Comptel EventLink Functional Description
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Release 6.0.3
Comptel EventLink®
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Functional Description
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The Comptel EventLink® Release 6.0.3 Functional Description (Document Version 1.0) gives information on the functionality of ComptelEventLink.
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Copyright © 1996-2007 Comptel Corporation ,Salmisaarenaukio 1, FI-00180 Helsinki, FinlandNo part of this document may be reproduced, translated, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for anypurpose without the express written permission of Comptel Corporation, and then only on the condition that this notice is included in anysuch reproduction. No information as to the contents of this document may be communicated to any third party without the prior writtenconsent of Comptel Corporation.
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Abst ract
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1 About This Document 1
1.1 Audience 1
1.2 Typographic conventions 1
1.3 Terms and concepts 1
1.3.1 Abbreviations 1
1.3.2 Terminology 2
1.4 Related documentation 6
2 Introduction to Comptel EventLink 7
3 Architecture 9
3.1 Node 9
3.1.1 Node package 12
3.2 Data transmission between nodes 13
3.3 Process stream 13
3.4 Node Manager 13
3.5 System database 14
3.6 System tools 14
3.7 Lookup Server 15
3.8 In-memory Storage 16
3.9 EventLink Business Logic Tool 18
3.10 EventLink Record Correction Tool 21
3.11 System distribution on multiple host environment 22
3.11.1 Scalability 23
3.12 User interface (UI) 25
3.12.1 Logging into EventLink User Interface Framework 28
4 Node Functionality 30
4.1 Data collection 30
4.2 Data decoding 30
4.3 Business logic 30
4.3.1 Validation 30
4.3.2 Filtering 30
4.3.3 Enrichment 31
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4.3.4 Duplicate and sequence checking 31
4.3.5 Aggregation 31
4.3.6 Correlation 35
4.3.7 Supporting functions 35
4.4 Backing up data 36
4.5 Data encoding 36
4.6 Data distribution 36
5 Process Stream Functionality 38
5.1 Starting up a process stream 38
5.2 Data processing 38
5.3 Rejected data storage 38
5.4 Reconfiguring process stream 41
5.5 Stopping process stream 41
5.6 Fault tolerance and error recovery 41
5.7 Data safety and commit processing 42
5.8 System cleanup 43
6 Audit Information 446.1 Collected information 44
6.2 Monitoring operational statistics 45
6.3 Host statistics 46
6.4 Running standard reports 48
6.5 Customising audit trail functionality 49
6.6 System logs 50
Document Index 52
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Comptel EventLink® 1Release 6.0.3Functional Description
1 About This Document
This document describes the Comptel EventLink system core and its subsystems and
components.
1.1 Audience
This document is intended for anyone who wants to have an overview of the Comptel
EventLink system core, subsystems, components and functionality.
1.2 Typographic conventions
The following text styles identify special information used in the document:
1.3 Terms and concepts
The following abbreviations, terms and concepts are used in the document:
1.3.1 Abbreviations
Italics Italicised text is used to call attention to cross-references.
Bold Bold text is used for presenting:
• field names• menu item names
• page names
Note Notes are written between two lines to call attention to important
issues.
Cour i er Cour i er font is used for presenting:
• user input in, for example, commands, parameters and field values
• messages shown to the user
ASCII American Standard Code for Information Interchange
ER Event Record
GRC Global Resource Configuration
NE Network Element
OSS/BSS Operations and Business Support System
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1.3.2 Terminology
aggregation The function of grouping and joining together records which are
similar in format and come from one source (network element).
Aggregation criteria (joined per day, per call, per…) can vary. A
specific case of aggregation is the combining of long-durationcalls, which is based on flag and sequence number input by the
switches.
Audit Plug-in An implementation for the Audit Plug-in Framework that enables
interfacing of Comptel EventLink to an external data repository
that utilises audit data provided by Comptel EventLink.
Audit Plug-in Framework A framework for enabling development, implementation and use of
Audit Plug-ins for integration of Comptel EventLink with external
data repositories that utilise audit data provided by Comptel
EventLink.
audit trail A record of transactions in an information system that provides
verification of the activity of the system.
batch mode An operational mode for usage data processing.
Usage data is processed in batch files at specified intervals instead
of being processed as individual records like in real-time mode.
block of event records A group of event records that Comptel EventLink processes at a
time. The collector nodes define the size of the event record blocks.
In file based processing, the block typically equals the records in a
single collected file.
business logic Rules according to which a system processes requests, events or
event records and interfaces with external applications.
business logic node A node typically between decoder and encoder nodes that is
specialised in a mediation function, such as validation, enrichment,
correlation or conversion.
Business Logic Tool Node A Comptel EventLink node that consists of a business logic created
with EventLink Business Logic Tool and an EventLink Rule
Engine that executes it.
Business Logic Tool user
interface
The graphical user interface of EventLink Business Logic Tool for
business logic creation.
collector node A network element or application server interface for usage data
collection.
A collector node receives the usage data either as files (batch
mode) or event records (real-time mode).
Comptel Alarm Dispatcher A Comptel module that receives alarm events from Comptel
products (for example Comptel EventLink, Comptel InstantLink,Comptel OnlineLink, and Comptel Incatel NIMS), converts the
alarm events to alarm notifications and dispatches them to the
operator’s alarm system.
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Comptel EventLink® 3Release 6.0.3Functional Description
Comptel EventLink A software product that manages batch and real-time data streams
and controls data collection, storing and processing routines in a
communication network.
Comptel EventLink is able to operate between any two systems
that need to communicate with each other but cannot be directly
integrated with one another. In most cases, Comptel EventLink
operates between the communications network producing usage
data and the destination OSS/BSS systems utilising this
information framework, such as billing systems, fraud management
systems and statistical analysis systems.
Comptel Lookup Server A module enabling enrichment in the mediation stream.
Lookup Server is used in Comptel EventLink business logic and
provides a mechanism, for example, for mapping field values or
adding data into an ER based on the keys in the ER.
Lookup Server reads lookup tables from an Oracle database or
from flat files and stores the data in a shared memory segment of a
host, from which various business logic nodes can access the data.Comptel Reporter A solution for storing data and organising it into summarised
reports.
Comptel Reporter is a reporting product used with the Comptel
EventLink and Comptel InstantLink systems. Comptel Reporter
provides a framework for a long-term centralised storage for a
large amount of detailed data, thus enabling historical analysis and
queries.
Comptel Reporter uses Comptel EventLink event records or
Comptel InstantLink requests, tasks and statistical information as
the reporting data.
correlation The function of joining together event records that can be different
in format and usually come from different sources or the
information of such event records.
decoder node A node specialised in decoding certain data formats that contain
ERs, such as XML, log files or ASN.1, into Comptel EventLink
internal data format for further processing.
distributor node A target system specific interface for event record delivery and
sometimes formatting. The target system of a distributor node is
typically an OSS/BSS system.
encoder node A node that encodes the event records from Comptel EventLink
internal format into a certain type of output data, such as ASN.1,
XML or ASCII.
enrichment A function of populating ER field values based on external data.
EventLink Backup Node A node used for backing up collected and distributed files in
Comptel EventLink.
EventLink Business Logic Tool A business logic configuration tool for Comptel EventLink.
EventLink Business Logic Tool has a graphical user interface for
developing and testing business logic, and deploying business logic
to Comptel EventLink.
EventLink Cleanup Node A node used for cleaning up the Comptel EventLink database.
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EventLink Duplicate Checker
Library
A library used to detect that a file or a record has already been
processed by Comptel EventLink and to prevent that the system
does not process duplicates.
EventLink Duplicate Checker Library is part of EventLink In-
memory Storage.
EventLink File Duplicate and
Sequence Checker Node
A node used to detect duplicate files and files that are missing from
a sequence or arrive out of sequence.
EventLink In-memory Storage A framework used for storing and retrieving event records and the
related data into an in-memory relational database.
