Method for accelerating start up of a computerized system
View Patent ↗Technique for reducing start-up time of a computerized system comprising a computer application with a data base DB and one or more functional blocks with respective memories; the system comprises a communication network being managed by the computer application. The technique comprises providing each of said functional blocks with basic information about the communication network; updating the functional blocks about changes whenever take place in the network; updating objects in the base DB by the updated functional blocks; creating an image of at least one functional block of the blocks in a persistent memory, building a changes log and to in case of failure of the mentioned functional block, promptly restoring thereof by using the image in the persistent memory and the changes log.
1. A method for reducing start-up time of a computerized system associated with a communication network interacting with and being managed by a computer application, the method comprising:
providing information to a plurality of functional blocks being executable processes associated with the computer application, wherein the information is associated with a topology of and is configured to enable the plurality of functional blocks to perform functions;
providing updates to the plurality of functional blocks regarding changes associated with at least one network element in the communication network after the changes have taken place;
storing, in at least one persistent memory associated with the plurality of functional blocks, an image associated with a current topology of the communication network;
updating a changes-log stored in a main memory associated with the computer application; and
in case of failure of a functional block, the method further including updating the image stored in the at least one persistent memory associated with the failed functional block with changes stored in the changes-log, including one or more changes induced by other functional blocks that remained alive during the failure, wherein the one or more changes have timestamps associated with a time later than a time of the failure.
2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising creating the image by using serialization of data of the at least one functional block, building a backup using the serialized representation of the data, and providing the image with an indication of time or of a number of change indicating last update of the at least one functional block.
3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of updating the changes-log comprises one or more of the following: collecting notifications issued from said communication network, and exchanging of information concerning the changes between the plurality of functional blocks.
4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein updating the changes-log comprises providing each entry in the changes-log with a timestamp being an indication of time or a number of changes counter, and an indication of objects relevant to the changes.
5. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
restoring of the failed functional block by reloading to it a suitable image having a latest timestamp and by updating the failed functional block by utilizing relevant entries registered in the changes-log as of the time indicated as the timestamp of the suitable image.
6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the computer application is a Network Management System (NMS) of the communication network.
7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of functional blocks are responsible for respective technological processes for control of an under-laying communication network comprising network elements.
8. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising a preliminary operation of loading to the persistent memory of each specific functional block part of information stored in the computer application's database, while suitably transforming the information being loaded.
9. A software product stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, which, when loaded and executed by a computer system associated with a communication network, causes at least one processor to:
provide information to a plurality of functional blocks being executable processes associated with a computerized application, wherein the information is associated with a topology of the communication network and enable the plurality of functional blocks to perform functions;
provide updates to the plurality of functional blocks regarding changes associated with at least one network element in the communication network after the changes take place;
store, in at least one persistent memory associated with the plurality of functional blocks, an image associated with a current topology of the communication network;
update a changes-log stored in a main memory associated with the computerized application; and
in case of failure of a functional block, the at least one processor is further configured to update the image stored in the at least one persistent memory associated with the failed functional block with changes stored in the changes-log, including one or more changes induced by other functional blocks that remained alive during the failure, wherein the one or more changes have timestamps associated with a time later than a time of the failure.
10. A Network Management System (NMS) of a communication network associated with at least one network element, the NMS comprising:
a main memory; and
a processor in communication with the main memory, wherein the processor is configured to:
provide information to a plurality of functional blocks being executable processes associated with the NMS, wherein the information is associated with a topology of the communication network and enable the plurality of functional blocks to perform functions;
provide updates to the plurality of functional blocks regarding changes associated with at least one network element in the communication network after the changes take place;
store, in at least one persistent memory associated with the plurality of functional blocks, an image associated with a current topology of the communication network;
update a changes-log stored in the main memory; and
in case of failure of a functional block, the processor is further configured to update the image stored in the at least one persistent memory associated with the failed functional block with changes stored in the changes-log, including one or more changes induced by other functional blocks that remained alive during the failure, wherein the one or more changes have timestamps associated with a time later than a time of the failure.