JP2001320393A - Line concentration apparatus and network managing device using this - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem in the conventional devices that the management of a network becomes increasingly difficult as the network becomes more compli cated and that identification of the failed place becomes difficult in particular, when the network is made hierarchical by using the line concentrating device of a switching hub. SOLUTION: The line concentrating device is constituted as intelligent switches SW, capable of not only preparing and storing an ID table obtained by correlating an appliance connected to its port with at least an MAC address but also outputting information, in response to an inquiry from a network managing device NW. By using information obtained by inquiring to these intelligent switches SW and information obtained from an appliance over the network, the network-managing device recognizes the connection between the ports of the respective intelligent switches SW. Thereafter, this is image-displayed hierarchically.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a line concentrator for managing communication information of a plurality of network devices connected to a plurality of ports, and more particularly, to which port a network device having the identification information based on the identification information of the network device. The present invention relates to a line concentrator that automatically collects network configuration information as to whether or not it is connected to a network management device, and a network management device that uses the line concentrator to display network configuration information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Ethernet (registered trademark) (Ether)
net (registered trademark)) or LAN (Local Area Network)
(ork) network uses a concentrator to connect a plurality of network devices to the network, but a concentrator with a network management function has been provided according to the development and expansion of the network. . A line concentrator with a network management function is, for example, TCP / IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Int).
ernetProtocol) is an SNMP (Simp
There are known routers and switches equipped with a communication function called an agent of a protocol called "le Network Management Protocol". The concentrator having a network management function communicates with a network manager via an SNMP and TCP / IP function in response to a request from a network manager having an SNMP server function. The tree is called a MIB (Management Information Base). It can exchange type structure information, collect information such as the number of collisions and traffic volume, change information such as interface IP address, stop and move routing protocol,
Processing such as restarting the device or turning off the power can be performed. For this reason, a conventional hub, which is called a hub, is being replaced with an intelligent switch. With the use of such intelligent switches, the size of the network tends to further increase.

[0003]

As the line concentrator with the network management function is frequently used, the segments of the network are further subdivided, and the current network has a state in which many segments are confused. For this reason, the network administrator prepares and saves the connection status of network devices and the like as a network configuration diagram, grasps the complicated network status, and prepares for a communication failure or the like. However, even when a communication failure occurs under such management, the network administrator refers to the network configuration diagram and checks the communication status for the network device in which the failure may have occurred, for example, a command such as At present, it is only possible to send a PING command to roughly hit a fault location, and to specify a fault location, the user is going to a site where a network device is installed. In addition, with information and communications becoming an indispensable function for business and daily life, network users are now in an environment where they can easily add network devices and switch network devices via intelligent concentrators. In some cases, it is difficult to maintain and maintain the above network configuration diagram in the latest network condition. FIG. 13 shows a state of a network diagram created by a conventional network management program or the like. The device connected to the network can be specified by the IP address, the MAC address, or the like, but it is not usually possible to display the hierarchical structure of the network as shown in the figure.

[0004] As one method for dealing with this, it is conceivable to further enhance the function of the concentrator having a network management function. For example, as an MIB performed with a network manager, each manufacturer independently sets an extended MIB in addition to the standard MIB, and independently improves the network management function. However, as a practical matter, it is impossible for a network administrator to constantly keep track of extended MIB specifications for network management and repeated improvements in product specifications that differ from manufacturer to manufacturer, and the network management function is not used. That is the current situation. In addition, as described above, in a situation where a network user can easily add a line concentrator or a network device, or change a connection, it is difficult to manage the line concentrator itself connected to the network. .

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and even if a network has a complicated configuration by connecting a large number of concentrators, the network is automatically configured as a hierarchical network configuration corresponding to an actual network connection. It is an object of the present invention to provide a concentrator that can be managed in a centralized manner and a network management device using the concentrator.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a line concentrator of the present invention has a plurality of ports, and a network device for performing information communication through a network to the ports. A concentrator to be connected, wherein the identification information of the network device included in the communication information of the network device input to each of the ports is obtained, and the identification information of the network device is connected to the network device. Automatic identification information collecting means for storing a port in association with the port, and identification information output means for outputting the information stored by the automatic identification information collecting means via the network in accordance with a predetermined command. I do.