In-memory Storage includes:
- SQL interface library
- EventLink Aggregation Library
- EventLink Correlation Library
- EventLink Duplicate Checker Library
- EventLink File Duplicate and Sequence Checker Node
- EventLink In-memory Storage Maintenance Node
- EventLink Sequence Checker Library
- EventLink Temporary Record Storage Library
EventLink Record Correction
Tool
A record correction tool for Comptel EventLink.
EventLink Record Correction Tool has a graphical user interface
for developing, testing and executing correction rules to repair
rejected records.
EventLink Rule Engine
Library
A generic rule processing component used, for example, in ASN.1
decoding and encoding and in executing logic made in EventLink
Business Logic Tool.
EventLink Sequence Checker
Library
A library used to check file and record sequences.
EventLink Sequence Checker Library is part of EventLink In-
memory Storage.
EventLink Temporary Record
Storage Library
A library used for storing and retrieving event records and the
related data into an in-memory relational database.
Temporary Record Storage Library can be used, for example, in
building business logics for customised aggregation and
correlation.
EventLink User Interface
(Framework)
A framework into which the user interface modules of Comptel
EventLink subsystems are plugged.
event record; ER A data record produced from a service usage event.
Event records can be used for various purposes such as accounting,fraud management or statistical analysis.
ERs can be produced, for example, by network elements or other
systems.
File Transfer Protocol; FTP A communications protocol governing the transfer of files from
one computer to another over a network.
GRC file A text file used by all Comptel products for storing permanent
configuration information.
interaction history A datastore that lists the transactions made by users. Interaction
history can be used to verify the activity of the system.
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lookup table A table with external reference data that is used for data
enrichment.
A typical lookup table contains search and return values.
Lookup tables are maintained by the end customer.
network element Network devices that control network operations, includingswitching and transport.
Example network elements include HLR, GPRS Charging
Gateway, MSC and SMSC.
node A generic name for an independent Comptel EventLink module
that implements one or multiple mediation functions, such as
collection, decoding, validation, filtering, encoding or distribution
of event records.
Comptel EventLink's nodes include, for example, modules
specialised in collection from Cisco NetFlow or FTP based
collection, decoding and encoding of XML and ASN.1 data and
implementation of business logic.
A node consists of an application and application-specific
configuration.
A node package always contains node configuration. It can also
contain one node application, depending on the node. It can even
contain node libraries, the number of which is not limited.
node application package Installation package for the application (non-customisable) part of
a node.
Node Base A shared library, which provides the basic standard functionality
for node applications.
Node Base handles the internal usage data transmission mechanism
between the nodes and encodes the internal usage data.
node configuration package Installation package for the configuration (customisable) part of a
node.
node library package Installation package containing reusable libraries for augmenting
node application and/or configuration functionality.
Node Manager A component responsible for managing nodes residing in a single
host.
Node Manager's functions include starting up, shutting down,
monitoring and configuring nodes and collecting audit information
from them.
node package A package that contains all the necessary components for a fully
functional node.
The package always contains node configuration. It can also
contain one node application, depending on the node. It can even
contain node libraries, the number of which is not limited.
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1.4 Related documentation
For more information on Comptel EventLink, see Comptel EventLink Release Notes.
Operations and Business
Support System; OSS/BSS
A program that helps an operator monitor, control, analyse or
manage usage of a communications network.
OSS/BSS systems include, for example, systems for customer care,
order management, billing, relationship management, decision
support, market analysis, fraud detection, traffic engineering and
network planning.
The individual properties of each OSS/BSS system determine what
kind of requirements the customer sets for the Mediation and
Provisioning Systems: how and in which format the Mediation
System should deliver usage data and what services the
Provisioning System should activate for subscribers.
process stream A chain of nodes that are linked together and are responsible for
collection, delivery and different data processing tasks.
Process streams are created and configured by Comptel
Corporation or the user.
proprietary data node A node located between a collector and a decoder node or between
an encoder and a distributor node, or both.
real-time Always-on collection, processing and delivery of usage data with
low latency time.
In a real-time mode, the data goes through Comptel EventLink as a
continuous data stream.
rejected data storage A node specific storage in which the rejected event records are sent
and which is maintained from EventLink User Interface.
Event records in the rejected data storage can be reprocessed,
corrected and reprocessed, or simply deleted.
stand-alone node A node, for example, an internal cleanup node, that monitors an
external process.
subsystem A self-contained hardware or software component that interactswith a larger system.
A system or product can contain several subsystems. For example,
Comptel EventLink system core, EventLink Business Logic Tool
and Comptel Lookup Server are subsystems of a product called
Comptel Eventlink.
system database A database containing configuration and audit trail information for
all the nodes and Node Managers in the system.
transport node A Comptel EventLink component which transfers data from one
host to another in a distributed environment.
There are two types of transport nodes: sender and receiver
transport nodes.
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2 Introduction to Comptel EventLink
Comptel EventLink is a mediation solution that is designed to work in scheduled, file-
based mode and in real-time mode. Usage data is collected as real-time as the network
elements can provide it. Collection can be done from any 2G, 2.5G, 3G, IP, fixed-line,satellite or service providers’ networks.
When processing data, Comptel EventLink collects event record (ER) files from
different data sources. The collection process can be configured either so that
Comptel EventLink constantly checks for new files to collect and process or so that it
schedules the collection to take place at certain days and times. One process stream
can work both in file-based and real-time mode.
Comptel EventLink can also receive data constantly from a source through, for
example, a network socket connection. Thus data is passed through different phases
of the mediation instantly and not in big files, for example. After the data has been passed through the mediation, it can be immediately distributed to the destination
system. Alternatively, it can be distributed later as files using a configured schedule.
Comptel EventLink modifies the data to a format understood by the system receiving
the data. This system may be any OSS/BSS system (billing system, cost control, fraud
detection, customer analysis, traffic analysis, revenue sharing, and so forth). Comptel
EventLink offers means for modifying the data. Modification of data consists of basic
mediation functionality such as correlation, aggregation, formatting, validation and
enrichment.
Comptel EventLink consists of the system core, which provides basic platform formediation, and different node applications that carry out the actual collection,
modification and distribution tasks. The system core is scalable for existing and new
node applications to be able to use it effectively. In addition, the system core allows
that node applications are distributed to different hosts but can still be configured and
monitored centrally. Also, there is no single point of failure, which means that node
applications as well as all the components of system core can run independently so
that having problems, such as a broken database connection or hardware failure in
one part of the system, does not prevent other components from operating normally.
For more information on the architecture, see Chapter 3 Architecture.
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The Comptel EventLink system is configured through EventLink User Interface,
which can also be used for monitoring the whole system, viewing audit information
on the data processing and creating reports about the events handled by Comptel
EventLink. EventLink User Interface Framework is a common attachment point for
the different user interface (UI) modules, offering various services for the modules.
Figure 1. Comptel EventLink in the telecommunications network
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3 Architecture
Comptel EventLink collects usage data from any type of network element, packet or
circuit switched, and distributes the usage data to any Operations and Business
Support System (OSS/BSS) in real-time. Figure 2 shows the high-level architectureof Comptel EventLink:
Figure 2. High-level architecture of Comptel EventLink
Comptel EventLink is modular in its architecture. It consists of several main
components, each specialising in a particular task in the system. This is to provide
flexible configuration with building blocks and to ensure that even if one component
was temporarily unavailable, all other components would be able to continue
normally. Naturally, a component that has failed unexpectedly is unable to feed data
to the next component but the next component itself is not harmed in any way.
For the detailed architecture of Comptel EventLink, see Figure 6 .
3.1 Node
Comptel EventLink consists of a number of nodes controlled by Node Manager,
which resides on the same physical host with the nodes. Nodes collect usage data
from network elements and process it. Nodes work independently as they are not
dependent on the status of Node Manager or other nodes after they have been
successfully started.
