JP2005018120A - Method for collecting apparatus information in network management system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To collect information on a network apparatus to be managed at appropriate periods in response to contents (an amount of data or the like) or change (the number of faults or the like) of a particular management element such as a fault occurrence status of each apparatus. <P>SOLUTION: The method for collecting apparatus information of the network apparatus to be managed connected to a network at periods specified by apparatus information collection period information per network apparatus set in a collection period table is provided with a step of detecting contents or the number of occurrences of the predetermined particular management element of each network apparatus on the basis of collected apparatus information per network apparatus, and a step of referring to a period change rule table set with collection period change rules responding to the contents or the number of occurrences of the particular management element, and changing the information on an apparatus information collection period set in the collection period table. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method in which a network management system collects device data such as a failure history and a communication data amount from each managed device in a network including a network management system and a plurality of managed devices.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In a network consisting of a network management system and multiple managed devices, device information such as fault history and communication data is collected from managed devices such as routers and printers based on the collection period managed by the network management system And network management is realized by storing it in its own hard disk.
Conventionally, as this type of network management method, for example, there is one disclosed in the following Patent Document 1.
[0003]
[Patent Document 1]
The technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-244828 is intended to reduce the load of state management by detecting a failure of a managed device and excluding the failed managed device from the management target. It is.
[0004]
In network management systems that collect the status of managed devices such as failures, the amount (size) of device information collected from managed devices varies depending on the performance of the devices and is stored on the hard disk of the network management system. The amount of information will also be different. Therefore, assigning the same collection period to all devices leads to the generation of unnecessary traffic for some managed devices.
To avoid this phenomenon, the network management system sets a device-specific collection cycle based on the management data (device specifications, installation date, etc.) of the managed device, and collects device information at the set cycle. A way to do this is considered.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, if a device-specific collection cycle is set and device information is collected at the set cycle, device information is always collected at the set cycle, even for devices with a low number of failures. Therefore, a constant load is always applied for the device information collection process.
That is, the interval (information collection cycle) for collecting device data to be managed in the network management system should be adjusted in consideration of network management requirements. The network management requirements mentioned here refer to information on all elements set as management targets by the network management system. Each device, such as failure history, communication data volume per unit time, number of requests processed per unit time, etc. This is information on various management elements necessary for grasping and managing the operation status of the.
[0006]
Description will be made by taking fault information as an example of one management element of the network management requirement. The failure information refers to a variety of information such as the content, location, and occurrence time of the failure. In the present invention, as a specific example, “the number of failures such as power-down that occurred during a certain period” is used. For managed devices with frequent failures, it is necessary to set a short information collection period and frequently collect information from the devices to check whether the devices are operating normally. In addition, since it is not necessary to frequently collect information for a management target device that hardly causes a failure, the information collection cycle should be lengthened to reduce the chance of collecting information.
[0007]
However, in the conventional method, the collection period set for each managed device is determined when the managed device is registered as the managed device of the network management system and is not changed thereafter. For this reason, even if a device has a small number of failures, device information is always collected at the set cycle. Therefore, a constant load is always imposed on the device information collection process, and unnecessary traffic is generated. . On the other hand, in a device having a large number of failures, the failure detection timing is delayed, and there is a problem that it becomes impossible to quickly respond to the failure that has occurred.
[0008]
The present invention has been made to solve such problems, and its purpose is to manage information on network devices to be managed, contents of specific management elements such as a failure occurrence status of each device (data amount). Etc.) or a collection method of device information in a network management system that can be collected at an appropriate period according to a change (the number of occurrences of failure, etc.).
[0009]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, the method according to the present invention includes a network device in which device information including management elements such as a failure history and a communication data amount of a managed network device connected to a network is set in a collection cycle table. In the method of collecting at a cycle specified by the device information collection cycle information for each, based on the collected device information for each network device, detecting the contents or occurrence frequency of a predetermined specific management element of each network device; The device information collection cycle set in the collection cycle table with reference to the cycle change rule table in which the collection cycle change rule according to the content or occurrence frequency of the specific management element is set based on the content or occurrence frequency of the detected specific management element And changing the information.
[0010]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on the illustrated embodiment.
FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a network management system to which the present invention is applied, and includes a network management system 1 and managed devices 2-1 to 2-n such as routers and printers.
Each managed device 2-1 includes a management data notification unit 21 and a device data table 22.
In the device data table 22, device data for network management is written by monitoring means (not shown) that constantly monitors the operation status of each device. As shown in FIG. 3B, the device data grasps and manages the operation status of each device such as a failure history 311 that has occurred in the management target device, a communication data amount 312 per unit time, and the number of request processes 313. It consists of various management elements required above, and its constituent elements differ depending on the type of equipment.