The line concentrator of the present invention having the above-described configuration automatically connects to the network device identification information from the network device identification information included in the communication information of the network device input to each port by the automatic identification information collection means. And the associated port can be stored. Here, the identification information of the network device is not limited to the IP address or the MAC address for specifying the network device, but may be the device type or name if the network device can be distinguished from the others. There is no problem. If the identification information automatically collected can be changed or supplemented by the network administrator to more detailed data, the reliability and accuracy of the data can be further improved. . For example, when the names are duplicated, a serial number may be automatically assigned so that the names can be identified.

[0008] The information stored by the automatic identification information collecting means is output by the identification information output means via a network in accordance with a predetermined instruction. Therefore, the identification information of the network device connected to each port of the line concentrator becomes open, and can be used as information for grasping the configuration state of the network. It is more preferable to add the identification information of the concentrator to the information output to the network by the identification information output means. According to such an embodiment, when grasping the configuration of the network, it is possible to know even the connection status between the concentrators.

A network management apparatus according to a second aspect of the present invention is a network management apparatus for managing a network to which the concentrator according to claim 1 is connected, the identification information of the network device stored in the concentrator and the network management apparatus. Information requesting means for requesting information corresponding to the port to which the network device is connected, and, based on the information from the concentrator provided in response to the request of the information requesting means, the connection status of the concentrator and And a hierarchical display means for hierarchically displaying network devices connected to the ports of the line concentrator.

This network management device can collect, by the information requesting means, the correspondence information between the network device identification information stored in the concentrator and the port to which the network device is connected. Based on the information, the cascade connection status of the concentrators and the network devices connected to the ports of the concentrator are hierarchically displayed.

Thus, the network management device of the present invention can easily know the situation even if the network is divided into a number of segments by a number of concentrators. Furthermore, if the connection status and the network devices are displayed hierarchically by images, the status of the network centering on the line concentrator can be easily understood intuitively and visually. As a result, network management can be facilitated. In addition to the above configuration, a prepared map may be stored, at least one of the maps may be read, and the connection status and the network device may be displayed in association with the map. In this case, the network status can be displayed hierarchically on a map such as the arrangement of desks in the office, so that the management of the network is further facilitated. It is preferable that the network management device has a transmission function capable of transmitting packet information to the network device by designating points of each network device displayed hierarchically. In network management,
In some cases, a command or the like for knowing the operation state of the network device is actually transmitted. If such a transmission function is provided, management of the network device can be facilitated.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION In order to further clarify the configuration and operation of the present invention described above, a concentrator (hereinafter referred to as a switch SW) and a network management device NW according to embodiments of the present invention will be described below. An embodiment of the constructed network will be described. FIG. 1 is an overall explanatory diagram of an example of a network configuration including a switch SW and a network management device NW according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In practice, the network management device may be any computer having an image processing device that stores a network management program to be described later and executes the program as appropriate. In this embodiment, a plurality of computers connected to the network are used. The computer PC1 corresponds to this. Actually, any computer PC may be used as long as the network management program operates.

The network of this embodiment includes five switches SW1 to SW5 and ten computers PC1 to PC
10, one hub HU. Each network device is given a unique MAC address. A MAC address is assigned to each of the five switches SW in the following correspondence. Switch SW1: MAC address A, Switch SW2: MAC address B, Switch SW3: MAC address C, Switch SW4: MAC address D, Switch SW5: MAC address E. The switch SW is a so-called switching hub, and is assigned a unique IP address. In addition, like a normal switching hub, the switching hub has a function of storing information of a device connected to each port as long as the power is on. Although described in detail later, the switch SW of the embodiment can output information of the ID table stored in the normal switching hub to the network management device NW in response to an external command. A switching hub having a function of outputting the information of the ID table is hereinafter referred to as an intelligent switch SW to distinguish it from a conventional switching hub.

