Abstract: A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a controller to form inquiries and commands, receive an alarm at an Operational Support System (OSS), automatically capture a state of a failure of the network element as close as possible to a time of the failure in response to the alarm, and automatically lookup and run a command or a set of commands in response to the alarm for real time analysis of network element fault management data and network element performance data within the OSS for a network. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Abstract: A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a server having a controller to perform a first query of a network device by way of a wired connection with the network device, perform a second query of the network device by way of a wireless connection with the network device, detect an undesired condition associated with at least one of the network device and the wired connection with the network device based at least in part on the first and second queries, and discern between the undesired condition being associated with the network device and being associated with the wired connection based at least in part on the first and second queries. Other embodiments are disclosed.