GB2364472A - Generic module to facilitate extension of a network management portal - Google Patents

Abstract

A system for providing a generic module (220) that facilitates extension of a network management portal (210), the portal providing a centralized view into the overall health of the network. A systems administrator (201) does not need to code the generic module; that is, the portal can be non-programmatically extended. After the administrator configures an XML configuration file (205) with the appropriate tags, the portal invokes the generic module to display any one or more of the following: embedded html, external html file, output from an OS command or contents of a URL.

Description

2364472 GENERIC MODULE TO FACILITATE EXTENSION OF A NETWORK MANAGEMENT

PORTAL

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which

5 is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile 0 0 reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to network systems and more particularly to a system and method for providing a generic module that facilitates 7 Z.7 extension of a network management portal.

15 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

As computer networks have become more prevalent in corporate environments, network management software, which has the ability to solve a number of network problems automatically and remotely, has become crucial. One of the major goals of any efficient network administration setup is to accommodate the rapid pace in 20 which networks are growing.

Network manaoement software typically manages and automates administrative tasks across multiple machines in a network. Typical network management software allows administrators to run real-time diagnostics, provides real-time measurements, creates reports, logs events, filters events and generates alerts when performance criteria 25 match predetermined conditions, installs applications and remotely configures multiple managed nodes.

The growth in network usage continues at a rapid pace. In addition to 1 HP CASE 010001297 traditional uses such as e-mail and file sharing, networks are asked to handle audio and video traffic, especially those net-works that are connected to the Internet. The number of users per network is also increasing. Thus, manageability of the network is straining current manaaement techniques.

5 Current network management systems do not provide a centralized tool to view the health of the network. Typically, the systems administrator needs to run several tools and/or programs to view portions of the overall network health. There is a need in the field of network management to provide a centralized view into health of the network. Additionally, administrators need the capability to customize and extend this 10 centralized view.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a system and method for providing a generic module that facilitates extension of a network management por-tal. One feature 15 of the present invention is that it provides a centralized view into the overall health of the network. Another feature of the present invention is the fact that the administrator does not need to code the generic module.

The present invention utilizes)CAL (Extensible Markup Language) which permits the user/administrator' to integrate new generic modules without programming,.

20 XML is a meta-markup language that allows semantic tags to be defined as one goes along. A unique document type definition (DTD) is provided to implement the present system and method.

I The terms "user' and "administrator" are used throughout the specification to indicate the person which actually uses the present invention. Typically, this person is the network management system operator. But other users are contemplated by the present invention,

2 HP CASE #10001297 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRANVINGS

FIG. 1 shows a network, including, multiple network nodes, on which the present invention is disposed.

5 FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of the present system for providing the generic module that facilitates extension of a network management portal.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

A novel system and method for providing a generic module that facilitates 10 extension of a network, management portal is described in detail hereinafter. Although the illustrative embodiment is described in the context of a various commercial products, namely Hewlett Packard's Network Node Manager products, it is to be understood that their inclusion in the description of the illustrative embodiment is intended by way of example only and not limitation. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that as 15 various other commercial and/or custom-developed products become available that provide the essential functionality required to implement the invention, that these alternative products may be employed to implement the invention in place of the commercial products described herein.

Briefly, the present invention provides a generic module that facilitates 20 extension of a network management portal. One feature of the present invention is that it provides a centralized view into the overall health of the network. Another feature of the present invention is the fact that the administrator does not need to code the generic module; that is, the portal can be non-programmatically extended.

including business managers, customer-care providers, etc.

3 HP CASE #10001297 After the administrator configures an XML configuration file with the appropriate tags, the portal invokes the generic module to display any one or more of the following: embedded html, external html file, output from an OS command or contents of a URL.

5 FIG. I is a block diagram of a network 100, which includes a plurality of computers, or network nodes, I 10- 114 in communication with one another via a network 120. In the illustrative embodiment, each of computers 110-114 runs a distributed, client server operating system that is capable of running on multiple hardware architectures and platforms, which can be either HP-UX or MS Windows NT. Network 100 includes one 10 network node I 10 that operates as a managing console, executing managing console 1 1 software 130. Nodes 111-114 are managed nodes.

