Oracle Communications Objectel Technical Overview. Updated May 2007

Transcription

1 Oracle Communications Objectel Technical Overview Updated May 2007

2 Oracle Communications Objectel Technical Overview Executive Overview... 4 Introduction... 5 Product Description... 5 Product Overview... 5 Key Features... 7 Layers... 9 Physical Layer... 9 Functional Layer Logical Layer Functional Model Parents and Children Locations Parts Equipment Views Libraries Domains Network Modeling Network Processes Conduct Feasibility Studies Request Network Enhancements Build High-Level Network Designs Select Equipment Define Standard Equipment Configurations Define New Sites Design Equipment Order Equipment Install/Configure Equipment Test Equipment Build Facilities and Networks Test Facilities Determine Circuit Feasibility Design/Assign Circuits Test Circuits Monitor Network Status and Performance Detect and Correct Faults Analyze Faults and Performance Oracle Communications Objectel Technical Overview Page 2

3 Client Reports Projects Versioning Channel Reservation Grooming and Rehoming Facility Capacity Upgrade/Downgrade Architecture Client Application Server DBMS Server Java EE Application Server Zero Administration Client Multiple Clients on One Workstation Metadata Oracle Communications Objectel Metadata Editor Metadata Groupings Child Rules Parent Rules Association Rules Link Rules Connection Limits Network Rules Validation Code Tables Signal Mapping Load Factors Object Type Forms Data Security High Availability Oracle Communications Objectel API Architecture Basic Extension Types Localization and Internationalization Conclusion Oracle Communications Objectel Technical Overview Page 3

4 Oracle Communications Objectel Technical Overview With Oracle Communications Objectel, you can automate the tracking of network assets, assign your network resources quickly and accurately, and ensure that your network has the capacity to meet service delivery requirements. EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW Oracle Communications Objectel provides accurate inventory management that enables real-time, flow-through network and service provisioning, enabling you to determine accurate network inventory levels, ensure rapid service delivery, and efficiently manage network capacity. Oracle Communications Objectel flexibly manages equipment, facilities, and circuits as network objects. With its metadata architecture, the solution s network object model is easily extended to support new and emerging network equipment and technologies, rapidly and with considerable flexibility. Oracle Communications Objectel includes comprehensive design-and-assign capabilities. It provides an end-to-end view of your network equipment, facilities, and connectivity, enabling you to automate the provisioning of network assets, as well as leverage a single repository of current, accurate inventory information. With Oracle Communications Objectel, you can automate the tracking of network assets, assign your network resources quickly and accurately, and ensure that your network has the capacity to meet service delivery requirements. The solution s endto-end network infrastructure inventory capabilities include Hierarchical views of network equipment such as bays, shelves, slots, and ports Hierarchical views of network facilities and circuits Physical and logical capacity for network elements (NEs), facilities, and circuits Configuration of NEs, facilities, and circuits Connectivity among NEs, facilities, and circuits Site data indicating equipment location, along with facilities and circuit end points Oracle Communications Objectel Technical Overview Page 4

5 Graphical topology maps and equipment layout displays of network Ability to create or update the inventory database using Oracle Communications Network Discovery or other third-party tools to import, reconcile, and export data about network elements and the network Oracle Communications Objectel provides a single repository of current, accurate inventory information that facilitates the management of both your logical and physical inventory. INTRODUCTION Oracle Communications Objectel is a network inventory management tool that helps you accurately manage all the resources required to deliver services to subscribers in today s fast-changing communications marketplace. It provides a single repository of current, accurate inventory information that facilitates the management of both your logical and physical inventory. The solution s flexible, multitechnology, multivendor platform enables you to track your inventory levels more accurately. PRODUCT DESCRIPTION Product Overview Oracle Communications Objectel enables you to automate the provisioning of network assets quickly and achieve the benefits of best-in-class service delivery at lower costs. Total inventory management includes both inventory creation and the provisioning of customer services. Inventory creation involves creating new network resources in the inventory and is managed as part of network planning and engineering functions, both of which operate in accordance with network growth forecasts. Once network resources are created in the inventory, they are available for allocation to new and existing customers, and for network build-out processes. This process can be customized using design-and-assign algorithms for network components, ensuring rapid and accurate service delivery. Oracle Communications Objectel is a powerful standalone offering that can be integrated with other products in the Oracle Communications suite and other thirdparty tools. Oracle Communications Objectel delivers the following features and benefits: Integrated Functionality With Oracle Communications Objectel, you can perform automated circuit design and assignment functions for circuits and facilities within the overall service provisioning process. The solution supports many types of network topologies and assignment algorithms to aid the circuit design process. You can also define and maintain the relationships of the logical circuits to the underlying physical network inventory. Oracle Communications Objectel Technical Overview Page 5

