OSS/BSS Integration Guidance

Table of Contents
1 2 3 4 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 1 Overview of Managed Hosting Services ........................................................................................... 3 Summary ............................................................................................................................................... 5 References ............................................................................................................................................ 6

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INTRODUCTION
This document discusses how the managed hosting services could be integrated with Operational Support Systems/Business Support Systems (OSS/BSS) that are commonly used in the telecommunications industry. Operational Support Systems (also called Operations Support Systems, or OSS) are computer systems that are used by telecommunications service providers. The term OSS most frequently describes "network systems" that deal with the telecom network itself, supporting processes such as maintaining network inventory, provisioning services, configuring network components, and managing faults. The complementary term Business Support Systems, or BSS, is a newer. It typically refers to "business systems" that deal with customers, supporting processes such as taking orders, processing bills, and collecting payments. The two systems together are often abbreviated BSS/OSS, or simply B/OSS. Much of the work on OSS has focused on defining its architecture. Put simply, there are four key elements of OSS: 1. 2. 3. 4. Processes: the sequence of events Data: the information that is acted upon Applications: the components that implement processes to manage data Technology: how we implement the applications

The traditional approach of operator systems architecture consists of three layers: 1. Business Support System (BSS) layer 2. Operations Support System (OSS) layer 3. Networks layer In addition to these traditional layers, integration enablers are necessary to provide the ability to successfully interconnect OSS and BSS. The BSS layer is focused on customers and business partners. The BSS also manages most of the financial transaction processing and acts as a front-end for the end users of the systems. The OSS layer contains the infrastructure for technical network management. Its systems are built around product, service, and resource inventories. The networks layer contains the network operators network infrastructure. Multiple networks can be managed simultaneously by one system. In a typical OSS/BSS system, models are created for the designed system configurations by using various modeling tools. These models are then consumed by a provisioning engine, which is based on an automated workflow process. This workflow processes integrate with different third-party components, preferably using SOA-based adapters. The Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) has been a commonly adopted architecture pattern in OSS/BSS. Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE), XML, and Web services are the main technologies suggested for use with OSS/J. The set of Web services based on Windows Communication Foundation

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(WCF) that are being provided for by Microsoft follow the best practices outlined by SOA and can be leveraged by an existing OSS/BSS system.

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OVERVIEW OF MANAGED HOSTING SERVICES

For hosting and telecom providers, Microsoft offers a set of WCF-based services that provide automation capabilities to provision, manage, or query multiple products and server technologies that are used in the operational data centers. Managed hosting services are sets of services that leverage Microsoft System Center Server Management Suite Enterprise products, including System Center Configuration Manager, System Center Operations Manager, System Center Data Protection Manager, and System Center Virtual Machine Manager. These services enable hosting providers to construct a managed hosting solution that offers various managed services, such as the following: Windows Server 2008 o Physical machine provisioning and management o Hyper-Vbased virtual machine provisioning and management o Templates and image management o Internet Information Services 7.0 Web server and FTP7 provisioning and management Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2008 o Database server provisioning and management o Database content management System Center Configuration Manager o Software updates o Software distribution o Asset tracking and reporting o Software metering System Center Operations Manager o Server monitoring o Application monitoring o Network monitoring o Security auditing System Center Data Protection Manager o File/folder-level backups and restores o Virtual server (.vhd)level backups and restores o Physical serverlevel backups and restores System Center Virtual Machine Manager o Virtualization environment management o Virtual machine placement o Snapshot management o Failovers (quick migrations)

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Managed hosting services provide guidance for how to enable those managed services by using Microsoft System Center Suite Enterprise. In addition, a set of Web service APIs has been developed for automation and integration purposes. All Web services are built on top of WCF, a programming framework used to build applications that intercommunicate. WCF is designed in accordance with SOA to support distributed computing when services are consumed by consumers. Clients can consume multiple services, and services can be consumed by multiple clients. Services typically have a Web Services Description Language (WSDL) interface that any WCF client can use to consume the service, regardless of the platform on which the service is hosted. WCF implements many advanced Web services (WS) standards, such as WSAddressing, WS-ReliableMessaging, and WS-Security. The following is a sample Web service contract for provisioning a virtual server:

Sample Web Services Note All Web services source codes and samples are provided free on the Microsoft Hosting Deployment Accelerator DVD.

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SUMMARY
Service Oriented Architecture has become widely adopted in OSS/BSS architecture. Web services are the common vehicle for enabling integration with OSS/BSS. As part of managed hosting services, a set of Web services built on top of Windows Communication Foundation has been constructed for automation and integration purposes. Using Web services to integrate managed hosting services with OSS/BSS becomes an obvious integration option. The actual implementation will vary based on the actual OSS/BSS, but Web services capability makes integration with OSS/BSS straightforward.

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REFERENCES
OSS/BSS reference architecture and its implementation scenario for fulfillment, Nokia. Wikipedia

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