JP2013080387A - Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform observation of a setting while reducing a load imposed on a network.SOLUTION: An information processing apparatus includes: history acquiring means for acquiring operation history information that records an operation performed to an image forming apparatus and an operator from the image forming apparatus; analyzing means for analyzing operation history corresponding to a change in at least one setting to be an observation object from the acquired operation history information; setting acquiring means for acquiring, for at least one setting to be an observation object in which if the setting has been changed or not is unclear from the operation history, the details of the setting to be the observation object from the image forming apparatus to determine if the setting to be the observation object has been changed; determination means for determining if a plurality of settings to be observation objects have been changed from the operation history analyzed by the analyzing means and the details of the setting acquired by the setting acquisition means; and notification means for notifying the change in the setting determined to have been changed by the determination means.

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a program.

Some network devices such as printers and multifunction peripherals have an operation log file that describes what operation the network device itself has performed. In the operation log file, for example, an operation history that “2 in 1” and “both sides” are set when using the copy function of the network device is recorded together with the date and the user name.
In order to efficiently manage these network devices, a network management system that centrally manages network devices by a network device management server is known.
Some network device management systems have a function of collecting / stating device information such as the aforementioned operation log file. For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a method for suggesting an improvement in which an operation log file is acquired from a corresponding network device, and a function that is frequently used for each user is restored to a default setting by analyzing and statistics for each user. ing.

  On the other hand, the network device management system is a function for setting / distributing / managing information on settings (name of network device, IP address, time until sleep; etc .; hereinafter, device settings) in the target network device. Some have For example, it is possible to monitor whether the device setting has been changed by acquiring device setting information from a network device and comparing it with previous data.

JP 2011-65289 A

  However, in recent network devices, the number of device setting items has increased in proportion to the complexity of functions. Therefore, in device setting change monitoring, if a large amount of device setting information is acquired each time monitoring is performed, a large burden is placed on the network.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and an object of the present invention is to realize setting monitoring while reducing the burden on the network.

  Therefore, an information processing apparatus according to the present invention includes a management unit that manages a plurality of settings to be monitored among a plurality of setting items in an image forming apparatus, and an operation and an operator performed on the image forming apparatus. The history acquisition means for acquiring the operation history information from the image forming apparatus, and the analysis means for analyzing the operation history corresponding to the change of at least one setting to be monitored from the acquired operation history information For at least one setting to be monitored that does not know whether the setting has been changed or not from the operation history, in order to determine whether the setting to be monitored has been changed, the contents of the setting to be monitored From the setting acquisition unit that acquires the image from the image forming apparatus, the operation history analyzed by the analysis unit, and the setting content acquired by the setting acquisition unit, A determining means for determining whether there has been a change for a plurality of settings to be viewed object, and a notifying means for notifying the change is judged that there is a change set by said determining means.

  According to the present invention, setting monitoring can be realized while reducing the load on the network.

It is a figure which shows an example of the system configuration | structure of an apparatus management system. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of a management apparatus 101 and a client apparatus 103. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a software configuration of a management apparatus 101. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of a managed apparatus 102. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a software configuration of a managed apparatus 102. FIG. FIG. 6 is a diagram (part 1) illustrating an example of an operation log file recorded by a log management module 503; FIG. 10 is a second diagram illustrating an example of an operation log file recorded by the log management module 503; 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a monitoring target device setting screen 700. FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the table 701 for hold | maintaining the data set on the screen. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a monitoring target item setting screen 702. FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the table for hold | maintaining the setting data of a "monitor item" group. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a table 704 for holding setting data of a “monitoring process” group. FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the table 705 for hold | maintaining setting data of a "monitoring person" group. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a monitor notification setting screen 706. FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the table 707 for hold | maintaining the notification object in a notification method. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the monitoring process of a setting change. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the analysis process of an operation log file. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the process which acquires the information regarding a monitoring item directly from a monitoring object apparatus. It is a figure which shows an example of the notification method by mail transmission. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the monitoring process of a setting change including judgment of user authority. It is a figure which shows an example of the notification method by mail transmission. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the monitoring process for reducing notification amount. It is a figure which shows an example at the time of combining a mail notification into one.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

