EMS handling of faults in virtual network function components

A method, comprising:

• receiving, at an element management system (EMS), a status failure notification message indicating a failure of a virtual network function component instance (VNFCI);
• retrieving, via the EMS, one or more of:
• a peer VNFCI administration state of a peer VNFCI, and
• a peer VNFCI operational state of the peer VNFCI;
• requesting current issues reported on resources associated with the peer VNFCI from a VNFM when the peer VNFCI administration state is online, and the peer VNFCI is reachable, and the peer VNFCI operational state is not active;
• taking no action at the peer VNFCI, when one or more of:
• the peer VNFCI administration state is not online,
• the peer VNFCI is not reachable, and
• the peer VNFCI operational state is active;
• and
• sending a state change request, specifying a next state of Active, to the peer VNFCI when a response to the current issues reported on resources is received, and there are no critical issues at the peer VNFCI.

A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising one or more instructions that when read by a processor cause the processor to perform:

• receiving, at an element management system (EMS), a status failure notification message indicating a failure of a virtual network function component instance (VNFCI);
• retrieving, via the EMS, one or more of:
• a peer VNFCI administration state of a peer VNFCI, and
• a peer VNFCI operational state of the peer VNFCI;
• requesting current issues reported on resources associated with the peer VNFCI from a VNFM when the peer VNFCI administration state is online, and the peer VNFCI is reachable, and the peer VNFCI operational state is not active;
• taking no action at the peer VNFCI, when one or more of:
• the peer VNFCI administration state is not online,
• the peer VNFCI is not reachable, and
• the peer VNFCI operational state is active;
• and
• sending a state change request, specifying a next state of Active, to the peer VNFCI when a response to the current issues reported on resources is received, and there are no critical issues at the peer VNFCI.