An example method involves providing, with a network management module of a network management system, current reroute statistics in a data structure based on the rerouting of the data from a logical circuit that has failed to a logical failover circuit in the network. The current reroute statistics include a committed information rate corresponding to the logical circuit in the network. The logical circuit is identified by a first logical circuit identifier. The logical failover circuit is identified by a second logical circuit identifier. The first and second logical circuit identifiers are renamed until the logical circuit has been restored from failure. Updated reroute statistics are provided, with the network management module, based on a change in a status of the logical circuit resulting from the committed information rate having been exceeded.
This patent arises from a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/537,019, filed on Nov. 10, 2014, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,148,365, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/286,396, filed on May 23, 2014, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,953,435, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/040,054, filed on Sep. 27, 2013, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,737,196, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/690,839, filed on Nov. 30, 2012, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,565,074, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/254,233, filed on Oct. 20, 2008, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,339,938, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/829,584, filed Apr. 22, 2004, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,460,468, all of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
This patent is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/348,077, entitled “Method and System for Obtaining Logical Performance Data for a Circuit in a Data Network,” filed Jan. 21, 2003, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/348,592, entitled “Method and System for Provisioning and Maintaining a Circuit in a Data Network,” filed Jan. 21, 2003. This patent is also related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/745,117, entitled “Method And System For Providing A Failover Circuit For Rerouting Logical Circuit Data In A Data Network,” filed Dec. 23, 2003, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/745,047, entitled “Method And System For Automatically Renaming Logical Circuit Identifiers For Rerouted Logical Circuits In A Data Network,” filed Dec. 23, 2003, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/745,170, entitled “Method And System For Automatically Identifying A Logical Circuit Failure In A Data Network,” filed on Dec. 23, 2003, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/744,921, entitled “Method And System For Automatically Rerouting Logical Circuit Data In A Data Network,” filed Dec. 23, 2003. All of the above-referenced applications are expressly incorporated herein by reference.
Periodically, failures may occur to the trunk circuits or the NNIs of network circuits in large-scale networks causing lost data. Currently, such network circuit failures are handled by dispatching technicians on each end of the network circuit (i.e., in each LATA) in response to a reported failure. The technicians manually access a logical element module to troubleshoot the logical circuit portion of the network circuit. The logical element module communicates with the switches in the data network and provides the technician with the status of the logical connections which make up the logical circuit. Once the technician determines the status of a logical connection at one end of a logical circuit (e.g., the host end), the technician then must access a network database to determine the location of the other end of the logical circuit so that its status may also be ascertained. If the technician determines the logical circuit is operating properly, the technician then accesses a physical element module to troubleshoot the physical circuit portion of the network circuit to determine the cause of the failure and then repair it. If, while troubleshooting a network circuit, the technician determines that a network circuit will be “down” (i.e., losing data) for an extended time period, the technician may manually reroute the data from a failed network circuit to an available unused or “backup” network circuit while the failed network circuit is being repaired.
As discussed briefly above, the network management module 176 may be configured to automatically reroute logical circuit data from a failed logical circuit to a logical failover circuit in the data network 2. During the reroute of logical circuit data, the network management module 176 may also be configured to rename the logical circuit identifier assigned to a failed logical circuit to the logical circuit identifier assigned to a corresponding logical failover circuit until the failed logical circuit has been restored. An illustrative method detailing the renaming of logical circuit identifiers is presented in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/745,047, entitled “Method And System For Automatically Renaming Logical Circuit Identifiers For Rerouted Logical Circuits In A Data Network,” filed on Dec. 23, 2003, which is expressly incorporated herein by reference.
The logical operations 500 continue from operation 505 to operation 510 where the network management module 176 generates a table for presenting the current reroute statistics generated at operation 505. It will be appreciated that the table may be presented in an electronic format so that it is graphically displayed on one or more display terminals of the network management module 176. FIG. 6A is a table presenting current reroute statistics which may be generated for rerouted logical circuits in the data network 2, according to an embodiment of the invention. The table will be discussed in greater detail in the description of FIG. 6A below.