It is assumed that a MAC address i is assigned to an i-th computer PCi, such as a MAC address 1 for a computer PC1 and a MAC address 2 for a computer PC2, to ten computer PCs. . Furthermore, intelligent switch SW
The symbol consisting of a combination of the symbols "P" and "1 to 8" attached to the line segment extending from the network device to the network device indicates the port number of the intelligent switch SW to which the network device is connected. ing. For example, port P1 of intelligent switch SW1 is connected to port P7 of intelligent switch SW2, and port P7 of intelligent switch SW1.
3 is connected to a computer PC1.

In the illustrated network, information communication conforming to Ethernet is performed, and the data to be transmitted / received has a well-known packet structure as shown in FIG. That is, the header of the packet is the destination MAC
The data link layer is composed of a total of 14 octets, with the address field being 6 octets, the source MAC address field being 6 octets, and the Ethernet type indicating the frame type being 2 octets. After that, the source IP, which is the network layer,
An address, a destination IP address, and a protocol type indicating a data protocol type are followed by a source port number, a destination port number field as a transport layer, a data field as a presentation layer, and finally an FCS (Frame Check Sequence). Consists of the last field.

The intelligent switch SW of this embodiment
3 is shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, the intelligent switch SW has eight ports PP1 to PP8 for connecting a network device to be connected to a network, and has therein a central logical operation element (hereinafter simply referred to as a CPU) for performing a logical operation. 10) a memory unit 20 comprising a ROM for storing information in a nonvolatile manner and a power-backed-up RAM;
While following the instructions from PU10, each port PP1 to P1
It has a packet buffer 30 for transmitting and receiving packet information at the timing of packet transmission and reception in P8. The ID detectors 41 to 48 connected to the ports PP1 to PP8 appropriately obtain identification information on the transmission source of the packet information received by the ports PP1 to PP8, for example, a MAC address, an IP address, and the like.
The identification information is transferred according to the instruction of U10. CPU
10 is the TCP / IP and S stored in the memory unit 20
By appropriately reading out a program for realizing the function of the NMP and information about the MIB and executing this, the eight ports PP1 to PP8 are transmitted via the packet buffer 30.
Frame transmission / reception.

Although the intelligent switch SW shown in FIG. 3 has been described as having a maximum of eight ports PP1 to PP8, the number of ports is not limited to eight. For example, it is easy to configure an intelligent switch SW having ports such as 16 ports and 24 ports. Actually, in the example of the management program described later, each intelligent switch SW supports up to 24 ports.

Here, there are two processings performed by the intelligent switch SW. One is the same as the process performed by a normal switching hub (the process of acquiring the MAC address), and the other is
Extended MI stored in the memory unit 30 and characteristic of this embodiment.
This is a process related to B.

The former process is a process performed when performing packet communication. Generally, the switch SW stores the port number at which the packet arrived during normal packet communication and the address information of the source address field in the memory unit 2.
The port is stored in a station cache allocated to a part of 0, and a port for delivering a packet is selected based on the stored information. The intelligent switch SW of the present embodiment detects the detailed identification information of the network device connected to each of the ports PP1 to PP8 of the intelligent switch SW in synchronization with the acquisition of the information stored in the station cache or by itself. It is obtained through the units 41 to 48 and is stored in an ID table allocated to a part of the memory unit 20 in a volatile manner. FIG. 4 shows an ID table formed in the intelligent switch SW1 having a network configuration as shown in FIG. 1, as an example of the ID table stored in the intelligent switch SW in this manner. As illustrated, the intelligent switch SW of the present embodiment stores a port number and a MAC address required for selecting a port to distribute a packet. The acquisition of such information is performed, for example, by automatically detecting the MAC address included in the packet communication by the ID detection units 41 to 48.