All nodes belong to a process stream. A process stream usually consists of severalnodes. The number of nodes in a process stream or the number of process streams in
the system is limited only by the capacity of the system hardware.
A typical configuration of a process stream consists of the following nodes:
• one collector node for each source network element
• optionally, an unlimited number of proprietary data nodes between the collector
node and the decoder node
• one decoder node for each network element type
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• one or more business logic nodes containing validation, aggregation and
enrichment
• one encoder node for each destination data format
• optionally, an unlimited number of proprietary data nodes between the encodernode and the distributor node
• one distributor node for each destination system
Figure 3 shows a basic Comptel EventLink process stream containing seven nodes:
Figure 3. Seven nodes in a basic process stream configuration
The collector node processes usage data as soon as it is available or when scheduled.
Any number of collector nodes can be run to collect data for one process stream. Each
collector node can have its own schedule.
The proprietary data node between the collector node and the decoder node can be
used optionally to process raw and unparsed data. File duplicate checking is an
example task of a proprietary data node.
The decoder node, business logic node and encoder node process the data stored inER blocks as soon as the blocks are available.
If required, another proprietary data node can process the encoded data, for example,
by compressing it before it is sent to the distributor node.
Finally, the distributor node sends the processed data to the designated target system.
Each distributor node can have its own schedule.
A stand-alone node resides in its own process stream and performs scheduled
maintenance tasks, for example cleanup tasks. The ‘Clean Up Node’ and ‘In-memory
Storage Maintenance Node’ are stand-alone nodes.
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Figure 4 shows an example of one process stream containing three different collector
nodes for three different network elements. The proprietary data nodes are scalable,
which means that the number of nodes that are executed can be defined from the UI.
Figure 4. Three collector nodes in a process stream configuration
Figure 5 shows an example of one process stream containing two different business
logic nodes, of which the lower one uses EventLink In-memory Storage (the database
icon) and has rejected data storages (the arrow icon). In addition, the left-hand side of
the business logic node’s icon is dark red, which means that more than 100% of the
user-defined node buffer threshold for the input has been used. The colour of the left-
hand side of the node icon varies according to the size of the node buffer threshold.
The encoder node has a green colour, which means that less than 50% of the user-
defined node buffer threshold for the input has been used. Other possible colours of
the left-hand side of the node icon are grey, yellow and red.
Figure 5. Business logic node uses EventLink In-memory Storage, has rejected
data and has used more than 100% of the user-defined node buffer threshold for
the input. The encoder node has data buffered in front of it but the amount of
data is less than 50% of the user-defined node buffer threshold for the input.
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Each node in the process stream provides detailed information on itself to Node
Manager at regular intervals using the controlling and monitoring interface. For
example, information on the number of ERs processed and the way in which they
were processed is provided to Node Manager. In addition, if something unusual
happens, an info, warning or error message is sent to Node Manager. For moreinformation on the error message levels, see Comptel EventLink Reference Manual
and Comptel EventLink Online Help.
Figure 6. Detailed architecture of Comptel EventLink
3.1.1 Node package
A node package contains all the necessary components for a fully functional node:
• node configuration package, which is an installation package for the configuration
(customisable) part of a node
• depending on the node, one node application package, which is an installation
package for the application (non-customisable) part of a node
• possibly an unlimited number of node libraries, which are installation packages
containing reusable libraries for augmenting node application or configuration
functionality, or both
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3.2 Data transmission between nodes
All usage data transmitted between two nodes is buffered into the file system. This
ensures that no data is lost in case of failures. If the data is received from source
network elements faster than it can be processed, the buffers also automatically act as
load handlers as they are able to store the data to be processed later. In such cases, the processing always starts from the oldest data and the newest data is processed last.
3.3 Process stream
A process stream is a processing entity, which usually consists of more than one node.
The configuration of the process stream determines the order of the nodes in the
process stream. The user creates and maintains the process stream and its
configuration, which can be modified at all times. All the configurations are stored
inside Comptel EventLink using version management so that the user can re-employ
old configurations, if necessary. A new version of a process stream can be made
without interfering production.
3.4 Node Manager
Node Manager is responsible for managing nodes on one host. This includes starting
up, shutting down, monitoring and configuring nodes and collecting audit
information from them using the controlling and monitoring interface.
Other responsibilities of Node Manager are:
• getting information on the configuration from system database
• waiting for commands given from the UI or command line system tools and
acting upon them
• installing node applications and configurations from system database while
starting up
• informing nodes of their processing schedules while starting them up
• actively monitoring nodes that it manages
• automatically restarting nodes which have failed for some reason
• collecting audit data, messages sent by nodes and storing them in system database
• sending alarms, raised by any anomalies or error situations during the processing
phase, to the configured network management systems by using Comptel AlarmDispatcher
• automatically recovering from lost database connections
• executing and monitoring the correction rules
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3.5 System database
System database is the heart of Comptel EventLink as it contains all configuration
and operational information on the system, for example, the configuration, system
monitoring and audit trail of all the nodes and Node Managers. The status information
of all individual nodes is stored to the system database from where the information iscollected and shown in the UI. The status can also be seen using system tools from
the command line.
3.6 System tools
System tools is a command line interface (cli) used for configuring, managing and
monitoring the system. The system tools are:
• System Monitoring tool. The tool is used for:
º getting information on the states of process streams and nodes in them
º getting information on the progressing of the process streams
• System Management tool. The tool is used for:
º giving orders to process streams and nodes, for example, to start, to stop and
to switch to another version
• Order tool. The tool is used for:
º listing all process stream orders, their IDs, order type, status, process stream
name and node name
• Aborting Order tool. The tool is used for:
º aborting process stream or node orders that are currently in progress
• Configuration Installation tool. The tool is used for:
º installing new mediation functionality modules, for example, a new collection
protocol
º importing and exporting customer-specific configurations
• System Cleanup tool. The tool is used for:
º cleaning up and archiving old contents of the Comptel EventLink systemdatabase
System tools can be used either in interactive menu mode or directly from the
command line. The command line system tools enable files to be run in the
background. User authentication of the system tools is handled by the UNIX
operating system.
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3.7 Lookup Server
Comptel Lookup Server is a subsystem of Comptel EventLink which provides a
mechanism for looking up data from the lookup tables stored in the Oracle database
tables or UNIX files and placing them in the memory of a host, where a client can
read them. The clients can be, for example different nodes, which all make lookups tothe same lookup table data. Comptel Lookup Server supports large amounts of data
and performs lookups quickly.
Comptel Lookup Server client is a dynamically loaded library module which can be
used to extend a node’s functionality.
Comptel Lookup Server is used for storing data into the shared memory. The node
does lookups to the stored data using the lookup client module. Figure 7 shows the
Comptel Lookup Server client as a dynamically loaded library module:
Figure 7. Comptel EventLink nodes using Comptel Lookup Server
There are two types of lookup tables: normal and compact, of which normal lookup
tables have more features than compact lookup tables but use much more memory
and are slower to load.• normal lookup table:
º A normal lookup table consists of fields, some of which can be defined as key
fields used for searching and other fields that are used for return values. The
search keys are either of type mat ch or l i mi t s. A mat ch key is a string that
is compared against the search value. A l i mi t s key is a pair of numeric
values in which the search value matches with the limits if its value is between
the upper and lower key values.
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º An additional search mode can be defined for both key types. The search
mode can be exact , l ongest , any or l ongest +any. The exact mode
means that the search value must match with the key exactly. In the l ongest
mode, the key that has the longest matching substring is the match. The any
mode is used if a match is not found. In such a case, the default value can bereturned from the lookup table. In the l ongest +any mode, the l ongest and
any modes are combined in such a manner that the l ongest longest mode is
used first and if no match is found, the default value is returned if it is present.
• compact lookup table
º In a compact lookup table, fields are not separated to key and return fields.
