Open EMS Suite by Nokia

Performance Management
Platform
Functional Overview
Version 1.4

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Performance Management Platform

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Contents

Contents
1

Introduction.......................................................................................... 5

2
2.1
2.2
2.2.1
2.2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5
2.6
2.7

Functionality of Performance Management Platform........................ 7

PM adaptation........................................................................................ 8
PM interfaces......................................................................................... 9
PM South and North Mediation Interfaces............................................ 10
PM Meta Access and PM Access Interfaces ........................................ 10
Measurement Collection Engine .......................................................... 11
Reporting Desktop ............................................................................... 12
PM threshold supervision..................................................................... 14
PM Taglib............................................................................................. 15
PM data cleanup .................................................................................. 16

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Introduction

Introduction
The Open EMS Suite Performance Management Platform (PM Platform)
provides an end-to-end solution for the extraction, loading, and reporting
of PM measurement data.
As a platform for Performance Management PM interfaces are crucial
parts of the overall PM solution. They allow connection to the outside
world and developing of own business logic in an effective and standard
way.
The multiplicity of network elements, variety of measurements for
different purposes and short collection periods make high demands on
the measurement collection system. Measurement Collection Engine
is a highly available, cost-efficient, and scalable solution using IT
industry standards. This minimizes the need for investments in hardware
and in your own software development.
Network element measurement data collection is regularly enhanced in
new releases. This always requires an update of the element
management system (EMS). Open EMS Suite provides a software
development toolkit (SDK) for the efficient creation and maintenance of
PM adaptations, which are responsible for adapting the suite to certain
network elements.
Automated supervision of PM data is an important functionality in
reducing OPEX. Threshold Engine monitors PM data and sends alarms
to the FM Platform.
For troubleshooting and root-cause analysis it is vital to have an ad-hoc
PM reporting possibility. There should be an easy way to create ad-hoc
reports providing the necessary performance data of a network element
in question. Reporting Desktop is a tool that provides an easy, intuitive
way to create reports on PM data. Reporting Desktop is integrated into
Desktop Framework, and ready for use without any further development.
Web-based reporting has become a standard in many OSS areas. PM
Taglib is an extension of Open EMS Suite Web Scripting solution that
allows the integration of ad-hoc reporting on PM Basic data in your own
web-based solution.

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Figure 1 presents an overview of performance management.

Figure 1. Overview of performance management

In this very simplified overview of performance management domain

main data flows and components are depicted. Measurements are
collected from network elements directly or via an Element Management
System (EMS) into the PM Platform database. In one way or the other
PM data needs to be visualized to the end user to support network
operation.
The following chapters provide more details about the functionality of PM
Platform. For more information on Open EMS Suite, see Open EMS
Suite Product Description.

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Functionality of Performance Management Platform

Functionality of Performance
Management Platform
The Open EMS Suite Performance Management Platform provides a
strong framework for measurement collection and reporting solutions. An
overview of the architecture is shown in Architectural overview of PM
Platform.

Figure 2. Architectural overview of PM Platform

South and north mediation interfaces provide an easy way to import

(load) or export PM data. Both are based on the Open Measurement
Standard (OMeS) XML format. Platform independent XML format allows
connection to any IT system.

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Performance Management Platform

Java programming interfaces PM Access and PM Metadata Access

provide a comprehensive way of accessing PM data and metadata
information for customized Java applications. The interfaces offer an
abstract way to access PM data, independent of the actual database
structure.
Reporting Desktop is a ready made PM client integrated into Desktop
Framework. Reporting Desktop provides off-the-shelf user interfaces
allowing ad-hoc reporting.
Threshold Desktop is a ready made PM client allowing the runtime
configuration of PM thresholds
PM Taglib is a JSP tag library supporting the creation of Web UIs with
Web Scripting on top of PM Basic data.
Measurement Collection Engine, Query Engine and Threshold
Engine are high performance, highly scalable backend applications that
are designed for Extraction, Transformation and Loading (ETL) jobs,
queries and threshold supervision. Furthermore Data cleanup does its
job in the background.
Administration UIs are available for administrative tasks during
runtime, namely configuration of Deletion Thresholds for data cleanup.

