CATVisor software family

Intelligent network management

Cable network infrastructure represents a significant part of cable operator’s assets. The effective use of cable network with the help

of management software ensures maximum uptime , improved network reliability and better network performance and most

importantly — satisfied customers.

CATVisor software family

EMS System

Commander

Commander PDA

SmartLoader

High demands on networks

A modern bidirectional digital cable network places a great demand on network management. It is not only about the state of the art inplant and outplant hardware but also the management software plays an important role in ensuring the availablility of high-quality services for subscribers.

Cable operators have typically several management systems and file records in ineffi-cient use. Often significant part of that data is incorrect or sometimes even completely missing. This leads to poor customer service, poor network uptime, revenue leakage and inefficient use of capital expenses as well as increase of the operational expences. Often a poor visibility of network assets leads to an ineffective use of the cable net-work. In worst case even the network uptime may be decreased due to complicated network management.

Hence, managing the quality of provided services is a key issue for cable operators in today’s challenging business. Knowing and managing end-to-end network inventory is the basic element for cable operator’s success. The quality of network management can be easily improved by employing a suitable network management system. As a result an operator is capable of using the network effectively which leads to several operational benefits.

• Increased availability of the network• Better network performance • Improved network reliability• Shorter MTTR

Benefits of HFC network management

Direct cost saving related benefits:

• Prevention of unnecessary truck rolls, which are often caused by lack of informa-tion

• Higher accuracy in off-site operations because of a faster pinpointing of the problem and its location

• Quick and accurate handling of ingress problems, leading to shorter downtime.

Benefits indirectly affecting operating costs:

• Full inventory of installed (active) equipment• Better network performance as the management system reveals possible amplifier

alignment errors• Improved network reliability through e.g. alarms on too high temperatures• By upgrading to Docsis 3.0 the network can be made faster with higher capacity.

Before doing this, the exisiting network should be made more reliable by employing EMS monitoring.

HFC network management system

The basic operation of a HFC infrastructure management system is very simple: The management application communicates with all manageable inside plant network ele-ments via the management LAN/WAN, and with the outside plant transponders via the LAN/WAN and the HFC inband communications channel.

Active devices are manageable, which means that management actions are subject to them. However, information about the status of passive components can also be extracted from the information provided by active equipment.

The most important managed devices are optical downstream transmitters and up-stream receivers at the headend (inside plant), as well as optical nodes and wideband amplifiers in the network (outside plant). In addition to this it is possible to manage e.g. inside plant wideband amplifiers and power supplies.

The HFC management LAN/WAN is the backbone of the HFC manage-ment. It connects the management system to all local/regional head-ends, thus providing IP connectivity to the inside plant equipment and the outside plant equipment via HFC network controllers. The LAN/WAN should be a closed and isolated IP network with highly restricted ac-cess to users, since misuse of HFC management applications can have severe effects on HFC network operation.

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EMSServer(s)

Management functions

The HFC management system consists of computers running software for doing the actual management tasks. In Teleste HFC management system, the main software components within the system are the EMS Server software, running in the server computers and the EMS Client software, EMS Explorer running in the systems user’s computers. Any of the computers may run additional value-adding software applica-tions that are typically used for special tasks, like upgrading the software in network elements.

Fault management

EMS Server collects alarms from all elements in the network and headends by regularly polling the device alarm flags. The polling process also detects lost devices within the network.With HMS and SNMP based devices, alarms are detected by processing SNMP traps sent by the devices autonomously. With HMS devices, trap reception is comple-mented by event log synchronisation through polling.

It is possible to apply event filters to display only active alarms or unacknowledged alarms. By doing this, the user can e.g. immediately see new events when they appear on the event log. The user can also suppress alarms e.g. in case an element does not behave well and produces a lot of toggling alarms. Alarms can be suppressed just for one element, a certain type of element or globally for a certain type of alarm.

Performance management

The EMS Server stores a set of important operating parameter values from all ele-ments to its measurement database at regular intervals for future analysis. The measurement history of selected elements and parameters can be examined in EMS Explorer as a history graph.

Configuration management

The EMS Explorer installation package contains the latest device specific congiguration GUI DLL’s to Teleste products, often called ‘viewers’. In EMS Explorer it is possible to open configuration sessions to selected network elements and examine and edit their configuration parameters. All configuartions are logged into the EMS event log.

Element configuration backup

EMS Server runs a background process that stores a backup copy of each element’s configuration once every 24 hours. This function is available for all elements that have a settings saver DLL available. The configurations are stored as scml (XML) files that can be downloaded back to the element using Commander or SmartLoader. This function comes in handy e.g. in case of a system crash.

Ingress switch control for HFC transponders

EMS Explorer has a dedicated GUI for examining and controlling ingress switches in HFC transponders. The GUI is totally independent, thus providing quick and simple ac-cess to ingress switches in multiple HFC devices without the need to know the details of the transponder. All ingress control operations are logged into the EMS Event Log.

Security management

Access to the EMS Server process is password protected. There are four access levels with different privileges available. Depending on the access level, the user can view and/or edit information in EMS Explorer. Only users with administrator privileges can edit other user’s data. Also user logins and logouts are logged into the EMS Event Log.

• Fault management• Performance management• Configuration management• Element configuration backup• Ingress switch control for HFC

transponders• Security management• Alarm forwarding

EMS System

The EMS Server is the core software within the system. It performs numerous auto-mated tasks and can do additional user tasks. The main server tasks are to keep up an inventory of all manageable inside and outside plant HFC elements, verify their precense and record all alarm events reported by the elements. In addition to this, the EMS server stores selected parameter values at regular intervals and keeps backup copies of network element configuration data files.