6 Reduced Costs Oracle Communications Objectel provides a centralized system for network engineering and for managing network inventory. This eliminates the costly deployment of excess network equipment and capacity without associated customer revenue. Efficient Service Delivery With Oracle Communications Objectel, you can reduce customer service implementation times and improve the efficiency of service delivery. You can also map customer services directly to network implementation information, enabling you to manage your resources more effectively. Integration Ready Oracle Communications Objectel s flexible APIs allow it to be integrated easily with different systems on different technologies. Physical Inventory The solution provides accurate depictions of all physical inventory components, including floor plans, bays, shelves, slots, cards, and ports. It also maintains maps of the various sites in the network (see Figure 1). This allows you to keep an accurate inventory of all functional equipment in the network and its usage. Figure 1: Rack elevations End-to-End Views With Oracle Communications Objectel, you can view the assigned inventory end to end. The solution also provides important information about leased or off-net facilities such as interface points, circuit identifiers, and returned details. This view is important for efficiently managing network implementation, service provisioning, and service assurance processes. Functional Inventory Views Oracle Communications Objectel models the functional network inventory hierarchically using graphical network topology maps and equipment layout displays that illustrate network facilities, circuits, connectivity information, and site data. Inventory Associations The solution enables you to associate network infrastructure components with specific information, such as customer and Oracle Communications Objectel Technical Overview Page 6

7 service data. When network problems occur, this helps you pinpoint the affected customers quickly and efficiently. Oracle Communications Objectel s architecture is metadata-driven, which makes it highly flexible and adaptable to multitechnology, multivendor environments. Key Features Oracle Communications Objectel helps you effectively manage your network assets and logical network capacity. The solution s architecture is metadata-driven, which makes it highly flexible and adaptable to multitechnology, multivendor environments. This versatile architecture also facilitates the migration from circuitswitched to packet-switched services, and supports multiple technologies including IP, asynchronous transfer mode (ATM)/frame relay, synchronous optical network/synchronous digital hierarchy (SONET/SDH), and time division multiplexing (TDM). Figure 2: SONET network Oracle Communications Objectel enables you to create hierarchical views of network facilities and circuits, as well as geographical views of sites and equipment. The solution also supports automated network discovery. Oracle Communications Objectel provides these features: Comprehensive Inventory Coverage Oracle Communications Objectel enables you to manage information about locations as well as physical and functional equipment. The solution s data model covers facilities, circuits, networks, and services. With Oracle Communications Objectel, you can view available and assigned capacities and access graphical views of locations, equipment, and connectivity. Effective Capacity Management With Oracle Communications Objectel, you can view available and assigned capacities and access graphical views of locations, equipment, and connectivity. You can also create userdefined views of your entire network infrastructure and of portions defined by function, domain, facilities, and more. Oracle Communications Objectel Technical Overview Page 7

8 Automated Circuit Routing Oracle Communications Objectel and related API functionality enable you to automate the creation of end-to-end circuits, based on compatible and available capacity, allowing you to significantly streamline your provisioning activities. Capacity Threshold Notification The solution can alert users when capacity thresholds have been reached. You can also define command hooks to automatically generate other actions when a threshold is reached, allowing you to quickly resolve capacity issues. Oracle Communications Objectel s metadata-driven architecture allows you to define and modify data models based on your specific requirements. Flexible Metadata Modeling Oracle Communications Objectel s metadata-driven architecture allows you to define and modify data models based on your specific requirements. The metadata structure includes userdefinable objects and attributes for new information, enabling you to work with existing processes and data more easily. Automated Network Reconciliation Oracle Communications Objectel provides an optional reconciliation capability to accept discovery data generated from external applications such as Oracle Communications Network Discovery. The reconciliation capability enables you to receive, compare, and reconcile physical equipment, functional equipment, and network topology information, allowing you to reconcile your inventory automatically and consistently. With this capability, you can reduce migration time at the initial loading of network inventory data, as well as facilitate the ongoing reconciliation of your inventory. Open System Functionality Oracle Communications Objectel provides standardized, open APIs that facilitate interaction with other operational support system (OSS) components from a variety of vendors. The solution can also be easily integrated with other solutions in the Oracle Communications suite, including activation, provisioning control, servicelevel agreement (SLA) management, and network mediation. Oracle Communications Objectel also provides the capability to interface to enterprise application integration (EAI) systems. Project-Level Tracking With Oracle Communications Objectel, you can associate inventory changes to specific projects, enabling you to better manage trends, activities, and costs per project. These tracking activities are flexible and user-definable. Standardized Library The solution facilitates the configuration and deployment of physical and logical network information through a standardized library. The standard library configuration is built only once, allowing future information to be added quickly and easily. Carrier-Grade Scalability The Oracle Communications Objectel data repository is designed for maximum scalability. It can hold more than 60 million objects and supports large numbers of concurrent users. Oracle Communications Objectel Technical Overview Page 8

9 Layers Oracle Communications Objectel uses a unique multilayered approach for storing inventory information, allowing it to intelligently correlate physical, functional, and logical views of the network. Users can view a circuit solely at the logical level, or can drill down to the elements that implement the circuit. The many ways to view and update the network model within Oracle Communications Objectel allows different users to access the level of information that best suits their needs. And because all views refer to common database information, an update in one is automatically reflected in the others. Figure 3: Functional structure Physical Layer Oracle Communications Objectel s physical inventory layer details all physical aspects of the network and provides the foundation for enabling planning and provisioning processes. This physical inventory layer includes Hierarchical views of network equipment such as bay, shelf, slot, and port. Equipment templates are available for devices deployed across the network, including data, transport, and voice devices. Graphical views of equipment configurations, which gives you the ability to view a location; see all the equipment in a particular central office; drill down to a particular device; view its location in a rack; and further, drill down into each port to see what services/customers it s serving. Libraries that define standard equipment configurations Site data that specifies where equipment is housed, as well as facility and circuit end points Oracle Communications Objectel Technical Overview Page 9

