5 The Network Element Processor

The Network Element Processor (NEP) is the Oracle Communications ASAP component that manages all interactions with network elements. An NEP sends work orders in the form of Atomic Service Description Layer (ASDL) commands to a network element and receives responses from the network element about network activity.

Through the NEP, ASAP can manage multiple connections to network elements. ASAP supports proprietary State Tables and Java.

State Tables

State Tables are programs that act as an interface between specific network elements and ASDL command execution. They also translate a service request within a customer-based Service Request Processor (SRP) into ASAP work order format.

State Tables interface with network elements through the NEP.

The advantages of using State Tables to interface with network elements are:

• The State Table language is relatively simple and easy to learn, and it does not require the developer to have previous experience with advanced programming languages.This makes State Tables appropriate for switch engineers, who are knowledgeable about network interfaces and the switch commands that must be supported.

• The State Tables provide out-of-the-box action functions for manipulating data, such as switch response handling.

• You can develop custom action functions to manage more advanced logic, such as performing complex mathematical calculations, interacting with custom databases, or supporting custom protocols.

• A variety of communication protocols are supported, including TCP/IP, Telnet, SNMP, LDAP, and FTP.

Java-Enabled NEP

The Java-enabled NEP is fully compatible with traditional State Tables and can still run the State Table Interpreter when Java is not the defined interpreter. A single NEP can communicate with network elements through both the State Tables and the Java interface.

In addition to State Tables ASAP supports a Java-enabled NEP that supports common next-generation protocols such as CORBA, HTTP, SFTP, and XML.

The advantages of using Java to communicate with network elements are:

• Java is a known and accepted programming language.

• You can modify the implementation of Java classes without recompiling the core Java framework.

• Java provides access to a large repository of third-party libraries and allows for easy incorporation of external libraries.

• Java provides the ability to design or structure provisioning classes in an object-oriented fashion, rather than the procedural framework of State Tables.

NEP Features

The NEP contains the following additional features:

• Customizable NEP database – You can include network element technology-specific and customer-specific database tables within the NEP database to generate MML commands that are transmitted to the network elements. Such tables can be accessed directly from the State Table or Java method during the provisioning process or can be cached in memory within the NEP for better performance.

• Program network element response analysis – Network element responses can be analyzed by the program (State Table or Java Interpreter). After analysis, the ASDL status is returned to the SARM. Switch history information and parameters generated during the provisioning process are passed back to the SARM as specified by the program.

• Network element blackout support – Blackouts identify periods when the network element is unavailable to ASAP for provisioning. The NEP provides support for both static (day of the week and time) and dynamic (specific date and time) user-defined network element blackout periods.

• Automatic NEP port re-enabling – Whenever an NEP connection attempt to a network element fails, the port within the NEP is disabled. If a network element login attempt fails, the port is also disabled if it has been configured to do so. This allows the NEP to use other ports to connect to the network element, if so configured. The port is disabled to allow manual intervention to determine and address the cause.

  The NEP also provides configurable port re-enable logic that automatically re-enables disabled ports after a user configured time period. This negates the need for manual re-enabling of such disabled ports.

ASAP Cartridges

ASAP cartridges are optional, discrete software components that are developed for ASAP. An ASAP cartridge provides specific domain behavior on top of the core ASAP software and productizes the configuration that supports a set of services on an NE. An ASAP cartridge is not a standalone component, but it operates with the ASAP core product.

ASAP Documentation

For an overview of ASAP documentation, refer to the publication information in ASAP Release Notes.