CN1241754A - Network management method and system - Google Patents

Abstract

This paper discloses a network management method capable of reducing the amount of communication processing. A processing object for accessing child management objects included in a parent management object is recursively created according to the tree structure. Recursively return the information obtained by the child processing object to the parent processing object according to the tree structure. The collection of information received by the top management object instance is returned to the network manager. A network element device is added to the network as a management object through the collection of information stored in the management object instance corresponding to the network element device.

Description

Network management method and system

The present invention generally relates to a network management system, and specifically relates to a network management method and system for obtaining and setting configuration information of multiple management objects as network elements.

Generally, a network management system preferably adopts a hierarchical management strategy in order to efficiently manage a network composed of many network elements, including modems, terminals, transmission equipment, switches and the like. In fact, the network unit is managed by using the virtual management object data instance, which is a hierarchical tree structure for network management. Using such a tree structure, a network operator can easily identify each management object to perform required access processing such as necessary information setting and management information collection.

Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 5-191407 discloses a management information storage device designed to be able to reduce the number of retrieval operations. Counts the number of retrieval operations for each managed object. If the number of retrieval operations for a managed object exceeds a predetermined value, the identification name of the managed object is registered. When a management application requests a retrieval operation of the registered management object, the registration information of the management object is directly sent to the management interface without interfering with the management application. This makes it possible to reduce the number of retrieval operations for managed objects that have been accessed at frequent intervals, thereby reducing the burden on the management application.

However, in the case where the management object includes multiple sub-objects of itself, an operator terminal must access each sub-object included in the target management object based on the tree structure, thus increasing the communication between the operator terminal and the management system quantity.

In addition, in case a new network element is added to the network, conventional management systems cannot dynamically handle this change because the management operator has to use the tree structure information to create a management object instance for the added network element.

An object of the present invention is to provide a network management method and system capable of accessing a management object including a plurality of sub-objects to obtain and set configuration information thereof with fewer communication steps.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the method for managing a network composed of a plurality of management objects using management object instances hierarchically constituted by a containment relationship includes the steps of: a) receiving an access request from the manager to a specified management object instance, and specifying the management object instance Corresponding to the determined management object of the network; b) recursively create a processing object for accessing the management object included in the specified management object according to the inclusion relationship; c) recursively return the information obtained by the lower-level processing object to the higher-level processing objects; and d) assemble information received by the specified managed object instance back to the manager.

Recursively create a processing object to collect the information necessary for distributed data processing and return the aggregated information to the network manager. Therefore, the number of communication processes between the network manager and the network management system is dynamically reduced, thereby improving the performance of the network.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the method includes the steps of: a) detecting a network unit device added to the network; b) creating a management object instance corresponding to the network unit device; c) creating a processing object corresponding to the network unit device, Wherein the processing object recursively creates a sub-processing object for accessing a component included in the network unit device; d) recursively returns the information obtained by the lower-level processing object to the higher-level processing object according to the inclusion relationship; e) uses the Collect and store the information received by the processing object into the management object instance so as to add the network element device to the network as a management object; and f) report the added network element device to the network manager.

When a new network element device is connected to the network, the processing object of the network element device obtains the configuration information of the network element device components to automatically create a management object instance. Therefore, easier management operations can be realized.

1 is a block diagram showing a network management system according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram representing the format of a processing object;

Fig. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the first embodiment;

Fig. 4 is a flow chart showing the operation of the processing object of the first embodiment;

Fig. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a tree structure of a network for explaining the operation of the first embodiment;

6 is a block diagram showing a network management system according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the second embodiment;

Fig. 8 is a flow chart showing the operation of the processing object of the second embodiment;

Fig. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a network element device added to the network according to the second embodiment; and

Fig. 10 is an example diagram showing a tree structure of an instance of a management object for explaining the operation of the second embodiment.

first embodiment

Referring to FIG. 1 , for simplicity, the network management system according to the first embodiment of the present invention is schematically composed of a network manager 1 , a data processor 2 and a memory 3 . The network manager 1 sends requests for management operations to the data processor 2 and receives required management information from the data processor 2 . Data processor 2 uses memory 3 to perform requested management operations.

The data processor 2 includes a management object access processor 21 and a processing object controller 22 . The memory 3 includes a management object instance data section 31 and, if necessary, one or more processing objects 32 created by the processing object controller 22 . The management object instance data part 31 stores the physical configuration information of the network unit to be managed, and further logical information such as serial registration numbers, wherein the physical structure information includes data packets and communication ports.