10 Graphical network topology maps, floor plans, and equipment layout displays of the network Functional Layer Oracle Communications Objectel s functional layer models the function that physical equipment (for example, multiplexer, SONET/SDH add/drop multiplexing, router) provides the network. This layer also includes the ports that allow access to the equipment. Ports can be connected to form facilities that provide useable capacity to the network. You can use this layer to model your network facilities without having to model your physical network equipment first. This allows you to implement circuit and facility provisioning rapidly, even before full physical inventory management. You can also quickly implement capacity management functions to enhance competitive advantage. With support for a wide variety of network technologies, including IP, ATM, frame relay, SONET/SDH, TDM, and PDH, Oracle Communications Objectel streamlines and facilitates the design and assign of the complete circuit. Logical Layer Oracle Communications Objectel s logical layer enables you to design and assign circuits as part of the overall service provisioning function. With support for a wide variety of network technologies, including IP, ATM, frame relay, SONET/SDH, TDM, and plesiochronous digital hierarchy (PDH), this capability streamlines and facilitates the design and assign of the complete circuit. Circuit layout record information is used in the installation and activation of the circuit. Figure 4: Circuit layout Specialized circuit management features include Assignments of circuits Automated route finding End-to-end circuit layout Capacity management functions User-defined views of network facilities and circuits Oracle Communications Objectel Technical Overview Page 10

11 Functional Model Parents and Children Oracle Communications Objectel uses the concept of parents and children to store and organize information. For example, an equipment bay with shelves mounted in it illustrates how this concept is applied. The equipment bay is the parent of each shelf, and each shelf is considered a child of the equipment bay. The relationship between equipment bays and shelves can be described as one-to-many; that is, a single instance of bay (parent) may have many shelves (children), but each instance of shelf (child) is associated with only one specific bay (parent). If the example is expanded to include cards mounted on the shelves, then the cards are children of shelves, which are children of the bays. Locations Locations are object types that are defined in Oracle Communications Objectel s metadata architecture. They can be states or provinces, cities, campuses, sites, buildings, or rooms. Location types are hierarchical in nature: rooms are children of buildings; buildings are children of campuses, and so on. The system administrator defines location types where equipment can reside, which are usually the lowest-level locations, such as rooms or sites. Oracle Communications Objectel displays locations graphically on a map or floor plan. You can view locations and navigate through them in the hierarchical inventory tree view (see Figure 5). Oracle Communications Objectel Technical Overview Page 11

12 Figure 5: Geographic view of customer sites and facilities Parts Parts are the properties of an object that cannot be modified and are used to define equipment. The system administrator defines allowable part types. Administrative users can then create a part type to create object types for equipment. When a new part type is created, attributes are defined for all occurrences of the part. Once the system administrator defines all part types, you can add other parts to the parts catalog and then use them to create new equipment. Equipment Views Oracle Communications Objectel stores dimensional equipment information (such as height, width, and depth) and uses it to represent equipment configurations graphically. When dimensions for an item are defined, the solution can display a representation of the item from six views: front, back, top, bottom, right, and left sides. Each part view may have an image file defined for it that allows the solution to display all the graphical features of that view. If no image file is defined, Oracle Communications Objectel displays a blank, dimensioned rectangle to represent the view. Libraries Libraries are repositories that store template copies of equipment, complete with any corresponding children and connections. You can use these copies to quickly create instances of similar equipment in the equipment inventory. You can share template copies of equipment with other users by placing it in the public library. Records that you place in your private library are not available to others. Oracle Communications Objectel Technical Overview Page 12

13 Domains By default, Oracle Communications Objectel hierarchically displays locations and equipment, in terms of how the equipment inventory is installed. However, you also have the option to establish domains, which are user-defined views of locations, equipment, and facilities. For each domain, you can filter out information that you do not want to view. You can also set up any number of domains for public or private use. Locations, equipment, and facilities can appear in multiple domains. Network Modeling Oracle Communications Objectel offers the following comprehensive network modeling features: Network Planning and Engineering Using Oracle Communications Objectel s flexible metadata capabilities, you can quickly and accurately add new types of network equipment and services to your inventory. Network facilities can be managed as inventory and become immediately available for use in the customer service provisioning process. Figure 6: View of a circuit across core network facilities Service Provisioning Design and Assign The solution provides key functions for automated and custom circuit design in the service delivery process. You can select and assign equipment and facilities in real time to provide end-to-end customer services. Oracle Communications Objectel Technical Overview Page 13

14 Oracle Communications Objectel provides information on all of the implemented facilities available for use and all of the assignments made against those facilities, allowing very detailed management of capacity. Capacity Management Management of the network s logical capacity is crucial to controlling costs and providing excellent service. Oracle Communications Objectel enables effective capacity management by monitoring all implemented facilities available for use and all of the assignments made against those facilities. Thresholds alert a user when the capacity of a facility reaches a preset level and additional capacity must be implemented. Service Assurance Support Oracle Communications Objectel allows network operations departments to rapidly resolve network problems, such as equipment or facility failures, if they occur. Interfaces to network management platforms facilitate the sharing of inventory information, enabling you to quickly identify customers affected by a fault and to support trouble-ticket generation. Network Processes This section describes the network processes you can perform in Oracle Communications Objectel. Conduct Feasibility Studies Using Oracle Communications Objectel, you can study your current network to help plan and investigate future network and capacity requirements. For morecomplex studies, the solution provides a snapshot of the current network for use by a modeling tool. Request Network Enhancements As your network grows, enhancements are required. Using projects in Oracle Communications Objectel, you can track and manage all network enhancement requests, perform feasibility studies on the requests, estimate costs for the enhancements, and keep track of the progress of projects that are accepted or cancelled. Build High-Level Network Designs Oracle Communications Objectel provides the ability to build models of networks and facilities at the site level. Using this feature, you can perform high-level network design and experiment with different routing schemes without involving detailed equipment, which can be very time-consuming. Site-level designs can then be used as blueprints when you create the actual network. Select Equipment After you have evaluated network equipment and selected the vendor, you can add the equipment into the Oracle Communications Objectel parts catalog. You can then use the defined parts to create equipment libraries, enabling you to easily add equipment to sites. Oracle Communications Objectel Technical Overview Page 14

