WO2011047733A1

WO2011047733A1 - Method and system for management of network elements

Info

Publication number: WO2011047733A1
Application number: PCT/EP2009/063960
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ronan Barrett
Original assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget Lm Ericsson (Publ)
Priority date: 2009-10-23
Filing date: 2009-10-23
Publication date: 2011-04-28

Abstract

A method of managing network elements in a communications network having network elements built on different platforms. The method comprises selecting (202) in data models of the network elements commands for performing a task common across a group of network elements, transforming (204) the selected commands from the data models into a command in a common information model, recording (206) the relationship between a command in said information model and corresponding commands in the data models and presenting (208) to a network engineer a command line interface linked to the commands stored in the information model. A command selected by the network engineer via the command line interface is translated using the stored relationship information into a command from a data model of the target network element.

Description

Method and System for Management of Network Elements

Technical Field

The present invention relates to communications networks, in general, and in particular to a method and a system for managing a communications network with network elements built on different platforms.

Background

Traditionally network engineers have to manage network elements in different ways depending on the platform that the network element is built on. The network engineers when using a Command Line Interface (CLI) to manage network elements have to learn a separate set of CLI commands for every network element built on a different platform. The CLI presents a direct view of the network element's data model and exposes the network engineer to platform specific variances. These variances, specifically for common tasks performed across many network elements, force the network engineer to learn different CLI commands for many different network element platforms. For example the CLI exposed by radio elements is different from the CLI for broadband network elements. The command line interfaces of network elements are linked directly to data models of their corresponding network elements, making a common CLI difficult or even impossible to design and build across a number of different network element platforms.

When a command line interface is linked to a data model of an individual platform then the CLI is specific to this individual platform as it is illustrated in Fig. 1 where the CLI used by the network engineer is linked to only one data model and many different CLIs exist in the network. In a very complex communications network the CLI looks different on every platform and the network engineers have to learn and use many different CLI commands for the same task, which makes their work more difficult and less effective. Summary

It is the object of the present invention to obviate at least some of the above disadvantages and provide an improved method and system for managing a

communications network.

Accordingly, the invention seeks to preferably mitigate, alleviate or eliminate one or more of the disadvantages mentioned above singly or in any combination.

According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of managing network elements in a communications network where at least some of the network elements are built on different platforms. The method comprises selecting in data models of the network elements commands for performing a task common across a group of network elements built on said different platforms and transforming the selected commands from the data models of said group of network elements into a command in a common information model. The method further comprises recording the relationship between a command in said common information model and corresponding commands in the data models of the network elements. A network engineer is given access to a command line interface linked to the commands stored in the information model, wherein a command available via said command line interface and selected by the network engineer is translated using the stored relationship information into a command from a data model of the target network element for execution on said target network element.

According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a network management system for managing network elements in a communications network where at least part of the network elements are built on different platforms. The network management system comprises a plurality of data models of the network elements, a common information model and a table. The table stores relationships between commands in the information model and commands in the data models. A command stored in the common information model is transformed from a plurality of commands for performing a task common across a group of network elements built on said different platforms and stored in different data models. The network management system further comprises a command line interface linked to the commands stored in the information model, wherein a command available via said command line interface and selected by the network engineer is translated using the stored relationship information into a command from a data model of the target network element for execution at said target network element. Further features of the present invention are as claimed in the dependent claims.

The present invention provides the benefit of simplified integration of new network elements into a network management system of a communications network when the network elements are built on platforms different than the ones already present in the network. Operation of the network management system is simplified because there is a set of common commands to be used by the network engineer rather than a number of sets of commands specific to individual platforms. The present invention in its embodiments is easy to implement and can be deployed across whole network because it is backward compatible with existing network elements and platforms.

Brief description of the drawings

The present invention will be understood and appreciated more fully from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating implementation of a command line interface in managing network elements known in the art;

Fig. 2 and Fig. 2A are diagrams illustrating a method of managing network elements in a communications network in one embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating a network management system for managing network elements in a communications network in one embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed description

The present invention in its embodiments provides for a method and a network management system in which particular functions of a group of network elements operating in a communications network can be managed in a generic way.

The command line interface used today by a network engineer is linked to a data model of a particular network element.

