automatically performing the same operation on network devices of different manufacturers by flexibly and easily accepting it without system change or additional development even when a new task is added or a new manufacturer's network device is added. will do

According to one feature, there is provided an operating method of a network task automation system operated by at least one processor, the method comprising: setting a network task and at least one network task item constituting the network task; Registering scripts for executing the work item in devices in units of manufacturers of the devices, transmitting scripts generated in units of manufacturers to devices of corresponding manufacturers, and the scripts from the devices and receiving the execution result of the scripts, wherein the scripts include commands in a format supported by the manufacturer.

The step of receiving the execution result includes receiving job execution result data in a different format for each manufacturer, and after receiving the execution result, extracting predefined essential item data from the job execution result data, the extracted It may include converting essential item data into job execution result data in a generalized data format using a regular expression of each manufacturer, and outputting the converted job execution result data to an operator screen.

After receiving the execution result, determining whether a task result included in the execution result satisfies a normal condition, and if the normal condition is satisfied, mapping the accuracy of the work items to the work items The method may further include storing and updating the normal determination condition of the job based on the accuracy.

After the determining, if the normal condition is not met, inquiring at least one work item in the order of accuracy from the work list, and setting the priority of the inquired work item based on the accuracy Further comprising, wherein the network task automation system transmits manufacturer-level scripts to the devices for the inquired work item according to the set priority, and receives the execution results of the scripts from the devices to receive the The operation of determining whether the normal condition is satisfied may be repeated.

After the setting step, based on artificial intelligence technology, based on the number of equipment connected to the device to be worked, the time required for the task, and the priority, the method may further include a step of preferentially executing the task selected from the task list have.

According to another feature of the present invention, a network task automation system includes a communication device for performing communication using a protocol negotiated in advance with a plurality of devices, a memory in which a program for performing network task automation is stored, and at least one processor executing the program including, wherein the at least one processor sets a network task and at least one network work item constituting the network task, and executes the scripts for executing the work item in devices for each of the at least one network work item. Registers the devices by the manufacturer (Vendor) unit, transmits the scripts registered in the manufacturer unit to the device group of the same manufacturer at a predetermined time, receives and stores the execution results of the scripts from the device group, and the stored execution result is , is output to the user's external device.

The processor executes a query operation script including a command execution script, a data extraction script, and a data generalization script in units of the manufacturer, transmits the command execution script to a device to receive a script execution result, and performs the data extraction script Execute to extract determined result data from the script execution result, execute the data generalization script to convert the extracted result data into result data in a common generalized format through a regular expression, and convert the result data in the generalized format to can be saved

The processor may execute a setting work item script of a creation format, a deletion format, and an update format in units of the manufacturer.

The processor sets a condition for determining whether the script execution result is normal or abnormal, sets at least one action task to be performed when it is determined that the script execution result is abnormal according to the set condition, and executes the received scripts If the result is abnormal, a script corresponding to the set at least one action task may be generated, and the generated script may be transmitted to the device.

The processor selects the action actions in the order of priority from the previously set action action list, transmits the script corresponding to the selected action action to the device, and receives the script execution result from the device as a normal script execution result It can be repeated until is received.

The processor determines whether a work result included in the execution result satisfies a normal condition, and if the normal condition is satisfied, maps and stores the accuracy of the work item to the work item, and the accuracy of the work item is, It can be used to prioritize the action tasks.

The processor may update the normal determination condition of the task based on the accuracy.

According to the embodiment, a flexible structure is provided so that a user can perform an operation as defined, and the same operation can be collectively performed on heterogeneous network devices without further development of the system.

1 is a diagram schematically illustrating an operation of a network task automation system according to an embodiment.
2 is a view for explaining the operation of a conventional network task automation system.
3 shows a network task automation system according to an embodiment.
4 is a flowchart illustrating a method for automating a network task according to an embodiment.
5 shows a script execution process according to an embodiment.
6 shows a script execution process according to another embodiment.
7 illustrates a data extraction process according to an embodiment.
8 is an example of work result data according to an embodiment.
9 is an example of work result data according to another embodiment.
10 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of a computing device according to an embodiment.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings, the embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail so that those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains can easily implement them. However, the present invention may be embodied in various different forms and is not limited to the embodiments described herein. And in order to clearly explain the present invention in the drawings, parts irrelevant to the description are omitted, and similar reference numerals are attached to similar parts throughout the specification.

Throughout the specification, when a part "includes" a certain component, it means that other components may be further included, rather than excluding other components, unless otherwise stated.

