3 Configuring Network Element Connections

This chapter describes how to configure Oracle Communications ASAP to connect to a network element (NE).

About Network Element Configuration Components

Every cartridge must create the following components to enable a connection to an NE:

• NEs and NE connections: see "About Network Elements and Network Element Connections"

• NE connection handler and associated Java code: see "About Configuring a Java Network Connection Handler or State Table"

• NE to network element processor (NEP) mapping: see "Mapping a Network Element to a Network Element Processor"

You can also create the following:

• NE templates

  NE templates provide reusable NE information that can be used to quickly create new NEs with similar attribute requirements. For more information, see the Oracle Communications Design Studio for Activation Help.

• Dynamic NE templates

  Use the Dynamic NE Template editor to define a dynamic NE template entity. The entity routes orders based on network and communication data provided as order parameters, rather than using preconfigured static, locally maintained data. For more information, see "Configuring Dynamic Routing".

About Network Elements and Network Element Connections

ASAP supports two types of NE connections:

• Host: Indicating a programmable NE directly connected to ASAP.

• Remote: Associated with the host NE and programmed through the designated host. ASAP routes service requests in the form of atomic action commands through the host NE to the appropriate remote NE.

A host NE is an NE that has an interface through which remote NEs can be programmed. Several remote NEs covering a given area can be associated with a host NE, which increases the effective coverage of the NE group. Host NEs are not required to have remote NEs assigned to them.

ASAP can interface with many NE technologies and software loads over several logical and physical interfaces. The definitions for each host NE resides in tbl_host_clli in the service activation request manager (SARM) database. The records in this table define the different technologies (switch types) and software loads that are currently used by all service request processors (SRPs) and NEs in the system. The ASAP State Table or Java method interpreters reference this table to find the technology and software version for each SRP/NE in the system.

The definition for the remote NE resides in the user-configurable table (tbl_clli_route), which maps host NEs to remote NEs. Work orders sent to ASAP target the remote NE value populated within tbl_clli_route, so if the target NE is the host NE, then you must enter the name of the host NE in the remote NE field.

For more information about these tables, see ASAP Developer's Guide.

You can create and configure a host NE with Design Studio using the Network Element Wizard. You can designate one or more remote NEs or specify a host NE as the target for work orders after you have created a host NE from the Network Element editor Target Network Element tab.

To create and configure host NEs and remote NEs, see the following sections:

• Network Elements and Network Element Connections

• Adding Target Network Elements

• Setting Network Element Throughput Control

Network Elements and Network Element Connections

When you create an NE, you populate the tbl_host_clli table. This static table contains the host NE, the technology, and the software load of each NE in the ASAP system. It also contains records for each host NE to which the NEPs interface.

You can create an NE using Oracle Communications Design Studio with the Network Element Wizard.

tbl_resource_pool is a static table that defines the collection of command processors (devices) that the NEP uses to establish connections to NEs. Groups of command processors are called resource pools. Each NE configuration determines a primary resource pool that defines one or more devices the NEP uses to connect to that NE. These devices are not used to connect to other NEs. Each NEP has an auxiliary resource pool that contains devices used by the NEP to establish connections to any NE managed by the NEP. These primary and auxiliary resource pools are defined in this table. You must populate this table to add command processors.

The devices contained in resource pools are configured for a specific type of connection protocol.

The maximum connections setting for an NE must not exceed the number of devices in the primary resource pool.

If an NE allows for multiple simultaneous connections, the NE should have more than one device configured in its primary resource pool. Oracle recommends two or more connections in the resource pool.

For more information about connection pools, see the discussion about the NEP session manager in ASAP Server Configuration Guide.

Creating and Configuring Network Element and Network Element Connections

To create and configure NEs and NE connections:

1. In Design Studio, open an Activation project.

2. Select the Studio menu, then select New, then select Activation, and then select Network Element.

   The Network Element Wizard appears.

3. In the Entity field, enter an entity name.

4. Click Finish.

   The Network Element editor appears.

5. In the General tab, do the following:

   1. In the Connection Pool Name field, enter a connection pool name. Creates a connection pool of devices that the NEP uses to establish connections to NEs. For more information about connection pools, see ASAP Server Configuration Guide.

   2. In the Protocol field, enter a connection protocol. ASAP supports multiple communication protocols, and provides optional pre-configured parameters for these protocols. For more information about these protocols and parameters, see "About Communication Protocol Parameters".

   3. In the Drop Timeout (minutes) field, enter the drop timeout threshold in minutes. This field specifies the time threshold in which an NE receives no work orders from ASAP after which ASAP drops the connection. For more information about the Drop Timeout parameter, see ASAP Server Configuration Guide.

