Comarch Network Performance Management - Product Whitepaper

Product Whitepaper

Comarch OSS Suite

Network Performance Management

Comarch OSS Suite


Product Whitepaper

Copyright 2008 Comarch S.A. Confidential

2

Version Date Modified by Comment

0.1 2004.03.15 Dominik Niekowal Document created

0.2 2004.03.16 Dominik Niekowal Comments incorporated after internal review

2.0 2004.03.18 Dominik Niekowal Document revision

2.1 2004.04.14 Bartosz Domagaa Modifications based on the Functional

Description 2.2

3.0 2006.07.11 Micha Zajczkowski Template, layout and type change.

Rebranding.

3.1 2007.01.22 Micha Zajczkowski Minor corrections.

3.2 2008.01.10 Micha Zajczkowski Document update

Document identification CA/304/PMS/040315/DN/1

Version 3.2

Revised on 2008-05-28

Number of pages 13

Status Confidential

Author Comarch S.A.

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2000-2008 Comarch S.A.

All rights reserved.

No part of this document may be copied, distributed, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, or translated into any human or computer language without the prior written permission of Comarch S.A. The manufacturer has made every effort to ensure that the instructions contained in the documents are adequate and free of errors and omissions. The manufacturer's liability for any errors in the documents is limited to the correction of the errors. The manufacturer reserves rights to change the documents without notice. Some parts of the documents may not follow the current version of the software.

The documents have been prepared to be used by professional and properly trained personnel, and the customer assumes full responsibility when using them. The manufacturer welcomes customer comments as part of the process of continual development and improvement of the documentation in the best way possible from the user's viewpoint. Please submit your comments to:

[email protected].

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction............................................................................................................ 5

2. Comarch Network Performance Management functional features overview......... 7

2.1. Data Models configuration ................................................................................ 8

2.2. Data collection .................................................................................................. 9

2.3. Real-time performance monitoring .................................................................10

2.4. Long-term data analyses.................................................................................12

2.5. Interoperability with other components of the Comarch OSS Suite ..............12

3. Benefits .................................................................................................................13

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1. Introduction

Managing the performance of a telecommunication or IT network is a key strategic

activity that determines success in todays business world. From the business perspective, effective and accurate performance management leads to network investments improvements and

increasing customer satisfaction. The only way to build strong relations with customers and to

maintain high levels of customer satisfaction is to have your network and IT systems running optimally.

The goal of Comarch Network Performance Management (PM) is to provide a centralized

point of operators performance policy monitoring and network performance reporting. Performance Management requires specific tools for each technology domain, both in

terms of analytical tools for data post-processing and data collection. In most cases deployment

of performance management system which covers end-to-end operators business processes requires integration of multiple products. Because of it, Comarch PM System supports modular

architecture which allows Telco Operator to tailor system according to his network infrastructure and provides open interfaces for integration with external systems.

Comarchs solution modularity can be discussed at two levels: the whole Comarch OSS

Suite and Comarch Network Performance Management system itself. Comarch OSS Suite provides generic components which can be shared between

different Comarch OSS Suite systems (e.g., Network Performance Management, Service Level Management, Trouble Ticketing). Those modules are part of Comarch OSS Framework component

and provide general functional capabilities for all others sub-modules (e.g., User Accounts

management, System configuration management, general reporting capabilities).

Comarch Network Performance Management system provides modular design also. As mentioned, both post-processing and data collection varies between networking technologies. To

support multiple network domains within one system, Comarch Network Performance Management system provides multiple Data Models to support different technology-specific

deployment scenarios. Data Models consist of predefined Comarch PM System configuration for

the given technology domain and post-processing capabilities including Managed Objects definitions (monitored resources definitions) and its raw performance counters. Data Models

define also multiple KPI parameters that are calculated on straight device measures, define models of aggregation and report scheduling.

It should be also noted that Comarch Network Performance Management system is

integrated with Comarch Inventory Management system, which allows utilization of Inventory related attributes in post-processing activities (e.g. utilization of attributes which cannot be

provided by device itself). Moreover aggregated performance data can be used to populate Comarch Inventory Management system objects attributes. In this way performance related data

(e.g., important for network planning purposes) can be seamlessly delivered to the Inventory system users.

The idea of system modularity is presented in the following figure.

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Figure 1 Comarch Network Performance Management system architecture

Comarch Network Performance Management system can be further decomposed into

following functional building blocks:

PM Engine, PM Manager,

PM Task Scheduler,

PM Database.

Figure 2 Comarch Network Performance Management system architecture

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Each of the foregoing components provides functionality for supporting performance

management of telecommunication networks. Following chapters describes each of those components in more details.

PM Engine PM Engine is the core module of Comarch Network Performance Management system. It

provides the following functionality:

Data Collection. PM Engine triggers data collection in mediation platform. PM Engine receives raw performance data fetched by mediation platform and stores data in PM.

KPI Calculation. PM Engine calculates KPI according to formulas provided in PM system

configuration. Calculated KPIs are stored in PM Database. Threshold Monitoring. PM Engine monitors calculated KPIs values against threshold levels

provided in PM system configuration. PM Engine reports alarms in near-real time in case of performance policy violation (thresholds violations).

Aggregations. PM Engine aggregates KPIs according to formulas provided in PM system

configuration. Aggregated data is stored in PM Database.

PM Manager PM Manager manages all data collection tasks defined in PM system. It supervises and

updates PM Engine configuration to be consistent with configuration modifications made by

system users via GUI. Modifications are allowed according to user system privileges. PM administrator is able to define privileges for each component of the system, primarily for the

specific device group and its components and finally for counters, KPIs or alarms thresholds. PM Manager provides PM Engine configuration during startup and in case of:

Changes of KPI definitions,

Changes of aggregations definitions,

Changes of measurement process definition (e.g. measurement frequency, monitored objects).

