Alarm correlation is ‘the process by which several alarms are narrowed from a mass of problems to a root cause and side effects’. Most software vendors for network management systems sell artificial intelligence based inference engines to correlate the alarms to a most probable cause -- some even produce a percentage of probability on which device is causing the problem! Is this really necessary? The data associated with these inference engines are based on the relationships between components. When you analyse what the inference engine is doing, one quickly realizes that maybe all the artificial intelligence really isn't necessary. It is possible to accomplish the same task using simple database relationships -- minus the percentages calculation on which device is causing the problem and minus the serious horsepower associated with deriving this calculation! That is something the on-site engineer has an idea of already -- once he or she’s pointed in the right direction.
Alarm correlation is useful to narrow the possibilities to a common denominator. Once alarm correlation is accomplished, other tasks can take place automatically such as auto-generation of a Trouble Ticket or technician paging. Even auto healing mechanisms can be initiated once alarm correlation has occurred, i.e., a redundant circuit could be brought on line while the defective link is placed in standby or a specific IP filter list could be uploaded and activated on the interface.
|
Previous Page Page 5/5 |
[White
Papers], [Open a Support Ticket],
[Report Defects],
[Enhancement Requests], [Beta
Solution Program]
[Home],
[About], [Solutions
Center], [NMS Market], [Products
& Services],
[Management Technology],
[Technical Support], [Contact us],
[Site Map]