15 Define Standard Equipment Configurations With Oracle Communications Objectel, you can create and maintain equipment libraries. Depending on your requirements, you can create libraries of generic equipment or libraries of equipment for specific applications. When you create and populate libraries with equipment, you can then use these library items to add equipment to sites. You can also copy and paste equipment configurations that you create at a specific site into a library for use at other sites. Libraries define sites, physical equipment, and functional capabilities, and the connections between these items. You are not limited to using libraries to add equipment to sites. You can add equipment item-by-item or copy it from another site. If you install exactly the same equipment at each site, libraries help ensure consistent equipment configuration. After you have added equipment from a library, you can make specific configuration changes to tailor the equipment to the site. For example, you can set equipment attributes to site-specific values. Define New Sites When you are defining a new site, you can add it to the location hierarchy at the appropriate level. The appropriate level depends on the type of site and how the location hierarchy is defined in the metadata. If a compatible file format is available, you can associate a site with a map or a floor plan to define and track the relative position of the site s children. This enables you to place equipment, such as racks or bays, on the floor plan. After adding the site to the inventory tree, you can locate it on its parent s map. You can position the site on the map by dragging it into position. Alternatively, if you supply the coordinates (the longitude and latitude), Oracle Communications Objectel automatically places the site on the map for you. Sites can have properties such as address information and Common Language Location Identification (CLLI) codes, as well as associated information, including contacts and maintenance agreements. Sites can be defined to hold either equipment or other locations as children. Design Equipment After you define a site in Oracle Communications Objectel, you can add equipment to it. In the engineering design stage, you can Add the desired equipment Determine its physical configuration Specify the equipment configuration parameters required to provide the necessary equipment characteristics Oracle Communications Objectel Technical Overview Page 15

16 You can also add functional capabilities and capacity to equipment that is used to construct facilities and circuits. Before you can install physical equipment, it must be available in the parts catalog. If you define an equipment configuration that will be used at other sites, you can put a copy in the library for later use. You can then add equipment directly from the parts catalog, or you can copy equipment configurations from a library or another site. Equipment hierarchy rules ensure that only suitable equipment can be mounted in parent equipment, such as shelves or blocks in a bay. Based on these rules, unsuitable equipment cannot be mounted on a given parent for example, at the bay level, the slot option is unavailable. A sample equipment hierarchy appears as follows: Mounting racks or bays Shelves contained in the rack Slots in the shelves Cards in the slots Ports on the cards You can customize equipment hierarchy rules as needed. For example, your organization might want to track power equipment (generators, breaker panels, rectifiers, batteries, and fuse panels) installed at a site, or other specialized equipment inventory requirements. You can also make connections between physical equipment. For example, you can use physical connections to record power connections to equipment and alarm connections to alarm monitoring equipment. Traffic-bearing connections generally do not use physical connections. Instead, they use functional equipment ports and connections created during the process of building facilities and networks. Finally, you can use projects to track specific activities such as adding, modifying, and removing equipment. You can use the equipment details captured in Oracle Communications Objectel during the design process to help create purchase requisitions. Order Equipment Once you design the equipment you want to install, you can order it for installation. You can use the equipment details captured in Oracle Communications Objectel during the design process to help create purchase requisitions. For example, you can run a query that lists all cards in a shelf or all the shelves at a site. You can print rack and shelf configurations constructed in the design process and add the printout to orders for preassembled equipment. You can also generate reports of equipment additions, changes, and removals for particular projects. Oracle Communications Objectel Technical Overview Page 16

17 Install/Configure Equipment When equipment is received, a technician must install and configure it at the site. Equipment design information captured in Oracle Communications Objectel helps a technician configure and install equipment. For instance, you can print rack and shelf configurations and attach those printouts to work orders. You can also use queries to list configuration parameters identified for specific cards or reports to list project activities, and so on. If a technician makes changes to the equipment during installation, you can update Oracle Communications Objectel records accordingly. You can also add new information that was not available earlier, such as hardware serial numbers, and hardware, firmware, or software version numbers. Test Equipment After installing equipment, you must test it. Oracle Communications allows you to record test data such as test dates, noise levels, and bit error for later reference. If you repeat the tests later, you can compare the later results with earlier results to identify any deterioration in equipment performance. Test data that you choose to record are defined as attributes in the metadata file for the applicable equipment. Build Facilities and Networks After equipment is installed and tested, you can use it to provide communication facilities between sites. Facilities are used to create circuits that fulfill customer or internal requirements. You can create facilities that are complete at the site level but not at the functional equipment level. You can also create facilities that have two different termination point types. For example, one point can be a site and the other can be a functional equipment port. You can also define SONET/SDH, ATM, and frame relay networks in Oracle Communications Objectel to carry customer or internal circuits. Facilities and circuits are created using the functional equipment defined in the design site equipment process. The various types of facilities (such as, leased facility, circuit), and the attributes associated with each, are defined in the metadata file. Test Facilities You can perform tests on communication facilities and record the results for future reference. Test information is defined as facilities attributes in the metadata file. Determine Circuit Feasibility Customers generally require a circuit of a certain capacity between two locations. Oracle Communications Objectel will verify whether a circuit in existing facilities can be assigned to meet the requirement. If facilities are available, and the order for the circuit is pending, you can give the circuit a specific status, such as reserved. Likewise, if it is not possible to complete the circuit assignment, facilities are left available for other uses and can be assigned to other circuits when needed. Oracle Communications Objectel Technical Overview Page 17