Another process is a process of, when a specific information provision command based on the extended MIB is input from a network management device NW described later, outputting data of an ID table to the network management device NW in response to the command. . As described above, a general switch stores a MAC address of a network device connected to a port in a station cache in order to streamline packet communication,
This is used to determine the port for distributing the input packet. However, the data content of this station cache is limited to the information necessary for packet distribution, and the data content is limited to information used only for packet distribution of the switch. The intelligent switch SW of the embodiment is
Information of the stored ID table can be provided in response to a request from the network management device NW. In addition,
In the present embodiment, the contents of the ID table are stored in a volatile manner, but are stored in a non-volatile manner. Even when each device connected to the network is not used, the intelligent switch SW can be used. If it is operating, it is possible to perform almost the same management as when each device connected to the network is operating.

Next, a management process performed by the network management device NW while performing information communication with the intelligent switch SW will be described in detail. FIG. 5 shows a computer PC that also functions as a network management device NW.
FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram of 1 to PC10. As shown in the figure, computers PC1 to PC10 are general personal computers, a CPU 51 as a central logical operation element for controlling, a hard disk (HD) 52 storing an OS and application programs such as a network management program, A ROM 53 that stores a boot program and basic system information in a nonvolatile manner, a RAM 54 that serves as a main memory for appropriately expanding information, a mouse M,
An I / O 55 that enables information communication with input / output devices such as a keyboard K and a monitor C, and a PC card bay 56 that allows connection of a PC card NC having a network connection function.
It is composed of

When the execution of the network management program is instructed in the computer PC1, the CPU 51 of the computer PC1 as a management device causes the hard disk 5
2 reads the network management program from RAM
54, and the management program is executed. This program is roughly divided into two parts, an information acquisition processing routine for acquiring information on each device connected to the network (see FIGS. 6 and 8), and a configuration calculation routine for calculating the configuration of the connected device. (See FIGS. 10 and 11). Further, the information acquisition processing routine includes an address acquisition routine shown in FIG. 6 and a port-by-port table creation routine shown in FIG. First, an information acquisition processing routine will be described with reference to FIGS.

This processing routine is executed on the computer PC1 as a management device, and first performs processing for setting an initial value of an IP address (step S100). This is a process for setting the range of the IP address of the device existing on the network. As will be described later, the management device exhaustively examines the IP addresses in this range, and thus sets the range. In a local area network, IP addresses and addresses are 192.168.
The range is set in advance to a range prepared for a local network, such as from 0.0 to 192.168.0.255.

After setting the range of the IP address, a process of outputting a command called PING to a specific IP address is performed in order from the top address in the range (step S110). At this time, the IP address assigned to the computer for the management device is excluded.
The command PING is a command for specifying an IP address and requesting a response from a device having the corresponding IP address. When this command is output on the network, the device having the corresponding IP address returns predetermined information within a predetermined period, and the device that has output the command receives the information and stores the information in a table called an ARP table. Store. Therefore, by checking the information in this table, it is possible to know whether or not a response to the command PING has been output on the network (step S120).

It is checked whether there is a response to the command PING output by specifying the IP address (step S120). If there is a response, then the MAC address is obtained from the ARP table in the management device. (Step S130). M thus obtained
The AC address is associated with the IP address, and the IP-M
Register it in the AC table (step S140). This I
FIG. 7 shows an example of the P-MAC table. As shown in the figure, this table stores a pair of an IP address and a MAC address, and stores a newly acquired MAC address by using a link pointer. The link point in the latest table is always NU
LL.

After the IP-MAC address table is created in this way, or in step S120, the command PI
If there is no response to the NG within a predetermined period, the process proceeds to step S150, and it is determined whether the current IP address is the last address in the previously specified IP address range. If the last IP address has not been reached, the IP address is incremented by 1 (step S160), and the process returns to step S110 to repeat the above processing. If the IP address has reached the final address, the process goes to "NEXT" and shifts to the latter half of the process shown in FIG. 8, that is, the port-by-port table creation routine. When the routine shown in FIG. 6 ends, the area managed by the management software of the computer PC1, which is the management apparatus,
In the form shown in FIG. 7, a table indicating the correspondence between the IP addresses and the MAC addresses of all the devices connected to the network is stored.