PM Task Scheduler PM Task Scheduler is responsible for triggering data collection in PM Engine according

to measurement frequency provided in PM system configuration.

PM Database PM Database stores raw performance data collected during measurement process. It

also stores calculated KPIs values and aggregations values. All the data stored in the PM Engine is

available for future analyses and reporting.

2. Comarch Network Performance

Management functional features overview

Comarch PM System functionality can be divided into following functional areas:

PM data model configuration,

PM data collection configuration, PM real-time performance monitoring,

PM reports.

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2.1. Data Models configuration

Comarch Network Performance Management system supports multiple data models for

performance monitoring purposes. Data Model provides PM system with meta-information concerning monitored network resources and definition of raw performance data reported by

monitored objects (e.g., supported counters names and types). It specifies if data is available on-

line or off-line and how measurement process should be performed (e.g., supported polling intervals).

PM system provides also vast management functionality. Moreover, none of the

configuration tasks require scripting or coding. All functionality is fully supported via the systems GUI. PM System provides GUI for management in scope of:

Historical data storing policy, KPIs management (create/modify/delete KPIs formulas),

Aggregations management (create/modify/delete data aggregations formulas).

Figure 3 KPI and aggregations definition GUI

Comarch Network Performance Management system supports the following

post-processing tasks configuration:

KPIs calculation formulas, Time-based data aggregations formulas,

Performance reports template definition.

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KPIs are calculated basing on the raw performance data and provides the same data

granularity as measurement process. As mentioned before, KPI calculation formula is fully configurable for the system user.

Aggregations can be calculated both: for KPI and for other aggregated data, according to user-provided schedule. This is time-based aggregation. Aggregation granularity is definable by

the system user.

Configured KPIs, aggregations and reports can be further used during the data collection process definition as pre-defined templates.

2.2. Data collection

Comarch Network Performance Management system provides data collection

functionality. That means PM system periodically collects raw performance data from monitored

resources, called counters, stores fetched values in database and performs post-processing tasks. All post-processed data is also stored in Comarch Network Performance Management system

database.

Comarch Network Performance Management system distinguishes two types of data

collection tasks:

raw performance data collection, aggregations.

Raw performance data collection task performs data collection from network resources and KPIs calculation. KPIs are calculated based on the raw performance data and provides the

same measurement granularity. KPI parameter can be defined separately for each measured raw data, which allows defining several metrics for each counter depending on further application.

Each raw performance data collection process defines the following issues:

Which network elements should be monitored,

Which raw PM data should be collected per monitored resource, Which post-processing actions should be performed for monitored resources:

Which KPIs should be calculated, What is the frequency (granularity) of measurement and KPIs calculation.

Aggregation task performs time based data aggregation according to user-provided

aggregation rules (frequency and granularity). Aggregation granularity is definable by system user who can chose hourly, daily, monthly and yearly aggregation. Default collection frequency and

aggregation spans are defined in Data Model that depends on source specific features. Each data aggregation process defines the following issues:

Which KPIs should be aggregated per monitored resource, What is the frequency and granularity of aggregations.

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Figure 4 Data collection definition GUI

2.3. Real-time performance monitoring

Comarch Network Performance Management system provides mechanism for real-time

performance policy monitoring. Mechanism is based on defining thresholds for monitored performance metrics (KPIs). System supports two severity levels of alarms which can be reported:

critical and warning.

System user can adjust threshold levels for each monitored resource and its metrics,

during data collection task definition. There is a possibility to send an alarm event after each severity change of performance metrics. Alarms are compatible with Comarch Fault Management

interface where further correlations shall be performed. System allows determining number of probes after which another alarm is created to assure the severity state remaining.

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Figure 5 Threshold definitions for PM measurement

System supports also hysteresis for each threshold level. Hysteresis allows more flexible

definition of monitoring policy and prohibits alarm storms in case of fluctuations near threshold values.

Figure 6 Threshold hysteresis mechanism examples

In addition to real-time performance policy violation reporting, Comarch Network

Performance Management allows ad-hoc reporting of performance data. System supports also

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reports scheduling which allows short-term reports (e.g., daily reports) to be generated

automatically by the system.

2.4. Long-term data analyses

Comarch Network Performance Management system provides flexible reporting tool for

long-term data analyses. Along with aggregations supported by the system, it is comprehensive tool for long-term network performance analyses.

System supports also reports scheduling which allows long-term reports (e.g., monthly, yearly reports) to be generated automatically by the system.

Reports concerning long-term (aggregated) data can be also exported to CSV format which allows using that data in external systems for further post-processing.

Figure 7 Performance report example

2.5. Interoperability with other components of the Comarch OSS Suite

Comarch Network Performance Management is integrated with the Comarch Inventory

Management (IM) system. Such solution supports centralized storage of network

configuration data and avoids data inconsistency between different OSS systems.

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Moreover long-term performance indicators can be used to populate Inventory objects

attributes and provide input for further network configuration evaluation and/or planning.

Integration with the Comarch Fault Management (FM) system allows registration of performance violation alarms by Performance Management system. Reported alarms can

be used for root-cause analyses along with others alarms registered in FM system.

Integration with the Comarch Service Level Management (SLM) system allows including

performance related characteristics as part of SLA contracts signed with customers.

3. Benefits

Various networking technology supported within one solution, Near real-time performance monitoring,

Time-based performance data aggregation.

Comarch Network Performance Management - Product Whitepaper

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