OVERVIEW COMPANY Alcatel Network Management Richardson, Texas BUSINESS EXPERTISE Telecom Network Management Application 1320NM Platform PLATFORMS HP 9000 workstations BUSINESS CHALLENGE Provide an open, integrated and scalable network management platform VERSANT SOLUTION Database for objects provides highly available, totally integrated network management system able to handle complex relationships

In late 1993, Alcatel surveyed the market for key enabling technologies which would provide the framework upon which the 1320NM would be constructed. Given the depth and breadth for defacto and industry communications standards (e.g. SNMP, CMIP/CMIS, XOM/XMP), Hewlett-Packard's OpenView Distributed Manager (DM) was a logical selection. HP also provided Alcatel with a broad range of computing platforms which addresses multiple price/performance options.

Alcatel recognized, however, that any serious broadband network management solution (capable of occupying either the EML or NML level of the TMN hierarchy) would need to accept upwards of 100 events per second. At that time, commercial deployments of HP's OpenView DM had not proven itself in demanding broadband transmission environments, an environment that requires at least an order of magnitude faster performance.

The engineering team then focused on the use of production quality object-oriented database management systems (ODBMS) to address both the support for a rich, dynamic object model and the requirement for a high performance event delivery and analysis mechanism so crucial to the near real-time management of intelligent, broadband network elements.

When considering a high performance network management architecture, the generalized Manager-Agent model popularized by the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) and International Telecommunications Union (ITU) standards bodies is illuminating. The management information model utilizes an object-oriented approach which represents real-world systems and resources as managed objects. Inherent to managed objects are actions, behaviors, notifications, and attributes defined using the ISO/ITU Guidelines for the Definition of Managed Objects (GDMO), defined in ITU Recommendation X.722 and ISO/IEC 10165-4.

The primary design objective was to model as much of the network infrastructure as possible in accordance with GDMO specifications. In this way, Alcatel could more easily capture the diversity normally associated with transmission network elements. Proxy modules would serve as interpreters between standards-based industry communications (i.e. CMIP and SNMP) and the proprietary, or legacy, protocols like Bellcore's Translation Language 1 (TL1).

The strength of the proxy concept is that by replicating proxy agents to interpret all variants of management protocols, the 1320NM could provide integrated operations, administration, maintenance and provisioning (OAM&P) to a broad range of transmission equipment. This provides Alcatel with a superior competitive advantage, and is considered to be a design which is several years ahead of any competition.

WHY USE AN ODBMS

With the complex data models needed to represent a fully deployed SONET network element and the performance-oriented interaction with the data model, a relational model is wholly inappropriate. This is due to the extensive CPU cycles needed to convert the on-disk tabular data model into the 3-dimensional model required in memory to get the job done.

Modeling a bidirectional line switched ring (BLSR) using SONET technology requires a fully distributed information model. In addition multiple ring elements report up to the 1320NM via gateway network elements (GNE), creating both considerable interaction between the Telecommunication Management Network (TMN) layers and uncompromising performance requirements.

To be accepted in the market, the 1320NM needed to accept in excess of 100 alarms per second. Early benchmark results showed the relational model to be inadequate, so Alcatel engineers focused on ODBMS offerings. Test bed prototypes revealed that only ODBMSs could handle the extreme range of event traffic when a broadband transmission subnetwork suffers a fault condition.

WHY USE VERSANT

According to Jerry Power, 1320NM Product Manager, Alcatel Network Systems, " ... only Versant offered a true database for objects, with distributed transaction control (based upon 2 phase commit mechanisms), a fault tolerant server option, and the integral event notification facility. Combined, this functionality enables us to delivery a highly available, totally integrated, network management system that offers true flexibility."

The team looked at how the ODBMS would support flexible network environments like incorporating new networking technologies, deploying across multiple computing platforms, adapting network configurations in real-time, scaling from small networks to very distributed networks, and the ability to integrate management functions regardless of a telephony or datacom orientation.

PROJECT ISSUES

The 1320NM architecture leverages the proxy concept to link object-oriented abstractions to physical network elements. In essence, the proxy module is an interface, between which standard management messages (CMIS) and protocols (CMIP) get translated into a given device's proprietary management interface, even those of competitors like DSC, Ericsson, or NEC. If the device is capable of supporting a direct Q3 interface, so much the better. Alcatel recognized the dominance of Bellcore's Translation Language (TL1) being used to communicate with network elements, and therefore developed a flexible TL1 interface into their proxy agent module.

Depending upon the customer's surveillance requirements, the 1320NM could be deployed in as many locations as required. Typically, each 1320NM would be responsible for a subnetwork portion of the carrier transmission network. Each station, a HP 7000 workstation running HP-UX V9.0, would be linked to subordinate network elements via a serial connection supporting Bellcore's TL1. As next-generation elements are deployed into the network, Alcatel's proxy agent can gracefully incorporate them under the standards-based 1320NM.

The Alcatel team was able to integrate Versant into the 1320NM product within a year. By adding ODBMS technology as an integral proxy agent component, Alcatel drove the object model deeper into the manager-agent dialogue. Power explains it like this, "Using Versant ODBMS to store a persistent information model within our proxy agent, we are able to manage the complexity associated with frequent software configuration download processes (which determine network element behavior). In a multi-vendor environment, frequent software updates must be closely coordinated to maintain the integrity and availability of broadband transmission networks." Power continues, "Given the complex relationships established between SONET elements within bidirectional ring topologies, it is essential for the MIB to reflect an accurate, up-to-date version of the network. ODBMS technology helps us - in near real-time - to keep that network model accessible from all our layered management applications".

Above all else, Alcatel enjoys the high availability quotient which the Versant ODBMS brings to a distributed OpenView environment. Versant replicates key managed object data across multiple physical ODBMS locations - all transparent to the application engineer. Failures at the application, workstation or network level do not prevent MIB data from being accessed by remote OpenView workstations through the OpenView DM-Versant linkage. This attention to platform issues ensures disaster recovery methods which do not compromise management of the network infrastructure.

Additionally, the integral event notification facility within the Versant ODBMS allows Alcatel engineers to push event correlation intelligence much closer to the network. Typically, engineers attempt to filter massive incoming events at the application level to determine the true cause of network disruption or service degradation. With the aid of an object-driven platform, event notification occurs at the object level. Only those objects involved in the incident are isolated, evaluated against related objects, then sent asynchronously to the appropriate fault, performance and accounting applications.

According to Power, "this level of granular data access is key to delivering high performance fault management applications. Relying upon the support of an ODBMS within an OpenView environment speeds problem determination and removes some of the burden from the engineer to analyze each and every incoming alarm".

CONCLUSION AND BUSINESS IMPACT

Several criteria led Alcatel to the OpenView/ODBMS solution. First was HP's support of a full range of computing platforms, needed to address customer's requirements for multiple price/performance options. Secondly, only HP offered the breadth and depth of defacto and industry-specific communications standards.

Finally, and directly related to the role played by ODBMS, was the object support required in modeling a diverse set of network elements, services, and network management facilities into a robust and integrated multi-vendor solution. Considering Alcatel's strategy to provide an integrated management solution independent of underlying element or vendor device technology, it is clear to see why object-orientation was the only rational answer.

The business advantage enjoyed by Alcatel permits them to effectively model new network elements and network services in a fraction of the time it used to take. This translates directly into a superior competitive position, by virtue of their network management software's ability to rapidly incorporate new network technologies and individual element configurations.