System and method for fault diagnosis using distributed alarm correlation
AssigneeTyco Telecommunications (US) Inc.
InventorsSameh A. Sabet, Jeffrey A. Deverin, Jonathan M. Liss
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Abstract
A system and method for diagnosing faults in a communication network using a distributed alarm correlation system. The alarm correlation system may include node-level alarm correlation tools (ACTs) located at nodes in the network to provide node-level alarm correlation producing node-level correlation results. The node-level ACTs may share diagnostic knowledge with other node-level alarm correlation tools at other nodes. Each of the node-level ACTs may also share the diagnostic knowledge and the node-level correlation results with a higher-level ACT. The higher-level ACT may provide higher-level alarm correlation to produce higher-level correlation results.
Claims18
A method for diagnosing faults in a communication network using distributed alarm correlation, said method comprising:
- receiving alarm data locally at network nodes in said communication network;
- correlating said alarm data locally at each of said network nodes using an associated node-level alarm correlation tool and diagnostic knowledge stored in an associated node-level knowledge base to produce correlation results identifying a root cause of a fault determined at each of said network nodes;
- reporting said correlation results produced locally at said network nodes to respective users at respective said network nodes;
- adding new diagnostic knowledge provided by at least one of said users to one of said node-level knowledge bases, said new diagnostic knowledge being obtained by said at least one of said users using said correlation results associated with at least one of said network nodes;
- replicating said new diagnostic knowledge to at least one other node-level knowledge base associated with at least one other said network node;
- and
- reporting said new diagnostic knowledge and said correlation results produced locally at said network nodes to a higher-level alarm correlator;
- and
- correlating said root causes determined at said network nodes using said higher-level alarm correlator to find a higher-level root cause.
A distributed alarm correlation system for diagnosing faults in a communication network, said distributed alarm correlation system comprising:
- a plurality of node-level alarm correlation tools located at nodes in said communication network, wherein each of said node-level alarm correlation tools is configured to provide node-level alarm correlation to produce node-level correlation results identifying a root cause of a fault determined at an associated one of said nodes and to share new diagnostic knowledge produced by a user of said node-level alarm correlation tool using said node-level correlation results with other of said node-level alarm correlation tools at other nodes;
- and
- at least one higher-level management level alarm correlation tool located at a network management center in said communication network, wherein each of said node-level alarm correlation tools is configured to share said new diagnostic knowledge and said node-level correlation results with said higher-level management level alarm correlation tool, and wherein said higher-level management level alarm correlation tool is configured to provide higher-level alarm correlation to produce higher-level correlation results identifying a higher-level root cause.
A machine-readable medium storing an executable set of software instructions that are executable by a computer system to cause the computer system to perform a method of fault diagnosis in a communication network said method comprising:
- receiving alarm data locally at network nodes in said communication network;
- correlating said alarm data locally at each of said network nodes using an associated node-level alarm correlation tool and diagnostic knowledge stored in an associated node-level knowledge base to produce correlation results identifying a root cause of a fault determined at each of said network nodes;
- reporting said correlation results produced locally at said network nodes to respective users at respective said network nodes;
- adding new diagnostic knowledge provided by at least one of said users to one of said node-level knowledge bases, said new diagnostic knowledge being obtained by said at least one of said users using said correlation results associated with at least one of said network nodes;
- replicating said new diagnostic knowledge to at least one other node-level knowledge base associated with at least one other said network nodes;
- and
- reporting said new diagnostic knowledge and said correlation results produced locally at said network nodes to a higher-level alarm correlator;
- and
- correlating said root causes determined at said network nodes using said higher-level alarm correlator to find a higher-level root cause.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.