KR20050065989A - Network management method and system managing tunnel interface information - Google Patents

Abstract

In a network management method for managing status information including information on whether a network component is mounted and information on whether a normal operation is performed, a data packet in which the network component supports IPv6 may be processed by a router supporting IPv4. A network management method is disclosed that includes managing tunnel interface information on whether to support a function of implementing a virtual interface (hereinafter referred to as a "tunnel interface"). The network management method according to the present invention includes an initialization information acquiring step of acquiring initialization information of a network component, a shape and state information processing step for receiving and managing shape information and state information of the network component, and restarting the network component. Alternatively, a failure information processing step of receiving and processing failure information on a failure occurrence, an interface information management step for receiving and managing the physical interface information and the tunnel interface information of the physical interface of the network component, and the shape information of the network component The method may further include providing information for providing status information and interface information to the network operator. According to the present invention, as well as information and status information on the physical interface of the network component, as well as information on whether the network component supports the tunnel interface and whether the tunnel interface is operating normally can efficiently manage the network component. Can be.

Description

Network management method and system for managing tunnel interface information

The present invention relates to a communication network management technology, and more particularly, to a tunnel interface information management method in a network management system.

Thanks to the development of electronic communication technology, a large amount of information is transmitted and received through a communication network. In addition, the number of terminal devices or nodes connected to the communication network also increases rapidly. Therefore, a network management technique for reducing an increased network load and efficiently managing a communication network is introduced.

The network management manager performs configuration management, fault management, performance management, account management, and security management for the network managed system. Configuration management manages the shape information and network interface information of the managed network component. In addition, a standard or private interface group management information base (MIB) defined using the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) between the network management system and the network management agent system is used to perform these functions. Network management function. That is, the network management system according to the prior art uses the interface group management information base of the MIB-II to manage network interface information of network equipment such as a router. Information provided by the interface group MIB is managed for each interface type (ifType).

The ifIndex object is used as a key for retrieving MIB information of the interface group ifTable. According to the related art, a key value defined by a router is retrieved by a specific command from a network management system. For example, the command used for searching may be a GetRequest or GetNextRequest command. However, in the current access router, ifIndex value is defined as '(slot number * 10) + port number' of the router, and the network management system uses a graphical user interface (GUI: Graphic) When expressing in User Interface), ifIndex value is analyzed and used.

Next Generation Access Routers (NGARs) provide next-generation access routers with Gigabit Ethernet interfaces, POS interfaces, and 10/100/1000 Ethernet interfaces as physical interfaces. In addition, the next generation access router provides a tunneling function for interworking between the IPv6 network and the IPv4 network (hereinafter, referred to as a "tunnel interface") to provide IPv4 / IPv6 services. Tunnel interfaces are virtual interfaces that operate on top of physical interfaces. That is, the tunnel interface transmits a packet by connecting two point-to-point addresses using a physical interface. The tunnel interface information is configured by using a command line interface (CLI) command in each router system, and one or more tunnel interface information may be set within a range allowed by system resources on a specific physical interface. Tunnel interfaces that can be provided by the system may be configured on one physical interface or may be divided among several physical interfaces. This setting work is performed in the router system. In addition, the network management manager system must not only manage tunnel information set in the corresponding router, but also allow the network management operator to set tunnel information in consideration of network conditions.

1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a tunnel interface.

As shown in FIG. 1, it can be seen that a virtual tunnel interface is formed between the first router and the fifth router among the first to fifth routers constituting the network. The tunnel interface is a virtual interface that operates on a physical interface, and the user may manage the network by determining that a channel is actually formed between the first router and the fifth router.

However, in the standard defined in RFC 1213, only the information about the physical interface can be managed, and thus tunnel interface information cannot be managed by the ifType defined in MIB-II. In addition, the information that the network management manager knows about configuring the tunnel interface on which physical interface and the connection information with the remote system is not defined. That is, tunnel MIB information that can provide tunnel information between the network management manager and the managed router is not defined. Therefore, the network management manager system cannot represent the configuration information and the failure information by representing the shape information of the management target router by the GUI, and the tunnel management information cannot be represented by the GUI unless the tunnel information is provided from the router. That is, the tunnel interface can be treated as if it is an interface similar to the existing physical interface from the service point of view, but from the network management point of view, the tunnel interface should be managed as a layered interface that operates on a physical interface different from the existing physical interface. Therefore, for the tunnel information management in the network management manager, additional information other than the existing standard MIB should be defined. In addition, the information must be reflected in the configuration management information of the next generation access router provided by the network management manager so that the network management operator can easily recognize the tunnel information.

