GB2349963A

GB2349963A - Network supervision with display of free ports

Info

Publication number: GB2349963A
Application number: GB9910844A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Russell K Bulmer; Christopher Robert Linzell
Original assignee: 3Com Corp
Current assignee: 3Com Corp
Priority date: 1999-05-10
Filing date: 1999-05-10
Publication date: 2000-11-15
Anticipated expiration: 2019-05-10
Also published as: GB2349963A8; GB9910844D0; GB2349963B

Abstract

In a network supervision arrangement, each network component such as a workstation, server, hub or router is interrogated, 100, to detect its identity, total number of ports and number of free ports. The information collected is stored, 104, and displayed, 107, 108, in tabular form (Fig 2).

Description

2349963 SUPERVISING A NETWORK BAC KGROUND OF TBE R,4WNTION The present

invention relates to supervising a network, that is a network of electronic "components comprising, for example, workstations, personal computers, servers, hubs, routers, bridges, switches, (hereinafter referred to as components of the network), and links between these components which may be in the form of physical cable or wireless links. The network may be a local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN) or other types and may operate in accordance with any desired protocol.

After such a network has been installed, it is desirable for the person appointed network manager to be able to understand the technical operation of the network.

In known network management systems, the manner in which the relevant data is retrieved from the managed devices, compiled and displayed has been problematic in several respects. Firstly, the data received from each of the managed devices is simply compiled and displayed as a list of data for the user to interpret. Secondly, the data does not provide information about unmanaged devices. Thirdly, information about a given network device, such as the type of device, location of the device on the network and operating speed of the device, may be contained in different sections of the compiled data. Consequently, conventional systems are cumbersome and difficult to use.

In our co-pending UK patent applications numbers...... I I I I ...... I (our case numbers 2345, 2348, 2351, 2352, 2450, 2451,2455, 2456 filed concurrently herewith) and which are incorporated herein, we describe various arrangements for providing automatic interrogation of the network to thereby produce a network map which may be displayed on a visual display unit showing the I components and links between the components. At its simplest, and where the component is a "managed" component, this is usually provided by interrogation using a known protocol, such as the SNNT protocol, of the so-called 'agent' of each component which stores the components unique MAC address, the type of component and the MAC addresses the components which are connected to the ports directly or indirectly.

It is desirable in the supervising capacity to be able to determine the availability of free ports, particular where it is desired to modify the network. Normally this requires tracing of free ports manually by physically examining each component of the network.

This can clearly be a labourious process.

SUNB4ARY OF THE EVENTION The present invention provides a computer program on a computer readable medium for use in supervising a network, said program, comprising; program means for accessing information relating to the components of the network; program means for detecting, for a component, the number of free ports; program means for converting said information into a form to provide a visual display on a visual display apparatus representing the component; whereby said program causes said visual display apparatus to provide a visual image for the component, said visual image indicating the number of free ports in said component.

The present invention also provides a method of supervising a network comprising:

detecting, for a component of the network, the number of free ports of the component; 2 providing a visual image relating to the component; whereby, said visual image indicates the number of free ports in said component.

The present invention also provides network supervising apparatus comprising:

processor unit to interrogate components of a network, and a store, in use, storing information provided by the interrogation, a visual display unit connectable with said store and including processor apparatus to convert the information in said store into a visual display on said visual display apparatus to provide a visual image relating to at least one of said components, said visual image indicating the number of free ports in said component.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A preferred embodiment of the invention wiU now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure I is a diagrammatic view of a network incorporating a preferred embodiment of the invention, 20 Figure 2 is a view of a display provided on a visual display apparatus of the network of Figure 1, and Figure 3 sets out the steps of a program according to a preferred embodiment of the invention. 25 DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODUVIENT

Referring to Figure I there is shown a network 10 comprising a plurality of components in the form of a network supervisor's workstation or computer 11, other workstations 12B - E, hubs 13A, 13B, and switch 14. The network is a simple 3 network and is set out for purposes of illustration only. Other configurations and arrangements, may be used.

The components are connected together by means of links 16A - H which may be hard wired and utilise any desired protocol, and link I6F which is a wireless link.

The network supervisor's workstation includes, in addition to a visual display unit 18, a central processing unit or signal processor 19, a selector which may be in the form of a mouse 22, a program store 21 which may comprise, for example, a CD drive, a floppy disk drive or a zip drive, and a memory 17 for storing a program which may have been loaded from the program store 21 or downloaded for example via Internet from a website.

By means which is disclosed in the co-pending patent applications referred to above, the network supervisor's computer 11 may interrogate and analyse the network, and store in the memory 17 the information relating to the components within the network and the links between the components. In essence, "managed" components include a so-called agent which stores information about the component such as its unique MAC number, its 11) which identifies what the component is and what model type it is, how many ports it has and how they are connected, and the address to which at least some of the ports are connected. The computer 11 interrogates the agents of each component.

The computer 11 may, on manual command, process signals from the memory 17 by the signal processor 19 and provide on the visual display unit 18 a network map showing each of the components and the links therebetween.

In particular in this case, the agents of the components are interrogated so as to provide, for each component, a list of the number of ports, the number of ports which 4 are in use, and the number of ports which are free, as weft as details of the identification of the particular component. Free ports are ports of the component which are not actively connected to another component.