<Embodiment 1>
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a system configuration of a device management system. The device management system in FIG. 1 includes a network management device 101 (hereinafter referred to as a management device), a network device 102 (hereinafter referred to as a managed device), and a client device 103 connected to each other via a network 100.
The management device 101 is a device for managing the managed device 102. In addition, the management apparatus 101 and the client apparatus 103 are configured to be included in a general personal computer. The managed device 102 is connected to the management device 101 via the network 100, and refers to a device that can be managed by the management device 101, including an MFP (Multifunction Peripheral), a printer, a FAX, and the like. In FIG. 1, the network 100 to which the management apparatus 101, the managed apparatus 102, and the client apparatus 103 are connected may be the Internet or an intranet. Further, an arbitrary number of management devices 101, managed devices 102, and client devices 103 may be connected to the network 100.
The management apparatus 101 is an example of an information processing apparatus (computer). The managed device 102 is an example of an image forming apparatus.

The hardware configuration and software configuration of each device constituting the device management system will be described below.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of the management apparatus 101 and the client apparatus 103.
The system bus 200 is a common data exchange path between components constituting the computer. A CPU (Central Processing Unit) 201 is a device that controls the entire computer, performs arithmetic processing, and the like. A RAM (Random Access Memory) 202 indicates an area in which a program and data are stored and executed when processing is performed. A ROM (Read Only Memory) 203 is an area for storing a program such as a system startup program. A DKC (Disk Controller) 204 controls an external storage device such as an HD (Hard Disk) 205. The HD 205 stores programs and data, and loads the programs and data to the RAM 202 and the HD 205 as necessary. A network I / F 206 is connected to the network 100 and performs network communication. The input / output I / F 207 is connected to a keyboard, a mouse, a display, and the like, and controls data input / output.
The management apparatus 101 operates while the CPU 201 is executing the basic I / O program and the OS. A basic I / O program is stored in the ROM 203. The OS is stored in the HD 205. When the power of the computer unit is turned on, the initial program in the basic I / O program is loaded from the HD 205 to the RAM 202 by the load function, and the operation of the OS is started.
When the CPU 201 executes processing based on a program stored in the HD 205 or the like, a software configuration to be described later and processing in each step of the flowchart are realized.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a software configuration of the management apparatus 101. The software of the management apparatus 101 includes a network module 300, a Web service 301, a setting monitoring module 302, a task management module 303, and a database (hereinafter referred to as DB) 304. Note that the software configuration of FIG. 3 is stored in the HD 205 as a program and executed by the CPU 201.
The network module 300 communicates with the managed device 102 and the client device 103 connected via the network 100. When the Web service 301 receives an HTTP GET request from the Web browser of the client apparatus 103, the Web service 301 provides a service for returning Web page data stored in the HD 205. Note that although communication using HTTP is described here, a communication protocol such as HTTPS or FTP may be used, and is not limited to HTTP. Further, the request is not limited to the request from the client device 103, and any environment that can use the Web service 301 may be used. The setting monitoring module 302 is a module for managing and monitoring setting information in the managed device 102. For example, the setting monitoring module 302 issues a setting information acquisition request to the managed device 102 and acquires and stores the acquired setting information in the DB 304 in order to acquire information set in the managed device 102. It can be performed. The task management module 303 is a module for scheduling a task for executing a setting information acquisition request and saving / reading of setting information, and for executing a task according to the scheduled time.

  As described above, the setting monitoring module 302 and the task management module 303 realize a Web application for managing the managed device 102 together with the Web service 301. Note that the implementation method of the management apparatus is not limited to a Web application, and may be a native application. The DB 304 stores information on the managed device 102, information acquired by the setting monitoring module 302, task information by the task management module 303, and the like. The DB 304 may be on a different device from the management apparatus 101 as long as it can be accessed from the setting monitoring module 302 and the task management module 303.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of the managed device 102. The managed device 102 includes a control unit 400, an operation unit 401, a printer 402, and a scanner 403. The configuration related to the operation unit of the control unit 400 includes a CPU 410, a RAM 411, an operation unit I / F 412, a Network I / F 413, a ROM 414, a DKC 415, an HD 416, an Image Bus I / F 417, and a system bus 418. The configuration related to printing and scanning of the control unit 400 includes an image bus 419, a scanner image processing unit 420, a printer image processing unit 421, a RIP 422, and a device I / F 423. In the above configuration, the scanner 403 and the scanner image processing unit 420 are provided as necessary.