The port-by-port table creation routine shown in FIG. 8 uses the IP address-MAC address table acquired by the information acquisition processing routine shown in FIG. This is a routine for creating a table of devices connected to the port of the switch SW. When this routine is started, first, a process of trying to acquire information by the SNMP agent is performed for each device in order from the device stored at the top of the IP-MAC table (step S170). The SNMP inquiry here is
It asks for the name of the device. It is determined whether there is a response to the SNMP inquiry to the devices specified in order from the top of the IP-MAC table (step S).
180) If there is no response, it is determined that the device of the IP address does not support SNMP, and a process of creating an IP object is performed (step S19).
0).

Here, the IP object means an object specified up to an IP address. For devices on the network, the management software treats all devices as objects, but classifies the objects into several classes according to the details of the acquired information. FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing the contents of objects classified into classes according to the details of information. As shown
The objects of each device are “net object”, “M”
AC objects, IP objects, SNMP objects, and HUB objects. Since a normal object has at least a MAC address, it is registered as a MAC object. The device information includes the name of the device, the type of the object, the connection destination hub and its port number, the combined flag, the icon, the display mode / display position, and the MAC address. Among them, the device name is PC
Information such as whether the switch is an intelligent switch is stored. The combined flag is a flag that is turned on when a combined relationship is recognized by a process described below.
Further, the icons and the display form / display position may be controlled by a management software function to be described later. When the network connection form is graphically displayed, the icon indicates the device, or the device is normally connected, the response is interrupted, etc. This is information on whether or not to change the display mode, and at which position in the graphical display.

Since an IP-MAC table has already been created, an IP object to which an IP address has been added can be created even if there is no response to an SNMP inquiry (step S190). On the other hand, if there is a response to the SNMP inquiry, it is determined whether the name of the device obtained in response to the inquiry is a specific name (NetseekerSW in this embodiment) ( Step S200). If the device name does not match the predetermined name, the responding device determines that SNMP is supported and creates an SNMP object (step S210). On the other hand, if the name answered in the inquiry is a name set in advance, it is determined that the device that answered the inquiry about the SNMP was the intelligent switch SW (step S2).
00), create a HUB object.

According to the above processing, according to the IP-MAC table, for all the devices registered in the IP-MAC table,
An object in which the information is aggregated is created for each device. After the object is created in any of steps S190, S210, and S220, it is determined whether the device that has inquired of the SNMP is the last IP address on the network (step S230). If the terminal device of the last IP address has not yet been checked, the terminal device of the next IP address is set (step S24).
0), returning to step S180 and repeating the above processing.
Unlike the process shown in FIG. 6, the process shown in FIG. 8 does not repeat the process by incrementing the IP address by one. Devices on the network may be set to discrete values as IP addresses, and since the IP addresses of the devices existing on the network have been obtained at the time of creating the IP-MAC table, the devices are exhaustive. Instead of checking, the terminal device of the existing IP address is sequentially inquired about SNMP.

When the above processing is repeated and the check is completed up to the terminal device having the last IP address (steps S180 to S240), MAC address information is obtained from all the HUB objects on the network at once, and each HUB object is obtained. Then, a process of creating a MAC information table for each port is performed (step S250). H
As described above, the UB object is the intelligent switch SW. In the case of this object, the table shown in FIG. 4 is stored, and it is already possible to output the table as required. explained. Therefore, using this function, the table shown in FIG. 4 is read out collectively from the computer PC1, which is the management device, and a MAC information table for each port is created for the intelligent switch SW.

By performing the processing of FIGS. 6 and 8 described above, the management software in the management device NW becomes IP-MA
C table (FIG. 7) and intelligent switch S
The MAC information table for each port for W is stored in a predetermined area and can be referred to at any time.