The computer I I processes this information to provide a display on the visual display unit 18 in the form of a table as shown in Figure 2, in which an individual row (RI - -'P,13) is provided for each component, and in successive columns (C I - C4) in the row, information as follows is indicated:

IP address, type of component, total ports, ports available (ie free ports) The total number of ports in all of the components in the network is listed in Figure 2 and equals 363, and the total number of ports available for use equals 303 (83.5%).

As a result the network supervisor is provided with extra information about the network. It allows the network manager to plan better for increasing the size of the network or changing its configuration, allowing the supervisor to formulate a strategy for the growth of the network, rather than have to act reactively every time the network becomes full. It also allows the promotion of a network systems solution to an ongoing problem rather than a single device sale to solve the immediate need.

The data is presented to the user on the video display in a common document format and the user can easily print or store this information for future reference.

We have described how the network may be supervised. The method of the invention may be carried out under the control of the network supervisor's workstation or computer and in particular by means of a program controlling the signal processor apparatus of that computer or elsewhere in the system.

The program for controlling the operation of the invention may be provided on a computer readable mediurr such as a CD, or a floppy disk, or a zip drive disk carrying the program or their equivalent, or may be provided on a computer or computer memory carrying the website of, for example, the supplier of the network products.

"The program may be downloade& from whichever appropriate source and used to control the processor to carry out the steps of the invention as described.

The program illustrated in Figure 3 may include, program means (100) for interrogating the agents of each component; program means (10 1) for detecting the identity (ID) of each component; program means (102) for determining for each component the total number of ports; program means (103) for determining for each component the number of free ports; program means (104) for storing this information; program means (105) for accessing information relating to the components of the network and the links between these components; program means (106) for converting said information into a form to provide a visual display on said visual display apparatus representing the components of the network-, program means (107) for providing a visual image relating to each component; and said program means (108) for forming visual images as a table indicating the total number of ports in each said component, the number of free ports in each said component, and its identification.

The steps (100), (10 1), (102), (103) may be provided by another program and steps (101) and (103) are optional.

The invention is not restricted to the details of the foregoing example.

6

Claims

1. A computer program on a computer readable medium for use in supervising a network said program comprising; program means for accessing information relating to the components of the network; program means for deteding, for a component, the number of free ports; program means for converting said information into a form to provide a visual display on a visual display apparatus representing the component; whereby said program causes said visual display apparatus to provide a visual image for the component, said visual image indicating the number of free ports in said component.

2. A computer program as claimed in claim 1 in which said visual image also is indicates the number of ports in said component.

3. A computer program as claimed in claim 1 or 2 in which a similar visual image is provided for each component and a visual image for each said component comprises a row or column of a table.

4. A computer program as claimed in claim 2 or 3 in which said program means for detecting, for each component, the number of ports and the number of connected or free ports, comprises program means for interrogating an agent on each component where information regarding the component is stored.

5. A computer program as claimed in any of claims 1 to 4 in which each said visual image includes means identifying said component.

6. A computer program as claimed in claim 5 in which the means identifying said 7 1 component comprises its ID number.

7. A computer program as claimed in claim 5 or 6 in which the means identifying said -component comprises a description of the type of the component. 5

8. A method of supervising a network comprising: detecting, for a component of the network the number of free ports of the component; providing a visual image relating to the component; whereby, said visual image indicates the number of free ports in said component.

9. A method as claimed in claim 8 including detecting the number of ports in the component, and said visual image indicates the total number of ports in said component.

10. A method as claimed in claim 8 or 9 in which a similar visual image is provided for each component and a visual image for each said component comprises a row or column of a table.

11. A method as claimed in claim 8, 9 or 10 in which said program means for detecting, for each component, the number of ports and the number of connected or free ports, comprises program means for interrogating an agent on said components where information regarding the component is stored.

12. A method as claimed in any of claims 8 to 11 in which each said visual image includes means identifying said component.

13. A method as claimed in claim 12 in which the means identifying said 8 0.

component comprises its ID number.

14. A method as claimed in claim 12 or 13 in which the means identifying said component comprises a description of the type of the component.

15. A method as claimed in any of claims 8 to 14 in which the method is controlled by means of a computer program---.

16. A computer program on a computer readable medium loadable into a digital computer, said computer program comprising software for performing the steps of any of claims 8 to 14.

17. Network supervising apparatus comprising:

processor unit to interrogate components of a network, and is a store, in use, storing information provided by the interrogation, a visual display unit connectable with said store and including processor apparatus to convert the information in said store into a visual display on said visual display apparatus to provide a visual image relating to at least one of said components, said visual image indicating the number of free ports in said component.

18. Network supervising apparatus as claimed in claim 17 in which said processor converts information so as to provide a visual image which indicates for each said component the total number of ports.

19. Network supervising apparatus as claimed in claim 17 or 18 in which said visual image for each said component comprises a row or column of a table.

20. Network supervising apparatus as claimed in claims 18 or 19 in which said processor is adapted to interrogate an agent on each component where information 9 1 4 1 regarding the component is stored.

21. Network supervising apparatus as claimed in any of claims 17 to 20 in which each said visual image includes means identifying said component.

22. Network supervising apparatus as claimed in claim 21 in which the means identifying said component comprises its ED number.

23. Network supervising apparatus as claimed in claim 21 or 22 in which the means identifying said component comprises a description of the type of the component.