Therefore, a network management method for notifying physical interface information as well as tunnel interface information is urgently required.

An object of the present invention is not only to provide a network management method and system for notifying a network management operator whether to provide a tunnel interface of a managed network component in a network management system, and to define the MIB required for this, thereby improving network management efficiency. To raise.

In addition, another object of the present invention is to define the shape information of the network components managed by the network management system by defining a method and procedure for informing the network management system when tunnel information is added or deleted by the router operator in the router system. By synchronizing, the network operation information is updated correctly.

One aspect of the present invention for achieving the above object, relates to a network management method for managing state information, including information on whether the network component is mounted and information on whether or not normal operation, one aspect of the present invention The network management method by means of tunneling whether the network component supports a function of implementing a virtual interface (hereinafter referred to as a "tunnel interface") so that data packets supporting IPv6 can be processed by a router supporting IPv4. And managing the interface information. In particular, the network management method according to an aspect of the present invention is the initialization information acquisition step of obtaining the initialization information of the network component, the shape and state information processing step for receiving and managing the shape information and state information for the network component, Fault information processing step for receiving and processing fault information about restart or failure of network component, interface information management step and network configuration for receiving and managing physical interface information and tunnel interface information for physical interface of network component The method may further include an information providing step of providing the network operator with shape information, status information, and interface information about the element.

In addition, another aspect of the present invention for achieving the above object relates to a network management system for managing status information, including information on whether the network component is mounted and information on whether or not the normal operation, the present invention According to another aspect of the present invention, a network management system includes a network management server for managing status information of a network component, a network management client for providing status information to a user, and a data packet supporting IPv6 by a network component supporting IPv4. And a tunnel interface management module for managing tunnel interface information on whether to support a function of implementing a virtual interface to be processed by a router. Network management server included in the network management system according to another aspect of the present invention, the initialization information acquisition unit for obtaining the initialization information of the network component, the shape for receiving and managing the shape information and state information for the network component and Status information processing unit, fault information processing unit for receiving and processing fault information about restart or failure of network components, interface information management unit and network configuration for receiving and managing information about physical interface and tunnel interface information of network components The apparatus further includes an information provider for providing the network management client with shape information, status information, and interface information about the element. In particular, the initialization information acquisition unit includes a module for requesting and receiving initialization information of the managed network component and a module for storing initialization information, until the initialization information for all managed network components is stored. It is preferable to repeatedly execute. The shape and state information processing unit may determine whether the module for requesting and receiving the shape and state information of the network component, the module for storing the shape information and the state information, the shape information and the state information have changed, and if the change has been made. A module for receiving the shape and state change message from the network component and a shape and state information updating module for updating the shape and state information of the network component according to an analysis result of analyzing the received shape and state change message. It is preferable. In addition, a network management system according to another aspect of the present invention includes security management including user rights management of network components, network management including protocol information management and network configuration management, and traffic statistics management and interface statistics management. It is preferable to further include a performance management function.

According to the present invention, as well as information and status information on the physical interface of the network component, as well as information on whether the network component supports the tunnel interface and whether the tunnel interface is operating normally can efficiently manage the network component. Can be.

In order to fully understand the present invention, the operational advantages of the present invention, and the objects achieved by the practice of the present invention, reference should be made to the accompanying drawings which illustrate preferred embodiments of the present invention and the contents described in the accompanying drawings.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. For each figure, like reference numerals denote like elements.

2 is a flowchart schematically illustrating a network management method according to an aspect of the present invention.

As shown in Figure 2, the network management method according to an aspect of the present invention is the initialization information acquisition step (S210), shape and state information processing step (S230), fault information processing step (S250), interface information management step ( S270) and the information providing step (S290). The interface information management step S270 includes tunnel interface information of the network component.