In addition, terms such as “…unit”, “…group”, “…module”, etc. described in the specification mean a unit that processes at least one function or operation, which may be implemented by hardware or software or a combination of hardware and software. can

The devices described in the present invention are composed of hardware including at least one processor, a memory device, a communication device, and the like, and a program executed in combination with the hardware is stored in a designated place. The hardware has the configuration and capability to implement the method of the present invention. The program includes instructions for implementing the method of operation of the present invention described with reference to the drawings, and is combined with hardware such as a processor and a memory device to execute the present invention.

As used herein, "transmission or provision" may include not only direct transmission or provision, but also transmission or provision indirectly through another device or using a detour path.

In this specification, expressions described in the singular may be construed as singular or plural unless an explicit expression such as “a” or “single” is used.

In this specification, the same reference numbers refer to the same components regardless of the drawings, and "and/or" includes each and every combination of one or more of the referenced components.

In this specification, terms including an ordinal number such as first, second, etc. may be used to describe various elements, but the elements are not limited by the terms. The above terms are used only for the purpose of distinguishing one component from another. For example, without departing from the scope of the present disclosure, a first component may be referred to as a second component, and similarly, a second component may also be referred to as a first component.

In the flowchart described with reference to the drawings in this specification, the order of operations may be changed, several operations may be merged, some operations may be divided, and specific operations may not be performed.

In the specification, a terminal (Terminal/User Equipment) accesses a base station of an Access Network/Radio Access Network (RAN) and uses Network Functions (NFs) of the Core Network. Here, the base station may include an eNB, a gNB, an AP, etc. according to an access network. The terminal may be a terminal of various types and uses, such as a portable terminal, an IoT terminal, a vehicle terminal, a display terminal, a broadcasting terminal, and a game terminal. The devices constituting the network may be implemented by hardware or software or a combination of hardware and software.

Embodiments of the present invention are 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-A, 3GPP2, IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) system, 3GPP such as FS_NextGen (Study on Architecture for Next Generation System). It may be supported by standard documents related to at least one of the 5G systems. That is, steps or parts not described in order to clearly reveal the technical spirit of the present invention among the embodiments of the present invention may be supported by the document. In addition, all terms disclosed in this document may be described by the standard document.

1 is a diagram schematically illustrating an operation of a network operation automation system according to an embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an operation of a conventional network operation automation system.

At this time, since a change of the device 200 is not required in the embodiment of the present invention, the device 200 in FIGS. 1 and 2 uses the same reference numerals, and the network task automation systems 100 and 300 operate Since these are different, reference numerals are used to distinguish them.

Referring to FIG. 1 , a network task automation system 100 according to an embodiment may be a computing device including a communication device, a memory, and at least one processor.

The communication apparatus may perform communication using a protocol negotiated in advance with the plurality of devices 200 . Here, the pre-negotiated communication protocol may include a terminal access method. For example, the terminal access method may include a telnet or Secure Shell (SSH) protocol.

The memory may store a program for performing network task automation. At least one processor executing the program may be a management engine 110 and an automation engine 130 .

The management engine 110 defines the task and the items constituting the task, and the automation engine 130 transmits the work item script registered in the management engine 110 by the operator to the same device group 200 by the manufacturer, Network task automation can be performed in batches.

In this case, the automation engine 130 may transmit the work item script to the devices 200 using a terminal access method basically provided by the devices 200 and receive the result. That is, as long as a work script including a command that can be executed in a specific vendor or manufacturer's device 200 is registered for each work item, batch network task automation is possible regardless of the manufacturer.

On the other hand, referring to FIG. 2 , in the conventional task automation system 300 , a network task to be automatically performed must be developed in the system.

In addition, work items constituting the work should also be defined in the work automation system 300 . When there are multiple work items to be performed for each task, there is a command to execute each work item. That is, it can be work item : command = 1 : (1…N). At this time, a driver program or a plug-in program capable of performing a command corresponding to each work item with the devices 200 of different manufacturers must be installed in the network work automation system 300 .

However, the plug-in program may not support all commands provided by the device 200 . For example, task #1 may consist of item #1 and item #2. In order to perform item #1, each manufacturer has different commands. The device 200 of the manufacturer A is the manufacturer A's command, the manufacturer B's command, the manufacturer C's command, and the manufacturer A's command, the manufacturer B's command, the manufacturer C for performing the item #1. Each of the commands may be required to be executed. The device 200 of the manufacturer A may need to perform the command of the manufacturer A for performing item #1 and the command of the manufacturer B for performing the item #2. Therefore, a plug-in program or a driver program supporting commands for each manufacturer must be installed in the network task automation system 300 .