  The CPU 410 is a controller for controlling the entire control unit 400. The RAM 411 is an image memory for temporarily storing image data. The operation unit I / F 412 is an interface with the operation unit 401, and outputs image data to be displayed on the operation unit 401 to the operation unit 401. Further, it has a role of transmitting information input by the user through the operation unit 401 to the CPU 410. The network I / F 413 is an interface that is connected to the network 100 and exchanges information with an external device via the network 100. Further, the network I / F 413 includes a management interface base (MIB) that stores various types of information of the managed device 102. The various information that the MIB has indicates information such as the IP address, the name of the managed device, and the status. The ROM 414 is a boot ROM and stores a system boot program. A DKC (Disk Controller) 415 controls an HD (Hard Disk) 416. The HD 416 is an external storage device and stores system software and image data. The Image Bus I / F 417 is a bus bridge that connects the system bus 418 and the image bus 419 and performs data conversion. The system bus 418 is a common data exchange path between components constituting the control unit 400. The image bus 419 is configured by a PCI bus or IEEE1394, and is a path for transferring image data at high speed. A scanner image processing unit 420 corrects, processes, and edits an input image. The printer image processing unit 421 performs correction according to the performance of the printer, conversion of resolution, and the like on the print output image data. A RIP (Raster Image Processor) 422 expands a PDL command sent from the network 100 into a bitmap image. A device I / F 423 connects the printer 402 and the scanner 403, which are image input / output devices, and the control unit 400, and performs synchronous / asynchronous conversion of image data.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a software configuration of the managed apparatus 102.
The software configuration of the managed device 102 includes a network module 500 and a device management module 501. The network module 500 serves as an interface with external devices (management device 101 and client device 103) connected to the network 100. For example, a setting information acquisition request is received from the management apparatus 101 and the request is transmitted to the device management module 501. Examples of a communication method with the management apparatus 101 include MIB communication and SOAP message communication. Further, the network module 500 receives various types of information from the device management module 501 and responds to the management apparatus 101 via the network 100. The device management module 501 is a module for performing an internal operation of the managed device 102, and includes a setting information management module 502 and a log management module 503.

The setting information management module 502 is a module that manages information (device name, IP address, various setting values, etc.) set in the managed device 102. More specifically, the setting information management module 502 can return information set in the managed device 102 in response to a request for acquiring the setting information of the managed device 102. Further, the setting information management module 502 can reflect the item whose setting has been changed by the user of the management apparatus 101 or the managed apparatus 102 to the managed apparatus 102. When the setting is changed by the setting information management module 502, information indicating that the setting has been changed is transmitted to the log management module 503.
The log management module 503 is a module for recording and managing operations performed on the managed device 102 as a log. For example, when information indicating that the setting has been changed is transmitted from the setting information management module 502, it is possible to record in the HD 416 when and how the setting has been changed. Although not shown, the setting information and operation log file of the managed device 102 may be recorded in the DB.
The operation log file is an example of operation history information.

  FIG. 6A is a diagram (part 1) illustrating an example of an operation log file recorded by the log management module 503. FIG. 6A shows an example of the data structure of an operation log file (hereinafter referred to as an operation log file) in which details of setting change values are described. 6A has columns such as “log ID”, “event name”, “operation date / time”, “operator”, “operation type”, “new key value”, and “old key value”. The “log ID” column stores a value for uniquely identifying each record (row) included in FIG. 6A. The “event name” is a column indicating whether the setting has been changed for the item in the managed device 102. Although the name of the setting is stored in the “event name” column shown in FIG. 6A, the resource name (module name) used for changing the setting may be stored. The “operation date and time” column stores the date and time when various settings were changed. The “operator” column stores the name of the operator who changed the settings of the managed device 102. In the “operation type” column, a key is stored so as to know what operation the operator has performed. For example, “Modify” is stored when the setting is changed, and “Export” is stored when the setting is exported. The “new key value” column stores newly set contents. The “old key value” column stores the setting contents that were originally set. For example, in the case of the log ID: 0002 in FIG. 6A, it can be determined that the original setting of Off (old key value) has been newly changed to On (new key value).

