¶ … interconnected as we live in nowadays, networks seem to be the central pieces in the puzzle. A failure in a network will damage the relation between the transmitter and the receptor to a degree to which communication between the two will no longer be possible. This assertion includes not only computer networks, most common nowadays, but also telecommunication or telephone networks. In this sense, network management becomes essential, as a way to constantly check and improve the efficiency of a network activity. Today, most network management systems refer to the FCAPS framework as the best functional alternative. The FCAPS framework includes fault management, configuration management, accounting management, performance management and security management. We will be referring further on to fault management, as part of the FCAPS framework.

The fault management phase includes everything error-related, ranging from fault detection, to fault correction and isolation and to network recovery

. The errors can be either persistent or transient and, in this sense, it is important to be able to differentiate between the two events, because we are interested in the persistent events when discussing fault management. Indeed, if we refer to transient events, we may either be talking about errors that occur to any network, no matter how functional, and they do not need to have...

However, in some cases, messages to the network manager will be send, so that he will be able to follow through on the appropriate measures to be taken for correction.
The actual steps that fault management involves are quite similar to general error management procedures. The first step involved refers to finding an error or to receiving an alarm that the network is not functioning properly. Following this, one must obviously identify the causes of the error.

Fault management is not necessarily a present-time function, in the sense that it deals with finding a network error, reporting and fixing it. Many papers have addressed the correlation between the cause of a fault and its possible future effect, suggesting that solving the actual cause of the error rather than solely the error. This seems rational if we consider that 80% of fault management time is spent looking for errors, while only 20% is spent on fixing them

A report may be needed so that we may know, if the error occurs again, what the procedure is. Obviously, the most important step…