   4. In the Spawn Threshold (AA) field, enter the spawn threshold. This field specifies the number of pending atomic actions in an NE connection queue before the SARM spawn a new NE connection. For more information, see ASAP Server Configuration Guide.

   5. In the Maximum Connections field, enter the maximum number of connections. This field specifies the maximum number of connections that can be established to an NE. For more information, see ASAP Server Configuration Guide.

   6. In the Kill Threshold (AA) field, enter a kill threshold. This field specifies the termination of an NE connection when the number of atomic actions within an NE queue falls below this threshold. For more information, see ASAP Server Configuration Guide.

   7. In the Retry Count field, enter a the maximum number of retries. This field specifies the maximum number of retries, if an NE work order requests times out. If the number of retries exceeds retry count, then the order fails and rolls back. This attribute is configurable at the NE level, the atomic action level, the system level, and the work order level. For more information, see "About Retry Properties".

   8. In the Retry Interval field, enter a retry interval time. This field specifies the time period in seconds between NE retries. This attribute is configurable at the NE level, the atomic action level, the system level, and the work order level. For more information, see "About Retry Properties".

   9. In the Throughput field, enter the minimum number of transaction per NE instance. This field specifies the NE instance throughput control – the minimum number of transaction per NE instance. For more information, see Setting Network Element Throughput Control.

   10. In the Transaction Per field, enter a time value for the Throughput parameter. For more information, see Setting Network Element Throughput Control.

6. In the Connection tab, click Add.

   The Add Predefined Parameters dialog box appears.

7. Do one of the following:

   • To accept the auto generated parameters that ASAP preconfigures for the protocol, click Yes.

   • To create your own parameters click No.

Adding Target Network Elements

tbl_clli_route is a static table that contains the mapping between a remote NE and its host NE. You must populate this table if you want to specify a remote NE-to-host NE mapping. If you do not want to use a remote NE, you must specify the host NE as the target NE. Work orders are routed based on the Target NE Name field (called mach_clli in tbl_clli_route). In addition, you can associate individual atomic actions to specific remote NEs.

Any changes you make to the mapping relationships between host NEs to remote NE take effect at runtime. All other changes require that you restart the SARM.

To configure and create a network connection:

1. In Design Studio, open an Activation project.

2. Open an existing Network Element.

3. From the Network Element editor, on the Target Network Elements tab, click Add.

4. In the Target NE Name area, do one of the following:

   • If you want to route work orders to the host NE, enter the name of the host NE.

   • If you want to route work orders through the host NE to one ore more remote NEs, enter the name of the remote NE.

5. (Optional) If you want to associate an atomic action to your NE, click Select and add an atomic action from the list of available atomic actions. This option is available only if you have already created atomic actions.

Setting Network Element Throughput Control

Throughput control mechanism controls the number of transactions per unit of time. This mechanism ensures that networks elements are not overloaded.

To prevent certain types of NEs from becoming overloaded, it may be necessary to control the volume of transactions that are being sent from ASAP. A central throughput control mechanism enables you to configure a specific throughput per unit of time for NE instances, which ensures that no more than a specific number of transactions are sent to the NE per unit of time.

Consider the following scenario:

It has been discovered that the throughput limitations of a specific NE (that responds to ASAP asynchronously) require that no more than 20 transactions per second can be sent to the NE. Otherwise, some response messages are not generated and are therefore never received by ASAP. To prevent overloading and ensure the NE generates all required response messages, the service modeler configures throughput controls for this NE instance as described below.

To configure the throughput control for a NE instance:

1. In the NE Template editor, modify the throughput properties used to create new NE instances.

   When modifying the properties used to create new NE instances, you ensure that any future NE instances use the appropriate throughput properties. To do this, update the throughput values in the NE Template editor as follows:

   1. In the Throughput field, enter 20 as the number of transactions.

      Valid Throughput field values range from 1 - 9999.

   2. In the Transactions Per field, enter Seconds as the unit of time.

2. In the Network Element editor, modify the throughput properties for any existing NE instances of that type.

   Update the throughput values as follows:

   1. In the Throughput field, enter 20 as the number of transactions.

      Valid Throughput field values range from 1 - 9999.

   2. In the Transactions Per field, enter Seconds as the unit of time.

3. In the Dynamic NE Template editor, modify the throughput properties for any existing Dynamic NE Template used for NE instances of that type.

   Update the throughput values as follows:

   1. In the Throughput field, enter 20 as the number of transactions.

      Valid Throughput field values range from 1 - 9999.

   2. In the Transactions Per field, enter Seconds as the unit of time.

4. Save all modified NE templates, NEs, and dynamic NE templates.

   You can now deploy the configuration to an ASAP environment for testing.