One EMS server is capable of handling up to 5000 network elements. Since system ac-cess is defined on a per-server basis, this might also affect the number of servers.

Each EMS server contains a local database for storing element, event and measure-ment data from the network elements managed by the particular server. The server application provides interfaces for exporting element and event data and importing element data.

The management data is examined and manipulated by logging in to the server using the EMS client software – the EMS Explorer. Depending on the selected access policy, client machines can be either in the management VLAN or in e.g. the company Intranet, which in this case must have connection to the EMS servers also. It is possible to ac-cess multiple servers simultaneously from one client and multiple clients can access the same server.

CATVisor software supports:

• Teleste Simple Element Management Protocol (TSEMP) TSEMP protocol is used to manage all Teleste inside plant devices and all Teleste non-HMS transponders.

• Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) SNMP is used to manage all HMS transponders and eventual non-Teleste inside plant devices.

Communication with TSEMP proto-col elements is based on polling and with SNMP elements is a combina-tion of polling and traps/notifica-tions. Polling is used for presence monitoring, data retrievals and configuration tasks, while traps are used for informing the management system about alarms.

Commander & Commander Lite

For Teleste HFC transponders or inside plant elements, the LMT software is CATVisor Commander. Commander supports IP connectivity, which allows configuring of network element also via the management LAN/WAN. There is also a limited version, Command-er Lite available that supports only local connectivity.

The device specific graphical user interfaces used by Commander are identical to those used in EMS Explorer. This gives the users a uniform view independent of the software tool in use. Commander uses a component based software architecture. This enables support for new product models just by adding the product specific software module, without the need to install a completely new software version.

With the SNMP option, CATVisor Commander can also be used to monitor and control any product with an SNMP agent, especially products fulfilling the ANSISCTE HMS recommendations.

With the settings saver option it is possible to save and load element configuration data for simple and fast configuration of devices.

Commander PDA

The Handheld LMT is, by definition, a small and simple proprietary tool for setting up outside plant devices. It uses the same local communication interfaces as the LMT PC software. The handheld LMT implementations differ greatly from vendor to vendor, the simplest being three-button devices with a character based display.

CATVisor Commander PDA is a Local Service Terminal software tool for configuring, adjusting and monitoring of Teleste HFC products. Compared to traditional service ter-minal software, Commander PDA provides a graphical user interface that can support even the most enhanced functions in intelligent broadband amplifiers like the AC3000 series.

SmartLoader

The EMS system has a great number of functions but most of them are dedicated for retrieving information from the network or changing equipment settings under user intervention. If there is a need to do configuration actions to a large number of de-vices, value-adding software tools are needed. Such configuration operations may be changing specific device settings, downloading new settings files, or downloading new software to devices.

Value adding software tools may run on the EMS server computers or on dedicated computers, depending on the operating principles.

For Teleste inside and outside plant elements, the value-adding configuration software is CATVisor SmartLoader. It is a standalone PC software that supports software down-loads and settings file downloads to both inside and outside plant devices. For soft-ware downloads, SmartLoader supports both broadcast and uni-cast, depending on the requirements on download speed and reliability.

A Local Management Terminal (LMT) is a PC running a software for con-figuring each network element lo-cally, typically over an USB or serial connection.

EMS ExplorerCopyright © 2005–2009 Teleste

Corporation. All rights reserved. This software is protected by copyright laws. Unauthorized distribution or

reproduction of this software is strictly prohibited.

TELESTE CORPORATION P.O. Box 323, FI-20101 Turku, Finland Phone +358 (0)2 2605 611 www.teleste.com

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CATVisor software specifications

PDA requirements

• Operating system: Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 or higher

• Display: QVGA (320 x 240 pixels)• External memory: SD card, needed for

installation only• Connections: USB host (mandatory)

Computer and operating system requirements

Supported operating systems Windows 2000/XP/Vista

SP2 or higher for Windows 2000

Recommended operating system Windows XP

Basic configuration Pentium 1 GHz or higher (EMS Server) /

Pentium 400 MHz or higher (other)

512 MB RAM (EMS Server) / 256 MB RAM (other)

1 GB of free hard disk space

CD-ROM drive

Network Interface Card (e.g. 10/100Base-T)

Available products in CATVisor product family

Element management software

DCS110 1 Commander, single user license

DCS110 5 Commander, 5 user license

DCS110 10 Commander, 10 user license

DCS110 50 Commander, 50 user license

DCS200 1 Commander Lite, single user license

DCS200 5 Commander Lite, 5 user license

DCS200 10 Commander Lite, 10 user license

DCS200 50 Commander Lite, 50 user license

DCS300 1 Commander PDA, single user license

Utilities for Commander

DUS100 Device User Interface and Settings Saver collection

DCS101 PSI/SI Table Editor, single user license

DSS100 SNMP protocol support, single user license

DSS110 Settings saver and SNMP support, single user license

Network management software

ESS920 500 EMS system, license for max. 500 network elements

ESS920 1000 EMS system, license for max. 1000 network elements

ESS920 5000 EMS system, license for max. 5000 network elements

EWS930 SNMP Wizard, license for single EMS server

Utility software

DLS101 SmartLoader software download option, single user license

DLS102 SmartLoader AC spectrum download option, single user license

DLS103 SmartLoader HDO mass configuration and Settings Saver option, single user license

Upgrades, for users with existing license

DCS110 U1 Commander upgrade to latest release

ESS920 U1 EMS upgrade to latest release

EWS930 U1 SNMP Wizard upgrade to latest release

Evaluation versions, evaluation period max 60 days

DCS110 E1 Commander evaluation license

ESS920 E1 EMS evaluation license

EWS930 E1 EWS930 E1