Instead, the fields that are used in searches are simply marked as indexed. In
searches, fields are compared with search values with such operators as =, >
and <=. Both mat ch and l i mi t s type of functionality can be used by
combining the search criteria. The additional search modes that are available
for normal lookup tables cannot be used with compact lookup tables.
º Compact lookup tables are very suitable for holding customer reference data,
such as IMSI and MSISDN. The compact lookup tables are highly optimised
for fast lookups using as little host memory as possible.
Whenever lookup tables are updated, Comptel Lookup Server must be asked to reload
them. This can be done either using the Lookup Server UI module (for more
information, see Comptel Lookup Server User’s Guide) or by issuing the l s_ admi n
command from the command line (for more information, see Comptel EventLink
Operation and Maintenance Guide).
After the reload, the clients that were using the old lookup table keep using it, unless
they update the new one into use. All new clients use the new reloaded lookup table.
Comptel Lookup Server can alert client processes about shared memory updates in a
way defined in the GRC file. Typically, it is a script that issues a signal to the client,
which is attached to the memory, that a lookup table has been reloaded and a memory
segment needs to be updated.
The command line client, l s_cl c, is a tool which can be used to access the Comptel
Lookup Server lookup tables from the command line. It can be used, for example, to
test the Comptel Lookup Server installation or to retrieve data from the ComptelLookup Server lookup tables in shell scripts. For more information on the use of the
l s_cl c tool, see Comptel EventLink Operation and Maintenance Guide.
The Lookup Parameters module is used for defining and maintaining the contents of
the lookup tables. For more information on Comptel Lookup Server’s UI modules,
see Comptel Lookup Server User’s Guide.
3.8 In-memory Storage
EventLink In-memory Storage is a subsystem of Comptel EventLink used for storing
and retrieving ERs and the related data into an in-memory database.
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EventLink In-memory Storage includes:
• in-memory relational database (Oracle TimesTen)
• SQL interface library
• EventLink Temporary Record Storage Library
• EventLink Aggregation Library
• EventLink Correlation Library
• EventLink Duplicate Checker Library
• EventLink File Duplicate and Sequence Checker Node
• EventLink In-memory Storage Maintenance Node
• EventLink Sequence Checker Library
Figure 8. In-memory Storage
The in-memory database is used in applications through EventLink Temporary
Record Storage Library, which contains both the Direct SQL layer and Temporary
Record Storage layer. The functionality is available for both perl and C applications.
The SQL interface library is the basis for all the components using EventLink In-
memory Storage. EventLink Temporary Record Storage Library is built using the
SQL interface, EventLink Aggregation Library, EventLink Correlation Library,
EventLink Duplicate Checker Library and EventLink Sequence Checker Library in
turn use Temporary Record Storage interface. The libraries are bundled so that the
SQL interface is together with EventLink Temporary Record Storage Library in a
single library package, and other libraries are packed separately. EventLink In-
memory Storage Maintenance Node and EventLink File Duplicate and Sequence
Checker Node are also packed separately.
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The application can use both the Direct SQL interface and Temporary Record Storage
interface at the same time, even to manage the same database tables, since the
interfaces share the connection and the resources to access the data store.
Each node using EventLink Temporary Record Storage Library connects to a singlein-memory data store. The node inserts, updates and deletes data from the data store
based on the record data that it processes. The changes to the data store are commited
at the same time when Node Base commit occurs – in most cases when the input file
has been completely processed.
This ensures that the data being processed in the stream does not become out of sync
with the data inside the data store. EventLink Temporary Record Storage Library
automatically manages the audit data belonging to the records, ensuring that audit
reporting is consistent.
EventLink Temporary Record Storage Library is configured with either a
configuration file containing descriptions of each record type that is managed or the
rule set can at runtime describe the record types. The library then creates database
tables based on the configuration or verify that the given configuration matches the
tables already in the data store.
EventLink Duplicate Checker Library is used to detect duplicate records and files,
and EventLink Sequence Checker Library to check file and record sequences.
3.9 EventLink Business Logic Tool
Note The read-only mody of EventLink Business Logic Tool is delivered in thestandard Comptel EventLink installation. The edit mode, which contains the
right to modify the business logics, requires a separate license.
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Business Logic Tool is a graphical business logic configuration tool for Comptel
EventLink. Business logic consists of rules according to which ERs collected from
the network are processed (see Figure 9). With Business Logic Tool, operators can
save operational costs by developing and maintaining business logic configurations
by themselves.
Figure 9. EventLink Business Logic Tool
Business Logic Tool consists of the Business Logic Tool user interface and the
EventLink Rule Engine. The Business Logic Tool user interface is used for
developing business logic configurations that the EventLink Rule Engine executes,functioning as a node application within Comptel EventLink.
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Figure 10 shows an example of EventLink Business Logic Tool user interface:
Figure 10. Business Logic configuration in EventLink Business Logic Tool user
interface
Figure 11 shows an example of a View Rule page in EventLink Business Logic Tool
user interface:
Figure 11. View Rule page in EventLink Business Logic Tool User Interface
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Figure 12 shows an example of a View Test Results page in EventLink Business
Logic Tool user interface:
Figure 12. View Test Results page in EventLink Business Logic Tool User
Interface
All configurations made with Business Logic Tool, including the business logic, are
saved as node configurations in Comptel EventLink. Comptel EventLink database
stores all Business Logic Tool configurations. Like other Comptel EventLink nodes,Business Logic Tool Nodes are controlled by Node Manager through the node base.
In Comptel EventLink, a business logic configuration is closely linked with the
structure of the process stream to which it belongs. The input and output data formats
defined for the business logic restrict where it can be placed in the process stream.
Business logic configurations can be exported and imported from one Comptel
EventLink environment to another. They can be moved from one host to another (for
example, to a different Comptel EventLink installation).
Note Perl and C business logic nodes can be used along with Business Logic Tool Nodes in the same Comptel Eventlink process streams.
3.10 EventLink Record Correction Tool
Note EventLink Record Correction Tool requires a separate license.
EventLink Record Correction Tool is a graphical record correction tool for Comptel
EventLink. With EventLink Record Correction Tool, the operators can easily develop
rules to correct rejected recods.EventLink Record Correction Tool consists of the user
interface that is used for viewing and developing correction rules that ComptelEventLink executes (see Figure 13).
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Figure 13. EventLink Record Correction Tool
The EventLink Record Correction Tool user interface is used for developing
correction rules and bringing them under Comptel EventLink version control.
Versioned correction rules are saved in the Comptel EventLink database.
3.11 System distribution on multiple host environment
A process stream can be distributed to multiple hosts if the collection of ERs is
feasible to take place near the respective network elements. Also higher performance
can be achieved when the task of a process stream is distributed to multiple hosts. In
addition, a spare host can be a created and taken into use should the original host
become dysfunctional.
When a process stream is distributed to multiple hosts, each host has its own Node
Manager that controls the nodes on that host. Usage data is transmitted from one host
to another by automatic transport nodes divided into sender and receiver processes.
The sender process resides on a host that sends information and the receiver process
resides on a host that receives information.
The data is transmitted between the sender and receiver processes with a proprietary
protocol over TCP/IP. Optionally, the transmitted data can be automatically
compressed during the transfer.
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Figure 14 illustrates the distribution of the system to three hosts:
Figure 14. Comptel EventLink distributed to three different hosts
3.11.1 Scalabi lit y
Usage data transmission and processing in Comptel EventLink is highly scalable. The
system can be configured to use several processors on a single host. If the processing
power of a single host is not adequate, the system can be distributed to several
physical hosts.
In a multiple host environment, each host has its own Node Manager that controls the
nodes on that host. The system automatically takes care of transmitting usage data
from one host to another.
A single process stream in Comptel EventLink scales up in three different ways:
1. Sequential nodes within a process stream work concurrently in a pipeline
manner: while a business logic node is processing a record block decoded
earlier, the decoder node is already decoding the next received record block,
etc.