The processing object 32 accesses the managed object instance part 31 to obtain data therefrom and writes the data into the managed object instance part 31 . The processing object 32 includes a processing object data storage section 321 and a processing section 322 . The processing object data memory section 321 stores its own attribute data and result data obtained by executing its own processing. The processing section 322 stores processing contents of the processing object 32 to be executed. Details of the processing object 32 will be described below with reference to FIG. 2 .

The management object access processor 21 receives a request for configuration information of a specified network element from the network manager 1 and immediately accesses the management object corresponding to the specified network element in the management object instance data section 31 of the memory 3 . The designated management object instance executes the process of obtaining its own configuration information. Thereafter, if the designated managed object instance includes at least one sub-instance, the designated managed object instance sends a request to the processed object controller 22 to create a processing object corresponding to the sub-instance. Upon receiving the request from the managed object instance, the processing object controller 22 creates a processing object 32 corresponding to each sub-instance in the memory 3 . The processing objects created in the memory 3 independently execute the processing of obtaining management information. It should be noted that if the processing object 32 must obtain the information of its child management object instances, the processing object 32 of each child management object instance is recursively created in the memory 3, which will be described later.

When the processing object 32 has obtained the necessary information, the processing object 32 sends the obtained information back to its parent processing object or the designated management object instance, and then deletes the processing object from the memory 3 .

In this way, it is possible to obtain management information of a specified management object instance and all its sub-instances while creating the processing object 32 by recursively accessing them.

As shown in FIG. 2, the processing object controller 22 creates a processing object 32 when a specified managed object instance is requested. The processing object 32 consists of the following units:

the processing object ID used to identify the processing object of interest;

A pointer to the specified managed object instance;

In case of recursive processing, a pointer to the parent processing object of the processing object of interest;

A list of child processing objects (here, there are three objects) created based on the containment relationship of the network element to be managed: and

The execution result of the processing object of interest.

In FIG. 2, the managed object access processor 21 receives a request including the type of processing, an identification (ID) specifying the instance of the processing object, and parameters representing information to be obtained or set. If the designated managed object instance includes three sub-instances as shown in FIG. 2 , the designated managed object instance sends a request to the processed object controller 22 to create a processing object 32 corresponding to the sub-instance. When receiving a request from a managed object instance, the processing object controller 22 creates three processing objects 32 corresponding to the sub-instances in the memory 3 . Each of the three child processing objects 32 has the same format as the parent processing object 32 .

Referring to Fig. 3, when receiving the request of obtaining/setting the configuration information of the management object instance from the network manager 1, the management object access processor 21 searches the management object instance data part 31 of the specified management object instance according to the tree structure (step A1) . After finding the specified managed object instance, the managed object access processor 21 sends an execution request of the specified managed object instance to execute processing of obtaining or setting its configuration information (step A2).

When an execution request is received from the managed object access processor 21, the designated managed object instance determines whether to fill it with the executed request or must access its child managed object instance (step A3).

If the execution request must visit the child management object instance (yes in the step A3), the designated management object instance just sends the processing object creation request to the processing object controller 22, and the processing object controller 22 creates the processing object 32 in the memory 3 (step A4) . As described above, when a plurality of child management object instances are included, a plurality of processing objects corresponding to the child management object instances are respectively created.

Next, the created processing object 32 accesses the corresponding sub-management object instance to obtain its configuration information. The resulting configuration information is sent back to the designated managed object instance that has requested to create its own processing object 32 (step A5).

When the execution request is filled therein (no in step A3) or when step A5 has been completed, the designated management object instance obtains its own configuration information and the result information including the sub-management object is sent back to the management object access processor 21 ( Step A6). Finally, the managed object access processor 21 reports the obtained result to the network manager 1 (step A7).

Referring to FIG. 4, the processing object 32 created in step A4 accesses the specified management object instance to obtain or set the configuration information of the sub-management object instance of interest and stores the execution result in the processing object data memory section 321 (step B1).

Subsequently, it is determined whether the sub-processing object must be used to access the configuration information of the sub-management object instance (step B2). If it is necessary to access the sub-management object instance (yes in the step B2), the processing object 32 requires to create one or more sub-processing objects of the processing object controller 22, and the processing object controller 22 creates a required sub-processing object in the memory 3 ( Step B3). The processing object 32 requests access processing of sub-processing objects to obtain or set its configuration information (step B4) and waits for execution results received from all sub-processing objects (steps B5 and B6).

When the execution results have been received from all the child processing objects (Yes in Step B6), the obtained results are stored in the processing object data memory section 321 (Step B7).

