KR20090059481A - Network node simulation apparatus and method for network control platform - Google Patents

Abstract

A network node simulation apparatus for testing the network integrating control performance and a method thereof are provided to reduce the risk following upon the development by using a virtual node simulation equipment. An interface unit(310) transmits and receives data to and from an SNMP management equipment. A data loading unit(330) loads data converted in the SNMP management equipment by referring to virtual management object information stored in a virtual management object database. According to an OID request from the SNMP management equipment, an OID data generator(350) generates data corresponding to the OID. A conversion processing unit(370) converts the data processed by the data loading unit and OID data generator in a defined type which can be recognized by an SNMP management station.

Description

Network node simulation apparatus and method for network integrated control performance test

The present invention relates to virtual network management, and more particularly, to a virtual node simulation apparatus and method for evaluating the function and performance of a system for integrated control of a network.

This study is derived from the research conducted as part of the IT growth engine technology development project of the Ministry of Information and Communication and the Ministry of Information and Communication Research. [Task Management Number: 2005-S-097-03, BcN Integrated Network Control and QoS / TE Management Technology Development]

As the Internet has exploded exponentially, everyone has experienced at least once the Internet turmoil, such as the inability to identify the cause of the Internet connection, which is experienced not only by individual users but also by companies.

Accordingly, a management system called a network management system (NMS) has been developed, which is a central monitoring system that manages all the devices on the network. The network management system monitors in real time the status data, configuration data, and statistical data of the components of the network. And in order to accommodate traffic smoothly, the network management system controls the traffic usage according to priority and informs the administrator so that action can be taken promptly when an abnormality occurs. As a result, the administrator can control and monitor the network efficiently through the network management system, thereby enabling Quality of Service (QoS).

In developing such a network management system, a verification step is necessary beforehand in order to introduce network equipment to which new technology is applied or to extend and service an existing network. The operation and management planning of a network consisting of a large number of heterogeneous devices is of great importance, and the demand for an automatic network management system is increasingly required as the network environment becomes more complex.

The conventional network management system is installed at a place convenient for a high-performance computer class network administrator to use, and a plurality of network management systems can be parallel to one network. Network management system operation is driven by a simple network management protocol (SNMP) system. The network management system employs an SNMP agent, an SNMP manager module, and an integrated user interface. And it uses a command line interface (CLI) to run internal programs on network devices.

In general, network management systems request information from SNMP agents and monitor and control individual devices. The SNMP agent sends information according to the request of the network management system. The SNMP agent is software that exists in a managed device on a network. The SNMP agent includes a management information base (MIB), which is information about equipment, and the MIB polls and queries the network management system for the SNMP agent. It is sent and saved in response to (Query).

In this way, the technically developed network management system can be applied to an already established network environment for management.

However, if the network management system is applied to an already established network environment, the network management system will be used as a development and test environment for the existing network. Accordingly, the existing network may be used as a test environment for an incomplete network management system, which may cause problems in operating the network.

In addition, if you want to apply a network management system that has been technically developed for the newly extended network, there arises a problem that the network expansion and the network management system development accordingly. Accordingly, applying a network management system to a newly expanded network can bring not only a cost aspect but also a problem of a development schedule and a lack of a development environment.

An object of the present invention is to provide a virtual node simulation apparatus and method capable of providing the same function as an actual network management equipment by building a virtual node.

The above technical problem is achieved by the characteristic aspects of the present invention described below. The present invention provides a network node simulation apparatus for testing network integrated control performance, comprising: a virtual management object DB storing MIB based virtual management object information related to SNMP information, and a request from an SNMP management station managing a network of a network management system; When the installed SNMP information is installed for each network management system and received through an SNMP management device that collects and manages SNMP information, the virtual result is output by referring to the virtual management object information, and the SNMP management station is transmitted to the SNMP management station through the SNMP management device. And a virtual processor for transmitting.

According to this aspect of the present invention, a virtual result value may be generated according to the SNMP information requested by the SNMP management station by virtually using functions provided by the actual network management equipment.

According to the present invention, as the virtual node simulation apparatus is used before the network management equipment is developed, the network management equipment is provided with the actual network management equipment. Accordingly, there is an effect that can reduce the risk of development, reduce the cost and time required for development.