For example, in a router, in addition to a failure history such as a power down, it is composed of device data of elements such as a communication data amount per unit time and an interface state. Further, the network printer is composed of device data of elements such as the number of print requests per unit time and the number of remaining sheets.
[0011]
In the present invention, the device information collection period of the device is changed according to a predetermined management element among the device information collected from each device, for example, the number of failures. Alternatively, the device information collection cycle of the device is changed according to the content of the communication data amount (data amount itself). In the embodiment of FIG. 1, a configuration in the case where the device information collection period of the device is changed according to the number of occurrences of failures is shown as a representative example.
[0012]
The management data notification unit 21 has a function of notifying the network management system 1 of management data such as a device ID and an information storage period at the first connection with the network management system 1. The management data refers to information serving as a guide when determining the collection cycle when the network management system 1 collects information from the managed devices 2-1 to 2-n, and is shown in FIG. As described above, the data includes an apparatus ID 301, an information storage period 302, an installation location 303, an installation date 304, an initial value 305 of an apparatus data collection cycle, and the like.
[0013]
The network management system 1 includes a management data collection processing unit 11, a collection cycle table 12, a device data collection processing unit 13, a device data collection timer unit 14, a device data storage processing unit 15, a hard disk 16, and a cycle change. A processing unit 17, a failure information table 18, and a cycle change rule table 19 are provided.
Here, when the data communication amount is determined as a specific management element that becomes a reference when the device information collection period is changed, the failure information table 18 becomes a data communication amount table.
The management data collection processing unit 11 has a function of storing management data such as a device ID 301 that is management data transmitted from each of the management target devices 2-1 to 2-n in the collection cycle table 12.
In the collection cycle table 12, as shown in FIG. 2, the device ID 121 of each managed device 2-1 to 2-n and the information collection cycle 122 of each managed device 2-1 to 2-n are stored. It is associated.
[0014]
When the device data collection processing unit 13 is notified from the device data collection timer unit 14 that the timing of device data collection has been reached, the device data collection processing unit 13 transmits a device data acquisition request to the managed device having the corresponding device ID. Have
The device data collection timer unit 14 refers to the collection cycle table 12 and notifies the device data collection processing unit 13 of the fact that the managed device having the corresponding device ID has reached the information collection timing. Have
The device data storage processing unit 15 has a function of saving the device data received as a reply from the management target device in response to the device data acquisition request from the network management system 1 in the hard disk 16.
[0015]
The hard disk 16 stores the collected device data of managed devices.
The failure information table 18 stores failure information determined as a specific management element to be used for changing the information collection period among the device data collected by the network management system 1.
Here, the specific management elements utilized to change the information collection cycle are the elements such as the failure history and communication data amount per unit time when changing the device data acquisition cycle from each managed device. For example, in the case of aiming to reduce network traffic, information on the amount of data communication that is the most effective element is adopted.
In the present embodiment, failure information is adopted as an example of information utilized for cycle adjustment, which will be described below.
[0016]
In the failure information table 18, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, a numerical value representing the number of failures that occurred within a certain period is stored.
In FIG. 4, “0 times” is stored for the management target device with the device ID = a, and “10 times” is stored for the management target device with the device ID = b.
As shown in FIG. 5, the cycle change rule table 19 stores a set of rules determined as to how to change the collection cycle according to the number of failures.
In the example of FIG. 5, as an example of the cycle change rule, “If the number of failures per fixed time is 5 or more, the collection cycle is shortened by 10 minutes” and “If the number of failures per fixed time is 5 or less, collection is performed. The rule “extend the cycle by 5 minutes” is stored.
This rule can be added and deleted by the system administrator at any time.
[0017]
The cycle change processing unit 17 refers to the failure information table 18 and the collection cycle table 12, and changes the device data collection cycle of the corresponding managed device so as to satisfy the rules stored in the cycle change rule table 19. , And a function of saving in the collection cycle table 122.
[0018]
Next, the overall processing flow of the network management system will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS.
First, if the management target device 2-1 is connected to the network management system 1, the network management system 1 uses the combination of device ID = “a” and the initial value of the information collection cycle = “30 minutes” as management data. Notify Similarly, the management target device 2-n notifies the network management system 1 of a set of device ID = “b” and the initial value of the information collection cycle = “60 minutes” as management data (step 601).
The management data collection processing unit 11 of the network management system 1 registers the initial value of the management data sent from the management target device 2-1 and the management target device 2-n in the collection cycle table 12 (step 602). Note that the collection cycle table 12 illustrated in FIG. 2 represents a state after the management data is stored.
[0019]
The cycle change processing unit 17 refers to the management target devices 2-1 and 2-, referring to the collection cycle table 12 in which the collection cycle is stored and the failure information table 18 that is a part of the device data in the hard disk 16. It is checked whether or not the device data collection cycle of n is appropriately set according to the cycle change rule table 19. If not, the cycle of the management target device 2-1 or 2-n is changed (step 603). This process will be described later.