FIG. 6B is a diagram (part 2) illustrating an example of the operation log file recorded by the log management module 503. FIG. 6B shows an example of the data structure of the operation log file in which only the setting change is recorded. The operation log file in FIG. 6B stores “log ID”, “event name”, “operation date / time”, “operator”, and the like. In the operation log file in FIG. 6B, it is possible to determine who has made changes to which item, but it is not possible to determine how the content has been changed as in FIG. 6A.
In FIG. 6, the contents stored in each column are character string data, but may be stored as numerical data or the like.

Hereinafter, the flow of processing will be described.
FIG. 7A is a diagram illustrating an example of a monitoring target device setting screen 700.
A screen 700 is an example of a screen for selecting and setting a managed device 102 (hereinafter, a monitoring target device) to be monitored. On this screen, a list of managed devices 102 managed by the management device 101 is displayed. An administrator of the management apparatus 101 (hereinafter, system administrator) selects a monitoring target apparatus from the displayed list of managed apparatuses 102. After completing the setting of the monitoring target device, the system administrator presses the “Next” button to shift to the screen 702. Although the list display of the managed devices 102 is omitted in FIG. 7A, in reality, all the managed devices 102 may be arranged, or a certain number of tabs or pages may be displayed.
FIG. 7B is a diagram illustrating an example of a table 701 for holding data set on the screen 700. The table 701 is a list of the managed devices 102, and among these, “1” is stored in the “monitoring” column for those corresponding to the monitoring target device, and “0” is stored for those not corresponding to the monitoring target. The “ID” column stores an identifier for identifying the managed device 102. In “device name” and “IP address”, a name and an address corresponding to each managed apparatus 102 are stored.

FIG. 7C is a diagram illustrating an example of a monitoring target item setting screen 702.
A screen 702 is an example of a screen for selecting which item, which process, and which operator to be monitored among the setting items in the managed apparatus 102. In the “monitoring item” group on the screen 702, “all” or “selection” can be selected, and in the “selection” portion, all items that the management apparatus 101 can acquire from the managed apparatus 102 are listed. . The system administrator can select items to be monitored from this item group. In the “monitoring process” group on the screen 702, it is possible to select for filtering what kind of process has been performed on the setting item to be monitored. As the type of the monitoring process, process contents that can be acquired from the “operation type” of the operation log file such as “change”, “add”, and “delete” are displayed. The “monitoring person” group on the screen 702 can be selected to filter which operator has performed processing on the managed apparatus 102. The monitoring target person corresponds to the “operator” in FIG. The setting shown on the screen 702 as an example of setting is to notify change when all items that can be set in the managed device 102 are changed / added / deleted and when an operation is performed by a general user. Is shown. After completing the setting of the items to be monitored, the system administrator presses the next button and shifts to the screen 706.

FIG. 7D is a diagram illustrating an example of a table (hereinafter, monitoring item setting table 703) for holding setting data (hereinafter, monitoring items) of the “monitoring item” group. The monitoring item setting table 703 has an “operation log file determination” column in addition to information on monitoring items (“monitoring presence / absence”, “ID”, “item name”). The “operation log file determination” column stores information for confirming whether the corresponding item can be determined from the operation log file. Examples of information stored in the “operation log file determination” column include “details”, “outline”, and “impossible”. “Details” are assigned to items described in the operation log file up to the specific contents of the setting change as shown in FIG. 6A. “Summary” is assigned to an item whose setting has been changed as shown in FIG. 6B and whose specific change is unknown. “Not possible” is assigned to an operation log file that cannot be acquired.
FIG. 7E is a diagram illustrating an example of a table 704 for holding setting data of the “monitoring process” group. FIG. 7F is a diagram illustrating an example of a table 705 for holding setting data of the “monitoring person” group.