In addition, the present invention can contribute to system standardization because it implements a standard interface with the equipment during development. In addition, it is possible to contribute to the construction of an efficient resource management system by verifying a management device module by applying various events through the network management system according to the present invention.

In addition, by performing the overload test with the simulation equipment according to the present invention, it is possible to test the performance of the network management system, it is effective to effectively verify the system interworking through the test of the interworking method between the various network management systems. .

The foregoing and further aspects of the present invention will become more apparent through the preferred embodiments described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail so that those skilled in the art can easily understand and reproduce the present invention through these embodiments.

1 is an exemplary diagram showing a typical configuration of a network management system.

A general network management system receives MIB information based on SNMP to monitor and control all resources on the network. As shown in FIG. 1, the network management system configuration is divided into an SNMP management station 100 and an SNMP management apparatus 200. The SNMP management apparatus 200 exists in a workstation, a bridge, a router, a computer, and other managed systems. The SNMP management apparatus 200 collects and stores information related to a network and receives the SNMP management station 100 from the SNMP management station 100. When a request comes in, it sends the information it manages. As such, the network management system provides a function of managing and monitoring a network abnormality, traffic conditions, and the like, thereby efficiently operating the network.

Hereinafter, a virtual node simulation apparatus for testing the performance of the network management system according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 2.

2 is a block diagram of a virtual node simulation apparatus of a network management system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 2, the network management system includes an SNMP management station 100, an SNMP management device 200, and a virtual node simulation device 600, and the virtual node simulation device 600 includes a virtual processing unit 300. It includes a virtual management object DB (400). The SNMP management station 100 exists independently of the SNMP management apparatus 200 to be described later, and is configured to request information of each SNMP management apparatus 200 and collect the information to manage the entire network. The SNMP management apparatus 200 is installed for each network management system and collects and manages SNMP information. Here, the SNMP information is a standardized protocol according to various types of networks in the SNMP management station 100 to communicate with the SNMP management apparatus 200. The SNMP management apparatus 200 includes a data converter 210 and a data processor 230.

When the data conversion unit 210 receives the SNMP request information from the SNMP management station 100, it converts the data so that it can be recognized by the virtual processing unit 300 to be described later. The data processor 230 transmits the data converted from the data converter 210 to the virtual processor 300. For example, when the SNMP information is requested from the SNMP management station 100, the SNMP management apparatus 200 is a packet form that can communicate with the virtual processing unit 300 to be described later through the data conversion unit 210, virtual The processing unit 300 converts the header file so that it can be recognized. In addition, the SNMP management apparatus 200 generally uses UDP port number 161. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and the SNMP management apparatus 200 may use a TCP / IP port or another Ethernet address depending on the purpose of the simulation or the circumstances of the host system where the simulation is performed.

As such, the SNMP management apparatus 200 transmits the converted data through the data processor 230 to the virtual processor 300. Accordingly, the virtual processor 300 generates a result value related to the received converted data and transmits the result value to the SNMP management device 200, and the SNMP management device 200 sends the received result value back to the SNMP management station 100. Will be sent.

The virtual management object DB 400 is a configuration in which MIB-based virtual management object information related to SNMP information is stored. The MIB is a collection of objects for the SNMP station 100 to exchange specific information with the SNMP management apparatus 200. Each object in such a MIB is defined using Abstract syntax notation one (ASN.1), a language standardized and developed by ISO and ITU-T.

When the SNMP information requested from the SNMP management station 100 is received through the data processing unit 230 of the SNMP management apparatus 200, the virtual processor 300 may refer to the MIB-based virtual management object information to obtain a virtual result value. Output The output result is transmitted to the SNMP management station 100 through the SNMP management device 200.

The virtual processor 200 may include an interface 310, a data loading unit 330, an object-identifier (OID) data generator 350, and a conversion processor 370. The interface unit 310 communicates with the SNMP management apparatus 200 and transmits / receives data. When the data loading unit 330 receives the converted data from the SNMP management apparatus 200 through the interface unit 310, the data loading unit 330 loads the converted data by referring to the virtual management object information stored in the virtual management object DB 400. Configuration. The data loading unit 330 may load the converted data as shown in FIG. 3.