After performing the above processing, the network management program of the management device executes the configuration calculation routine shown in FIGS. 10 and 11 assuming that the acquisition of information has been completed. When this routine is started, first, processing is started in the order of the IP-MAC table, and processing for determining the processing order is performed on the assumption that processing is performed on the HUB object in the order of ports (step S3).
00). This means that, as shown in FIG. 7, the process proceeds by sequentially tracing the IP-MAC tables linked by the pointer. Next, with respect to the HUB object, the MAC address for each port is sequentially processed one by one, and a process of determining a processing order is performed (step S310). This is because, as shown in FIG. 4, in the IP-MAC table obtained from the intelligent switch SW, one port has a different M via an intelligent switch SW connected to the end of the port.
Since the data is in a form in which a plurality of devices having AC addresses are connected, the processing is performed for each port and in the order of the MAC address of the device finally connected to the port.

After the processing order has been roughly determined,
First M of first port in first IP-MAC table
The processing from step S320 is started from the AC address. In step S320, first, it is determined whether the port of interest includes the MAC address of the management device NW.
If the M of multiple devices connected to the port of interest
If the MAC address of the management device is included in the AC address, this port is determined to have a connection relationship with the upstream side in the flow of the management device NW-network-terminal device, In the configuration table for managing the connected devices, a process of turning on the upstream flag prepared for the corresponding port is performed (step S).
330). This flag is provided as a pair with the downstream flag. By default, the downstream flag is turned on. When the upstream flag is turned on, the downstream flag is reset to off by itself. ing. After turning on the upstream flag (step S330), the processing shifts to the processing of step S340 and subsequent steps shown in FIG. 11 via the junction shown in FIG. In step S340, it is determined whether or not the port of interest is the last port as a port of the intelligent switch SW, which is a HUB object.
The process is moved to the next port according to the order determined in (3) (step S350), the process returns to step S310 in FIG. 10 via the junction shown in FIG. 11, and the above-described process is repeated.

The MAC of the device connected to the port of interest
If it is determined that the address does not include the MAC address of the management device NW (step S
320), it is determined whether or not the port of interest next includes the MAC address of another intelligent switch SW (step S360). If it is determined that the MAC address of another intelligent switch SW is not included, it is determined whether the port is connected to a specific device directly or via a non-intelligent hub (so-called dumb hub). Next, a process of confirming whether the device having the MAC address is registered as an IP object or an SNMP object is performed (step S370). It is determined whether or not it is registered as an IP object or an SNMP object (step S380).
Information such as the hub and port number of the connection destination is registered in the object, and a process of turning on the combined flag is performed (step S390).

Here, if the device connected to the port of interest is neither an IP object nor an SNMP object, a table of the MAC address object is newly created, and information on the connection destination hub and the port number is stored therein. Is registered, and processing for turning on the combined flag is performed (step S395). In the processing shown in FIG. 8, the HUB object, SNMP object, IP
Although the object has been created, the object information has not been created for the other devices, so the object is created at this time. In addition, HUB object,
A device that does not create an SNMP object or an IP object is a device connected to a network and does not have an IP address, that is, a TCP / IP.
Devices that exchange data using a protocol other than the above protocol are conceivable. These devices do not have IP addresses, but as long as they join the network, MA
C address, and as a MAC object,
It can recognize the existence on the network.

Registration process (step S390 or S3
After completing step 95), it is determined whether all MAC addresses of the devices connected to the port of interest have been checked (step S400). If devices having different MAC addresses still remain, the next MAC After moving to the device at the address (step S410), the processing is repeated from the above-described step S360 via the connection point in FIG.

While the process is repeated, it may be determined that the intelligent switch SW is connected to the port of interest (step S360).
In this case, the process is temporarily interrupted, and the process related to the unregistered intelligent switch SW (step S43)
0), and firstly, where the processing was interrupted is recorded. The interrupted location is stored in the form of which intelligent switch SW has determined which device of which port of which MAC address. Step S30
This is because the order of processing is determined by 0, 310, so that resuming is easy if only the place of interruption is memorized.

Next, the processing shifts to processing for a new HUB object (step S440), and the processing is repeated from step S310. Of course, if a newer intelligent switch SW is found, the interruption information is similarly stored and the processing is shifted. Therefore, the interruption information is stored in the stack type storage area, and the first in-last out (FIL)
Writing and reading are performed by the mechanism O).