In the network management system according to the related art, network interface information is collected and managed for configuration management of a router which is a network component. The interface information manages only the information on the physical interface provided by the system. Interface information such as tunnels is not managed by the network management system. On the other hand, the network management method according to an aspect of the present invention defines a MIB for managing tunnel interface information of network components. Therefore, the network management system is provided with information necessary for performing configuration management functions of network components such as a router system. That is, since the conventional interface group MIB does not include tunnel interface information, the IATA adds the tunnel interface to the interface type so that the router system can provide information about the virtual interface. However, although the router interface type is defined in the router, the ifIndex of the interface group MIB, which is implemented to obtain the interface information of the router device in the network management method according to the prior art, is defined as' (slot number * 10) of the router device. ) + port number ', which is not suitable for ifIndex definition for tunnel interface creation.

Therefore, the network management method according to an aspect of the present invention can efficiently manage tunnel interface information by configuring ifIndex including tunnel interface information. That is, in the network management method according to an aspect of the present invention, the ifIndex value of the MIB is added to the physical interface composed of '(slot number * 10) + port number' according to the prior art, and the virtual number (from 1000) is used. Tunnel interface information is configured by the number of tunnels that can be accommodated in. Also, for mapping between the tunnel interface and the physical interface, a table with 'tunnel interface number: (slot number * 10) + port number' as an index is added and managed. In the network management method according to an aspect of the present invention, when a tunnel interface is added or a change in mapping relationship occurs in a physical interface, the network management manager is notified using a trap message so that the network management system uses the tunnel interface in the mounting diagram of the router. Information can be displayed. In addition, the present invention can provide the tunnel information of the network component to the GUI to provide the information necessary for the network management operator to determine the implementation and operation status of the management target router.

Initialization information acquisition step (S210), shape and state information processing step (S230), fault information processing step (S250), interface information management step (S270), and information providing step (S290) shown in FIG. Reference will be made in detail below with reference to the drawings in that part.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing in detail the initialization information obtaining step S210 of the flowchart shown in FIG. 2. In the obtaining of the initialization information illustrated in FIG. 3, the network management server and the network management client are connected to the network (S310), inputting information of the management target router (S320), and requesting initialization information of the management target router. (S330), receiving the requested initialization information (S340), storing the received initialization information (S350) and determining whether network initialization is completed (S360), and if not, re-requesting initialization information It includes.

When the network management server and the network management client are driven, the two devices are connected by RMI (Remote Method Invocation) communication (S310). The operator of the network management server enters the IP (Internet Protocol) address of the managed access router through the GUI. Then, the network management server determines whether or not the operation of the router, and requests the initialization information when the router is operating to receive and store information necessary for the network map (Map) configuration from the access router. Also, information necessary for network management is set using the stored initialization information. This process is repeated until the initialization for all managed routers necessary for network management network configuration is completed.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the shape and state information processing steps of the flowchart shown in FIG. 2 in detail. The shape and state information processing step shown in FIG. 4 includes requesting and receiving shape and state information of a network component (S410) (S420), storing the received shape and state information (S430), shape information and Determining whether the state information has been changed (S440), Receiving a shape and state change message for dismounting the line card and the switch board of the access router when the shape information and the state information have been changed (S450). Analyzing the shape and the received shape and state change message, and updating the shape and state information for updating the shape and state information of the network component according to the analysis result (S460) and determining the necessity of repetition (S470). do.

The shape information for shape management of the access router includes information about shapes of a routing processor, a line card slot, a switch board, and the like constituting the access router. In addition, state information on whether each of the shapes of the access router is mounted, hernias, normal or abnormal operation is stored in the DB. In addition, the physical interface information of the mounted shape may be received and stored. Of course, in this process, information on the tunnel interface set in the physical interface may also be requested and received and stored in the DB.

Now, when the information collection for mounting the mounting configuration of the access router is completed, the mounting diagram is constructed based on the information. At this time, when the access router mounting diagram output request is received from the network management system operator, the mounting diagram can be displayed by the GUI using the mounting information stored in the DB.

