Fault Management and Root Cause Analysis

StableNet® Use Case – Fault Management & Root Cause Analysis

Discovery &
Inventory

Network Configuration & Change

Fault Management &
Root Cause Analysis

Performance &
Service

Fault Management by StableNet® with(out) Netcool: Consolidate your network landscape for scalability, customization and automation

See how StableNet® allows you to integrate legacy architectures into a unified network & services management solution, whether you want to complement Netcool or replace it

Background & Motivation

Background & Motivation

When Micromuse introduced Netcool to the market over thirty years ago, network technology looked very different from what we see today. The speed of innovation, number of manufacturers, and diversity in technologies have created dynamic network environments in constant flux. This requires a management solution that is flexible, scalable and able to integrate not just fault, but also discovery, automated root cause, performance and configuration management into one holistic platform.

At its outset, Netcool introduced their core product OMNIbus as event aggregator to help large Telco firms bring event management to their networks. Acquired by IBM in 2005, Netcool/OMNIbus collects thousands of events through the deployment of hundreds of dedicated probes. Each probe is individually configured with specific, static rules in order to manage the events (e.g. syslogs and alarm events) and gather information that impacts an alarm notification. Through processes called „deduplication“ and „generic clear“, these thousands of events are synthesized (a very resource intensive task!) and displayed as alarms that pile up until they are cleared.

Root Cause Analysis (RCA) with Netcool entails tediously building specific rules to map dependencies of the network devices. However, this functionality is not part of the core OMNIbus product. Root cause, along with the ability to monitor applications, servers and network devices are available through one of the many products that IBM has acquired over the years. With a multitude of versions, licenses and significant cost, this patchwork of fault management capabilities is laboriously achieved through different databases (a typical installation requires 3 or 4 databases!) and GUIs.

It‘s time for a new solution. It‘s time for the StableNet® unified management and services platform.

StableNet® Solution

StableNet® Solution

Regardless of whether you choose to continue to use Netcool or replace it, StableNet® has a solution that will change the way you see network and services managment. While the resources required to setup and maintain Netcool are significant (not only ongoing maintenance fees but also the man hours involved in needing to update and write new rules each time new hardware is introduced), many network operators are content to keep their current fault management system in place and simply want a system that can complement Netcool and provide a more holistic overview of their network. Others may be looking to replace their fragmented systems for a unified network and services management solution that is built from the ground up to integrate legacy architecture with more recent network developments and infrastructure (IoT, Cloud-based, SDN/ NFV, etc.). Regardless of which camp you’re in, the StableNet® solution is able to offer significant improvements in consolidation, performance management and oversight.

While Netcool may be able to achieve RCA with separate add-ons, one of the revolutionary advantages of StableNet® lies in its highly scalable solution to RCA through Dynamic Rule Generation (DRG). Achieved during discovery, DRG begins by automatically scanning for and updating dependencies of the various network elements. Rather than counting and deduplicating thousands of events and trying to achieve RCA through static rules that need to be written for each network element, your system is actively monitored and measured. Using intuitive templates based on logical correlations, rules are generated automatically as events arise.

The most critically important innovation of StableNet®, however, is that it gives you the ability to incorporate data and information from multiple sources into a unified database. This database in turn serves as a fountain of business-relevant information that can be integrated through tags as a way of organizing and understanding your network elements. Events and alarms are understood, not simply in terms of where they occur in your network, but how they impact your business as a whole.

StableNet® Unified Network- Management & Services Platform

The StableNet® Unified Network Management & Services Platform

With StableNet® you can manage the entirety of your multi-vendor, technlogically diverse network within a single GUI. One codebase, one data source and one GUI for one unified solution.

Benefits & Results

Benefits & Results

With the StableNet® 4-in-1 Solution, discovery & inventory, fault, performance, and configuration management are available through a unified data structure and GUI. With Dynamic Rule Generation, the StableNet® solution requires significantly fewer resources while simultaneously providing a more meaningful analysis of how network events affect you. A scalable, simplified and automated RCA is thus achieved which can be customized to give deep insight into the impacted business processes and services that matter most. So complement your Netcool fault management system with increased functionality and insight, or replace it entirely and enjoy the full range of benefits that StableNet® has to offer.

Key Benefits

  • Unified discovery, fault-, performance-, and change management with automated RCA
  • Included superior state event machine to auto-trigger actions and further event notificaitons
  • Highly scalable, less resource-intensive solution for diverse network architectures
  • Provides impact analysis of affected services
  • Ability to forward pre-qualified alarms to Netcool/OMNIbus
  • Possibility to incorporate multiple data sources for business insight
  • Opportunity for automated workflows, including onboarding new elements
  • Dynamic, unified solution for management of entire multi-vendor and -technology network

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