When the determination of the device of all the MAC addresses of all the ports for one intelligent switch SW is completed in this way (step S400,
Next, it is determined whether or not the interruption information is stored (step S450). Since the interruption information is stored in the stack format as described above, it can be obtained by a simple calling procedure. At this stage, the determination for all ports and all MAC addresses for one intelligent switch SW is completed, and the MAC addresses and port numbers of the connected intelligent switches SW are registered in the corresponding objects in steps S390 and S395. ing. Therefore, when it is determined that there is interruption information, the MAC address and port number of the intelligent switch SW at the time of interruption are registered as connection destination information in the HUB object for the intelligent switch SW for which the determination has been completed, The combined flag is turned on (step S460). Thereafter, a process of returning to the latest interruption place is performed (step S470). Since the interruption information is stored in the form of a stack, by reading it, it is possible to always obtain the latest information of the interruption location. Therefore,
It is easy to return to the latest interruption location.

Thereafter, the process returns to the step S310 shown in FIG. 10 via the connection point shown in FIG. 11, and the above-described processing is continued for each port of the intelligent switch SW in the middle of the interruption. When all the interrupted cases are completely determined by repeating such processing, the determination in step S450 is “NO”.
Becomes In this case, it searches for a new HUB object, that is, an intelligent switch SW according to the order of the table set in advance in step S300 (step S480). Based on the search result, it is determined whether a new HUB object exists (step S490). If it is determined that there is a new HUB object, the process moves to the next HUB object according to the table (step S495). Thereafter, the processing returns to step S310 shown in FIG. 10 via the connection point, and the above processing is started for each new intelligent switch SW for each port, and the processing is repeated.

On the other hand, when it is determined that a new HUB object does not already exist in the table (step S4).
90), retrieves all objects for which the combined flag has not been turned on, and stores them in the management device NW.
And turns on the combined flag (step S5).
00). Thus, the configuration calculation routine is completed.

By executing the processing of FIGS. 10 and 11 described above, all the tables for each object shown in FIG. 9 are entered. Specifically, for the IP object, information including the name, type, connected intelligent switch SW, connected switch port number, combined flag, icon, display mode / display position, MAC address, and IP address is represented by SNMP. For objects, in addition to SN
In addition to the HUB object in which the flag indicating that the device is compatible with the MP, in addition to the above, information such as a connected device list for each port, a MAC address table for each port, and an upstream / downstream identification flag for each port is recorded.

Then, the management software of the management device NW performs a process of drawing the network structure on the monitor C using the information of each object. FIG.
Based on the information, the network management device NW
3 is a display example of a network configuration diagram displayed on a monitor C of FIG. As described above, in the present embodiment, the table showing the correspondence between the port number and the MAC address shown in FIG. 4 can be obtained from the intelligent switch SW via the network using the intelligent switch SW. By utilizing this, the search order can be determined, and the connection relationship of all the ports of all the intelligent switches SW can be checked. Moreover, even if an intelligent switch SW is further connected to one port of the intelligent switch SW, this relationship can be sequentially searched, accurately obtained and recorded.
Therefore, the network configuration status displayed by the network management device NW can be accurately displayed up to the cascade connection status centering on each intelligent switch SW. For this reason, even when the network is divided into small segments using the intelligent switch SW, the configuration of each segment is clearly displayed, and the overall image of the network is intuitive,
It can be grasped visually. In addition, since the icons are displayed using the icons stored in each object, the type can be intuitively understood for each device. Moreover, even when there is a hub or the like that does not use the intelligent switch SW of the embodiment, the network management device NW of the embodiment recognizes the device connected to the hub as shown in the broken circle in FIG. And can be displayed.