As such, conventionally, it is necessary to install a separate program supporting a command for each manufacturer, that is, a plug-in or a driver, rather than a work item. In addition, when manufacturer X is added, a plug-in or driver that supports the new command format of manufacturer X must be added.

In addition, when a new task is added, a new task definition and additional development are required in the network task automation system 300 . In addition, since several items are set within one task, when a new item is added, additional development of the new item is required in the network task automation system 300 . At this time, the command to perform the new item to be added must be supported by the plug-in or driver. If it is not supported, a plug-in, driver, or separate program needs to be developed to execute the command. In addition, when a device of a new manufacturer is added, a plug-in or driver supporting a command recognizable by the added device must be installed in the network task automation system 300 .

As such, if the existing plug-in or driver supports the commands for performing the added item or the added manufacturer's command format, only the work item and the manufacturer need to be additionally developed. If not, additional development of the plug-in or driver itself is required. do.

However, as described with reference to FIG. 1 , in the embodiment of the present invention, since the manufacturer's command of the device 200 is accepted only by the operation of registering a script for each task and the task item, a separate program development is not required. In addition, even if a new manufacturer is added, the device 200 of the new manufacturer can be controlled by simply registering the command format of the manufacturer using this.

3 is a view showing a detailed configuration of a network task automation system according to another embodiment, and in particular, the detailed configuration of the management engine 110 and the automation engine 130 of FIG. 1 will be described.

Referring to FIG. 3 , the management engine 110 registers and stores a work item script in units of a vendor at the request of an operator. The automation engine 130 may transmit and execute the work item script for each manufacturer registered in the management engine 110 to the device 200 or the device group 200 of the corresponding manufacturer at a predetermined cycle or a specific time.

The management engine 110 is an engine that sets and/or manages information necessary for network task automation, and may be implemented in the form of a database server. The management engine 110 may manage information set by a user.

The automation engine 130 is connected to a plurality of devices 200 . Here, the plurality of devices 200 may be network devices as a target of a network operation. According to the embodiment, the plurality of devices 200 may include core equipment and base station equipment constituting the 5G network.

The plurality of devices 200 may have different manufacturers even if they perform the same network function. The plurality of devices 200 may have different manufacturers for each device performing different network functions. In the plurality of devices 200 , devices of the same manufacturer may form a group.

The automation engine 130 transmits a script for controlling the device 200 for each manufacturer based on information set by the management engine 110 . The automation engine 130 collects and processes information according to script execution. The automation engine 130 stores the processed information in the database of the management engine 110 . The information stored in the database is provided to the operator through an external device. The external device may be a display device.

The management engine 110 executes a plurality of functions, and the plurality of functions are job management, inquiry command management, setting command management, work item management, parsing rule definition, setting command execution, target equipment management, data generalization definition, database ( DB) management, work item judgment criterion management, action task mapping management for each work item, and work item and judgment criterion optimization management.

Here, the management engine 110 performs task management of registering, modifying, and deleting tasks to be performed on the plurality of devices 200 . The management engine 110 defines an execution type of a task to be performed on the plurality of devices 200 . Execution type may include execution cycle setting and automatic/manual execution setting.

The management engine 110 manages the inquiry command management, and the setting command management manages registration, modification, and deletion of inquiry commands and setting commands for work. In this case, the setting command includes a CREATE command, an UPDATE command, and a DELETE command.

The management engine 110 performs work item management including registration, modification, and deletion of work items constituting the work. The types of work items are divided into queryability items and settable items. The management engine 110 defines a command execution script, a parsing rule script, and a data generalization script when registering an inquiry item. Work commands are defined for each work item. Since work commands are different for each manufacturer and the result of executing the work command is also different for each manufacturer, work items must be defined for each manufacturer. Since the setting commands of the device 200 for each manufacturer are also different, even if the same task is performed, it is necessary to define a work item for each manufacturer in order to perform the corresponding task. Accordingly, work item management includes management of work items for each manufacturer.

The management engine 110 performs parsing rule definition. Parsing rule definition is a function of defining a regular expression to extract data required for each job from the result of executing the job command. Here, the regular expression refers to a formal language used to express a set of strings with specific rules.

The management engine 110 performs setting command execution management. Setting command execution includes management functions such as registering, modifying, and deleting setting command scripts.

The management engine 110 registers a CREATE command format, a DELETE command format, and an UPDATE command format script when registering a setting item.

The management engine 110 performs target equipment management. Target device management includes management of registering, modifying, and deleting information of network devices as work targets.

The management engine 110 performs data generalization definition. The data generalization definition includes a function to define the data generalization format to provide the work command execution result in a unified form.

