SingleOSS unifies MBB network management
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By Dong Qing
To support service diversification, networks today are becoming increasingly complex
in terms of scale and technology, with new equipment having to work alongside
legacy hardware. This inevitably leads to longer troubleshooting at different network
layers, awkward service provisioning, and a significant increase in general O&M
workload. Huawei offers a solution that simplifies both network architecture and its
maintenance (SingleOSS) through unified, visualized management and a simplified
operational process.
Traditional O&M shortcomings
The traditional network management model employs the domain-based element
management system (EMS), one or more units of which will be deployed in various
locations. When expanding network capacity or introducing an EMS for equipment
intended for new domain networks, an operator usually needs to add minicomputers
or servers, and redesign the networking architecture, power supply, and cooling
systems. Over time, the network management center (NMC) will host a large number
of servers, complicating EMS networking and equipment room layout.
Services on an MBB network require close cooperation between the radio network,
core network, and bearer network. Any cross-domain parameter discrepancy will lead
to network failure. For an MBB network with 10,000 base stations, it may take over
100 man hours to check the cross-domain parameter configurations for the entire
network each month, while manual checking will probably miss certain parameters,
leading to further service interruptions and user complaints.
Another area where traditional O&M fails in the IP era is alarming, as a fault in one
IP route may lead to several hundred alarms. To make matters worse, each alarm on
the bearer network may lead to ten or more alarms on the radio network. This sheer
number makes the root-cause alarm hard to distinguish, which can raise the workload
involved in its resolution ten fold. Half of the troubleshooting time involved is spent
on IP fault location, as the traditional domain-based network management model
cannot demarcate a fault between the radio and bearer networks.
Northbound interface integration costs for the upper-layer network management
system (NMS) are also high. Currently, each time a new domain network is
introduced, the northbound interface needs to be reconfigured for the upper-layer
NMS, resulting in high integration costs. Overall, under the traditional model, MBB
network O&M is costly and cumbersome. Operators are in urgent need of a unified
O&M solution for MBB networks that improves O&M efficiency and builds core
competitiveness.
SingleOSS – A singular value
SingleOSS is Huawei's most comprehensive attempt to meet this need, as it can be
employed for both MBB and FBB networking. For MBB, SingleOSS manages the
radio, core, and bearer networks simultaneously, thereby changing the traditional
distributed domain-based network management model.
By collecting network management data for the entire MBB network, SingleOSS
simplifies cross-domain network management to mere cross-domain data correlation
and analysis, thus making the entire network management process easy and efficient.
This is particularly attractive for small and medium-sized operators who manage their
radio, core, and bearer networks with a single O&M team. However, large operators
can also benefit from SingleOSS, as this solution enables IP fault location,
cross-domain parameter check, and cross-domain alarm correlation analysis, which
reduces the costs and time involved in communication between O&M teams.
Unified deployment
With SingleOSS, during capacity expansion or addition of new network management
elements to an MBB network, the operator only needs to modernize the NMS/EMS by
adding the corresponding unit while adjusting the networking, power supply, or
cooling systems for the NMC.
SingleOSS can also unify the alarm, security, and performance northbound interfaces
for the radio, core, and bearer networks. After said interfaces are configured for the
upper-layer NMS, the northbound integration workload decreases when new domain
networks are introduced, accelerating network deployment.
Cross-domain maintenance collaboration
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Efficient alarm handling
SingleOSS monitors alarms in a centralized manner and analyzes their correlation on
the radio, core, and bearer networks, which effectively distinguishes root-cause
alarms from derivative alarms; this can reduce the time spent on troubleshooting by
up to 90%.

Faster fault location
In the traditional domain-based network management model, network data is scattered
throughout various NMS/EMS units while connections between base stations and
transmission devices are maintained manually. In addition, IP link performance is
opaque while the means for testing IP faults are lacking, making fault demarcation
between the radio network and IP links troublesome during daily maintenance, as it
involves the intensive collaboration of several maintenance teams; location of a single
IP fault can often take more than six hours.
Specifically, when a base station is faulty, maintenance engineers for the radio and
bearer networks must first work together to determine the fault cause, based on alarm
information and past experience, and then decide which department should dispatch
personnel for onsite troubleshooting. In most cases, the fault cannot be pinned down
from the network management center, so engineers from both departments must suit
up and leave the office. Under such an O&M model, maintenance personnel need
both skill and experience, as a lot of gut instinct is needed to avoid overkill during the
troubleshooting process.
SingleOSS can manage base stations and transmission equipment in a centralized
manner and, with a unified data source, demarcate IP faults quickly through its
network topology and testing methods. SingleOSS also monitors KPIs for each link
segment along the service path in a timely manner and supports a variety of efficient
testing methods. In this way, there is no need for extensive inter-departmental
communication; radio network maintenance engineers alone can quickly locate an IP
fault.
Through the aforementioned features, SingleOSS reduces the time spent on IP fault
location period from six hours to 30 minutes, and reduces the period spent locating
the exact point of failure by 70-90%. Furthermore, it also enables fault demarcation
for equipment from different vendors.
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Efficient parameter checking
Under the traditional domain-based EMS model, configuration data for the MBB
network is distributed across various NMS/EMS units. For the aforementioned MBB
network with 10,000 base stations, parameters configured across the radio, core, and
bearer networks exceed 150,000, but a few inconsistently configured parameters
function as needles which lead to failures that can ruin the entire haystack.
Currently, operators usually check such configuration data manually; that is, they
export the configuration parameters for each domain network and check their
consistency once a month. This is costly, in terms of manpower and resources, and
still unsatisfactory in terms of efficacy, as not all inconsistent parameters can be
detected, leading to further service interruptions.
Based on centralized configuration parameter data for different domain networks,
SingleOSS can automatically check cross-domain configuration parameters and detect
inconsistent parameters in a fast and accurate manner. This would completely
eliminate parameter inconsistencies, thereby eliminating the faults caused by them on
the live network.
With this function, the cross-domain parameter check period for the aforementioned
network can be shortened from over 100 man hours to ten minutes, thereby greatly
improving O&M efficiency, reducing O&M costs, and brightening the day of any
network engineer or telco accountant.
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