FIG. 7G is a diagram illustrating an example of a monitor notification setting screen 706. A screen 706 is an example of a screen for performing settings for performing monitoring notification. The monitoring schedule on the screen 706 is an item for setting at what timing polling is performed on the monitoring target device. In the “notification method” on the screen 706, how to notify the system administrator is selected. In the screen 706, only mail is displayed as a selection item, but items other than mail may be selectable.
FIG. 7H is a diagram illustrating an example of a table 707 for holding a notification target in the notification method. Although a table storing detailed setting information of the “monitoring schedule” is not shown in the figure, a table holding the setting information of the monitoring schedule may be provided.
After the settings from 700 to 706 are completed, the system administrator presses the setting button 706 to complete the setting change monitoring process setting. The monitoring process setting is managed by the task management module 303 of the management apparatus 101, and is executed by the task management module 303 when the scheduled date and time and time arrive.

  The screens shown in FIGS. 7A, 7C, and 7D are examples as described above, and are not limited to the items, display methods, and setting flows displayed in FIGS. 7A, 7C, and 7D. 7B, D, E, F, and H, each data holding table may be held by the DB 304 or the HD 205 of the management apparatus 101, or may be held by the RAM 202 or the like. Further, each data holding table may hold data other than the items shown above.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a setting change monitoring process. This process is performed by the setting monitoring module 302 of the management apparatus 101. Further, this process is started according to the monitoring schedule set in FIG.
S800 is processing for determining the content of “operation log file determination” in the monitoring item setting table 703. More specifically, this is processing for determining whether there is data with “detail” or “summary” stored in “operation log file determination” of the monitoring item setting table 703. If it is determined in S800 that it exists, the process proceeds to S801. On the other hand, if it is determined in S800 that it does not exist, the process proceeds to S808.
Step S801 is processing for acquiring an operation log file from the monitoring target apparatus set in FIG. The operation log file to be acquired is, for example, the operation log file of FIG. In step S801, one or a plurality of operation log files can be acquired at a time from the monitoring target device. Furthermore, the log acquired in S801 may be acquired within a range that falls within a certain period. The process of S801 is an example of a history acquisition process.
S802 is processing for analyzing the operation log file acquired in S801. More specific processing will be described later with reference to FIG.

S803 is processing for determining whether there is a changed item among the monitoring items from the result of the operation log file analysis in S802. If it is determined in S803 that there is a changed monitoring item, the process proceeds to S804. If it is determined in S803 that there is no changed monitoring item, the process proceeds to S808.
S804 is processing for determining whether the changed monitoring item stores “details” in “operation log file determination” in 703. If “details” is stored, the process proceeds to S806, and if “details” is not stored, the process proceeds to S805.
S805 is processing for directly acquiring information related to monitoring items from the monitoring target device. More specific processing will be described later with reference to FIG.
S806 is processing for registering (storing) the current setting information directly acquired from the operation log file or the monitoring target apparatus in the DB 304 of the management apparatus 101.
S807 is processing for notifying the system administrator of the contents of the setting change for the confirmed monitoring item. The notification method will be described later with reference to FIG.

S808 is processing for determining whether there is an item whose “operation log file determination” in the monitoring item setting table 703 is “impossible”. If “impossible” exists in the determination in S808, the process proceeds to S809. If “impossible” does not exist in the determination in S808, the monitoring process ends.
S809 is a process similar to S805, and is a process for directly obtaining information related to the monitoring item from the monitoring target apparatus.
S810 is processing for determining whether there is a setting change in the monitoring item from the analysis result of S809. If it is determined in S810 that the setting item has been changed, the process proceeds to S811. If it is determined in S810 that the setting item has not been changed, the monitoring process ends.
S811 is a process of registering (storing) the current setting information whose settings have been changed in S809 in the DB 304 of the management apparatus 101.
S812 is a process of notifying the system administrator that the setting has been changed, as in S807.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an example of operation log file analysis processing. This process is performed by the setting monitoring module 302 of the management apparatus 101, and corresponds to S802 in FIG.
S900 is processing for determining whether or not all the contents of the plurality of operation log files acquired in S801 have been checked. If it is determined in S900 that all the operation log files have been checked, the operation log file analysis process ends. If all the checks are not completed in S900, the process proceeds to S901.
S901 is processing to read one of operation log files that have not been checked from among a plurality of operation log files. An example of the operation log file is shown in FIG.
S902 is processing for determining whether or not all the contents described in the log file read in S901 have been checked. In S902, when all the checks are completed, the process proceeds to S900. If all checks have not been completed in S902, the process proceeds to S903.