The management engine 110 may maintain and manage a separate database. The database stores information necessary for the operation of the management engine 110 and the automation engine 130 . At this time, the database according to the operation of the management engine 110, that is, inquiry command management, setting command management, work item management, parsing rule definition, setting command execution, target equipment management, data generalization definition, work item determination criteria management, It is possible to store each piece of information according to the action action mapping management for each work item, and optimization of the work item and judgment criteria.

The management engine 110 manages work item determination criteria, manages action work mapping for each work item, and optimizes work items and determination criteria. In this case, the management engine 110 may perform management according to the request or control of the automation engine 130 .

Management of work item judgment criteria includes management such as registration, correction, and deletion of conditions for judging normal and abnormal from the work execution result. Action task mapping management for each work item includes management of mapping action tasks when it is determined that the task execution result is abnormal. Optimization of work items and judgment criteria includes management of optimizing the work items and normal/abnormal judgment conditions by updating the corresponding work items and normal/abnormal judgment conditions after executing the action work on the abnormal work execution result.

When the user selects or inputs a queryable work item through the user interface device, the management engine 110 may perform work item management, query command management, parsing rule definition, and data generalization definition.

When a user selects or inputs a settable work item through the user interface device, the management engine 110 may perform work item management, setting command management, and setting command execution management.

The automation engine 130 executes a job script for controlling the device 200 for each manufacturer based on the database information of the management engine 110 and in conjunction with the management engine 110 . In addition, the automation engine 130 collects and processes information according to the execution of the job script.

The automation engine 130 performs a plurality of functions, and the plurality of functions may include a script scheduler, script execution, data extraction, and data generalization.

The automation engine 130 executes the job command script, and inputs the job command to be performed. The automation engine 130 executes the parsing rule script, and when selecting a part to be extracted from the result of executing the job command, it is written as a regular expression. The automation engine 130 executes the data generalization script, and writes the extracted data in a generalized format for storing in the database.

The automation engine 130 performs script scheduling based on scheduling information according to the job management of the management engine 110 .

The automation engine 130 transmits and executes an operation command to the device 200 using a terminal connection method provided by the device 200, which is a network operation target, without a separate device, and executes the operation command and receives the result.

The automation engine 130 extracts only desired data from the received result and determines whether the extracted data is normal or abnormal according to a determination criterion defined for each work item or not.

When the job result is normal, the job result stored in the management engine 110 may be provided to the user.

When the work result is abnormal, the automation engine 130 may automatically perform the action tasks defined for each work item to successfully complete the work.

Also, according to the job success rate, the management engine 110 may optimize a preset normal/abnormal determination criterion to provide a high job success rate. In this case, in the case of a criterion for determining the range of numbers, continuous optimization can be performed so that a high success rate can be achieved through a small value change.

In addition, when the job result is abnormal, the management engine 110 inquires the action to be performed on the target job at the request of the automation engine 130 and provides the inquiry result. The automation engine 130 automatically executes the action task script inquired by the management engine 110, extracts necessary data from the execution result, generalizes it, and stores it in the database.

The automation engine 130 executes the accuracy calculation and judgment criterion optimization according to the action task result. The automation engine 130 applies the judgment criterion optimized according to the accuracy.

The work items defined by the management engine 110 are executed for the device 200 as a work target in units of work. The defined task is delivered to the automation engine 130 , and each command is executed by connecting to the device 200 with telnet or Secure Shell (SSH) protocol based on the connection information of the device 200 , and the result is obtained from the device 200 . is received That is, the registered job information is transmitted to the script scheduler of the automation engine 130 according to the execution method. The script scheduler of the automation engine 130 is executed periodically/manually according to the execution method. The automation engine 130 executes the command of the defined script in the device 200 to receive the execution result. Then, the automation engine 130 extracts necessary data from the execution result according to the parsing rule defined by the regular expression. And after generalizing the extracted data to manage it as the same type of data, it is stored in the database.

In addition, the automation engine 130 performs script scheduling to dynamically execute the command execution script registered in the management engine 110 to the device 200 . The automation engine 130 executes the setting command script to the device 200 .

The automation engine 130 processes the job execution results, such as report alarms and statistical failure information, and registers them in the database of the management engine 110 .