2.1

PM adaptation
A PM solution must provide a simple and fast way of adapting to new
network element (NE) types and releases. Basic support for
measurements is expected from the day when the element is available.
Refer to Adaptation Overview for more details on Adaptations in general.
A PM adaptation in Open EMS Suite is a PM Basic support,
measurements and counters, raw data received from the NE, and NE
release support from day one.
PM Basic fragment can be created and maintained in the Open EMS
Suite Adaptation SDK or directly created in the O2ML metadata format.
A Powerful editor is available in the SDK to ease the creation and
maintenance of adaptations.
A screenshot of the PM Basic Editor available in Adaptation SDK can be
seen in Figure 3.

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Figure 3. PM Basic Editor

Syntax and plausibility checks are done automatically; relations to other

fragments such as CM Basic can easily be created with PM Basic Editor.
Once the adaptation is created with all relevant fragments it can be
deployed with just one click to the OES server. Adaptation Manager and
individual Deployment Controller for each fragment are responsible to
deploy the O2ML fragments to the OES server.
The PM adaptation process is designed for cutting costs in the
development by reducing the time-to-market of necessary basic parts.
They can be provided together with the network element or downloaded.

2.2

PM interfaces
Open EMS Suite PM Platform introduces two kinds of interfaces:

South Mediation Interface and North Mediation Interface can

be used to import data into the PM Platform (South) or export data
from the PM Platform (North). Both are based on the technology
independent XML format.

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2.2.1

PM Meta Access Interface and PM Access Interface can be

used when developing own business logic on top of the PM
Platform. They provide access to the PM data and metadata
(Adaptations).

PM South and North Mediation Interfaces

Mediations communicate with the PM Platform via mediation interfaces.
In practice, this is a directory structure, a filename convention, and an
XML file format. Files can be imported and exported.
In a typical PM data export cases there is not only one external system
connected to the PM pipe but more. This requires that export
configuration to those systems can be done separately. In addition, only
the relevant data is exported, and the not-needed data is filtered out.
PM North Mediation Interface provides several export pipes which can
be configured to filter data separately. Filters can be applied to extract all
adaptation data or more fine-grained individual measurement types.

2.2.2

PM Meta Access and PM Access Interfaces

For developing your own business logic on top of PM Platform it is
crucial to have access to the PM data in an effective way. OSS through
Java Initiative (OSS/J) standard help to cut development costs by
harmonizing OSS interfaces.
PM Meta Access Interface provides OSS/J common compliant Java
access to the PM metadata of PM Basic Adaptation (i.e. measurement
types). Metadata can be queried and written via OSS/J Java Value Type
(JVT) session facades.
PM Meta Access Interface also provides SQL Read access to the
Metadata for non-Java clients.
PM Access Interface provides Java access to PM Basic data (i.e.
Measurements). Data can be queried on an abstract level and is given
back as table data.
PM Access Interface also provides SQL Read access to the PM data for
non-Java clients.

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2.3

Measurement Collection Engine

Measurement Collection Engine is an ETL (Extraction, Transformation &
Loading) functionality that makes full use of the industry standard J2EE
application server scalability. An overview of the ETL scalability is
shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4. Data insertion scalability

By adding hardware (either a CPU or server) data parsing and loading

can be scaled up very cost-effectively. Measurement Collection Engine
automatically detects on a load basis how many inserters have to be
started and dispatches the incoming files accordingly. Each inserter
opens its own JDBC connection to the database, making full use of a
powerful database solution.
Fault tolerant data processing

In telecommunication networks it may happen that PM data files contain

faulty records because for example new network element releases are
introduced in the network. Traditionally even one single faulty record
lead the entire data file to be rejected from the ETL process which leads
to data loss.
Some data processing problems may occur only temporarily. For
example missing Managed Object information may be caused by an

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outstanding topology upload. Those temporarily problems need to be

separated from permanent errors.
Open EMS Suite Measurement collection engine introduces a so called
best effort data insertion, where all valid records are inserted into the
database and only the faulty records are collected in a separate file and
rejected.
Temporarily problematic records are separated into other files and
automatically reloaded after for example one day.
Supervise data loading

There is a risk that the data loading gets stuck because for example the
disk system gets full or there are other problems in successfully
processing the data. Since the measurement collection engine runs
unattended in the background there is a user need to receive
notifications in case of problems.
Open EMS Suite Measurement Collection Engine supervises its own
processing and sends alarms in case of problems. If for example the
files queue up and are not processed anymore user gets an alarm and
can start actions.
The data insertion speed is a crucial measure of the Measurement
collection. On one hand it indicates that system is working well, on the
other hand it might already indicate upcoming problems.
Open EMS Suite Measurement Collection Engine measures its own
performance and reports it in a so called Self-PM Adaptation.
Performance data is collected like any other network data and is
available in the database. There is a Web report available that visualizes
the Self-PM performance data in a glance.