When it is not necessary to access the child management object instance (No in step B2) or step B7 has been completed, it is determined whether there is a parent processing object by checking the pointer of the parent processing object stored in the processing object data memory section 321 (step B8). If there is a parent processing object (Yes in step B8), the obtained result is transferred from the processing object data storage section 321 to the parent processing object (step B9). If the parent processing object does not exist (NO in step B8), the obtained result is transferred from the processing object data storage section 321 to the designated managed object instance (step B10). Finally, after completing step B9 or step B10, the processing object 32 is deleted from the memory 3 (step B11).

An example of a network management program according to the first embodiment will be described below.

Referring to FIG. 5, consider a tree structure including network 1 (management object), network 1 is composed of node 1 and node 2, node 1 is further composed of data packets pkg1 and pkg2, node 2 is further composed of data packets pkg3 and pkg4. Assume that the managed object access processor 21 receives a request from the network manager 1 to acquire configuration information of all units included in the network 1 .

The management object access processor 21 searches the management object instance data part 31 (step A1) of the specified management object instance (here, the network 1) according to the tree structure and sends a request for obtaining the configuration information of the network 1 to the network manager 1 (step A2) .

Since the request is to obtain configuration information of the network 1, the network 1 requests creation of the processing object obj1 from the processing object controller 22 (steps A3 and A4). Subsequently, the network 1 requests configuration information of all included child management object instances from the processing object obj1 (step A5).

When a configuration information obtaining request is received from the network 1, the processing object obj1 obtains the configuration information of the network 1 and stores the obtained information in the processing object data memory section 321 (step B1).

Since the network 1 includes management object instances corresponding to the nodes 1 and 2, the processing object obj1 requests from the processing object controller 22 to create processing objects obj2 and obj3 (step B3). The processing object obj1 issues a request to obtain configuration information to the processing objects obj2 and obj3 and waits for their responses (steps B4 and B5).

Similarly, each processing object obj2 and obj3 obtains configuration information of nodes 1 and 2 and stores the obtained information. In addition, the processing object obj2 requests from the processing object controller 22 to create processing objects obj4 and obj5 to obtain its configuration information and the processing object obj3 requests from the processing object controller 22 to create processing objects obj6 and obj7 to obtain its configuration information. As shown in FIG. 5, the processing object obj4 obtains the configuration information of pkg1 and the processing object obj5 obtains the configuration information of pkg2. The same procedure is performed for the other processing objects obj6 and obj7.

Since pkg1 to pkg4 corresponding to the processing objects obj4 to obj7 are located at the bottom of the tree structure, the processing objects obj4 and obj5 report the resulting configuration information to the parent processing object obj2 and the processing objects obj6 and obj7 report the resulting configuration to the parent processing object obj3 information (step B9). After the processing objects obj4 to obj7 have transferred the obtained configuration information to obj2 and obj3, obj4 to obj7 are deleted from the memory 3 by the processing object controller 22 (step B11).

When obj2 has stored all configuration information of obj4 and obj5, the obtained configuration information stored in the processing object data memory section 321 is sent back to the parent processing object obj1 (steps B8 and B9). After obj2 has transferred the obtained configuration information to obj1, obj2 is deleted from the memory 3 by the processing object controller 22 (step B11). Similarly, when obj3 has stored all configuration information of obj6 and obj7, the obtained configuration information stored in the processing object data storage section 321 is sent back to the parent processing object obj1 (steps B8 and B9). After obj3 has transferred the obtained configuration information to obj1, obj3 is deleted from the memory 3 by the processing object controller 22 (step B11).

Finally, obj1 reports the configuration information obtained from all sub-processing objects to the specified management object instance (network 1) (step B10). Next, obj1 is deleted from the memory 3 by the processing object controller 22 (step B11).

The managed object access processor 21 processes the configuration information of the network 1 and reports the processing result to the network 1 (step A7).

second embodiment

Referring to Fig. 6, the network management system according to the second embodiment of the present invention is schematically composed of a network manager 1, a data processor 4 and a memory 3, wherein the same parts as the circuit modules described above with reference to Fig. 1 are marked with the same , and their descriptions are omitted.

The data processor 4 is composed of a device detector 23 and a device information access controller 24 as well as a management object access processor 21 and a processing object controller 22 . Assuming that a network element device 5 is newly added to the network, the device detector 23 detects the network element device 5 and notifies the management object access processor 21 of the addition of the network element device 5 to create a management object instance corresponding to the network element device 5 . For the request of the processing object 32, the device information access controller 24 executes the processing of obtaining the configuration information from the network element device 5 and returns the obtained configuration information of the network element device 5 to the processing object 32 requesting the information.

Referring to FIG. 7, when a network element device 5 is newly added to the network, the device detector 23 detects the network element device 5 and notifies the management object access processor 21 of the addition of the network element device 5 (step C1).