18 When facilities are not available to complete circuit assignments, you must enhance the network by adding new equipment, following the design, order, and installation steps already described. Design/Assign Circuits When a circuit order is received, Oracle Communications Objectel enables you to create the circuit. The solution allows you to find available circuit paths between two locations, specify the desired connectivity and capacity, and explore circuit path options. You can also associate customer information with specific circuits. Test Circuits Similar to how Oracle Communications Objectel allows you to test facilities, you can also test circuits and record the results. You can define what test results you want to record in the solution s metadata file. Monitor Network Status and Performance Oracle Communications Objectel s open API allows you to build automated interfaces with external systems, such as a network management system (NMS). Alarms from an external system can be sent to Oracle Communications Objectel to trigger a change in the status of the affected equipment or site. This allows you to use Oracle Communications Objectel to drill down to the site or equipment level to monitor status and performance, and enable rapid trouble resolution. Detect and Correct Faults Oracle Communications Objectel allows you to quickly retrieve the configuration of equipment, facilities, and circuits when a problem occurs or is reported by the NMS. If needed, you can launch the Oracle Communications Objectel client directly from the NMS to provide you with the detailed information necessary to quickly identify and locate the problem or fault. The solution also provides you with the option of including customer and support information (such as identifying key support individuals) with the circuit, site, or facility. If this information was added when the circuit was created, you can quickly identify the affected customer when a circuit or facility fails, and who to contact to rectify the problem. Analyze Faults and Performance With Oracle Communications Objectel, you can quickly access network configuration information to help resolve recurring network faults or performance problems, or make overall network improvement plans. You can also determine available capacity and use this information to plan the expansion of network capacity. Oracle Communications Objectel Technical Overview Page 18

19 Client Reports Oracle Communications Objectel s report tool is accessed through the client. Typically, most users are given access to generate reports. However, it is recommended that the ability to add, remove, and maintain reports, be restricted to system administrators. Reports are created based on existing templates. Before you can create a report, you must know the template s capabilities. Different reports use different parameters; these parameters define the content of the report. The process of adding reports consists of the following: Naming the report and identifying its layout Entering the report s output prefix Entering the report parameters Projects Oracle Communications Objectel s project capabilities allow you to identify and classify a group of related actions. For example, you can create a project to upgrade a switch at a location, which might require you to define new equipment. Oracle Communications Objectel identifies the items that are associated with a given project and those that are not. This provides the following advantages: Item Associations Items that are used in the project, such as sites and equipment, are clearly identified as being associated with the project. Item Security Users working in another project cannot edit or delete the items associated with your project, or mark them for planned deletion. Recording Changes All changes made within a project are recorded. If a project is cancelled, you can roll back all changes made to the project, allowing you to efficiently return the associated items to their original state. Status Tracking You can assign different status values to a project to track it during its development cycle. Time-Based Resources Multiple resource assignment and facility design versions are supported, enabling the user to create and view multiple versions (previous, current, and future). A resource (for example, a DS0 channel on a DS1 facility) can be assigned multiple times, as long as those assignments do not have overlapping effective intervals. In other words, as long as the earlier service is planned to be disconnected before the resource is reused by another service, there is no conflict. Versioning With Oracle Communications Objectel s design versioning capability, you can leverage multiple views of the network to enable effective network and capacity planning, and optimize existing resources. Design versioning allows you to enable Oracle Communications Objectel Technical Overview Page 19

20 the as-was (prior design), as-managed (current design), and as-planned (future design) network views simultaneously. Because most network configuration changes are scheduled, Oracle Communications Objectel supports planned designs that will be used in the future. The solution takes into account specified due dates, which map to the date that the scheduled network change will take place in the field. It also supports the concepts of facility design and resource assignment statuses. Channel Reservation Oracle Communications Objectel allows you to reserve channels without riding a facility/circuit object over the base object. Users are able to select all channels or specific channels on a facility for reservation. Grooming and Rehoming Oracle Communications Objectel provides a grooming function to easily change the channel or facility on which one or more circuits are riding. The solution also provides a rehoming function to easily change the end point of one or more facilities or circuits. Facility Capacity Upgrade/Downgrade Oracle Communications Objectel provides the ability to modify the capacity (signal type) of an existing facility with or without any rider circuits. Oracle Communications Objectel uses three-tier client/server architecture to perform its transactions. This design optimizes performance by minimizing the required amount of network traffic and database reads as users create, view, and manipulate data records for equipment and circuit inventory and provisioning. ARCHITECTURE Oracle Communications Objectel uses a three-tier client/server architecture, as shown in Figure 7, to perform its transactions. This design optimizes performance by minimizing the required amount of network traffic and database reads as users create, view, and manipulate data records for equipment and circuit inventory and provisioning. Oracle Communications Objectel Technical Overview Page 20