In Fig. 1 it is illustrated how the network engineer is exposed directly to the data model of the network element. At any given moment the CLI interfaces only one data model and in this scenario it is very difficult to use a universal set of commands for managing all network elements because all network element platforms have different data models.

A data model is a concrete representation of how the network element is implemented with respect to platforms and protocols in the network. A data model defines data elements and relationships among data elements for the particular platform the network element is built on. Network elements built on a particular platform

(hardware and software) have a data model specific to this particular platform. Data models consider managed object classes at an implementation level. For example a data model of platform A might differ from a data model for platform B. The names and the structure of the managed object classes are direct representations of how the network element will understand them. Essentially, data models have a one to one mapping with the data structures of the network elements they model. The level of detail defined in this model is high as it must express every data structure on a network element that can be managed. The expressiveness of the model is restricted by the platform, protocols and data formats on the network element that is being modelled. From the Object Management Group's (OMG) Model Driven Architecture (MDA) perspective data model is a Platform Specific Model (PSM).

By linking the command line interface to an information model that is platform independent, as it is suggested by the inventor of the present invention, the CLI is no longer specific to the one platform. Information model is abstract or conceptual model of a system. Information model considers managed object classes at a conceptual level, independent from any platform, protocol or implementation specific details. For example, whether the system runs on platform A or platform B it is irrelevant at this level. The detail defined in this model is limited to what is common across all the devices one wish to manage. The expressiveness of an information model is restricted only by the tool and language used to define it. For example, if UML (Unified

Modelling Language) was used, inheritance would most likely feature in the model. From the OMG's MDA perspective information models are Platform Independent Models (PIM). With reference to Fig. 2 and Fig. 2A one embodiment of a method of managing network elements in a communications network is presented. The communications network comprises network elements built on different platforms. In a real life network, with a large number of network elements there are groups of network elements that are built on the same platform and in consequence there is a number of platforms that co- exist in this network. There are tasks that are common across different platforms.

Examples of such common tasks are logging, backup, recovery, license management, alarm management, performance management, equipment management, etc. Although some tasks are common the commands for performing these tasks are not common across the platforms. In some situations a task is performed using a simple command on one platform and a corresponding task on a different platform requires a series (or batch) of commands to be executed. In the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 2 and Fig. 2A the method comprises selecting 202 in data models of the network elements commands for performing a task common across a group of network elements built on said different platforms. In the following step the selected commands are transformed 204 into a command in a common information model. The relationship between a command in the common information model and corresponding commands in the data models of the network elements is recorded 206 in a dedicated table. With the common

information model comprising commands translated from commands in large number of data models a network engineer is given access 208 to a command line interface that is linked to the commands stored in the information model rather than to commands in data models. A command available via the command line interface and selected 210 by the network engineer is translated 212 using the relationship information stored in the dedicated table into a command or a series of commands from a data model of the target network element for execution on said target network element. When the command is selected by the network engineer he also identifies the target network element (or a group of target network elements). Finally, the command is executed 214 on said target network element. In some embodiments it may be necessary to have the common task represented in the common information model by a complex command comprising a series of simple commands. The benefit of the operation will be present anyway because the resulting command, whether simple or complex, will be applicable to various platforms present in the network.

In a preferred embodiment commands associated with tasks that are specific to only one network element or only one platform are also stored in the common information model. In this way the command line interface is linked only to the common information model. The commonality of tasks can be grouped in a number of ways, depending on embodiment of the present invention.

In one embodiment tasks which are common across all product platforms, such as logging, backup, recovery, license management, alarm management, performance management and equipment management can be grouped. All these tasks can be presented to the system engineer in a common way across all supported platforms.

Alternatively or in addition to the embodiment above commonality within a specific product range can be used to group the commands that are to be translated into a command in the information model. For example, if three radio technologies, GSM, 3G and LTE are considered then each of them provides a different way of creating radio cells. The same task, but different commands. The information model can unify this process across all radio platforms. The same approach can be used for setting radio, transport and physical parameters on the radio network.

In yet another embodiment in the step of selecting commands commonality can be based on technology or platform the equipment was built on. In this embodiment wireline network elements can be considered, where many different platforms provide the same configuration parameters, with different CLI views. For example DSL access equipment from one supplier (manufacturer) will provide the network engineer with a different CLI to DSL access equipment supplied by another manufacturer.