Managing, console software 130 is a proactive network system management software package that allows administrators to, among other things, automatically deploy policies to every managed node 111-114. In the illustrative 15 embodiment, managing console software is HP's OpenView Network Node Mana er, _ 111) 9 which enables enterprise-wide administration of the operating system which is employed ID by the network 100, within a centralized, highly scaleable architecture capable of managing thousands of local and/or remote machines.

Managing console software 130 has the capability of displaying, via a 20 centralized portal, the health of the network 100. This portal (not shown) is predetermined but with the added feature of being extensible via a generic module.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of the present system for providing the generic module that facilitates extension of a network management portal. The, 4 HP CASE #10001297 administrator 201 edits a UserConfig.XML file 205 to his or her specifications. This )2YIL file follows the syntax of a unique document type definition (DTD) that is provided to implement the present system and method. The DTD is listed below in Table 1.

Using the XML tags that the administrator 201 used to configure the 5 configuration file 205, a portal 2 10 instantiates and invokes three primary routines on a generic module 220. In a preferred embodiment, these routines are initializeo, getTitleo and displayo and are defined in the OVModule.h header file.

The initializeo routine receives a DOM element from the portal 210. This DOM element contains the current XML configuration tree. In a preferred embodiment, 10 the routine simply returns control to the portal without changing anything. The getTitleo routine passes the title of the generic module 220 (which is defined by the user 20 1) to the portal 210. The displayo routine represents the heart of the generic module; this C.

routine is responsible for controlling the mechanisms which the administrator 201 can use to non-programmatically extend the portal 210. A preferred embodiment of the Z 15 displayo routine is listed in Appendix A.

HP CASE #10001297 The generic module is configured using the XML DTD listed in Table 1.

Table 1 - Generic Module DTD <-Copyright 1999-2000 Hewlett-Packard Company <! ELEMENT Generic (Extension+)> <! ATTLIST Generic id CDATA #IMPLIED title CDATA #REQUIRED htmlHelpPath CDATA #IMPLIED xmins:xlink CDATA #FIXED http://w"v.w3.org/1999/xlink/namespace/ <!ELEIVIENT Extension EMPTY> <!ATTLIST Extension id CDATA #IMPLIED xmlns:xlink CDATA #FIXED http://Nv,.vw.w3.org/1999/xlink/namespace/ xlink-:type CDATA #FIXED "simple" x1ink:href CDATA #IMPLIED xlink:show CDATA #FIXED "onLoad" xlink-:actuate CDATA //FIXED "embed" title CDATA #REQUIRED status CDATA #IMPLIED type CDATA "text/plain" data CDATA #IMPLIED inline (yesino) "no" scrolling (autolyesino) "auto" height CDATA "100" hrefrext CDATA "click here" 5 The GENERIC element defines an instance of the present generic module.

hi a preferred embodiment, the four attributes associated with the GENERIC element are ccld," "title," "htmlHelpPath" and "xmlns:xliriL" The id attribute is a user-defined identifier for the element. This attribute facilitates browser client side script routines to manipulate the DOM. As indicated in Table 1, this attn'bute is not required. The title 10 attribute is required and is the name displayed on the module banner. The htmlHelpPath attribute defines a path where help can be found for this module. A question button is displayed right-justified from the title and is user-selectable, providing a run time link to the appropriate html file. A run time link is required since service providers using the GENERIC module will be creatiric, extensions on the fly. The xmlns:xlink attribute points 6 HP CASE #10001297 to the XI-ink namespace associated with the listed URI. This URI is updated from time to time.

Each GENERIC element may contain one or more EXTENSION elements. The EXTENSION element is an XML element representative of an area of the 5 Generic module. In a preferred embodiment, the EXTENSION has 14 attributes. Like the GENERIC element, the EXTENSION element has id, title and xmlns-.xlink attributes.

The xlink:type attribute specifies a predetermined fixed attribute value of "simple." No other specification in)CML is needed the user. The attribute xlink:href can have one of three values: a command line to execute, the name of a file to output or a

10 URL to embed. The syntax of this attribute can be one of the following:

command: <cmdline> file: <filename> http: <URL syntax> 15 The attribute xlink:show has a fixed value of "onLoad." Since this attribute is fixed, it does not need to be specified by the user. If the href value is supplied in XML, then the href contents will be displayed when the portal is displayed for the user.