21 Map Builder Objectel Client Configuration Manger SROP EAI Connector (Custom) Server Administrator User Manager SROP Objectel Server(s) Server Extension(s) JSROP HTTP JEE Application Server XML/JMS Metadata file (XML) Import Reconciliation (Optional) Metadata Editor Model doc Network Discovery (Optional) Inventory data and Oracle database Server Figure 7: Oracle Communications Objectel s three-tier, component-based architecture The implicit component nature of this architecture provides scalability. Each component is encapsulated and can be transparently relocated on a network. Oracle Communications Objectel s client, server, and database server (including the database), can all reside on a single computer. As requirements change, each tier can be moved to a different computer without compromising performance. Client The client is the user interface used to create and manipulate objects in Oracle Communications Objectel. When you start the Oracle Communications Objectel client, it connects to the application server. The client allows you to interact with the inventory data in a controlled and intuitive manner. Application Server The application server is the interface between the client and the database management system (DBMS) server. The application server interprets information stored in the database and enforces the rules that define the equipment and circuit connections for the network infrastructure. These rules are stored in a metadata file. When you start the application server, it loads the metadata file and connects to the DBMS server. The application server communicates with the DBMS server to perform database transactions, telling the DBMS specifically where to save data and implement the information defined in the metadata file. If needed, you can connect Oracle Communications Objectel Technical Overview Page 21

22 multiple application servers to the DBMS servers to provide more processing resources in the system and a higher level of system availability. DBMS Server The DBMS is the repository for data representing the equipment and circuit models, as well as information describing all the occurrences of the equipment and circuits that make up the network infrastructure. As the Oracle Communications Objectel system is used, records are stored and retrieved from the Oracle database server. Java EE Application Server A Java EE (JEE) application server is used with the Oracle Communications Objectel application server to implement additional functions within the Oracle Communications Objectel system. These functions include User and password management XML APIs accessed via Java Message Service (JMS) or HTTP or through enterprise application integration (EAI) connectors Zero Administration Client Oracle Communications Objectel s Zero Administration Client (ZAC) is a standard feature that detects when the client version is older than the server, and then automatically downloads and installs the client upgrade to the desktops using a pull install method. With the ZAC, you save deployment time and costs by no longer having to manually upgrade desktop or laptop PCs when upgrading to new versions of the application. Multiple Clients on One Workstation Multiple instances of the Oracle Communications Objectel client can run simultaneously on a single workstation, enabling a user to access different screens, objects, networks, and domains at one time. If the system is busy performing a large-scale function, users may toggle to another instance and continue working. Metadata Oracle Communications Objectel provides a very flexible data model. Except for a few basic system tables, the solution does not mandate any particular database structure or content. Instead, you define the content and structure of the database during installation, and you maintain it as your network infrastructure inventory needs demand. Oracle Communications Objectel Technical Overview Page 22

23 Metadata consists of The object types and their characteristics (also called attributes) and allowed interrelationships, as defined by behavior rules The structure that you define for data in the database and the mapping of the defined object attributes to the database Metadata is loaded into the application server, providing Oracle Communications Objectel with a runtime definition of the objects in your network infrastructure and how they should be mapped in the database. Oracle Communications Objectel Metadata Editor The Oracle Communications Objectel Metadata Editor is a separate application used to define, maintain, and update metadata as the network infrastructure changes. Figure 8: Oracle Communications Objectel Metadata Editor s GUI view Metadata Groupings Metadata is organized into several distinct groupings: Categories Families Object types Attributes Categories Categories are predefined top levels used by metadata to organize data. You cannot add, delete, or modify categories and they are not reflected in the Oracle Communications Objectel client. Each category has default attributes that allow Oracle Communications Objectel Technical Overview Page 23

24 you to perform specific functions. For example, facilities/circuit object types necessitate the definition of a source and target. The most commonly used categories are the following: Connection Data Facilities/circuits Location Parts Networks The following categories require that their object types are hierarchical in nature: Location Functional equipment Equipment System Object types are created in the Oracle Communications Objectel Metadata Editor and fall into a category or family within a category. They are defined by attributes and behavior rules for that type (for example, parent-child rules). Examples of object types in the physical equipment category are rack, shelf, and card. Oracle Communications Objectel Technical Overview Page 24

25 The categories shown in Figure 9 contain only object types, but other categories contain families. Figure 9: Categories containing object types Families As shown in Figure 10, families are subdivisions of categories. You cannot add, delete, or modify families. Families are not reflected in the Oracle Communications Objectel client. Figure 10: Families containing object types Oracle Communications Objectel Technical Overview Page 25

26 Object Types Object types fall into the following general groupings: Hierarchical object types (the location, equipment, system, and functional equipment categories) Nonhierarchical object types (facilities/circuits, connections, and network categories representative of network object types) Support object types Attributes Attributes are information related to object types. They include both user-defined attributes and required system attributes. Attributes are defined in one place in the Oracle Communications Objectel Metadata Editor and referenced when needed for an object type. Default attributes appear in blue text in the spreadsheet view of the Oracle Communications Objectel Metadata Editor and cannot be changed. User-defined attributes appear in black text and can be changed. Figure 11: Attributes in data dictionary Child Rules Child rules define the hierarchical (parent-child) relationships for hierarchical object types: locations, (physical) equipment, and functional equipment. An object type can be a child for more than one parent type. For example, ports can be children to both cards and chassis because they can be mounted in both types of equipment. Oracle Communications Objectel Technical Overview Page 26

