Technique for determining correlated events in a communication system

摘要

A technique for determining a correlation among events occurring in one or more network elements is provided. The correlation among the events results from a propagation of a root event through communication entities of the one or more network elements. In a method implementation the technique comprises the step of receiving a plurality of event messages from one or more network elements, wherein an event message pertaining to an event reported by a particular network element signals an occurrence context, the occurrence context comprising one or more context identifiers describing an internal communication state of the communication entity in which the event occurred at the time when the event occurred. In another step, a set of correlated events linked by identical context identifiers is determined. Based on the set of correlated events, the root event may be identified.

主权项

1. A method of determining a correlation among events occurring in one or more network elements, wherein the correlation among the events results from a propagation of a root event through communication entities of the one or more network elements, the method comprising:
receiving a plurality of event messages from the one or more network elements, wherein each of the plurality of event messages pertains to an event reported by a particular network element of the one or more network elements and signals one or more context identifiers describing an internal communication state of the communication entity in which the event occurred at the time when the event occurred, wherein the events comprise at least one of alarm events and performance events, wherein the performance events comprise at least one of a counter and a key performance indicator, and wherein at least one of the plurality of event messages indicates two or more of the context identifiers pertaining to different communication entities involved in the event; and determining a set of correlated events, among the events occurring in the one or more network elements, that are linked by identical context identifiers, wherein each context identifier comprises a first parameter indicative of a context type and a second parameter indicative of an associated identification value, and wherein two events are determined to be correlated when event messages of the plurality of event messages associated with the two events:
(i) comprise at least one of the context identifiers of the same context type; and(ii) have the same identification value.