4 shows a network task automation process according to an embodiment, FIG. 5 shows a script execution process according to an embodiment, FIG. 6 shows a script execution process according to another embodiment, and FIG. 7 shows an embodiment A data extraction process will be described in accordance with FIG. 8 is an example of job result data according to an embodiment, and FIG. 9 is an example of job result data according to another embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 4 , the management engine 110 of the network task automation system 100 sets tasks and task items ( S101 ). For example, the task may include an inspection report of 5G core equipment, and may include an SMF inspection report, a UPF inspection report, an AMF inspection report, and the like. One task consists of at least one work item. For example, the UPF inspection report may include a UPF traffic information collection work item.

The management engine 110 creates a task according to a user request or user input, defines a task grouped into a plurality of task items, and may set a task name, an execution method (cycle/manual), and target equipment. For example, when generating the AMF inspection report task, the management engine 110 may set the execution cycle to once a day and designate the work target equipment as manufacturer A_AMF or manufacturer B_AMF.

The management engine 110 sets a condition for determining whether the work result is normal or abnormal, and an action task when it is abnormal (S103). For example, if the work item is UPF traffic information collection, the management engine 110 may set a normal or abnormal condition when the collected UPF traffic is below a certain level. Also, when the UPF traffic increases, the management engine 110 may set a call detour operation for the national AMF for call detour to another station as an action task. In this case, it is possible to delete the SMF interworking with the corresponding UPF from the existing AMF and set alternative SMF information to interwork again.

The management engine 110 may set an inspection standard, that is, a normal condition/abnormal condition for each work item, and the automation engine 130 may generate a work result report according to the set standard. For example, if the CPU usage rate for 5 minutes is less than 70%, it is normal, and if it is higher than 70%, it may be set to abnormal.

The automation engine 130 executes a script for each work item (S105).

The automation engine 130 may periodically automatically execute a script composed of a command for each work item and a parser script to parse the information to be reported according to a setting or manually according to a user input.

According to an embodiment, the inquiry work item script may include a command execution script, a data extraction script, and a data generalization script.

Command execution script consists of commands for work items with target equipment. The data extraction script may include regular expressions for extracting necessary data from the command execution result. The data generalization script may be configured in a format for generalizing the extracted data for the heterogeneous device 200. A manufacturer command for each work item may be defined as shown in Table 1.

work item Manufacturer A_AMF command Manufacturer B_AMF command Port status inquiry RTRV-PORT-STS show port table Link node status inquiry RTRV-NE-STS show egtpc peers

Referring to FIG. 5 , the automation engine 130 extracts essential data P11 from the result data P1 of executing the command script of the port state inquiry (Port state inquiry) operation for the AMF of the manufacturer A. The automation engine 130 may process the extracted essential data P11 into generalized metadata P5 using the regular expression P3 and store it in the database.

Referring to FIG. 6 , the automation engine 130 extracts essential data P71 from the result data P7 of executing the command script of the port state inquiry (Port state inquiry) operation for the AMF of the manufacturer B. The automation engine 130 may process the extracted essential data P71 into generalized metadata P11 using the regular expression P9 and store it in the database.

Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6 , although essential data P11 and P71 extracted as result data P1 and P7 are different for each manufacturer, they are processed through regular expressions and processed into generalized data. In this case, the generalized data format is the same for all manufacturers.

According to an embodiment, the setting work item script may include a CREATE format, a DELETE format, and an UPDATE format. The CREATE format includes a command format for making new settings. The DELETE format includes a command format for erasing existing settings. The update (UPDATE) format includes a command format for changing an existing setting to a new setting.

As such, the type of operation is defined as a settable operation and a queryability operation. Accordingly, the automation engine 130 automatically executes a setting operation script composed of setting commands or an inquiry operation script composed of inquiry commands.

In order to perform the same setting work with all manufacturer's equipment, setting work item scripts for each manufacturer must be defined separately. For example, in the case of VLAN creation, manufacturer A's command is "CREATE vlan_id: 10", and manufacturer B's command has different command formats, such as "vlan 10". Therefore, a VLAN creation task item for manufacturer A is defined (A_VLAN_creation) and a VLAN creation task for manufacturer B is defined (B_VLAN_creation). Each work item is defined as an item of VLAN creation work. When the operator executes the VLAN creation operation, the A_VLAN_create/B_VLAN_creation operation items are actually performed. Conventionally, it is necessary to develop a separate program supporting each command format for each manufacturer, that is, a plug-in program or a driver program. can do.

The automation engine 130 executes a script for each work item (S107). That is, by using the script for each work item generated in S105, the script is transmitted and executed to the device 200, which is the target equipment. For example, the automation engine 130 may execute a script for inquiring (Show cpu table) the CPU usage rate of the AMF of the manufacturer A.