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2. A single node usually can utilise a single CPU within the host. If a node or
nodes within a process stream are unable to keep up with the ER flow, the user
can configure the mediation process to use more than one CPU by multiplying
the bottleneck nodes. Comptel EventLink takes care of automatic load
balancing between the parallel nodes by dividing a task of one node betweenseveral nodes (see Figure 15). In such a case the nodes can be seen as one
node in the UI but each of the them can be configured separately and data
streams from each network element can be directed to separate nodes.
Figure 15. Enhancing the capacity of process stream by dividing a task of a node
between several nodes
Note When multiplying mediation processes, the order of ERs is not
guaranteed.
3. If resources of a single host computer are not sufficient, the process stream
can be configured to span to multiple hosts. In such a case, Comptel
EventLink takes care of sending the data to the host where the data is to be
processed next. The number of hosts in Comptel EventLink is not restricted
and each node in a process stream can reside on a separate host.
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These methods of scaling up can be freely combined with each other, as seen
in Figure 16 . The capacity of a process stream can be enhanced by dividing a
task of a node between several nodes (node 2) the task of another node (node
3) between several nodes, etc.
Figure 16. Enhancing the capacity of a process stream
3.12 User inter face (UI)
The UI of Comptel EventLink uses an Apache web server included in the installation
packages. The Apache web server is used as the normal HTML/HTTP server that all
clients (web browsers) connect to. Apache also executes the PHP scripts of the UI.
If SSL is used, Apache provides the SSL connection.
User names and access rights are maintained through EventLink User Interface
Framework. For more information, see EventLink User Interface Framework Online
Help.
The user can, for example, start up, shut down and configure the process streams
through the UI of Comptel EventLink. The UI also includes a set of predefined web
pages for audit data reporting.
All other installed subsystems have a menu item of their own in the UI.
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Figure 17 shows the internal functionality of the user interface (UI) of Comptel
EventLink:
Figure 17. Detailed structure of the UI of Comptel EventLink
The numbered items in Figure 17 are:
1. User interface calls, the browser sends parameters.
2. Apache calls and relays parameters.
3. EventLink User Interface Framework parses the incoming HTTP request from
Apache and calls proper module functions if the HTTP request is for a plug-in
module. If the request does not match any of the modules, the main template
is filled up with default values. In both cases the resulting HTTP response is
sent to the Apache to be sent to the browser
4. All modules attached to the system can use database services offered by
EventLink User Interface Framework.
5. Each module has its own independent functionality. All modules use their
own templates to produce HTML, which is returned to EventLink User
Interface Framework.
6. EventLink User Interface Framework receives HTML from the selected
module, fills in the main template and sends the web page to the browser via
Apache.
7. Apache statically supports retrieval of link files, images, Javascript and
Cascading Style Sheets.
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Figure 18 shows an example of the Comptel EventLink System Overview page in the
UI. For more information on the Comptel EventLink UI module, see Comptel
EventLink Online Help.
Figure 18. Comptel EventLink System Overview page in the UI
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3.12.1 Logging into EventLink User Interface Framework
To access EventLink User Interface Framework, the users need to have the following:
• user account in EventLink User Interface Framework
• URL to connect to EventLink User Interface Framework
To access EventLink User Interface Framework
1. Type the following URL into the Address or Location input field of the
Internet browser: ht t ps: / / <your . host . com>: <por t >
Note If SSL has not been installed, the address above is ht t p: / /
<your . hos t . com>: <por t >
2. Substitute <your . host . com>with the name or IP address of the host intowhich the user interface was installed. The <por t >is the port number the
server is configured to use. The default port number is 55555.
Note If the users’ browsers show a security alert when they contact the
WWW server, see EventLink User Interface Framework Online Help
for more information on the required certificates.
3. After you have typed the right URL, the Login page opens:
4. Enter your user ID and password.
Note If the EventLink User Interface Framework administrator has changed
the password, you are forced to change the password when logging in
the next time.
5. Click Login. After you have logged in successfully, the EventLink User
Interface Framework main page opens.
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Note For more information on the use of EventLink User Interface
Framework, see EventLink User Interface Framework Online Help.
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4 Node Functionality
In Comptel EventLink independent modules implement one or multiple mediation
functions, such as collection, decoding, validation, filtering, encoding or distribution
of ERs.
4.1 Data collection
Comptel EventLink collector nodes can interface with any network, which can be 3G,
2.5G, 2G, IP, fixed-line or satellite, or with a content and services platform. They
collect ERs from the network as a continuous real-time data stream or as files. File-
based collection can be either continuous or schedule-based. Continuous collection
means that Comptel EventLink constantly checks for files to collect. Schedule-based
collection means that files are collected at certain times, for example, every Tuesday
at 2, 3 and 4 am. The schedules of process streams and nodes can temporarily be
suspended, for example, for maintenance purposes.
EventLink FTP Collector Node in a process stream collects files from a remote host
to a local host with FTP or Secure FTP (SFTP) protocol or collects files from the
local file system. With FTP Collector Node it is possible to write customised file
handling rules to transfer files.
4.2 Data decoding
The collected data is decoded into Comptel EventLink internal record representation
for further processing by one or several nodes. Several different binary and ASCII
formats, BER encoded ASN.1 and XML formats are supported, as is parsing of
human-readable log text files.
EventLink ASN.1 Decoder Node and EventLink MDS ARM-FR Decoder Node are
used for decoding collected input files into Comptel EventLink internal data format.
4.3 Business logic
Business logic in Comptel EventLink means the rules according to which requests,
events or ERs and interfaces are processed with external applications.
4.3.1 Validation
After the ERs have been collected, Comptel EventLink examines and analyses thecontents in them by operator-specific business rules. It checks that all values included
in the ER fields are applicable and in a correct format. If necessary, it joins fields and
inserts additional values into them.
4.3.2 Filtering
An ER that is omitted and not sent to further processing. The ER is not stored in any
file or storage, only an audit counter is incremented.
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4.3.3 Enrichment
During data processing, it is sometimes necessary to enrich ERs, which means that
data from external systems, such as subscriber information, is combined with ER
data. This is done by inserting or updating data in the ER according to a predefined
set of keys and their return values. These keys and return values are maintained in alookup table with columns and rows. Each column specifies a key or a return value
and each row is represented by a combination of values for the keys and return values.
Nodes are responsible for the actual searching of the data. Comptel Lookup Server
only gives the node a pointer to the shared memory block where the actual data and
indexes for the data are stored. All lookup tables can be used by all the nodes at the
same time.
The actual data used for enrichment is stored either in input files in certain specified
format or in database tables. Which is used depends on:
• the client system sending the data
• the performance requirements for reading the data
• whether the data is maintained through the user interface
The data can be either imported periodically from an external system or maintained
through the user interface.
4.3.4 Dupl icate and sequence checking
If a duplicate checker has been added in Comptel EventLink and Comptel EventLink
receives ERs from the network, it can check them for duplicates and verify theirsequence. By doing this, it ensures that the numerous ERs come into the system in the
correct order and that none of them is missing or delayed or tries to enter the system
for the second time.
4.3.5 Aggregation
When aggregating, Comptel EventLink creates summary records from a number of
input records from the same network source. Aggregation thus allows the OSS/BSS
systems to receive only one billable ER from each service usage. An example of
aggregation is the combining of partial record from long duration calls. After the
records have been combined, over-aged ERs are flushed. Statistical data is collected
according to predefined variables.
EventLink Aggregation Library is responsible for creating summary records of
sessions or calls in the input data. This is done according to predefined aggregation
rules (aggregation schemes). EventLink Aggregation Library uses EventLink
Temporary Record Storage Library as its partial storage.
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General principles of aggregation
The input records of a call or connection (events) to be aggregated are grouped
together based on their event key and record type (optional). An event key is a set of
one or more record fields that identify an event. The type of the input record (recordtype), if used, is taken from the output type audit field of the input record.
