Visualize IP network for management
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While making the most of IP networks’ advantages, telecom operators urgently need to
properly address operation and maintenance (O&M) risks entailed by IP networks, and
realize visualized management.
IP: A double-edged sword
With the introduction of IP technology into communications networks, telecom
operators can have various services carried on the same network at a relatively low cost,
which dramatically improves the utilization efficiency of transmission networks and
simplifies the network structure. At the same time, however, the Internet Protocol (IP),
as its name suggests, originates from the Internet, and therefore still may not entirely
match what telecom services bearing requires, creating a host of problems in network
O&M.
First of all, it is very difficult to measure the quality of IP networks, and in many cases
it is impossible to provide a true picture of service experiences. Although, to some
extent, QoS provides a reference criterion for assessing the quality of IP networks, it is
still difficult to tell whether transmission requirements are met merely by the
dynamically changing network indicators like delay, jitter, and packet loss, apart from
accurately reflecting the user’s true experience. This has been widely agreed in the
global telecom industry that network KPIs do not amount to service perception.
Secondly, IP networks’ service paths are invisible, which makes it difficult to locate
network faults. With dynamic routing and full-mesh network connection, the whole
network becomes a “black box”, and O&M personnel cannot visualize service paths to
locate failures. Moreover, as IP networks have a self-healing capability, the fault may
disappear and never recur, thus leaving no trace for O&M personnel. That makes it
exceptionally difficult to locate and rectify faults. Operators’ domain-based
management model, which can easily lead to buck-passing among departments, also
adds difficulty to troubleshooting.
Finally, IP networks, with their best-effort nature, can hardly ensure the quality of
service, and proactive prevention of network problems is missing here. While
effectively improving resource utilization, the transmission model of IP networks
makes it difficult to ensure the quality of service. Meanwhile, O&M personnel cannot
predict potential network problems beforehand, and lack effective means to support
reasonable network planning. Tackling the problem after the fact makes it impossible to
realize proactive O&M.
Thus, given both the IP network’s advantages, and the problems it brings, operators
face a double-edged sword of a challenge, to improve the O&M efficiency of IP
networks while constantly reducing O&M risks without compromising IP networks’
advantages.
Evaluable, visible, and controllable
According to Gartner Consulting, the top three urgent needs of telecom operators in the
field of network O&M are proactive prevention of network performance problems,
rapid diagnosis of network faults and Service Level Agreement (SLA). Combined
together, the three factors have an overwhelming weight of more than 50% in driving
telecom operators’ investment decisions in O&M. The three are rightly the matters of
top priority to address for IP network O&M, namely, evaluable quality, visible
performance, and controllable faults (location and rectification).
Evaluable quality is a basic requirement for routine network maintenance, and also the
foundation for SLA. Here, quality means not only network quality, but also the quality
of service and users’ experience as well. Only by setting a complete key quality index
(KQI) system and evaluation system that can truly reflect end users’ perception of
service, can we truly grasp and accurately evaluate the actual operation status of
telecom networks.
Visible performance is a precondition for the proactive prevention of network
performance problems. By monitoring network performance indexes and quality of
service in real time, O&M personnel can promptly spot network problems. And based
on analysis of the network trend, they can provide precautions against potential
problems and put forward preventive measures, thereby turning “passive O&M” into
“proactive O&M” and ensuring the stable operation of networks.
On the basis of evaluable quality and visible performance, fault control is thus possible,
enabling rapid diagnosis and rectification of network problems.
Evaluable quality, visible performance, and controllable faults have become basic
requirements for carrier-class quality IP networks. Only by meeting these requirements,
can telecom operators build quality IP networks that truly meet the transmission
requirements of telecom services.
Faults nowhere to hide
Based on its deep understanding of telecom networks and IP technology and many
years’ technical accumulation, Huawei has established a quality evaluation system for
IP networks, surrounding end users’ perception, and was the first in the industry to
introduce IP network visualization solution that linked the core network with the bearer
network. The network quality evaluation system is based on real business perception.
Featuring real-time network topology, service path presentation, and rapid failure
diagnosis, it effectively helps telecom operators address the three top issues faced in the
O&M of IP networks (proactive prevention of network performance problems, rapid
diagnosis of network faults and SLA), to build truly evaluable, visible, and controllable
carrier-class quality IP networks.
With regard to the prevention of network performance problems, the IP network
visualization system can turn traditional IP network indexes such as delay, jitter, and
packet loss into MoS value, which is related to user perception, thereby providing
information on quality of service carried on the network to O&M personnel in a more
visible manner. It also provides an evaluation report on network quality, demonstrating
its quality evaluation methodology in real product solution. Meanwhile, based on the
evaluation results, suggestions are put forward in advance on the planning and design
of the network’s less healthy state (set beforehand according to historical experience),
thereby effectively preventing potential problems.
With regard to fault location, the system simulates real service paths through built-in
and external probes, and provides visualized management capabilities at network level,
NE level and service level, so that the “black box” of an IP network becomes visible
completely. The real-time topology representation technology of the system is based on
the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). Through multi-level agents
deployed on internal and external probes and forwarding technology, the system
establishes channels with the bearer network, obtains relevant information from the
router, and analyzes network routing relationships, to generate a network topology.
Thus, the network topology is presented in real time to O&M personnel, and the
connection status of all links is clear at a glance. For network path probing, packets are
encapsulated using the Tracert technology, which ensures the probed service paths are
fully consistent with the actual service paths. At the same time, as service KQI is
presented in real time, end users’ actual perception is accurately monitored.
Apart from the real-time network monitoring capability, the system provides strong
fault locating and troubleshooting capabilities. Through intelligent means like packet
error monitoring and diagnosis of declining network quality, it dramatically improves
the network’s quality precaution capability and spots potential faults in advance;
through topology representation, network path probing, and information collection
technology of the bearer network, the system can obtain various types of service
monitoring data from both the core network and the IP bearer network, and import the
data into private storage and processing servers. Through IT-based modeling and
intelligent analysis, data from the core network and the bearer network are jointly
analyzed, so that the monitoring of the two networks and faults handling are addressed
in a systematic manner.
When network problems arise, the system can automatically diagnose suspected faulty
equipment and affected network elements (NEs), providing a visual presentation in the
shortest time possible. For affected network/service paths, the system provides network
quality information concerning the suspected network equipment and segments of the
paths, thereby facilitating O&M personnel to locate faults. At the same time, when a
fault is found in a network path or the quality cannot meet business requirements, the
system automatically works with NEs to switch service paths to alternate paths where
network quality is normal according to predetermined conditions. In addition, the
system can store a historical record of the network information. For any given
complaint lodged by users, it can retrieve historical record on service paths and network
quality, thereby significantly improving the handling efficiency for network failures
and complaints.
With the IP network visualization solution, which focuses on top issues with the O&M
of IP networks, telecom operators can successfully shift from passive O&M to
proactive O&M. They can monitor network status in real time, take precautions against
potential problems, and quickly locate and address network faults, dramatically
improving maintenance efficiency and reducing maintenance difficulty. Ever since its
inception, the solution has been widely recognized by global telecom operators like
China Mobile and it stands to become the operators’ preferred choice for the O&M of
their IP networks.
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