3 is a detailed configuration diagram of a data loading unit according to the present invention.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the data loading unit 330 may load the virtual management object information in ASCII format from the virtual management object DB 400 according to an embodiment (331).

According to another exemplary embodiment, the data loading unit 330 may convert the virtual management object information in the form of text into data in the form of a binary file in advance, and load the converted data stored in the simulation in operation 333. According to another embodiment, the data loading unit 330 may load the virtual management object information by using response information returned from another SNMP management apparatus 200 operating 'get next' PDU among the SNMP information ( 335). As such, the data loading unit 330 may load the converted data using at least one of them.

The OID data generating unit 350 refers to the virtual management object information stored in the virtual management object DB 400 according to the OID request from the SNMP management apparatus 200 through the interface unit 310 to obtain data corresponding to the OID. Create Here, OID is a primary key that designates a MIB-based virtual management object. As such, the OID data generator 350 may use, for example, a predefined value according to the type of the virtual management object information, a user directly inputs a specific virtual management object information value, or actually exists in the network. Data corresponding to OID can be generated using the data table collected in.

Alternatively, data generated by a predefined internal support mathematical function is used, or a scripting language supported on the SNMP management apparatus 200 simulator is used, and the data corresponding to the OID is programmed using the result according to the programming. Can be generated.

The conversion processor 370 converts the data processed by the data loading unit 330 and the OID data generator 350 into a defined type that can be recognized by the SNMP management station 100 to convert the interface unit 310. Send it through. The conversion processing unit 370 analyzes the SNMP request information received from the interface unit 310 to grasp the contents of the information required by the network management system or the SNMP browser. Thereafter, the conversion processing unit 370 changes the grasped content into a type defined in SNMP, and transmits it to the SNMP management station 100 through the interface unit 310 again.

The CLI interface unit 311 according to an additional aspect of the present invention is configured to output a command execution result input from a user computer, and the CLI DB 500 stores execution result information related to CLI commands. When the CLI processor 390 receives a command from the CLI interface 311, the CLI processor 390 generates a result value and retransmits the result. The CLI processing unit 390 includes a determination unit 391 and a generation unit 393. The determination unit 391 determines whether the command received from the CLI interface unit 311 is a normal command. When the generation unit 393 determines that the command is a normal command, the generation unit 393 refers to the execution result information stored in the CLI DB 500 and generates an execution result value related to the command.

That is, the user connects to the CLI interface unit 311 through Telnet. When the connection with the CLI interface unit 311 is made, the user inputs a command using an input device such as a keyboard. When the command input by the user from the CLI interface unit 311 is received by the CLI processing unit 390, the determination unit 391 checks whether the input command is a normal command. Thereafter, when it is confirmed as a normal command, the generation unit 393 generates an execution result value related to the command by referring to the execution result information stored in the CLI DB 500. As such, the execution result value generated by the generation unit 393 is transmitted to the CLI interface unit 311 through the CLI processing unit 390. Accordingly, the user may output the execution result value from the CLI interface unit 311.

Hereinafter, a virtual node simulation method for testing the performance of the network management system according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 4.

4 is a flowchart of a virtual node simulation method of a network management system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in Figure 4, the SNMP management device receives the SNMP request information from the SNMP management station (S100). Here, the SNMP management station requests information of each SNMP management device and collects it to manage the entire network. When the SNMP request information is received from the SNMP management station, the SNMP management apparatus converts the received SNMP request information into data that can be recognized (S200). First, when the SNMP management information is received from the SNMP management station, the SNMP management apparatus converts the data into data that can be recognized by the virtual node simulation apparatus. The SNMP management apparatus transmits the converted data to the virtual processing unit through the data processing unit.

For example, when SNMP information is requested from an SNMP management station, the SNMP management device converts the header information into a header file for the virtual node simulation device to recognize as a packet that can communicate with the virtual node simulation device through the data conversion unit. . Thereafter, the virtual node simulation apparatus receives the converted data from the SNMP management apparatus (S300). When the converted data is received, the virtual node simulation apparatus loads the converted data by referring to the MIB-based virtual management object information stored in the virtual management object DB through the virtual processor (S400). Such a virtual processor may load the converted data through the data loading unit.