An input record that belongs to a long event (partial) is first prepared by the
aggregation library before it is sent (checked in) to be aggregated. The aggregation
library collects the key fields and locates the event that matches to the event key.
If a matching event was found, the incoming partial is aggregated to the existing
partial event, if possible, and stored to the partial storage where it waits for the rest of
the event partials to arrive. If no matching event is found, the partial is inserted to the
partial storage and it is kept there for the rest of the event partials to arrive.
All event partials are kept in the partial storage. There are three ways in which the partials can be removed:
• event is completed
• event expires based on its age or its limit
• partial storage is flushed
The actual rules of the event completion vary between aggregation schemes, and the
only common rule of completion for all aggregations is the possibility to define a
limit that is inspected at check-in time (completing limit).
If the value of the completing limited field in currently checked-in partial or the
outcome of the aggregation is higher than or equal to the value defined for the limit,
the event partial is completed and handed back to the business logic node during the
check-in.
Another way to remove a partial from the partial storage is to have it expired based on
its age (flushing). The flushing is based either on the real start time of the partial or an
artificial time (reference time) that can be freely defined for each partial. If both the
reference time and the start time are available, the reference time is used during the
flushing.
Similarly, as there is a completing limit that is inspected during the check-in, it is also
possible to define a limit for one or more of the fields in the partial that is inspected
only during the flushing. With limit-based expiration, the partial is flushed when a
field value equals to or exceeds the limit value even if the partial would not expire
based on its age. The partial expiration requires that the partials have either the
reference time or the start time defined.
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When an expired or completed partial or a completed event is detected, it is removed
from the partial storage and made available for the node as an output record. Some
partial fields can be configured, for example, to be summed up or to contain the
minimum, maximum, chronologically first or chronologically last value. All such
operations have already been handled by the aggregation library during theaggregation process. The resulting values are stored in the output record.
The fields that have an additional operation configured or are required by the
aggregation operation are called active fields. The fields that do not have any
operations configured and are not necessary from the aggregation process point of
view are called passive fields. They are taken from the chronologically first partial
based on time stamps.
Aggregations schemes
Aggregation Library provides four aggregation schemes:
• basic aggregation scheme
• extended aggregation scheme
• time based aggregation (long call combining)
• sequence number based aggregation (long call combining)
In an aggregation scheme, a completing limit or flush time limit must be defined to
send the event to charging. Expired partials can sent for charging.
The basic aggregation library scheme supports the aggregation of one event within
a set of call event references. The event partials are aggregated in the order of theirarrival. The partial that arrives first is used as a basis for the fields of the complete
record.
In the extended aggregation library scheme, event partials are aggregated in
chronological order based on their time stamps.
Long call combining is a more specific case of the basic aggregation. It has clearly
defined rules when two partials may or may not be aggregated together and when the
event becomes complete during the check-in.
The leading partial of a long call is called the first partial and the very last partialthat the network element creates for a long call is called the last partial. All partials
between the first partial and the last partial are called intermediate partials. The
creation of new intermediate partials is started each time the configurable time limit
in the network element is exceeded.
Some network elements generate a running sequence number for the partials of a
connection that usually starts from 1 and ranges up to total number of partial in the
connection. Some network elements create repetitive first partials during a
connection. Therefore, a partial type called the potentially first partial has been
added to the aggregation library to handle the first partials that may exist within the
session.
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The logic how the different kinds of partials are recognised is defined in the
equipment vendor specifications. Because of that, the logic varies from case to case.
Long call aggregation schemes are able to detect and reject incoming partials that
overlap with partials that have already entered the aggregation library based onoverlapping time or sequence numbers of the partials. In addition, a long call
aggregation scheme is also able to detect and reject incoming partials that could be
aggregated with a partial in the partial storage but where conflict of partial types
prevents the aggregation of the partials.
Time stamp based aggregation aggregates the partials in chronological order based
on the timestamps in the partials. The time stamp based aggregation requires that the
reference time, if configured, start time and either duration or end time information
exists in the partial. The scheme configuration parameter is used to define whether the
existing end time of the partials is taken from the partial or whether it is calculated by
summing up the start time and duration. If the required duration or end time field ismissing, the check-in function returns an error indication to the node implementation.
Sometimes the time stamps of the long event partials do not run in a smooth
sequence. Therefore, a value called maximum difference can be defined for the time
stamps. The maximum difference tells to the aggregation library how many seconds
the two partials can slip apart or overlap each other for them to be still aggregated.
In addition to the reference time or the start time, the long call aggregation requires
that the partials have the partial type, possible partial sequence number and duration
and/or end time defined.
Sequence number based aggregation aggregates long event partials in the order of
the partial sequence numbers issued by the network equipment. Only the reference
time or, if no reference time has been configured, the start time, sequence number and
either duration or end time are required to be present in the partials. The sequence
number flow must also be configured for the events if this aggregation method is
used.
In the long call aggregation, an event may have more than one partial in the partial
storage waiting to be aggregated. The event partial in the partial storage is a partial
that presents a group of partials that the library has already been able to aggregate
together (aggregated partial).
If a matching event is found from the partial storage at the check-in, the partials of
that event are checked one by one to see if the incoming partial can be aggregated
with the current partial or partials in the partial storage. If no matching event is found
at the check-in, the event partial is inserted to the partial storage.
The currently incoming partial may have been a partial that is a missing link between
two intermediate partials or even a missing link between the first and last partials.
Because of that, the aggregation library does an iterative aggregation attempt after
each successful aggregation to find out whether the repetitive aggregation or even a
completion of an event would be possible.
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The following presents different possibilities for aggregation:
• aggregation of a first partial and an intermediate partial results in a first partial
• aggregation of an intermediate partial and an intermediate partial results in an
intermediate partial• aggregation of an intermediate partial and a last partial results in a last partial
• aggregation of a first partial and a last partial results in a complete event, which is
removed from the partial storage and handed back to the node implementation as
an output record
• ‘potentially first partials’ are handled as first partials unless they exist in the
middle of the long call due to sequence number wrap-around, in which case they
are handled as intermediate partials
NoteAggregation schemes detect the single partials and remove them immediatelyto the business logic.
4.3.6 Correlation
Also correlation involves the combining of ERs but the ERs to be correlated come
from different sources and are in different formats. The ERs may come at the same
time from both access network and content platforms, which is the case in a content
usage session.
The purpose of correlation is to gather all charging information into one or more
correlated ERs, which can be distributed to the Operations and Business Support
System (OSS/BSS). The information is typically divided into two logical elements:
• session information, referred to as session records
• service information, referred to as service records
Session records provide the identity of the user (for example, username or IMSI) as
well as session start time, end time and session identification. The session record may
also list the network traffic usage during the session.
Service records provide information on the usage of various services. For example,
MMS usage records from an MMSC network element. Correlation provides means to
combine different kinds of records based on certain key field values in the ERs.
EventLink Correlator Node is typically used in joining S-CDRs and G-CDRs from
GPRS network or IN and MSC records.
4.3.7 Supporting functions
EventLink Node Extensions provides supporting functions for date and time
validation and manipulation, as well as string manipulation. These functions can be
used in the business logic written in Perl.
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4.4 Backing up data
All files running in a process stream can be backed up to a local host or to a remote
host with FTP or Secure FTP (SFTP) protocol. The backing up process is
implemented as parallel backup, where a copy of the output files from the previous
node is configured from UI to be sent to EventLink Backup Node, which then backsup the data.
You can define the following:
• If the backed-up files are compressed or not
• If, in addition to the original backup file, a flag file marking a successful transfer
is created. The new file name gets a suffix and the file contains the backed-up file.
The new file is stored in the destination directory after a successful transfer.
• The backed-up files can be automatically deleted after a certain time or when the
number of files exceeds a certain limit.