When knowing the addition of the network element device 5, the management object access processor 21 creates a management object instance corresponding to the network element device 5 in the memory 3 (step C2). In this case, components such as communication and power supply packets included in the network element device 5 should be managed. The management object access processor 21 issues a request to create the processing object 32 corresponding to the network element device 5 (step A4).

Thereafter, the processing object 32 sends a request to the device information access controller 24 to obtain the configuration information of the network element device 5 . For the request of the processing object 32, the device information access controller 24 performs a process of obtaining configuration information from the network element device 5 and returns the obtained configuration information of the network element device 5 to the processing object 32 requesting the information (step A5). Details of step A5 in the second embodiment will be described below.

When step A5 is completed, the management object instance is designated to store the result information received from the processing object 32 (step A6). Finally, the managed object access processor 21 reports the joining of the network element device 5 to the network manager 1 (step A7).

Referring to FIG. 8, details of step A5 will be described below. Since steps B2 to B11 are similar to those in FIG. 4, their description is relatively simple.

When receiving the obtained configuration information of the network element device 5 from the device information access controller 24 (step D1), the processing object 32 determines whether a corresponding management object instance has been created in the memory 3 (step D2). If the corresponding management object instance has not been created (No in step D2), create a management object instance (step D3).

Subsequently, the process object 32 requests the creation of child process objects of the process object controller 22 . Then, the processing object 32 requires the access processing of the sub-processing object to obtain the configuration information of the corresponding part of the network element device 5 . Thereafter, the processing object 32 waits for execution results received from all child processing objects (steps B2-B6).

When step B7 is completed, it is determined whether there is a parent processing object by checking the pointer of the parent processing object stored in the processing object data memory section 321 (step B8). If there is a parent processing object (Yes in step B8), the obtained result is transferred from the processing object data storage section 321 to the parent processing object (step B9). If the parent processing object does not exist (NO in step B8), the obtained result is transferred from the processing object data storage section 321 to the designated managed object instance (step B10). Finally, after completing step B9 or step B10, the processing object 32 is deleted from the memory 3 (step B11).

An example of a network management program according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10 .

Referring to FIG. 9 , it is assumed that the network unit device node 3 is composed of power supply data packets and communication data packets, and each data packet has three communication ports.

When the network element device node 3 is connected to the network, the device detector 23 detects the network element device node 3 and notifies the management object access processor 21 of the addition of the network element device node 3 (step C1).

When knowing the addition of the network element device node 3, the management object access processor 21 creates a management object instance node 3 in the memory 3 as shown in FIG. 10 (step C2). To create management object instances corresponding to packets and ports, the management object instance node 3 requires creation of the processing object 32 of the management object instance node 3 itself for the processing object controller 22 (step A4).

The processing object 32 of the management object instance node 3 obtains the configuration information of the network element device node 3 from the device information access controller 24 (step D1). Thereafter, the processing object 32 determines whether a corresponding managed object instance has been created in the memory 3 (step D2).

Since the corresponding management object instance has been created (Yes in step D2), the processing object 32 requests to create a child processing object of the processing object controller 22 (steps D2, B2, B3). In this case, the respective sub-processing objects correspond to management object instances compkg1 to compkg3 (communication packets 1-3) and powerpkg (power supply packets) included in the node 3 .

Each processing object of compkg1-compkg3 requires to obtain the included communication data packet and the configuration information of the communication port from the device information access controller 24 (step D1). Since the corresponding management object instances compkg1 to compkg3 have not been created (No in step D2), these management object instances are created according to the obtained communication data packet and configuration information of the communication port (step D3).

Subsequently, each sub-processing object corresponding to the communication port is created (step B3). Access processing of sub-processing objects is required to obtain configuration information of corresponding components (step B4).

Thereafter, the processing object 32 waits for execution results received from all sub-processing objects of the port (steps B5 and B6). When the execution result is received from the child processing object of the port, the obtained execution result is sent back to the parent processing object (step B9).

Similarly, the processing object of powerpkg requests its own configuration information from the device information access controller 24 (step D1). After the management object instance is created according to the obtained configuration information (step D3), the execution result is sent back to the parent processing object (steps B2, B8 and B9). Finally, after B9 has been completed, the processing objects of compkg1 to compkg3 and powerpkg are deleted from the memory 3 (step B11).

The processing object 32 of the node 3 that receives the execution result from the sub processing objects of compkg1 to compkg3 and powerpkg reports the execution result of the sub processing object to the management object instance node 3 (step B10) and deletes the processing object 32 from the memory 3 (step B11 ).