The automation engine 130 periodically performs a script of the defined task and task items, extracts necessary data from the result, and generalizes it (S109). For example, UPF traffic information can be extracted and stored in a database. The automation engine 130 may parse only the 5-minute average CPU usage rate P13 in the show cpu table of FIG. 7 .

The automation engine 130 generates work result data based on the data generalized in S109 for each work item (S109). That is, the automation engine 130 extracts each essential data from the work performance result data for each manufacturer and converts it into generalized metadata, as in the examples described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6 .

The automation engine 130 generates job result data based on the generalized metadata (S111), and stores it in the database. The job result data may be in the form of a report.

The automation engine 130 determines whether the job result data stored in the database meets the normal conditions (S113).

In a normal case, the job result data stored in the DB of the management engine 110 may be output (S115) to the outside through the connected user interface device so that the operator can check. The work result data output to the outside may be configured as in the examples shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 .

The automation engine 130 may determine whether the execution task is an action task (S117), and if it is an action task, update the accuracy of the action task items (S119). The automation engine 130 may optimize the normal/abnormal determination condition according to the action result by reflecting the accuracy updated in S119 (S121). That is, it is possible to reflect the judgment condition optimized for the corresponding task.

On the other hand, if it is determined that the automation engine 130 does not satisfy the normal condition in S113, that is, when it is determined that it is abnormal, it is determined whether the currently executed task is an action task (S123). If it is determined that the action task is taken, the automation engine 130 may update the abnormal accuracy for the action task items ( S125 ).

The automation engine 130 inquires the action actions in the order of high accuracy from the action action list of the corresponding job (S127), sets the job priority according to the accuracy (S129), and then performs from S105. In this case, in S129 , the work items with low accuracy may be excluded from the corresponding work depending on whether there is a related work item in the work. In other words, work items can be automatically adjusted. That is, the automation engine 130 repeats the action tasks according to the priority until the normal condition is satisfied.

In addition, if it is determined that the action is not the action in S117 and S123, the step is ended.

As described above, network task automation can be applied to 5G core network control. In other words, if a failure occurs in the SMF of manufacturer A, call detour can be automatically taken.

At this time, the call detour operation changes the control data processing to another SMF when a problem occurs in the SMF that processes control data such as billing, or a new SMF is added or removed, and these settings are performed in the AMF. The SMF for processing the control data of the corresponding UPF can be changed. Manufacturer A's AMF is adjusted by CAPA value, and CISCO AMF can add and delete SMF information, and data is transmitted as it reattaches to a new SMF.

A case in which the network task automation described in FIGS. 1 to 9 is applied to the faulty task of the SMF will be described as an example.

1) First, the management engine 110 defines tasks and work items. For example, the management engine 110 defines the task of collecting node state information of SMF of manufacturer A, and the work item is defined as extracting state information from the command (RTRV-NODE-STS) for inquiring node state information. can In this case, the node state information may include node name (NODE), operation state (ACT_STS), manager state (ADM_STS), operation state (OPR_STS), service state (SVC_STS) information, and the like.

2) When the defined work item is executed, the management engine 110 sets a condition for determining whether the work and the performance result of the work item are normal/abnormal. For example, the management engine 110 may define normal or abnormal when ACT_STS of the extracted data is Active/Standby or OPR_STS is ENABLE. Condition setting is largely divided into 8 categories, and may include data presence, data number comparison, data difference, inequality and 4th rule operation with comparison target data, data equality or not, conditional statement setting, and the like.

3) The management engine 110 may define tasks to take action when abnormal according to conditions. When there is a problem with the SMF, the management engine 110 may define a call detour operation for the national AMF for call detour to other offices. That is, before taking the action of the problematic SMF, the AMF setting can be changed for service continuity, and the problematic SMF action can be performed after the continuous service is provided. For example, SMF actions such as system restart can be performed.

In this case, the management engine 110 may inquire and store the new SMF information to be changed. Commands executed in AMF whose manufacturer is CISCO consist of three command groups. In the case of the existing SMF information deletion work item, the command may include parameter SMF consisting of an SMF deletion command in APN-Profile, an SMF deletion command in LTE-EMERGENCY, and an SMF deletion command in TAIDB. For the new SMF information addition work item, the command may include a parameter new SMF consisting of adding SMF in APN-Profile, adding SMF in LTE-EMERGENCY, and adding SMF in TAIDB. At this time, the new SMF selection is selected according to the priority.

In addition, a command executed in AMF whose manufacturer is Samsung consists of one command, and there is a command (CHANGE-SMF-CAPA) for controlling CAPA in the SMF group. This command includes a parameter SMF for changing the CAPA value of the existing SMF to a low value and a parameter new SMF for changing the CAPA value of the new SMF to a high value.