When backed-up files need to be reprocessed, EventLink FTP Collector in local
collect mode is used. The user manually uncompresses the backed-up files and puts
them into the polled directory, where the system automatically processes them.
4.5 Data encoding
Before distributing the fully processed ERs to the OSS/BSS systems, Comptel
EventLink converts them into formats compatible with these systems. Comptel
EventLink is able to convert the ERs either to a standard format or to operators’
proprietary formats. Several different binary and ASCII formats, BER encoded
ASN.1 and XML formats are supported. Due to formatting, an OSS/BSS systemreceives all usage information from the network in a uniform, predefined form.
EventLink ASN.1 Encoder Node is used for encoding Comptel EventLink internal
data format records into deliverable output files.
EventLink Multi-format Encoder Node is used for encoding ERs in Comptel
EventLink internal format into ASCII or binary format for target systems, for
example, billing or fraud.
4.6 Data distribution
Comptel EventLink is able to simultaneously interface with multiple different OSS/
BSS systems. Even though it performs all its collection and other processes in real-
time, it is able to distribute the processed ERs to the OSS/BSS systems either through
a configured real-time protocol or a file-based batch interface.
File-based distribution can be configured to occur immediately when the data has
been processed or it can be scheduled to happen at certain points of date and time, as
with collection.
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EventLink FTP Distributor Node is used for ER delivery in Comptel EventLink. FTP
Distributor Node is used to distribute files generated by EventLink to specified target
systems with FTP or Secure FTP (SFTP) protocol. Also, FTP Distributor Node
distributes files to the local file system.
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5 Process Stream Functionality
In Comptel EventLink each component has a specific role and works independently
once started. Comptel EventLink consists of a process stream that usually includes
more than one node. The nodes are managed by Node Manager, which interacts withsystem database. UI is used for configuring and controlling the system core.
5.1 Starting up a process stream
When the user starts up a process stream, all associated Node Managers read the
process stream configuration from the system database and start up the process
stream, which consist of nodes.
5.2 Data processing
The process stream keeps processing data until the user shuts it down. The usage data
flows between the nodes in ER blocks. Each node checks its input data sourcesconstantly for new blocks to be processed. When a new block is detected, it is
immediately processed and distributed to the output destination.
5.3 Rejected data storage
Nodes in Comptel EventLink process streams handle invalid data in two different
ways:
• Nodes that process data in Comptel EventLink internal format reject event
records (ERs) to rejected data storages. Each node can have any number of
rejected data storages and they are identified with the name of the storage.
• Nodes that process data in some other format discard data to the node's discardeddata directory. The whole input file can be discarded or the node discards only
parts of the file, for example, invalid fixed size blocks in a decoder.
Figure 19 shows the storages for discarded files and rejected data in a process stream.
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Figure 19. Discarded and rejected data in Comptel EventLink
The rejected data storages are divided into one-hour time slots. A time slot is defined
by the collection time of the input file. This means that different parts of an input file
are always rejected to the same time slot even if the rejection occurs in different
nodes.
Each input file has its own rejected file in each storage if the node has rejected some
data from the file to the storage. However, no rejected data file is created if no records
are rejected.
Figure 20 shows the division of rejected data storages in one-hour time slots.
Figure 20. Rejected sotrages divided in one-hour time slots
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Each rejected data storage can be configured to be automatically reprocessed at
certain intervals for a number of times. The user can also manually start reprocessing
a selection of the rejected data, take the rejected data offline for further analysis or
repair the rejected records with EventLink Record Correction Tool.
The user can define the following settings for the rejected data storages:
• alarm limit for the ERs
• maximum number of automatic reprocessing retries for each rejected ER before it
gets the status Retry limit reached. The minimum value is 1 and the maximum
value 9999.
• interval in hours after which the reprocessing is performed. The minimum value is
1 and the maximum value 48. Automatic reprocessing occurs on the hour.
• priority that the reprocessing gets in relation to normal data processing. Possible
values are :• Prior to new data
º Normal priority
º When idle
When a node reprocesses the data from rejected data storages, it gathers all data that
needs to be reprocessed at that time and moves it to the Reprocess In data buffer.
After this the data gets reprocessed according to the priority.
The correction procedure selects the files that need to be corrected and runs the
correction process on them. The original rejected data files are copied to a backupstorage to store a full audit trail of the correction procedure.
When the correction procedure is committed, the corrected files are copied over the
old rejected data files. The files can be reprocessed after that. If the correction
procedure corrected the files successfully, the data gets processed by the node.
Command line tools are available for converting the rejected usage data into format
that is easy to read and, if necessary, to modify for reprocessing purposes.
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Figure 21 shows the correction process in detail.
Figure 21. Correction process of rejected data
5.4 Reconfiguring process stream
Implementing configuration changes (for example, business logic changes, adding or
removing network element collectors, upgrading components) to a process stream can
be done without disturbing the production environment via the UI. This is done in a
separate workspace within the same environment.
The user can choose when to reconfigure the process stream into a new version from
the UI. The system then stops and starts only those nodes in the process stream that
are affected by the changes. The user can also change back to any previous version
that has not been already cleaned up.
5.5 Stopping process stream
The process stream stops processing data when the user gives a stop stream command
through the UI or with a system tool. If the whole system needs to be shut down, it is
done from the command line.
The processes can be stopped either immediately or after all usage data in a process
stream has been processed.
5.6 Fault tolerance and error recovery
The Comptel EventLink components are designed to stay operational independent of
each other. If the system components cannot communicate because of, for example,
network problems or hardware failure, the information they need to exchange is
buffered to the file system. Once the communication is re-established, the buffers are
processed and the system resumes normal operation.
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The usage data in a process stream is transmitted from one node to another in data
blocks. A node processes data blocks received from the previous node one-by-one.
Once the whole block has been processed, the resulting output block is forwarded to
the next node and the processed input block is removed. At this point the node
commits all changes and synchronises files to the file system. If the processing isinterrupted because of an error situation, the input block stays in the file system. After
the error situation has been corrected, the node starts to process the input block again.
This ensures that no data is lost or duplicated in error situations. The nodes also
operate independently. This means that a problem in one node does not affect the
other nodes.
5.7 Data safety and commit processing
Data in Comptel Eventlink flows through the process stream inside internal data files.
Correct, atomic commit processing ensures that no file is handled twice and that no
files are lost if an unexpected system error occurs. Because audit information and
other messages from business logic are important for Comptel EventLink as well,
they must not be lost or duplicated either.
Comptel EventLink bases the data processing on input files. A node can have one
input file processed at a time, and when an input file is opened, it is locked until the
processing is complete. The file is locked to prevent other nodes from accessing it
while it is being processed, ensuring that is not processed twice. After the input file
has been successfully processed and related output records and audit data has been
written, it is deleted as a part of the atomic commit process. When preparing for the
commit, Comptel EventLink flushes all relevant data (data records, audit data and
messages) to disk, and marks them as complete but not collectable. A list is made ofall the files on disk that are to be collected after a successful commit and after the list
has been written to disk, the commit is complete and recoverable even if an
unexpected system error occurs.
There are two separate cases when the recoverability of the commit is considered:
• An unexpected system error occurs before the commit point. When Comptel
EventLink is started for the first time after the unexpected system error, there may
be files left from the previous run that are complete but not collectable. These
files are deleted and the input file is processed again.
• An unexpected system error occurs directly after the commit point. Duringrecovery, Comptel EventLink reads the list of files and completes the rest of the
commit by making the files collectable and deletes the input file.
In either case, no records or audit data is forwarded from the node until a commit has
successfully completed.