At operation 525, the network management module 176 generates updated reroute statistics based on the received updated trap data and then updates the table (generated at operation 510) at operation 530. FIG. 6B is a table presenting updated reroute statistics which may be generated for rerouted logical circuits in the data network 2, according to an embodiment of the invention. The table will be discussed in greater detail in the description of FIG. 6B below. The logical operations 500 then continue at operation 535.
FIG. 6A is a table 190 presenting current reroute statistics which may be generated by the network management module 176 for rerouted logical circuits in the data network 2, according to an embodiment of the invention. As shown in FIG. 6A, the table includes a LOGICAL CIRCUIT ID column 52, a REROUTE STATUS column 54, a LOGICAL FAILOVER CIRCUIT ID column 56, a # HOPS column 58, a UTILIZATION column 60, a QUALITY OF SERVICE (QoS) column 62, and a REROUTE PERIOD column 64. The LOGICAL CIRCUIT ID column 52 lists the logical circuit IDs for logical circuits belonging to one or more network circuit customers in the data network 2. The REROUTE STATUS column 54 lists whether or not each of the logical circuits in the LOGICAL CIRCUIT ID column 52 is currently being rerouted. The LOGICAL FAILOVER CIRCUIT ID column 56 lists the logical circuit IDs for logical failover circuits which may be utilized for rerouting data from the logical circuits listed in the LOGICAL CIRCUIT ID column 52. The # HOPS column 58 lists the number of hops taken by data being communicated through the logical failover circuits identified in the LOGICAL FAILOVER CIRCUIT ID column 56. The UTILIZATION column 60 lists the utilization percentage of the logical failover circuits identified in the LOGICAL FAILOVER CIRCUIT ID column 56 by rerouted logical circuit data. The QoS column 62 lists the quality of service offered for rerouted data by each of the logical failover circuits identified in the LOGICAL FAILOVER CIRCUIT ID column 56. The REROUTE PERIOD column 64 lists the amount of time the data from each of the logical circuits identified in the LOGICAL CIRCUIT ID column 52 has been rerouted to the logical failover circuits identified in the LOGICAL FAILOVER CIRCUIT ID column 56.
providing, with the network management module, updated reroute statistics based on a change in a status of the logical circuit resulting from the committed information rate having been exceeded.
2. The method of claim 1, further including generating a billing report including the updated reroute statistics.
3. The method of claim 1, further including generating the updated reroute statistics based on restoration of the logical circuit from the failure.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the current reroute statistics and the updated reroute statistics include the first logical circuit identifier for the logical circuit and the second logical circuit identifier for the logical failover circuit.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the current reroute statistics include a current utilization of the logical failover circuit.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the current reroute statistics include a number of hops taken by the logical failover circuit.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the current reroute statistics include a quality of service parameter for the logical failover circuit.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein the quality of service parameter is at least one of an unspecified bit rate, a variable bit rate, and a committed bit rate.
providing updated reroute statistics in the data structure, the updated reroute statistics based on a change in a status of the logical circuit resulting from the committed information rate having been exceeded.
10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the operations further include generating a billing report including the updated reroute statistics.
11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the updated reroute statistics are generated based on restoration of the logical circuit from the failure.
12. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the current reroute statistics include the first logical circuit identifier for the logical failover circuit and the second logical circuit identifier for the logical failover circuit.
13. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the current reroute statistics include a current utilization of the logical failover circuit.
14. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the current reroute statistics include a number of hops taken by the logical failover circuit.
15. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the current reroute statistics include a quality of service parameter for the logical failover circuit.
16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the quality of service parameter is at least one of an unspecified bit rate, a variable bit rate, and a committed bit rate.
providing, with the network management module, updated reroute statistics in the data structure, the updated reroute statistics based on a change in a status of the logical circuit resulting from the committed information rate having been exceeded.
18. The machine accessible storage device of claim 17, wherein the operations further include generating a billing report including the updated reroute statistics.
19. The machine accessible storage device of claim 17, wherein the updated reroute statistics are generated based on restoration of the logical circuit from the failure.
20. The machine accessible storage device of claim 17, wherein the current reroute statistics include the first logical circuit identifier for the logical circuit and the second logical circuit identifier for the logical failover circuit.
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