The common information model insulates the network engineer from the data model by having the CLI to interact with the common information model. This information model is complimented with transformations which map between the generic structures defined at the information model level to the actual network element data model structures at the data model level. A transform function is required for every target platform.

The present invention in its embodiments introduces a new level of indirection to provide the engineer with a common view of all network elements. This indirection is managed in the Operational Support System (OSS) layer. The common information model stores the generic commands that correspond to some more specific commands or sets of commands in the data models. In order to implement the embodiments of the present invention the information model, data models and transformations between the two must be provided at network element design time. However, in order for the network to operate in accordance with embodiments of the present invention a command selected by the network engineer via the command line interface must be translated into corresponding command or set of commands at the target network element in runtime. To achieve the transformation of the commands from the data models into a command in the common information model each of the plurality of commands is individually coded to encapsulate divergence between how the command is recorded in its data model and how its corresponding command is recorded in the common information model. The coded transformations between commands in the data models and a command in the common information model are stored in a table within the OSS and this, as explained earlier, must be provided at network element design time. The table (and transformations) is not changed during normal operation. It is only changed when a new network element is to be supported and additional transforms are required. In this way the network engineer selects a command at the CLI to be executed at a specific network element and the OSS directs the command to the table storing the coded transformations. Based on the relationship stored in the table a corresponding command or set of commands from the data model representing the target network element is selected and executed at the target network element. For example, one Managed Object Class (MOC) may appear in a specific place in the information model but appear in a different place in the data model. The transformation enables this adaptation to be handled at runtime. In fact, more complex adaptations are possible as one MOC in the information model could be related to a number of MOCs in the data model. At runtime the creation of the MO (Managed Object) in the information model may result in creation of many data model MOs. For example, turning on a performance management counter in one radio network element may require setting attributes on a number of MOs, while in other radio network elements it might be a simple attribute change on one MO. The approach discussed in the embodiments of the present invention simplifies the process as much as possible to make the CLI as simple and as common as possible for the network engineer, by exposing the least complex interface. When batches or sets of commands, for setting MOs, can be abstracted in a common way it will be exposed to the network engineer via the information model based CLI as one command via the common information model or at least as a reduced set of commands.

In one embodiment there is one table for storing the transformations between the commands in the data models and in the common information model. In alternative embodiments there may be more than one table for storing these transformations. For example there may be one table for each network element or one table for each platform. A full mapping between the common information model and the data models is obtained by considering the semantics of the commands. For example UML behavioural diagrams are often used to describe the interaction between different parts of an information model for a given use case. One specific example might be the

configuration of IP on a switch. Two different platforms may have different sequences for defining the configuration of IP on a switch, but they both have the same goal and require the same configuration information. From these behavioural diagrams the semantics of the operation can be derived. Of course different data models will require different sequences of operations to be performed. The embodiments of the present invention enable the platform specific behaviour to be defined at the information model level. This behaviour will then be mapped using a transformation to the appropriate data model constructs.

Transformations that are stored in the tables 316 - 320 define the links between the generic information model behaviour and the platform specific data model.

In a preferred embodiment the command line interface network feature can be implemented using a database within the OSS to store the information models, data models and the transformation between the two. Every time a new network element is modelled the OSS is given the three modelling artefacts, the network element defined in terms of the common information model, the target platform data model and the transformation between the two. These artefacts will be used to generate only once a mapping between the specific entry in the common information model and the target platform data model.

Fig. 3 illustrates a network management system 300 in one embodiment of the present invention. The network management system manages network elements 302 - 306 in a communications network where at least part of the network elements are built on different platforms. The network management system 300 comprises a plurality of data models 308 - 312 of the network elements 302 - 306, a common information model 314 and tables 316 - 320 or only one table in alternative embodiments. The tables 316 - 320 store relationships between commands in the common information model 314 and commands in the data models 308 - 312 of individual network elements. A command stored in the common information model 314 is transformed from a plurality of commands for performing a task common across a group of network elements 302 - 306 built on said different platforms and stored in separate data models 308 - 312. The network management system 300 further comprises a command line interface 322 linked to the commands stored in the information model 314. By linking the command line interface 322 to the common information model 314 a command selected by the network engineer 324 is translated using the relationship information stored in one of the tables 316 - 320 into a command from a data model 312 of the target network element 306 for execution on this target network element. This command is finally executed at said target network element 306.