2.4

Reporting Desktop
Reporting Desktop is integrated into Desktop Framework and provides a
graphical user interface to support creating ad-hoc reports on PM data.
A typical view can be seen in Figure 5.

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Figure 5. Reporting Desktop sample

Reporting Desktop comes with the following tools:

Report Wizard / Report Editor: Reports can be created and edited

Selection of counters from the available PM Basic metadata

Selection of report dimension, typically time period.

Selection of visualization properties, for example chart

and/or table visualization.

Wizard guides through the individual steps of the report

creation

After the initial creation the report can be edited individually

for the different selections via a context menu

Report Explorer: Reports can be launched and managed

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Report Explorer shows all available reports in a tree. Reports

can be browsed and launched to be executed and shown in
the Report Viewer

Reports can be managed, such as copying, deleting,

moving, and organizing in Folders

Reports can be edited via context menus

Report description can be shown

Report Viewer: Reports can be visualized

Once a report is launched and executed the results are

visualized in the Report Viewer. Standard visualizations
include charts and tables.

Report can be exported to Excel

Integration into other Desktop tools

Reporting Desktop allows the creation of ad-hoc reports in the context of

a selected Managed Object or Alarm visible in MOF Desktop or
Monitoring Desktop (optional). The selected Managed Object is taken as
an object selection for the new report. During the report creation only the
relevant Measurement types for the Managed Object in question are
displayed. This speeds up the ad-hoc report creation significantly.
Managed Objects can also be incorporated into a report by Drag&Drop
from MOF or Monitoring Desktop tools into Reporting Desktop tools.

2.5

PM threshold supervision
PM threshold supervision is a vital part of a PM Platform solution. PM
data collection is typically running unattended in the background. By
supervising selected PM data values the user can be informed about
network issues before the network elements raise their own alarms in
case of failures.
Open EMS Suite PM Threshold Engine is capable of supervising
counters and creating alarms in case the threshold is exceeded.
An example of a threshold definition is shown in Figure 6.

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Figure 6. Example of a threshold definition

In the example above a constant value is used to define the threshold.

Once the value of the supervised counter exceeds the threshold value,
an alarm is created.
Threshold definitions are configured during runtime in a Desktop Tool.
The following threshold definitions are supported:

2.6

Selection of basic PI to be supervised

Selection of time aggregation level, e.g. supervise a daily value.

Selection of objects to be included in the supervision, i.e. limiting

the network element instances to be supervised (static object
selection)

Supervision against a constant value, as in the example above

PM Taglib
PM Taglib is a JSP tag library allowing the creation of Web UIs with Web
Scripting on top of PM Basic data. These tags allow ad-hoc reporting on
PM data. Main tags provided are:

Tag to visualize PM Basic metadata (Measurement

Types/Indicators/Counters). Possibility to select one or several
indicators.

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2.7

Tag to visualize and select Managed Objects from Managed

Object Framework

Tag to reuse the aforementioned selections to query PM Basic

data for further visualization in Web Scripting. While reusing PM
Access Interface capability there is no need to write own SQL for
accessing the data.

PM data cleanup
PM applications store data for various periods of time, depending on the
product or customer. Regardless of how long the data gets stored,
cleanup is a standard function for deleting unnecessary data from the
database.
Open EMS Suite PM Platform comes with a cleanup solution which is
also based on J2EE. This allows scaling the cleanup in large network
system configurations. Typically many measurements require a cleanup
and possibility to delete data in parallel, to reallocate system resources
as soon as possible for other more important jobs (like data insertion).
Deletion threshold configuration

Storing periods (so called deletion thresholds) can be configured per

measurement type. They can be configured during development with the
Adaptation SDK or during runtime as an administrative task via a web
interface.

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