Using software fault insertion to improve CCS network

In the past two years, there have been serious common channel signaling (CCS) network outages caused by software faults. Recovery from those outages required intervention of a craftsperson. A pro-active approach in which potential abnormal situations are created as test drill cases by inserting software faults of different types is proposed. These faults are systematically inserted in the critical software components in the CCS nodes. The goal is to both motivate improved fault-tolerant capabilities of the network elements and to help the CCS operation staff cope with the abnormal situations that require human intervention