In addition, even after collecting configuration management information for configuring the configuration diagram or after providing the collected configuration diagram to the GUI, if the configuration and status change message is received from the access router informing of the change of the configuration and status information, Depending on the type, the configuration diagram of the router is reconfigured or the changed state is expressed by the GUI. That is, when the shape change message is received, it is analyzed which shape change message the received shape change message is, and the shape information is requested by the configuration management function of the access router to receive the changed shape information. In this case, when the shape of the router is changed, it may be necessary to perform all the work performed for the above configuration. Alternatively, if the access router fails and restarts or a state transition from the operating state of the redundant routing processor to the standby state occurs, the IP address of the router is analyzed to request the shape and state information of the access router. Go ahead and repeat.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing in detail a fault information processing step of the flowchart shown in FIG. 2. The failure information processing step shown in FIG. 5 includes receiving failure information on restart or failure of a network component (S510), storing received failure information (S520), and obtaining initialization information of a managed router. In step S530, and when a failure occurs in the physical interface or the tunnel interface (S540), an interface failure processing step (S550) of receiving a failure message and notifying the user is included. In particular, it may be determined whether failure information processing should be repeated (S560). When a failure occurs in the network component by the failure information processing step illustrated in FIG. 5, it may be managed in real time.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an interface information management step in detail in the flowchart illustrated in FIG. 2. The interface information management step shown in FIG. 6 includes receiving and storing physical interface information and tunnel interface information (S610), and receiving information on adding / deleting a physical interface of a network component (S620). Adding and storing in step S630, receiving information on addition / deletion of a tunnel interface of a network component, in step S640, receiving a tunnel interface up / down / dormant / lowerLayerDown message in step S650, Analyzing and storing tunnel interface information (S660) and updating state information of the access router using the physical interface and tunnel interface information (S670).

Of course, the interface information management step shown in FIG. 6 includes a status change (Up / Down) message of a physical interface such as Gigabit Ethernet (GE), Packet of SONET (POS), and 10/100/1000 Ethernet interface. Can be received, analyzed and reflected in the implementation of network components. By performing the interface information management step as shown in FIG. 6, the network management operator can easily and conveniently perform network management using the GUI of the configuration information and the tunnel configuration information of the access router.

7 is a flowchart illustrating an information providing step in detail in the flowchart illustrated in FIG. 2. The information providing step shown in FIG. 7 includes determining whether there is an output request from the network operator (S710) and providing shape information, status information, and interface information about the network component in response to the request of the network operator. (S730), automatically notifying of the change of the shape information, the state information, and the interface information (S750), and providing the shape information, the state information, and the interface information to the network operator at predetermined time intervals (S770). In particular, in the network management method according to an aspect of the present invention, it is preferable to selectively perform at least one or more of the information providing steps (S730, S750, S770) as described above.

8 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a network management system according to another aspect of the present invention.

The network management system 800 shown in Fig. 8 includes a network management client 810, a network management server 850, and a network management agent 890. The network management agent includes a CLI processing module, a master agent module, and a part. Agent module, trap processing module, debug processing module, configuration management module, fault management module, statistics management module, network protocol (TCP, UDP, IP, ICMP processing module, routing protocol (BGP, OSPFv2 / v3, ISIS) processing module and It may include an operator command processing module, etc. Since the configuration and operation of the network management agent is the same as in the prior art, a detailed description thereof will be omitted for simplicity of the specification.

The network management server included in the network management system according to another aspect of the present invention includes a security manager 805, a database 807, a performance manager 809, a network manager 811, an initialization information acquirer 820, a shape, and The state information processor 830 includes a failure information processor 840, an interface information manager 860, and an information provider 870.

The network management client 810 provides a Graphic User Interface (GUI) that allows a network management operator to conveniently use the network management system. In addition, the shape and state information processing unit 830 performs a shape management function and a network interface management function for managing the system shape of each of the access router and the home router connected to the access router. The performance manager 809 may perform a traffic statistics management function and an interface statistics management function for measuring network traffic. In addition, the failure information processing unit 840 manages the status information and failure information of the access router. The security manager 805 implements a user rights management function and a system administrator function. In addition, the network manager 811 may perform a protocol information management function and a network configuration management function. The SNMP stack 880 is responsible for communication between the DB 807 storing the information collected by the network management server from the access router and the network management agent 890 of the access router.