About Configuring a Java Network Connection Handler or State Table

An NE connection handler associates an NE to Java code that implements the connection from the NEP to the NE.

In Design Studio, when you create an NE, you must choose a supported protocol for your NEP-to-NE connection. Then you can add one ore more connections to the NE. ASAP provides you with optional base connection parameters. If you choose to accept these base parameters, ASAP will automatically generate supporting Java code (for more information about autogenerated protocol-specific communication parameters, see "About Communication Protocol Parameters").

ASAP sends these communication parameters to Java methods that you create to implement the connection. For more information about the Java code used to implement the connection, see "Creating Connection Methods and Helper Classes".

Note: Communication parameters are not part of the data dictionary used for atomic actions.

Creating an Network Element Connection Handler

To create an NE connection handler:

Note: This procedure also includes information about creating a C++ State Table and program. This feature is included for legacy C-based cartridges.

1. In Design Studio, open an Activation project.

2. Select Studio, then select New, then select Activation, then select NE Connection Handler.

   The NE Connection Handler Wizard appears.

3. Do the following:

   • In the Project field, enter the name of the project.

   • In the Name field, enter the name of the network connection handler element.

   • In the Folder field, you can choose to create a new folder, or select an existing folder.

4. Click Finish.

   The NE Connection Handler editor appears.

5. In the Connection Handlers section, click Add.

   A new connection handler appears with the same vendor, technology, and software load of the project.

6. Click New.

   The Studio Activation Java Connection Handler Wizard appears.

   
   

   Note: Ensure that a dot does not precede the package name. If a dot precedes the package name, remove it.

   
   

7. In the Name field, enter a connection handler name.

8. From the Connection Type list, do one of the following:

   • To create anew telnet NE connection handler, select Telnet. Telnet NE Connection Handler provides autogenerated code for telnet connections. This extends the telnet connection to support the interface. The NE Connection Handler editor indicates where additional code is required.

   • To create a custom NE connection handler, select Custom. Use this NE Connection Handler if the connections are not telnet. Custom Connection Handlers generate a skeleton to implement the IconnectionHandler and extends the base NE connection class. The NE Connection Handler editor indicates where additional code is required.

9. Click Finish.

   
   

   Note: The code is generated after but is not synchronized (that is, it does not autogenerate every time you change the NE Java code.) The developer must manage all change to autogenerated classes after they are created.

   
   

Mapping a Network Element to a Network Element Processor

You must map NEs to NEPs. NEPs perform the following tasks related to NE connectivity:

• Support a session manager that manages high level interaction with an NE including routing to resource pools and determining which command processor (a thread that implements user-define State Tables or Java methods for connecting to an NE) to use within a resource pool.

• Provide two interpreters (Interpreter for State Tables and JInterpreter for Java methods) that executes custom code that handles protocol and device-specific communication with NEs.

• Support for a connection handler method within the command processor that provides a transparent interface between the user-created Java methods and the protocol-specific communication details: for example, TCP/IP, serial, SSH, SSH FTP, and so on.

• Support for a Multi-Protocol Manager (MPM) within the command processor that provides a transparent interface between the user-created State Tables and the protocol-specific communication details: for example, serial async, X.25, TCP/IP, CMIP, and so on. ASAP maintains protocol-specific communication parameters in the SARM and loads them from the database by the NEP after you determine the communication protocol to use and prior to connecting to the NE.

• Manage connect, disconnect, login, connection spawning thresholds, connection destruction thresholds, maximum connections, and device throughput as defined in the information configured in ASAP cartridges.

For more information about NEP functionality, see ASAP Server Configuration Guide.

To map an NE to an NEP:

1. In Design Studio, select Studio, then New, then Project, then Environment Project.

   The New Studio Environment Project Wizard appears.

2. In the Project name field, enter a project name.

3. Click Finish.

   The Open Associated Perspective? dialogue box appears.

4. Click No.

5. From an Activation project, select Studio, then New, then Environment, then Studio Environment.

   The Studio Environment Wizard appears.

6. In the Name field, enter a name for the Studio Environment.

7. Click Finish.

8. From an Activation project, select Studio, then New, then Environment, then NEP Map.

   The NEP Map Wizard appears.

9. Do the following:

   1. From the Project list, select an environment project.

   2. From the Studio Environment list, select an environment.

   3. In the Entity field, enter a name for the NEP-to-NE mapping.

   4. Click Finish.

      The NEP Map editor appears.

10. In the Network Element Processor Map area, click Add.

    The Select a Network Element screen appears.

11. Select the NE you want to map your NEP to.

12. Click OK.

13. (Optional) If you have more than one NEP server, you can specify the name of the NEP server in the NEP Server field.