The management object instance node 3 stores the result information received from the processing object 32 (step A6). Finally, the managed object access processor 21 reports the joining of the network element device 5 to the network manager 1 (step A7).

In the manner described above, when a new network element device is added to the network, the processing object of the network element device obtains the configuration information of the network element device so as to automatically create a management object instance according to the obtained configuration information. Thus, management operations can be initiated without a network manager creating management object instances of components of the network element device.

As described above, according to the present invention, a processing object is recursively created by distributing data processing to collect necessary information and send the collected information back to the network manager. Therefore, the amount of communication processing between the network manager and the network management system is greatly reduced, thereby improving the performance of the system.

In addition, according to the present invention, when a new network element device is connected to the network, the processing object of the network element device obtains the configuration information of the network element device components to automatically create a management object instance therefor. Therefore, easier management operations can be realized.

Claims (10)

1. A method for managing a network composed of a plurality of managed objects using a managed object instance hierarchically constituted by a containment relationship, the method comprising the steps of: a) receiving an access request for a specified management object instance from the manager, and the specified management object instance corresponds to a certain management object of the network; It is characterized by the steps: b) recursively create a processing object for accessing the management objects included in the specified management object according to the inclusion relationship; c) recursively return the information obtained by the lower-level processing object to the higher-level processing object according to the inclusion relationship; and d) Assembling information received through the specified managed object instance is returned to the manager. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein step (b) comprises the steps of: create a processing object that stores the processing object ID, a pointer to the specified managed object instance, a pointer to the parent processing object, and a list of child processing objects; and If the sub-processing object list includes at least one sub-processing object, a processing object corresponding to each sub-processing object included in the sub-processing object list is created. 3. The method of claim 2, wherein step (c) comprises the steps of: collect information for each sub-processing object; and The collection of information is returned to the parent process object by a pointer referencing the parent process object. 4. A method for managing a network composed of a plurality of managed objects by using a managed object instance hierarchically constituted by a containment relationship, the method comprising the steps of: a) detecting network element devices added to the network; and b) create a management object instance corresponding to the network unit device; It is characterized by the steps: c) creating a processing object corresponding to the network element device, wherein the processing object recursively creates a sub-processing object for accessing components included in the network element device; d) Recursively return the information obtained by the lower-level processing object to the higher-level processing object according to the inclusion relationship; e) collect and store the information received by the processing object into the management object instance so as to add the network element device to the network as a management object; and f) Report the added network element equipment to the network manager. 5. The method of claim 4, wherein step (c) comprises the steps of: create a processing object storing the processing object identity, a pointer to the management object instance, a pointer to the parent processing object, and a list of child processing objects; and If the sub-processing object list includes at least one sub-processing object, a processing object corresponding to each sub-processing object included in the sub-processing object list is created. 6. The method of claim 5, wherein step (d) comprises the step of: collect information for each sub-processing object; and The collection of information is returned to the parent process object by a pointer referencing the parent process object. 7. A system for managing a network composed of multiple management objects, including: network manager; and A storage for storing multiple management object instances hierarchically constituted by a containment relationship, each management object instance corresponding to a different management object; It is characterized by A processor is used to search the memory of the management object instance specified by the access request received from the network manager, and is used to recursively create a processing object for accessing the management object included in the specified management object according to the inclusion relationship and compare The information obtained by the low-level processing objects is returned recursively to the higher-level processing objects, and is used to aggregate the information received by the specified management object instance back to the network manager. 8. The system of claim 7, wherein the processor creates a processing object storing a processing object identifier, a pointer to a management object instance, a pointer to a parent processing object, and a list of child processing objects; and if the list of child processing objects includes at least one The sub-processing object creates a processing object corresponding to each sub-processing object included in the sub-processing object list. 9. The system of claim 8, wherein the processor collects information from each child processing object and aggregates the information back to the parent processing object via a pointer referencing the parent processing object. 10. A system for managing a network composed of multiple management objects, comprising: network manager; A detector, used to detect network unit devices added to the network; an access controller, configured to access the network element equipment to obtain information about the network element equipment; and A storage for storing multiple management object instances hierarchically constituted by a containment relationship, each management object instance corresponding to a different management object; It is characterized by a processor, configured to create a management object instance corresponding to the network unit device and a processing object corresponding to the network unit device, wherein the processing object recursively creates a sub-processing object for accessing components included in the network unit device through the access controller, And it is used to recursively return the information obtained by the lower-level processing object to the higher-level processing object according to the inclusion relationship, and is used to gather and store the information received by the management object into the management object instance so as to add the network unit device to the network as a management object, And report the added network element equipment to the network manager.

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