In FIG. 12, the hierarchical relationship of each device is displayed as an image, and these network devices and intelligent switches SW are further specified by using the display form / display position stored in each object. It is also easy to superimpose and display on the plan view. After selecting the physical map to be displayed, the user may move each device or intelligent switch SW displayed on the map by operating the mouse M or the keyboard K. The position of the device after the movement is stored as the physical map coordinates of the device table or the switch table,
Can be reproduced at any time. At this time, it is also easy to make the display different by using the “state” information stored in the device table. In other words, if the device is connected to the network normally, it is displayed normally, and it was recognized when the management software was previously executed, but the power is not turned on. If there is no response since the start of the management program, it is displayed as a gray image lighter than the normal image.If there is a response once but the response is lost on the network after that, , "!" Can be displayed as a gray image with a mark. Further, in such a gray image, the last response time or the like may be displayed constantly or on demand in the vicinity thereof.

Further, when the user double-clicks each device or the intelligent switch SW displayed on the monitor C with the mouse M, an inquiry command PING is issued.
Can be sent to the device.
In this way, the status of each device can be immediately inquired and confirmed while looking at the screen. In addition, since each device on the network is superimposed on a plan view of the office where the device is installed, it is possible to immediately go to the location of the faulty device and take measures such as repair. Even in such a case, the intelligent switch SW and the network management device NW of the present embodiment can grasp at a glance the configuration of the line concentrator up to the device considered to be problematic, so that it is possible to sequentially confirm the hierarchical structure of the network. Yes, and very easy to maintain.

The embodiments of the present invention have been described above. However, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and can be implemented in various modes without departing from the gist of the present invention. Of course.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a network according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a protocol in the network according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of an intelligent switch SW.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of an ID table stored in an intelligent switch SW.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an internal configuration of a computer PC1 functioning as a network management device NW.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an information acquisition processing routine as a part of a network management program in the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an IP-MAC table in the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a port-specific table creation routine as a part of the network management program in the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram hierarchically showing the contents of each object created in the embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a first half of a configuration calculation routine as a part of a network management program in the embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating the second half of a configuration calculation routine as a part of the network management program in the embodiment.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a display example for displaying a connection relation of networks in the embodiment.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing a display example of a connection relationship in conventional network management.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... CPU 20 ... Memory part 30 ... Packet buffer 30 ... Memory part 41-48 ... ID detection part 51 ... CPU 52 ... Hard disk 53 ... ROM 54 ... RAM 55 ... I / O 56 ... PC card bay C ... Monitor HU ... Hub K: Keyboard M: Mouse NW: Network management device P1-P8: Port PC1-PC8: Computer SW1-SW5: Intelligent switch

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A concentrator having a plurality of ports to which a network device for performing information communication via a network is connected, said port being included in communication information of said network device input to each of said ports Automatic identification information collecting means for acquiring the identification information of the network device and storing the identification information of the network device in association with the port to which the network device is connected; A line concentrator, comprising: identification information output means for outputting the generated information via the network according to a predetermined command. 2. The line concentrator according to claim 1, wherein the network is the Internet, and the identification information of the network device is physical identification information. 3. A network management device for managing a network to which the concentrator according to claim 1 is connected, wherein identification information of a network device stored in the concentrator and a port to which the network device is connected. Information requesting means for outputting a command for requesting corresponding information, based on information from the concentrator provided in response to the command output by the information requesting means, the connection status of the concentrator and the A network management device comprising: hierarchical display means for hierarchically displaying network devices connected to ports. 4. The network management device according to claim 3, further comprising a line concentrator specifying unit that specifies one of the line concentrators connected to a network, and wherein the hierarchy display unit includes the line concentrator specified. For the device, when all the information about the ports except the port on the network management device side has been obtained from the concentrator, while setting a predetermined flag,
Means for repeating the process of acquiring the information for the concentrators other than the specified concentrator, wherein the flag is not set, and for all concentrators, the flag is set. A network management device comprising: a line collection device registration unit that registers a connection relationship between the line collection device and the network management device and provides the hierarchical display. 5. The network management device according to claim 3, wherein the hierarchy display means is a means for displaying the connection status and the network device by an image. 6. The network management apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said hierarchy display means reads out at least one of said maps and a map storage means for storing a map prepared in advance, and associates said map with said map. And a means for displaying the connection status and the network device.