The device data collection timer unit 14 periodically refers to the collection cycle table 12, and when the time corresponding to the collection cycle has elapsed since the managed devices 2-1 and 2-n collected the previous information, The device data collection processing unit 13 is notified that it is time to collect the device data of the managed devices 2-1 and 2-n again (step 604).
[0020]
If the device data collection processing unit 13 receives a notification that the managed devices 2-1 and 2-n are ready to collect information, the device data collection processing unit 13 A device data acquisition request is transmitted (step 605).
When the management target devices 2-1 and 2-n receive the device data acquisition request, the device data such as the failure history and communication data amount detected by itself are sent to the network management system 1 (step 606). .
The device data storage processing unit 15 of the network management system 1 stores device data in the hard disk 16 when it is sent from the managed devices 2-1 and 2-n. The failure information is stored in the failure information table 18.
[0021]
Next, a process for changing the device data acquisition cycle will be described in detail with reference to FIG.
First, a variable corresponding to the device ID of the management target device is defined as X (step 701). For example, when the management target device 2-1 with the device ID = a is targeted, X = a is substituted.
Next, it is determined whether or not the collection cycle changing process has been completed for each managed device (step 702). If the collection cycle changing process has been completed for all managed devices, the process is terminated. .
If not completed, the collection cycle table 12 is referred to, and the collection cycle of the device whose device ID is X is acquired (step 703). In this case, for example, an initial value = “30 minutes” is extracted as the collection cycle of the management target device 2-1 having the device ID “a”.
[0022]
Next, the failure information of the device whose device ID is X is acquired with reference to the failure information table 18 (step 704). In this case, for example, “0” is extracted as the number of failures that occurred per certain time as the failure information of the management target device whose device ID is “a”.
Next, the failure information acquired from the failure information table 18 is compared with the rules in the cycle change rule table 19 (step 705). Is stored in the collection cycle table 12 (step 706). In this case, when the number of failures per fixed time of the managed device 2-1 with the device ID “a” is “0”, the rule “collection period is set to 5 when the number of failures is 5 or less”. Since this corresponds to “extend by minutes”, the collection period of this device is changed from “30 minutes” to “25 minutes” and stored in the collection period table 12.
[0023]
Next, the device ID of the next device to be managed is assigned to the variable X, and the processing is continued (step 707).
In addition, by displaying the contents of the collection cycle after the change in time series, it is possible to grasp the transition of the information collection cycle of each device, and thereby indirectly estimate the operation status and failure status.
[0024]
According to the above embodiment, by using the device information stored in the hardware of the network management system, it is possible to adjust the collection period to a value optimal for the management target device. For example, this time, focusing on failure information, we collected based on the number of failures that occurred in a certain period of time under the policy that “information should be collected frequently for managed devices with many failures”. Similarly, focusing on statistical information (line usage rate for a certain period of time), “for managed devices with high line usage rates, there is a risk of line down, so collect information. It is also possible to change the collection cycle by registering a policy “should be done frequently” as a rule.
In this way, the interval at which the network management system collects information on the management target device can be adjusted by incorporating the user's needs.
In addition, since the device information collection cycle is automatically adjusted, it is possible to reduce the work of examining what value the device information collection cycle is set to.
[0025]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, information on network devices to be managed is changed to contents (data amount or the like) or changes (such as the number of failure occurrences) of a specific management element such as a failure occurrence state of each device. It can be collected at an appropriate period.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing an example of an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of contents of a collection cycle table.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of management data and device data.
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of contents of a failure information table.
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a rule example of a cycle change rule table.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an outline of device information collection processing;
FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing device information collection cycle change processing;
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Network management system, 11 ... Management data collection processing part, 12 ... Collection period table, 13 ... Equipment data collection processing part, 14 ... Equipment data collection timer part, 15 ... Equipment data storage processing part, 16 ... Hard disk, 2- 1 to 2-n: management target device, 21: management data notification unit, 22: device data table, 17: cycle change processing unit, 18: failure information table, 19: cycle change rule table.

Claims (1)

Collect device information consisting of management elements such as failure history and communication data volume of managed network devices connected to the network at the cycle specified by the device information collection cycle information for each network device set in the collection cycle table A method,
Detecting the content or frequency of occurrence of a predetermined specific management element of each network device based on the collected device information for each network device;
The device information collection cycle set in the collection cycle table with reference to the cycle change rule table in which the collection cycle change rule according to the content or occurrence frequency of the specific management element is set based on the content or occurrence frequency of the detected specific management element A method for collecting device information in a network management system, comprising the step of:

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