If Comptel EventLink uses an external data storage (for example, a database) that
involves transactions based on the input data, the node application functionality can
be extended to move the commit point information to the external data storage,
ensuring that both the external storage and Comptel Eventlink data are atomically
committed at the same time with a two-phase commit mechanism. The two-phase
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commit mechanism moves the control of the atomic commit to the external data
storage, because usually the external system's commit cannot be controlled. Before
the external system is committed, Node Base executes procedures for the first phase
of the commit, including flushing all file buffers, creating a list of files to be removed
after successful commit, and so forth. Information on the state of Node Base is storedinto the external storage before it commits. This information is used in Node Base
recovery if the node fails unexpectedly. If the external storage's commit is successful,
Node Base executes the second phase of the commit and finalises all output files. If
the commit is unsuccessful, Node Base rolls back any changes and returns to the state
before the commit process was started. If at any time during the commit processing
the node crashes or connection to the external system is lost, the state of Node Base
can be automatically and completely recovered with the information stored to the
external system and with the status information Node Base stored to disk during the
first phase of the commit.
5.8 System cleanup
System cleanup is an integral part of Comptel EventLink. EventLink Cleanup Node
can be scheduled to do maintenance cleanup in the Comptel EventLink internal data
stores at certain intervals. The removed data can be backed up in a directory
configured by the user. The configurable parameters are the same as the System
Tools’ Cleanup functionality.
Cleanup Node must be configured to:
• Clean up the orders issued through the user interface or with Comptel EventLink
System Tools.
• Clean up the offline data. The offline cleanup moves rejected records older than
the given number of days from the rejected data storages to the offline directory,
which has been specified during the installation of Comptel EventLink.
• Clean up all info, warning and error messages.
• Clean up audit information. The audit trail data is removed but a backup file of
the deleted data is created in the current directory where Cleanup Node is run, if
required.
• System Statistics information. The data is automatically cleaned up by Node
Manager.
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6 Audit Information
Comptel EventLink enforces strict audit trail by collecting detailed information on
the usage data processing. Each node provides a standard set of audit counters per
processed data block. Statistics about the collected ERs can be read and standardreports can be run through the UI.
6.1 Collected information
The following standard information, depending on the node's business logic
functionality, is collected:
• the collected file names
• the distributed file names
• the collected file sizes
• the distributed file sizes
• the time of collected information
• the time of distributed information
• the discarded bytes from a collected file
• the number of ERs read
• the number of ERs read for reprocessing
• the number of ERs filtered
• the number of ERs rejected
• the number of ERs reduced in operations where records are consumed (for
example, because of aggregation or correlation)
• the number of ERs duplicated
• the number of new ERs created
• the number of ERs stored into the internal storage
• the number of ERs retrieved from the internal storage
• the number of ERs written out
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6.2 Monitor ing operational stat istics
The System Overview page in the UI shows in near real-time how the usage data
flows through the Comptel EventLink system. The counter statistics can be monitored
on process stream or node level. Figure 22 shows an example of the Comptel
EventLink Operational Statistics for Process Stream page in the UI.
Figure 22. Comptel EventLink Operational Statistics Stream page in the UI
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6.3 Host statistics
Comptel EventLink provides statistics about host CPU load and disk space.
The Host CPU Load Statistics page shows the host CPU load statistics during the past
1-48 hours (user can select suitable time) and lists the load averages for 1, 5 and 15minutes.
Figure 23 shows an example of the Host CPU load statistics page in the UI:
Figure 23. Host CPU load statistics page in the UI
The purpose of disk space statistics is for the administrator/user to be able to see the
trend of disk space usage. If the Control Interface, Data Buffering or Internal Storage
gets full, the production stops. The Host Disk Space Statistics page shows the disk
space statistics for all the directories during the past 1-48 hours (user can select
suitable time).
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Figure 24 shows an example of the host disk space statistics page in the UI:
Figure 24. Host disk space statistics page in the UI
For more information on host CPU load and disk space statistics, see Comptel
EventLink Online Help.
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6.4 Running standard reports
Audit information helps with building a clear picture about the usage data flow within
the system.
The system provides reports about the whole system, a process stream or a singlenode, depending on the time period defined by the user.
This information is stored to the system database for generating various reports in the
UI. The information is also available for external applications. A monthly report is a
summary of a longer period of time and a daily report of one day.
File based reports show how data from individual input files has been written to
output files.
Figure 25 shows an example of a Comptel EventLink standard report. For more
information on standard reports, see Comptel EventLink Reference Manual andComptel EventLink Online Help.
Note A separate product, Comptel Reporter, can be integrated into Comptel
EventLink to get detailed reports from the system.
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Figure 25. Processing Overview Report page in the UI
6.5 Customising audit trail functionality
It is possible to customise the level of details, collected information and audit trail
data storage and distribution of Comptel EventLink.
By default, the audit system in Comptel EventLink automatically collects audit
information, for example, on the following details:
• input file
• output file
• rejected store
• original record type
• output record type
• a rough time period when the record was processed
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In the business logic configuration, it is possible to add additional detail levels. These
additional detail levels are freely definable, and can be ER content-specific.
Examples of additional detail levels:
• service ID
• content type
• outgoing route
• price class
The default audit functionality collects information only on a number of ERs that
have passed through each node. It is possible for each business logic node to collect
additional, content-based, data for auditing purposes on the defined level of detail.
For example:
• the earliest and latest call end time
• minimum and maximum duration
• sum of prices
Because of the detailed audit trail recording level, the amount of audit data easily
grows very large. The solution for this is to write custom audit plug-ins in order to be
able to store all audit trail data as efficiently as possible. The audit plug-ins are
connected to Node Manager. The plug-ins can be freely defined on how to aggregate
and store the audit trail data, for example:
• aggregating data by reducing some system-generated keys
• storing the data into one or more customer-specific database tables
• writing the audit data into files for loading into Comptel Reporter
6.6 System logs
In addition to monitoring Comptel EventLink actions in the user interface, it is also
possible to see a detailed system execution trace log on, for example, Node Manager
and Node Base operations, together with node parameters and all abnormal events.
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In addition, it is possible to view the log files of both Node Manager (Node Manager
Log) and all the individual nodes (Node Diagnostic Files). Each Node Manager in the
system provides the contents of these files to the UI.
Figure 26. Log browsing in the user interface
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Document Index
A
aggregation 31
aggregations schemes 33architecture 9audit information 44audit trail 2
B
backing up data 36 basic aggregation library scheme 33 block of event records 2 business logic 30 business logic node 2Business Logic Tool user interface 19
C
collection 30collector node 2Comptel EventLink
importing and exporting business logic 21correlation 35
D
data
aggregation and correlation 31 backing up 36collection 30correlation 35decoding 30distributing 36duplicate and sequence checking 31encoding 36enrichment 31filtering 30validation 30
data decoding 30data format 21data processing 38
data safety and commit processing 42data transmission between nodes 13database 21
tables 18decoder node 3distribution 36distributor node 3duplicate and sequence checking 31
E
encoder node 3enrichment 31
error recovery 41
event record 4EventLink Aggregation Library
overview 31EventLink Business Logic Tool 18EventLink Record Correction Tool 21EventLink Rule Engine 4, 19extended aggregation library scheme 33
F
fault tolerance 41filtering 30functionality 30, 38
G
general principles of aggregation 32
H
host statistics 46
I
In-memory Storage 16
L
logging into user interface 28long call combining 33
Lookup Server 15
M
monitoring 45multiple hosts 22, 23
N
NE - definition 1node 5, 9
actions 18 Node Base
commit 18 Node Manager 5, 13node package 12
O
operational statistics 45Oracle TimesTen 17
P
process stream 6, 13reconfiguring 41startup 38
stopping 41
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processing data 38
R
real-time 6reconfiguring
process stream 41recovering from errors 41rejected data storage 38reports 48rule set
EventLink Temporary Record Storage Library 18
S
scalability 23sequence number based aggregation 34standard reports 48
starting up process stream 38
stopping
process stream 41system cleanup 43system database 6, 14system distribution 22
system tools 14
T
Time stamp based aggregation 34transport node 6
U
user interface 25
V
validation 30