In step S903, the corresponding operation log file to be checked is read. More specifically, it refers to a process in which the management apparatus 101 reads one line of the operation log file shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B.
In step S904, it is determined whether the read item corresponds to a monitoring item. If it is determined in S904 that this is the case, the process proceeds to S905. If it is determined in S904 that it is not applicable, the process proceeds to S902.
In step S905, the operation log file read in step S903 is temporarily saved. The temporary storage destination of the operation log file may be the DB 304, the HD 205, or the RAM 202.
By repeating the above processing, the setting monitoring module 302 analyzes whether or not there is a monitoring item in the acquired operation log file, and extracts and stores information on the monitoring item.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of processing for directly acquiring information related to monitoring items from the monitoring target device. This processing corresponds to S805 and S809. This process is performed by the setting monitoring module 302.
S1000 is processing for acquiring and analyzing setting information of monitoring target items from the monitoring target device. The process of S1000 is an example of a setting acquisition process.
S1001 is processing for acquiring past setting information from the DB 304 of the management apparatus 101. The past setting information is information stored in S806 and S811. Further, even if the state (initial value) in which S806 and S811 are not processed is NULL, a setting that can be recognized as the initial value may be stored.
S1002 is processing for comparing the setting information acquired in S1000 with the setting information acquired in S1001. The comparison result is temporarily stored in the DB 304 or the HD 205.
Through the above processing, the setting information of the monitoring target item is acquired and analyzed from the monitoring target device.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a notification method by mail transmission.
FIG. 11 is broadly divided into two items, “Device Information” and “Change History”. In “Device Information”, information on the monitoring target device is described. For example, in FIG. 11, it can be seen that the setting of the monitoring target device named “Device A” has been changed. In “Change History”, setting items changed by the user are described. In FIG. 11, the monitoring item “NTP-Server Set.” Is changed from “ntp.nict.jp” to “ntp.xx.co.jp” by “Taro YAMADA” on the corresponding date. I can read that.
The notification method is not limited to mail transmission, and a change notification may be displayed on a screen provided by the Web service 301 of the management apparatus 101.
In the present embodiment, it is possible to notify the administrator of setting change of the monitoring item in the monitoring target device without acquiring a large amount of information by the above method.

<Embodiment 2>
In the first embodiment, the method of notifying the administrator by acquiring the operation log file of the monitoring target device and using the result of analyzing the change history has been described. However, in the notification method according to the first embodiment, there are a case where a change has been made to a general user (a change not intended by the administrator) and a case where a change has been made by the administrator of the managed apparatus 102 (a change intended by the administrator). It will be notified without distinction. Therefore, in the present embodiment, a method for appropriately notifying by adding user authority determination will be described.
The overall configuration of the system and the hardware configuration and software configuration of the management apparatus 101, the managed apparatus 102, and the client apparatus 103 are the same as those in the first embodiment, and a description thereof is omitted here. In addition, the operation log file (FIG. 6), the monitoring process setting screen and method (FIG. 7), the operation log file analysis method (FIG. 9), and the monitoring item acquisition method (FIG. 10) from the monitoring target device according to the first embodiment. Since this is the same as that of the first embodiment, the description thereof is omitted.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating an example of setting change monitoring processing including determination of user authority. Each process from S1201 to S1207 and from S1212 to S1216 is the same as the process of FIG. Similar to FIG. 8, this processing is also performed by the setting monitoring module 302 of the management apparatus 101.
S1200 is processing for acquiring an association between a user and the user's authority from an authentication server (not shown). The association with the authority acquired in this process is, for example, “User A has general user authority”, “User B has administrator authority”, or “User C has maintenance authority”. Etc. The maintenance authority here is the same authority as that of the person in charge of the service, and a detailed change operation of the managed apparatus 102 is possible. The authority information acquired in this process is used in S1208 and S1209 described later.
In step S1208, the setting changer (operator) determined from the operation log file determines whether the setting is changed by the management apparatus 101. The setting change by the management apparatus 101 means that the system administrator has changed the setting of the managed apparatus 102. In other words, this refers to the case where the system administrator who monitors the setting changes the setting intended. If it is determined in S1208 that the setting has been changed by the management apparatus 101, there is no need for notification, and the process proceeds to S1212. If it is determined in S1208 that the setting is not changed by the management apparatus 101, the process proceeds to S1209. In this process, in the case of a setting change by the management apparatus 101, the administrator is not notified, but the change history may be left in the DB 304 or the HD 205.