The method of loading the converted data by the data loading unit loads the virtual management object information in ASCII format from the virtual management object DB, and converts the virtual management object information in text form into binary file data in advance and stores it. For example, there is a method of loading the converted data stored in the simulation. In addition, the virtual processor may load the virtual management object information using the response information returned from another SNMP management device operating the 'get next' PDU among the SNMP information through the data loading unit. As such, it is preferable that the virtual processor load the converted data by at least one of these methods through the data loading unit.

Thereafter, the virtual node simulation apparatus outputs a virtual result value related to the data loaded from the virtual processing unit, and transmits it to the SNMP management station through the SNMP management apparatus (S500). Accordingly, the SNMP management station can simulate the SNMP management device mounted on the network equipment in a virtual environment.

So far I looked at the center of the preferred embodiment for the present invention.

Those skilled in the art will understand that the present invention may be implemented in a modified form without departing from the essential characteristics of the present invention. Therefore, the disclosed embodiments should be considered in descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation. The scope of the present invention is shown in the claims rather than the foregoing description, and all differences within the scope will be construed as being included in the present invention.

As the present invention develops a virtual node simulation apparatus for testing the performance of the network management system, it can be used in the field of integrated control of the network in which such technology is implemented by efficiently managing the network management system.

1 is an exemplary diagram showing a typical configuration of a network management system;

2 is a block diagram of a virtual node simulation apparatus of a network management system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

3 is a detailed configuration diagram of a data loading unit according to the present invention;

4 is a flowchart of a virtual node simulation method of a network management system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

100: SNMP management station 200: SNMP management device

300: virtual processing unit 310: interface unit

311: CLI interface unit 330: data loading unit

350: OID data generation unit 370: conversion processing unit

390: CLI processing unit 391: Determination unit

393: generation unit 400: virtual management object DB

500: CLI DB 600: virtual node simulation device

Claims (7)

In the virtual node simulation apparatus for testing the performance of the network management system: A virtual management object DB for storing MIB-based virtual management object information related to SNMP information; When the SNMP information requested from the SNMP management station that manages the network of the network management system is installed for each network management system and received through an SNMP management device that collects and manages SNMP information, the virtual management object information is referred to as a virtual object. A virtual processor for outputting a result value of the transmitted value and transmitting the result value to the SNMP management station through the SNMP management device; Virtual node simulation apparatus comprising a. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual processing unit: An interface unit for communicating with the SNMP management device and transmitting / receiving data; A data loading unit which loads the converted data by referring to the virtual management object information stored in the virtual management object DB when the converted data is received through the interface unit; An OID data generation unit generating data corresponding to the OID by referring to virtual management object information stored in the virtual management object DB according to an OID request from the SNMP management device through the interface unit; A conversion processing unit converting the data processed by the data loading unit and the OID data generation unit into a defined type that can be recognized by the SNMP management station and transmitting the data through the interface unit; Virtual node simulation device comprising a. The method of claim 2, wherein the interface unit: And a CLI interface unit for outputting a command execution result input from a user computer. The method of claim 3, wherein the virtual processing unit: A CLI processing unit for generating a result value according to the command received from the CLI interface unit and retransmitting the CLI interface unit; The virtual node simulation device further comprising. The method of claim 4, wherein the virtual processing unit: It further includes a CLI DB that stores the execution result information related to the CLI command, The CLI processing unit, A judging unit which determines whether a command received from the CLI interface unit is a normal command; A generation unit for generating an execution result value related to the command by referring to the execution result information stored in the CLI DB when it is determined that the command is a normal command; Virtual node simulation apparatus comprising a. The method of claim 2, wherein the data loading unit: Load the virtual management object information in ASCII format from the virtual management object DB, convert the virtual management object information in text form into binary file data in advance, and load the converted file during simulation, or from another SNMP management device. The virtual node management apparatus configured to load the configured virtual management object information using the returned response information, characterized in that the loading to at least one of them. In the virtual node simulation method for testing the performance of the network management system: Receiving SNMP request information from an SNMP management station; Converting the received SNMP request information into recognizable data; Receiving the converted data and accordingly loading the converted data with reference to the MIB-based virtual management object information stored in the virtual management object DB; Outputting a virtual result value associated with the loaded data and transmitting it to the SNMP management station; Loading the converted data, outputting a virtual result value, and transmitting it to the SNMP management station; Virtual node simulation method comprising a.

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