In addition, the management engine 110 defines a system restart operation of the SMF. The management engine 110 may define restart tasks for physical servers and virtual machines (VMs) of the SMF.

In addition, the management engine 110 can define other tasks, considering the task impact (the number of equipment connected to the work equipment) / work time / task priority to make a comprehensive judgment on the current situation using artificial intelligence (AI) It can be defined to take precedence and select the best action to take.

The automation engine 130 periodically performs the tasks and work items defined by the management engine 110 and extracts necessary data from the results. The automation engine 130 may perform a task of collecting node state information of the SMF. When ACT_STS of the data extracted from the node state information collected by the automation engine 130 is Active and OPR_STS is ENABLE, it is determined as normal, and when ACT_STS is Standby and OPR_STS is not ENABLE, it can be determined as abnormal.

The automation engine 130 compares the extracted data with defined normal/abnormal determination criteria. At this time, the extracted data is character string or numeric data, and in case of character data, a comparison operator is performed, and in case of numeric data, normal/abnormal can be determined by comparing with a reference value through four rules.

In a normal case, the automation engine 130 may update the priority of the action work items to be high when the current execution task is an action. In the case of abnormality, the automation engine 130 may update the priority of the action work items to a low level if the current execution task is an action. In the action action list of the corresponding action, the action action of the next priority is periodically performed and the necessary data is extracted from the result.

In addition, for work items of low priority, the work items are automatically adjusted by excluding them from the work according to the presence or absence of related work items in the work.

The series of network task automation described above is not limited to the SMF failure task, and may be commonly applied to a plurality of network tasks.

Meanwhile, the network task automation system described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 9 may be implemented as a computing device as shown in FIG. 10 .

10 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of a computing device according to an embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 10 , the network task automation system 100 described in FIGS. 1 to 9 may be implemented as a computing device 400 , and a computer including instructions to execute the operations of the present disclosure. can run the program.

The hardware of the computing device 400 may include at least one processor 410 , a memory 420 , a storage 430 , and a communication device 440 , and may be connected through a bus. A computer program includes instructions described to carry out the operations of the present disclosure. The computer program may be stored in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium.

The processor 410 is a device for controlling the operation of the network task automation system 100, and may be various types of processors that process instructions included in a computer program, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), MPU (Central Processing Unit) It may be a micro processor unit), a micro controller unit (MCU), a graphic processing unit (GPU), or the like. The memory 420 stores various data, commands and/or information.

The memory 420 may load a corresponding computer program from the storage 430 so that the instructions described to execute the operations of the present disclosure are processed by the processor 410 .

The memory 420 may be, for example, read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), or the like.

The storage 430 may store various data, computer programs, and the like required to execute the operations of the present disclosure. The storage 430 may non-temporarily store a computer program. The storage 430 may be implemented as a non-volatile memory.

The setting information of the management engine 110 and the job execution result data received and processed by the automation engine 130 may be stored in a designated place of the storage 430 .

The communication device 440 may be a wired/wireless communication module. The communication apparatus 440 may communicate with a plurality of devices ( 200 in FIGS. 1 to 9 ) using a protocol previously agreed upon.

At this time, the memory 420 may store a program including instructions for driving the management engine 110 and the automation engine 130 described in FIGS. 1 to 9 , respectively, and the program is executed by at least one processor. .

The processor 410 sets the network task and at least one network work item constituting the network task, and registers scripts for executing the work item in devices for each at least one network work item in units of vendors of devices. can

The processor 410 may transmit scripts registered in units of manufacturers to the device group 200 of the same manufacturer at a predetermined time, receive execution results of the scripts from the device group 200, and store the scripts in the storage 430 . In this case, the execution result stored in the storage 430 may be output to an external device.

The processor 410 may execute an inquiry task script including a command execution script, a data extraction script, and a data generalization script for each manufacturer.

The processor 410 may transmit a command execution script to the device 200 to receive a script execution result.

The processor 410 may execute the data extraction script to extract determined result data from the script execution result.

The processor 410 may convert the result data extracted by executing the data generalization script into result data in a common generalized format through a regular expression, and store the result data in the generalized format in the storage 430 .

The processor 410 may execute a setting work item script of a creation format, a deletion format, and an update format in units of manufacturers.

The processor 410 may set a condition for determining whether the script execution result is normal or abnormal, and may set at least one action task to be performed when it is determined as abnormal according to the set condition. In this case, if the execution results of the received scripts are abnormal, the processor 410 may generate a script corresponding to at least one set action task, and transmit the generated script to the device 200 .

