IP Library Granted Patent US 9,253,033
Granted Patent B2
US 9,253,033 · App. 11/615,197 · Granted Feb 2, 2016

Network management system integrated with provisioning system

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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 9,253,033
App. No.
11/615,197
Granted
Feb 2, 2016
Kind
B2
Abstract

Preferred embodiments of the invention provide systems and methods to receive input from a user, the input including information associated with a change to a network element configuration; process the information associated with the change to a network element configuration, receive an indication from the network element that the network element configuration was successfully changed, and notify a provisioning system of the change to the network element configuration based on the indication from the network element configuration that the network element configuration was successfully changed.

Claims (83)

1. A system comprising:

one or more processors to:

receive inputs from a plurality of users via a user interface,

each of the inputs indicating information associated with a change to a configuration of a network element of a plurality of network elements included in a network,

the information including one or more logical commands associated with at least one of a plurality of command protocols associated with a network management system;

process the information associated with the change to the configuration of the network element for each of the inputs,

the processing the information including converting the one or more logical commands into one or more native commands that are executed by a command protocol associated with the network element;

receive an indication from the network element that the configuration of the network element was successfully changed;

notify a provisioning system of the change to the configuration of the network element based on the indication from the network element;

update a database that stores data related to a virtual representation of free assets associated with the network based on the information associated with the change to the configuration of the network element;

search for the network element based on another user input via the user interface;

identify a list of commands previously executed by the network element;

receive a selection, via the user interface, of a command from the list of commands; and

cause the network element to re-execute the command based on the selection.

2. The system of claim 1 , where the one or more processors, when processing the information associated with the change to the configuration of the network element, are to:

connect to the network element and commit the one or more logical commands to the network element using one or more work units.

3. The system of claim 1 , where the user interface comprises a graphical user interface associated with the network management system.

4. The system of claim 3 , where the network management system couples the provisioning system with the network element.

5. The system of claim 1 , where the network management system comprises a web portal and the user interface is associated with the web portal.

6. The system of claim 1 , where the one or more processors are further to:

determine whether a user is permitted to connect to the network element based on privileges associated with the user; and

where the one or more processors, when processing the information associated with the change to the configuration of the network element, are to:

process the information based on whether the user is permitted to connect to the network element.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein, based on a determination that the user is permitted to connect to the network element, the one or more processors are to:

determine whether the user is permitted to commit the one or more logical commands to the network element based on the privileges associated with the user.

8. The system of claim 7 , where the one or more processors, when processing the information associated with the change to the configuration of the network element, are to:

process the information only if the user is permitted to connect to the network element and commit the one or more logical commands to the network element.

9. The system of claim 1 , where the one or more processors, when selectively tracking, are to:

track which networks elements, of the plurality of network elements, had configurations changed by the user via the user interface; and

track a plurality of logical commands committed to the network element by more than one of the plurality of users via the user interface.

10. The system of claim 1 , where the one or more processors are further to:

receive a tracking input via the user interface,

the tracking input identifying at least one of a user, of the plurality of users, to be tracked or the network element to be tracked; and

selectively, based on the tracking input, track which networks elements, of the plurality of network elements, had configurations changed by the user via the user interface or track a plurality of logical commands committed to the network element by more than one of the plurality of users via the user interface.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions, the instructions comprising:

one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

receive inputs from a plurality of users via a user interface,

each of the inputs indicating information associated with a change to a configuration of a network element of a plurality of network elements included in a network,

the information including one or more logical commands associated with at least one of a plurality of command protocols associated with a network management system;

process the information associated with the change to the configuration of the network element for each of the inputs,

the processing the information including converting the one or more logical commands into one or more native commands that are executed by a command protocol associated with the network element;

receive an indication from the network element that the configuration of the network element was successfully changed;

notify a provisioning system of the change to the configuration of the network element based on the indication from the network element;

update a database that stores data related to a virtual representation of free assets associated with the network based on the information associated with the change to the

configuration of the network element;

search for the network element based on another user input via the user interface;

identify a list of commands previously executed by the network element;

receive a selection, via the user interface, of a command from the list of commands; and

cause the network element to re-execute the command based on the selection.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 , where the one or more instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to:

generate a template script be is used repeatedly to change a configuration of at least one network element; and

where the one or more instructions, that cause the one or more processors to process the information associated with the change to the configuration of the network element, cause the one or more processors to:

process the information based on the template script.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12 , where the one or more instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to:

modify the template script based on an input via the user interface.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12 , where the one or more instructions, that cause the one or more processors to receive the inputs from the plurality of users, cause the one or more processors to:

receive a selection of the template script.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12 , where the template script is associated with a type of network element.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12 , where the template script is associated with a particular network element of the plurality of network elements.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12 , where the one or more instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to:

receive a third input via the user interface,

the third input identifying a user, of the plurality of users, to be tracked; and

track, based on the third input, which networks elements, of the plurality of network elements, had configurations changed by the user via the user interface.

18. A method comprising:

receiving, by a device, inputs from a plurality of users via a user interface,

each of the inputs indicating information associated with a change to a configuration of a network element of a plurality of network elements included in a network,

the information including one or more logical commands associated with at least one of a plurality of command protocols associated with a network management system;

processing, by the device, the information associated with the change to the configuration of the network element for each of the inputs,

the processing the information including converting the one or more logical commands into one or more native commands that are executed by a command protocol associated with the network element;

receiving, by the device, an indication from the network element that the configuration of the network element was successfully changed;

notifying, by the device, a provisioning system of the change to the configuration of the network element based on the indication from the network element;

updating, by the device, a database that stores data related to a virtual representation of free assets associated with the network based on the information associated with the change to the configuration of the network element;

searching, by the device, for the network element based on a first user input via the user interface;

identifying, by the device, a list of commands previously executed by the network element;

receiving, by the device, a selection, via the user interface, of a command from the list of commands; and

causing, by the device, the network element to re-execute the command based on the selection.

19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising:

receiving a second input via the user interface; and

returning the network element to a state of previous provisioning based on the second input.

20. The method of claim 18 , further comprising:

receiving another input via the user interface,

the other input identifying the network element to be tracked;

tracking, based on the other input, a plurality of logical commands committed to the network element by more than one of the plurality of users via the user interface.