S1209 is processing for determining whether the setting changer (operator) determined from the operation log file is a setting change by the operator who is approved by the administrator. The operator recognized by the administrator is, for example, a service person or an administrator of the managed device 102, and refers to a user who has been given the administrator authority or the maintenance authority described above. If it is determined in S1209 that the operator is recognized by the administrator, the process proceeds to S1210. In S1209, if the operator is not an authorized operator, the process proceeds to S1211.
S1210 is a process of notifying the system administrator that the monitoring item setting has been changed as “confirmation information” for confirmation. When this notification is given, the system administrator can determine that the setting of the monitoring target apparatus has been changed for maintenance or the like, for example.
S1211 is processing for notifying the system administrator that the setting has been changed as a “warning”. When this notification is given, the system administrator can notice that an unintended setting change has been made to the monitoring target device. Therefore, the system administrator can reset the item whose setting has been changed as a process after receiving the notification.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a notification method by mail transmission.
FIG. 13 shows almost the same description as FIG. 11, but “Warning”, which is a setting change notification, is written as “warning” in the subject and text. That is, FIG. 13 notifies that a setting change unintended for the system administrator has been made.
In the present embodiment, an appropriate notification method according to the user authority can be realized by the above method.

<Embodiment 3>
In the first embodiment and the second embodiment, the notification of setting change is sent to the system administrator separately for the notification based on the analysis of the operation log file and the notification for obtaining the setting information directly from the managed device 102. However, if there are many notifications to the system administrator, the information on the management side is easily confused, and the network is burdened. Therefore, in the present embodiment, a method for reducing the notification amount by combining the notifications into one and referring to the task history will be described.
The overall configuration of the system and the hardware configuration and software configuration of the management apparatus 101, the managed apparatus 102, and the client apparatus 103 are the same as those in the first and second embodiments, and a description thereof is omitted here. Further, the operation log file (FIG. 6), the monitoring process setting screen and method (FIG. 7), the operation log file analysis method (FIG. 9), and the monitoring item acquisition method from the monitoring target device (FIG. 10) are also illustrated in the embodiment. Since it is the same as 1 and 2, description is abbreviate | omitted.
FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a monitoring process for reducing the notification amount. Each process from S1300 to S1309 and from S1312 to S1315 is the same as the process of FIG. Similar to FIG. 8, this processing is also performed by the setting monitoring module 302 of the management apparatus 101.

S1310 and S1311 are processes for temporarily storing setting change notification information in order to collect mail. Examples of the temporary storage destination include DB 304, HD 205, RAM 202, and the like. In step S1310, the setting change notification information is temporarily stored as “confirmation information” for confirmation. In step S1311, the setting change notification information is temporarily stored as “warning”.
In step S1316, the task history managed by the task management module 303 of the management apparatus 101 is acquired. The task history is a log in which what processing has been performed on which managed device 102 is recorded. Note that setting information acquisition and monitoring item analysis have been completed from the monitoring target device by the time this process is started.
In step S1317, the task execution history acquired in step S1316 is referred to, and it is determined whether there is a history of processing on the monitoring item. In S1317, if there is a setting change history, the processing is shifted to S1319 without performing the process related to the notification because the setting is changed by the system administrator. If there is no history of setting changes by tasks, no setting changes have been made by the system administrator, and it cannot be determined who changed them. In such a case, in S1317, the process proceeds to S1318. In step S1318, the setting change notification information is temporarily stored as “warning”.
S1319 is processing for acquiring the setting change notification information temporarily stored in S1310, S1311, and S1318.
S1320 is processing for notifying the system administrator of the setting change by collecting one mail based on the setting change notification information acquired in S1319. In S1320, the importance is adjusted in accordance with the user who last operated the setting.