The processor 410 selects the action actions in the order of priority from the pre-set action action list, and transmits the script corresponding to the selected action action to the device 200 to receive the script execution result from the device 200 This operation can be repeated until a normal script execution result is received.

The processor 410 may determine whether a job result included in the script execution result satisfies a normal condition, and when the normal condition is satisfied, the processor 410 may map the accuracy of the work item to the work item and store it. The processor 410 may update the normal determination condition of the task based on the accuracy mapped to the work item. In this case, the accuracy of the work item may be used for the priority of the action task.

A computer program including instructions for executing the operations of the present disclosure described above is stored in a medium readable by the computing device, and the medium readable by the computing device may be a removable recording medium or a fixed recording medium. The computer program may be transmitted to another computing device through a network such as the Internet, installed in the other computing device, and executed.

The embodiment of the present invention described above is not implemented only through the apparatus and method, but may be implemented through a program for realizing a function corresponding to the configuration of the embodiment of the present invention or a recording medium in which the program is recorded.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto. is within the scope of the right.

Claims (12)

A method of operating a network task automation system operated by at least one processor, comprising:
setting a network operation and at least one network operation item constituting the network operation;
registering scripts for executing the work item in devices for each of the at least one network work item in units of vendors of the devices;
Transmitting the scripts generated by the manufacturer to the devices of the corresponding manufacturer, and
Receiving execution results of the scripts from the devices,
The scripts are
A method comprising instructions in a format supported by the manufacturer. In claim 1,
Receiving the execution result comprises:
Receives job execution result data in different formats for each manufacturer,
After receiving the execution result,
extracting predefined essential item data from the job execution result data;
Converting the extracted essential item data to the job execution result data in a generalized data format using the regular expression of each manufacturer, and
Outputting the converted job execution result data to an operator screen
A method further comprising: In claim 1,
After receiving the execution result,
determining whether the task result included in the execution result satisfies a normal condition; and
If the normal condition is satisfied, mapping the accuracy of the work items to the work items, storing the mapping, and updating the normal determination condition of the work based on the accuracy
A method further comprising: In claim 3,
After the step of determining,
If the normal condition is not satisfied, inquiring at least one work item in the order of accuracy from the work list, and setting the priority of the inquired work item based on the accuracy,
The network task automation system,
Repeat the operation of transmitting manufacturer unit scripts to the devices for the inquired work item according to the set priority, and determining whether the normal condition is satisfied by receiving the execution results of the scripts from the devices How to. In claim 4,
After the setting step,
A step of preferentially executing a task selected from the task list based on the number of equipment connected to the device as the task target, the time required for the task, and the priority based on artificial intelligence technology
A method further comprising: A communication device for performing communication using a protocol negotiated in advance with a plurality of devices,
a memory in which programs for performing network task automation are stored;
at least one processor executing the program;
the at least one processor,
Setting a network task and at least one network work item constituting the network task, and registering scripts for executing the work item in devices for each of the at least one network work item in units of vendors of the devices,
The scripts registered for each manufacturer are transmitted to a device group of the same manufacturer at a predetermined time, and the execution results of the scripts are received and stored from the device group,
The stored execution result is
A network task automation system that is output to the user's external device. In claim 6,
The processor is
Executing a query operation script including a command execution script, a data extraction script, and a data generalization script for each manufacturer,
Send the command execution script to the device to receive the script execution result,
Execute the data extraction script to extract determined result data from the script execution result,
Execute the data generalization script to convert the extracted result data into result data in a common generalized format through a regular expression,
and storing the result data in the generalized format. In claim 6,
The processor is
A network operation automation system that executes the setting work item script of the creation format, the deletion format, and the update format on a per-manufacturer basis. In claim 6,
The processor is
setting a condition for determining whether the script execution result is normal or abnormal, and setting at least one action task to be performed when it is determined as abnormal according to the set condition,
If the execution result of the received scripts is abnormal, generating a script corresponding to the set at least one action task, and transmitting the generated script to a device, a network task automation system. In claim 9,
The processor is
Select action actions in the order of priority from the list of action actions set in advance, and send the script corresponding to the selected action action to the device to receive the script execution result from the device until the normal script execution result is received. Repetitive, networked task automation system. In claim 10,
The processor is
It is determined whether the work result included in the execution result satisfies a normal condition, and when the normal condition is satisfied, the accuracy of the work item is mapped to the work item and stored,
The accuracy of the work item is,
A network task automation system used for prioritizing the action task. In claim 11,
The processor is
and updating a normal determination condition of the job based on the accuracy.

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