27 Conditional expressions let you add further definition to child rules. For example, a child rule allows shelves to be placed in bays. Using conditional expressions, you can specify an additional requirement that only shelves having a particular status may be placed in a particular bay. Parent Rules Parent rules define conditions that restrict the placement of a child in a parent. For example, you can add an expression to limit the number of children the selected object type (parent) can have. In the Oracle Communications Objectel client, when the user provides the vendor name, the system can retrieve related vendor information from the vendor object type table. Association Rules Association rules associate data in object type tables with common data in other object type tables. An association rule may define a one-to-many relationship or a many-to-many relationship. A database foreign key represents and enforces one-tomany relationships. A separate lookup table is used to store many-to-many relationships. For example, multiple vendors manufacture multiple types of bays. In the Oracle Communications Objectel client, a user can type information about the vendor (name, contact, address, phone number, account) every time the user adds a new bay, but this would be time-consuming and result in redundant data. To simplify this process, you can create an object type called vendor in the data family that contains all the common data for the vendor (name, contact, address, phone number, account). You then create an association that uses the vendor name associated with each bay as the key between the objects (bay and vendor). By associating data in this way (known as a single association), you create foreign key relationships. In the Oracle Communications Objectel client, when the user provides the vendor name, the system knows to retrieve the remaining information from the vendor object type table. The vendor name associated with each piece of equipment is the key between the objects. Link Rules Link rules define allowable physical connectivity. For example, ports can be connected to ports through copper. Connection Limits Connection limits define the conditional expressions that must be met for connections on each side of an object type in the (physical) equipment and location categories. Oracle Communications Objectel Technical Overview Page 27

28 Network Rules Network rules define the behavior of network object types, such as The number of facilities that can be defined per node The kind of functional equipment (FE) nodes that can be defined If data flows can be defined for the networks Validation Some attributes can be defined as Being mandatory Having an input mask Having possible values come from code tables You can also add validation to attribute values. For example, you can require that a value for a planned end date be in the future. Code Tables Code tables store code values that represent the possible values for an attribute. Examples of such values are units of length (millimeters and centimeters) or a coordinate system (top left, top right, bottom left, and bottom right). There are three types of code tables: Database Stores the possible attribute values in the database. Through the client, the user chooses a value from among the list of possible attribute values. SQL Queries Stores queries that are run to create the list of possible values when the attribute is selected. Value Lists Stores code tables whose values are defined in the metadata file and must be changed using the Oracle Communications Objectel Metadata Editor. Signal Mapping Signal types belong to a single technology and can be mapped (or converted) to one or more other signal(s) or transported as part of another signal of the same or different technology. When a signal is transported as part of another signal, the signal rides as a channel within another signal. Signal mapping is the process of defining the relationships between signal types. Signal mapping definitions specify whether the signal can be channelized, and if so, Oracle Communications Objectel Technical Overview Page 28

29 how many channels a parent signal can consist of. The technology of a signal, and the technologies that can carry it, are also identified. Figure 12: Flexible signal mapping Load Factors Load factors define the amount of signal load a given flow quality consumes in the facility that carries it. Load factors have a range of values between 0 and 1, where 1 specifies a load equal to the consumed signal. For example, a flow quality of constant bit rate permanent can be defined as consuming 1 of a facility/circuit using TDM technology or 0.85 of a facility/circuit using ATM. Oracle Communications Objectel Technical Overview Page 29

30 Figure 13: Load factors on facility types Object Type Forms By default, the Oracle Communications Objectel client displays a detailed view of an object type. A window shows all editable attributes in either one- or two-column format, depending on its size. The fields are preceded by a field label that describes the attribute. The field is governed by the default or specified mask. For a particular installation, you can develop forms for some or all attribute types to replace the default details tabs on the Properties window. Forms are created using Microsoft ActiveX Control Pad, which is available free of charge. Use the Oracle Communications Objectel Metadata Editor to enter the pathname of the form. When there is only one form for the object type, it appears in the window; when there are several forms, each form appears on a separate tab in the window. The Oracle Communications Objectel Metadata Editor extracts all necessary information from the forms in a text file; consequently, the forms are not needed by the Oracle Communications Objectel client or the Oracle Communications Objectel server. The Oracle Communications Objectel Metadata Editor exports the text file to the server to load on startup. The following rules apply to object type forms: The form must contain only static text fields, edit fields, combo boxes, icons, and group boxes. All other types of fields are ignored. All forms for an object type must contain entry fields for all of its mandatory attributes. Oracle Communications Objectel Technical Overview Page 30