When the present invention is implemented in one of its embodiments the command line interface will offer the same way of performing common tasks across all network element platform types, for example radio based tasks will be performed the same way as broadband tasks, for the common set of tasks. This is achieved by implementing a network feature that insulates the network engineer from the data model. Previously the network engineer would use the command line interface tool to directly manage the network element via its data model. In embodiments of this invention a new level of indirection provides the engineer with a common view, using the information model (Platform Independent Model), of all network elements. This indirection is managed by an Operational Support System (OSS) layer.

The CLI seen by the network engineer is now a view on the information model, rather than the data model. By tying the CLI to the information model the CLI is no longer tied to the platform specific data model view. This means the CLI will offer the same way to perform common tasks across all network element platform types.

Claims

1. A method of managing network elements in a communications network where at least some of the network elements are built on different platforms, the method comprising selecting (202) in data models of the network elements commands for performing a task common across a group of network elements built on said different platforms; transforming (204) the selected commands from the data models of said group of network elements into a command in a common information model;

recording (206) the relationship between a command in said information model and corresponding commands in the data models of the network elements;

presenting (208) to a network engineer a command line interface linked to the commands stored in the information model, wherein a command available via said command line interface and selected by the network engineer is translated using the stored relationship information into a command from a data model of the target network element for execution on said target network element.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein commands for performing tasks that are specific to only one network element or only one platform are also stored in the common information model.

3. The method according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein in the step of selecting commands for performing tasks common across all network elements are selected.

4. The method according to any one of preceding claims, wherein in the step of selecting commands for performing tasks common across a specific product range are selected.

5. The method according to any one of preceding claims, wherein in the step of selecting commands for performing tasks common across a specific platform are selected.

6. The method according to any one of preceding claims, wherein in the step of transformation of the plurality of commands from the data models into a command in the common information model each of the plurality of commands is individually coded to encapsulate divergence between how the command is recorded in its data model and how its corresponding command is recorded in the common information model.

7. The method according to any one of preceding claims comprising executing a command from said common information model in a target network element selected by the network engineer, wherein said command is translated in runtime from a second format in the common information model to a first format in the data model of the target network element.

8. The method according to any one of preceding claims, wherein the step of selecting (202) comprises selecting sets of commands across at least some of the data models and each one of said sets of commands is adapted to perform the same task on its associated network element and the step of transforming (204) comprises transforming the sets of commands adapted to perform the same task into at least one command in said common information model.

9. A network management system (300) for managing network elements (302 - 306) in a communications network where at least part of the network elements are built on different platforms, the network management system (200) comprising a plurality of data models (308 - 312) of the network elements (302 - 306), a common information model (314) and a table (316 - 320) storing relationships between commands in the common information model (314) and commands in the data models (308 - 312), wherein a command stored in the common information model (314) is transformed from a plurality of commands for performing a task common across a group of network elements (302 - 306) built on said different platforms and stored in different data models (308 - 312), the network management system (300) further comprises a command line interface (322) linked to the commands stored in the information model (314), wherein a command available via said command line interface (322) and selected by for execution is translated using the stored relationship information into a command from a data model (312) of the target network element (306) for execution at said target network element (306).

10. The system according to claim 9, wherein commands for performing tasks that are specific to only one network element are also stored in the common information model.

11. The system according to claim 9 or claim 10, wherein a command stored in the common information model is transformed from a plurality of commands for performing tasks common across all network elements of the telecommunications network.

12. The system according to any one of claims 9 to 11, wherein a command stored in the common information model is transformed from a plurality of commands common across a specific product range.

13. The system according to any one of claims 9 to 12, wherein a command stored in the common information model is transformed from a plurality of commands for performing tasks common across a specific platform.

14. The system according to any one of claims 9 to 13, wherein the relationships stored in said table (316 - 320) are individually coded to encapsulate divergence between how a command is recorded in its data model and how its corresponding command is recorded in the common information model

15. The system according to any one of claims 9 to 14, wherein in response to an instruction from the command line interface the system is adapted to execute a command from said common information model in a target network element selected by the network engineer, wherein said command is translated in runtime from a second format in the common information model to a first format in the data model of the target network element.