9A is a diagram illustrating an example of an interface table stored in a MIB of a network management system according to the prior art.

In the table shown in FIG. 9A, ifIfType is seen, it can be seen that only physical interface information such as GE and POS is managed.

9B and 9C are diagrams illustrating an example of an interface table stored in the MIB of the network management system according to the present invention.

FIG. 9B is a diagram illustrating an interface table (ifTable) by adding tunnel interface information to an interface table according to the related art. That is, in addition to the physical interface such as GE and POS, it can be seen that Tunnel interface information including ifIndex value starting from 1000 is included at the same time.

FIG. 9C shows a table (ifStackTable) indicating mapping information with the physical interface where the tunnel interface implemented in FIG. 9B is actually serviced, and is added as a new MIB table in the present invention. In the network management server, information about a tunnel interface can be obtained using the table information shown in FIG. 9C. In this case, a combination of two objects defined in the MIB table, that is, a tunnel interface number. The current state can be determined using the physical interface number 'as an index. The current 'tunnel interface number' if the value of 'ifStackStatus' is 'active'. It indicates that routing is in service for the interface with 'physical interface number', and if it is 'notInService', it indicates that the tunnel interface is set in the corresponding index but cannot be routed. If the 'ifStackStatus' value is 'dormant', this indicates that the corresponding tunnel interface information is deleted. For example, as shown in FIG. 9C, a new tunnel interface may be added (for example, 1006) or deleted (for example, 1000 to 1005) during router operation. If the tunnel interface mapping information of ifStackTable is changed, the network management manager is notified using a trap message. When received by the network management manager, the relevant table information is collected again and the implementation is reflected in the configuration information.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings, this is merely exemplary, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications and equivalent other embodiments are possible. For example, in the ifIndex item shown in FIG. 9B, the tunnel interface is illustrated as having a value from 1000, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and it is apparent that the tunnel interface may have a free value that does not overlap with the physical interface information. Do. In addition, the steps to be implemented in the network management method and system according to the present invention and components for processing the steps are not necessarily processed in hardware, but may be implemented in software and processed by a single processor.

Therefore, the true technical protection scope of the present invention will be defined by the technical spirit of the appended claims.

According to the present invention, the network management system can notify a network management operator whether a tunnel interface of a managed network component is provided. In addition, according to the present invention, a method and procedure for informing the network management system when tunnel information is added or deleted by a router operator is defined.

In addition, the network management system can determine the failure interval of the network communication path by using ping, and the network manager can manage the manager's communication status efficiently by knowing whether the manager's hardware and software are abnormal. In the present invention, when the existing IPv4 network and the IPv6 network are required to be interlocked with the activation of the IPv6 function, the present invention can increase the efficiency of network operation by managing tunnel interface setting and management information between routers installed between the two networks in a network management manager system. There are advantages to it.

1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a tunnel interface.

2 is a flowchart schematically illustrating a network management method according to an aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating the initialization information obtaining step of the flowchart shown in FIG. 2 in detail.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the shape and state information processing steps of the flowchart shown in FIG. 2 in detail.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing in detail a fault information processing step of the flowchart shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an interface information management step in detail in the flowchart illustrated in FIG. 2.

7 is a flowchart illustrating an information providing step in detail in the flowchart illustrated in FIG. 2.

8 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a network management system according to another aspect of the present invention.

9A is a diagram illustrating an example of an interface table stored in a MIB of a network management system according to the prior art.

9B and 9C are diagrams illustrating an example of an interface table stored in the MIB of the network management system according to the present invention.