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an example when the mail notifications are combined into one.
In FIG. 15, the number of cases in which “Warning”, which is a setting change notification as “warning”, and “Information”, which is a setting change notification, is reduced as “information” in the Subject and the text are described in one line. ing. [Change History] in the text describes details of “Warning” and “Information”. Here, the contents of [Change History] in FIG. 15 will be described. As a precondition, “Hanako TANAKA” is an operator with general user authority, and “Service Support User” is an operator with maintenance authority. In the “Change IPv4” item of [Change History], the operator with the general user authority has changed the setting at the end, and therefore the notification is “Warning”. On the other hand, in the “Sleep Timer” item, since the operator with the maintenance authority last changed the setting, the notification is “Information” whose degree of importance decreases.
In the present embodiment, the notification amount can be reduced by the above method.

<Other embodiments>
The present invention can also be realized by executing the following processing. That is, software (program) that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus via a network or various storage media, and a computer (or CPU, MPU, etc.) of the system or apparatus reads the program. It is a process to be executed.

  As described above, according to each embodiment described above, setting monitoring can be realized while reducing the burden on the network by using the operation log file possessed by the network device.

  The preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, but the present invention is not limited to such specific embodiments, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the gist of the present invention described in the claims.・ Change is possible.

Claims (6)

Management means for managing a plurality of settings to be monitored among a plurality of setting items in the image forming apparatus;
History acquisition means for acquiring operation history information for recording operations performed on the image forming apparatus and operators from the image forming apparatus;
Analyzing means for analyzing an operation history corresponding to a change in at least one setting to be monitored from the acquired operation history information;
For at least one setting to be monitored that does not know whether or not the setting has been changed from the operation history, in order to determine whether the setting to be monitored has been changed, the contents of the setting to be monitored are Setting acquisition means for acquiring from the image forming apparatus;
A determination unit that determines whether there is a change in the plurality of settings to be monitored from the operation history analyzed by the analysis unit and the content of the setting acquired by the setting acquisition unit;
Notification means for notifying a change in setting determined to have been changed by the determination means;
An information processing apparatus comprising:   The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the history acquisition unit does not acquire operation history information when all of the plurality of settings to be monitored do not know whether the setting has been changed or not from the operation history.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the notification unit changes a notification method of the change of the setting according to an operator included in the operation history.   When the operator included in the operation history is an operator recognized by the administrator, the notification means notifies the administrator that the setting has been changed as confirmation information, and is included in the operation history. 4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein when the operator is an operator not authorized by the administrator, the administrator is notified as a warning that the setting has been changed. An information processing method in an information processing apparatus,
A management process for managing a plurality of settings to be monitored among a plurality of setting items in the image forming apparatus;
A history acquisition step of acquiring, from the image forming apparatus, operation history information for recording operations performed on the image forming apparatus and an operator;
An analysis step of analyzing an operation history corresponding to a change in at least one setting to be monitored from the acquired operation history information;
For at least one setting to be monitored that does not know whether or not the setting has been changed from the operation history, in order to determine whether the setting to be monitored has been changed, the contents of the setting to be monitored are A setting acquisition process acquired from the image forming apparatus;
A determination step of determining whether there is a change in the plurality of settings to be monitored from the operation history analyzed by the analysis step and the content of the setting acquired in the setting acquisition step;
A notification step of notifying a change in the setting determined to have been changed in the determination step;
An information processing method comprising:   A program for causing a computer to function as the means according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

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