31 The form must not contain invisible attributes. The form must not contain entry fields that do not correspond to the attribute type. Within the forms, the fields representing object attributes and labels must correspond to the attribute name (the identifier column in the Attributes window). To create forms, create an HTML layout file in the ActiveX Control Pad. Then add controls such as static text fields, edit fields, and so on, to the form. These controls have properties. The value you give to an ID property must use the following conventions: All entry fields must be named A0<attribute name>. The fields must be edit fields or combo boxes. All other field types are ignored. A static text field with the name L0<attribute name> defines a static text field. This field displays a description of the attribute from metadata rather than the text entered in the form. A status text field with the name T0<any name> defines a static text field that is not connected to any attribute. The group box field and icon fields must be named T0<any name>. The name you provide for the caption property will appear as the label on the Oracle Communications Objectel form. Position the controls as you want them to appear on the form. Enter the name of the HTML layout file in the Oracle Communications Objectel Metadata Editor Forms tab. The text within the tab is defined by the Object Definition Component. The Oracle Communications Objectel Metadata Editor currently supports field size and location information, and ignores field type information (edit boxes, combo boxes, and so on). However, we strongly recommend that field type information be used to support future Web-based versions of the Oracle Communications Objectel Metadata Editor. If an optional field is missing from the form, its value is never displayed or changed. If an additional field that is not part of the object definition is defined in a form, it is considered an error and the form cannot be used. Oracle Communications Objectel allows administrators to control which users can add new items, delete existing items, and edit item properties. Data Security Oracle Communications Objectel allows administrators to control which users can add new items, delete existing items, and edit item properties. For hierarchical objects, such as physical equipment, functional equipment, functional ports, and locations, administrators can also apply this security control to subitems. If the subitem does not have its own security option set, or its permissions have not been explicitly set, it inherits its security permissions from its parent. Oracle Communications Objectel Technical Overview Page 31

32 Parts objects do not inherit security permissions from other objects. Only users with explicit security permissions can edit and delete the part instance. For projects, administrators can provide users with access to a particular project, allowing them to edit or remove the items associated with that project unless the users are working in another project. Even when the user has permissions to work with a particular project, the defined security option of each item and subitems associated with this project is still applied. For facilities and circuits, security is based on the security option of the source and target in the facility. Even though each facility has its own security option defined to prevent nonauthorized users from modifying the properties of the facility, users who have access to modify the source and target of the facility can still modify the design of the facility. Network security does not inherit its security permissions from other objects. Only users with explicit network security permissions can modify and delete the network. However, adding or removing network nodes to or from a network is still subject to the security option of the node itself. If you do not have change security permission for a project, but have change security for all locations/projects privilege (set in the Oracle Communications Objectel User Manager application), you can still change security on the project. Each user is assigned a user ID and password, which are maintained within a single JEE application server repository. Access to the JEE application server is supported through HTTPS RPC. The JEE application server supports authentication using a number of security realms, including the LDAP realm. The security realm is selected when the JEE application server security is configured. User administration is therefore maintained through the corresponding security realm console. By default, the JEE application server is the repository for user management and authentication. The JEE application server console is used for administration of user accounts, passwords, and account lockouts. Password and account lockout policies are governed by the security realm that you set up in the JEE application server. Password policies are set by the system administrator using the JEE application server console when the JEE application server is configured as the repository of user accounts. This is the default security configuration. High Availability Oracle Communications Objectel provides high availability using its native multiserver capability and the JEE application server platform. By using multiple servers configured as a single logical, distributed server set, you can ensure continued service in the event that a server fails. In a clustered Oracle Communications Objectel system, client requests are distributed among the set of servers to share load using a round-robin domain name system approach. Oracle Communications Objectel Technical Overview Page 32

33 High availability can be defined as being tolerant to a single point of failure such that the system or components are unavailable for no more than two minutes from the time of the outage. To provide high availability, the following is recommended: Add another database machine to support database high availability. Add two additional two-way machines to provide high-availability protection for the application servers. Employ Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) for relational database management systems (RDBMS) high availability. Ensure all disks are protected against a single point of failure using redundant array of inexpensive disks (RAID), mirroring, and so forth. Employ an external disk array that can be shared across multiple machines for high availability. Employ JEE application server clustering to cluster JEE application server components for high availability. Employ a hardware vendor-specific solution for non-jee application server component high availability: HP Serviceguard Sun Veritas Configure dual network cards with 100TX or gigabit ethernet interfaces throughout the environment. Ensure high-availability failover is automatic and high-availability failback is manually coordinated. Oracle Communications Objectel provides the flexibility to add new types of equipment, circuits, and objects; define the information associated with them; and define the behavior of the system and constraints on data objects. Oracle Communications Objectel API Architecture Oracle Communications Objectel must meet the needs of continuous change in the communications industry and support and array of diverse business models. Yet, it s not possible to pre-configure the solution with all the possible equipment and circuit types that might be required to provision every system and the business and technology rules that define them. Instead, Oracle Communications Objectel provides the flexibility to add new types of equipment, circuits, and objects; define the information associated with them; and define the behavior of the system and constraints on data objects. Constraints can be due to equipment design or specific business practices. Oracle Communications Objectel s extension APIs allow you to build additional logic to extend the functionality of the core Oracle Communications Objectel client and server applications. Extensions are programmed independently and can be linked dynamically with Oracle Communications Objectel applications. Non-Oracle Communications Objectel applications using Interface LIBrary (ILIB) access data Oracle Communications Objectel Technical Overview Page 33

34 in the Oracle Communications Objectel application server in a similar fashion to the Oracle Communications Objectel client. Figure 14 shows an overview of the basic Oracle Communications Objectel API architecture. Figure 14: Oracle Communications Objectel API architecture Note: This graphic does not show new API extensions that were added to recent versions of Oracle Communications Objectel. These extensions allow you to employ the latest technologies to extend Oracle Communications Objectel s functionality. An architectural view of these extensions is shown in Figure 15. Basic Extension Types You can use three types of extensions to customize Oracle Communications Objectel to your unique business environment: Client Server External interfaces Oracle Communications Objectel Technical Overview Page 34