Claims (16)

In the network management method for managing status information including information on whether or not the network component is mounted and whether or not the normal operation, Tunnel interface information on whether the network component supports a function of implementing a virtual interface (hereinafter referred to as a "tunnel interface") so that data packets supporting IPv6 can be processed by a router supporting IPv4. Network management method comprising the step of. According to claim 1, The network management method, An initialization information acquiring step of acquiring initialization information of the network component; A shape and state information processing step for receiving and managing shape information and the state information of the network component; A failure information processing step of receiving and processing failure information on restart or failure of the network component; An interface information management step of receiving and managing physical interface information on the physical interface of the network component and the tunnel interface information; And And providing an information to the network operator of the shape information, the status information, and the interface information of the network component. The method of claim 2, wherein the obtaining of the initialization information comprises: Requesting and receiving initialization information of a managed network component; Storing the initialization information; And Repeating the above steps until initialization information for all managed network components is stored. The method of claim 2, wherein the processing of the shape and state information comprises: Requesting and receiving shape and state information of the network component; Storing the shape information and the state information; Receiving a shape and state change message from the network component when the shape information and the state information change; And analyzing the received shape and state change message and updating the shape and state information of the network component according to the analysis result. The method of claim 2, wherein the fault information processing step, Receiving failure information on restart or failure of the network component; Storing the failure information; And And an interface failure processing step of receiving a failure message and notifying a user when a failure occurs in the physical interface or the tunnel interface. The method of claim 2, wherein the interface information management step, Receiving and storing the physical interface information and the tunnel interface information of the network component; Receiving and adding information on the addition / deletion of a physical interface of the network component to the physical interface information; Storing the physical interface information; Receiving and adding information on addition / deletion of the tunnel interface of the network component to the tunnel interface information; Storing the tunnel interface information; And Updating status information of the network component using the physical interface and the tunnel interface information. The method of claim 2, wherein the providing of the information comprises: Providing the shape information, state information, and interface information for the network component in response to a request of the network operator; Automatically notifying upon change of the shape information, status information and interface information; And And providing the shape information, state information, and interface information to the network operator at predetermined time intervals. According to claim 1, The network management method, Network management further comprises security management including user rights management of the network component, network management including protocol information management and network configuration management, and performance management functions including traffic statistics management and interface statistics management. How to manage. A network management system for managing state information including information on whether a network component is mounted and information on whether or not a normal operation is performed, wherein the network management system includes: A network management server for managing state information of the network component; A network management client for providing the status information to a user; And Tunnel interface information on whether the network component supports a function of implementing a virtual interface (hereinafter referred to as a "tunnel interface") so that data packets supporting IPv6 can be processed by a router supporting IPv4. Network management system comprising a tunnel interface management module for. The network management server of claim 9, wherein the network management server comprises: An initialization information obtaining unit which obtains initialization information of the network component; A shape and state information processing unit for receiving and managing shape information and the state information of the network component; A failure information processor configured to receive and process failure information on restart or failure of the network component; An interface information manager for receiving and managing information on the physical interface of the network component and the tunnel interface information; And And a information providing unit for providing the network management client with the shape information, the state information, and the interface information about the network component. The method of claim 10, wherein the initialization information obtaining unit, A module for requesting and receiving initialization information of a managed network component; And A module for storing the initialization information, And repeatedly executing the module until initialization information about all managed network components is stored. The method of claim 10, wherein the shape and state information processing unit, A module for requesting and receiving shape and state information of the network component; A module for storing the shape information and the state information; A module for determining whether the shape information and the state information have changed and for receiving a shape and state change message from the network component if determined to have changed; And And a shape and state information updating module for updating the shape and state information of the network element according to the analysis result of analyzing the received shape and state change message. The method of claim 10, wherein the failure information processing unit, A module for receiving fault information on restart or failure of the network component; A module for storing the failure information; And And an interface failure processing module for notifying a user by receiving a failure message notifying that a failure has occurred in the physical interface or the tunnel interface. The method of claim 10, wherein the interface information management unit, A module for receiving physical interface information including information on addition / deletion of a physical interface of the network component; A module for storing the physical interface information; A module for receiving tunnel interface information including information on addition / deletion of a tunnel interface of the network component; A module for storing the tunnel interface information; And And a module for updating state information of the network component using the physical interface and the tunnel interface information. The method of claim 10, wherein the information providing unit, In response to a request from the network operator, provide the shape information, state information, and interface information about the network component; Automatically notify upon change of the shape information, status information and interface information, or And providing the shape information, state information, and interface information to the network operator at predetermined time intervals. The network management system of claim 9, Network management further comprises security management including user rights management of the network component, network management including protocol information management and network configuration management, and performance management functions including traffic statistics management and interface statistics management. Management system.