The attribute xlink:actuate has a fixed value of "embed." This indicates that the contents of the href show be embedded in the document content when the portal is displayed for the user. The status attribute is a value displayed ri-ht-justified from the title of the

Z.

EXTENSION element, The status attribute may be any valid data field (e.g., text, graphics, html, etc.).

The type attribute indicates what type of output a command will generate based on standard mime types. The type attribute is only utilized for xlink:href 25 "command:" reference. There are tNvo references for this attribute:

7 HP CASE #10001297 (1) text/plain - the output from the command is pure ASCII text; in this mode, the GEN-ERIC element will prefix the command's output with the html tag <pre> and will append the html tag </pre> after the com-mand completes; this wrapping is necessary to support non-html output.

(2) text/litml - the output from the command contains html text; there is no wrapping of the output.

I The data attribute is indicative of html output constrained by 10 predetermined rules discussed below. The inline attribute can be set to either "no" or "yes." This indicates whether Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0/5.0- specific <IFRAME> tags should be utilized. For non-IE browsers, a standard <A> tag will always be I displayed. The default is "no." The scrolling attribute can be set to any of the followin 1 9 three values: "auto," "yes" or "no," The default is "auto." The value of the scrolling 15 attribute is only used when the xlink:href contains a URL and the inline attnibute is set to "yes." Other-wise, no scrollbars will be used ("no") or control is passed to IE to deten-nine whether scrollbars will be displayed ("auto").

The height attribute is indicative of the height in pixels that will be used for an xlink-href attribute specifying a URL (and the inline attribute set to "yes"), The 20 hrefrext attribute represents the text for an html <A> anchor tag. This attribute is only used if the value of the xllnk--href is "http-." The default for the hrefText attribute is the proverbial "click here."

Note well that the EXTENSION element may have one, both or neither of the xlink:href and data attributes present. If both attributes are present, the xlink:href 25 attribute is processed first, followed by processing of the data attribute. If neither attribute 8 HP CASE #10001297 is present, the value of the title attribute is the only textual output for the EXTENSION element.

With respect to both embedded html and external html files, the user should avoid using "header"tags (e.g., <HTML>, <HEAD>, and <BODY>) since the 5 portal will provide these tags. Embedded htmI must conform to the rules of the XML DTD CDATA type. The value of embedded htmI may be any text string not containing restricted characters (e.g., less-than symbol (<) or quotation marks ("")). These characters can be inserted into the text string using the appropriate substitutes, such as entity references (e.g., &It;, and &quot) or Unicode references.

10 The user can specify three sources of data output from the Generic module, thus extending the portal. Data output may be from either embedded html, htmI stored in a separate file or output from an OS command. All three sources must be expressed in either UTF8 or ASCII. Programs that are spawned as commands may use the setlocale() API function to determine the current locale, which is established by the 15 portal before the Generic module executes the actual cormnand.

While the present invention has been illustrated and described in connection with the preferred embodiment, it is not to be limited to the particular structure shown. It should be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made within the purview of the appended claims without 20 departing from the spirit and scope of the invention in its broader aspects.

9 HP CASE #10001297 APPENDIX A - C++ Listina of the displayo Routine find DOM element representing <Generic> For each child of <Generic> element 5 if child is <Extension> element extract title property extract status property extract type property 10 extract data property extract xlink:href property extract inline property extract scrolling property extract height property 15 extract hrefDesc property mod = new moduleDispContainer table = new tableGrid(0, 0, 0, "100%") table->newRowo; 20 if title is valid table->addField (new htmlText (title), NULL); if status is valid table->addField (new htmlText (status), NULL); end if 25 else table->addField (new htmlText ("Generic"), NULL); generate log entry - NO TITLE end if 30 mod->add(NULL, table); Move if data has length greater than 0 output <TR><TD> data </TD></TR> 35 else generate error log message invalid data attribute end if Move if xlink:href has length greater than 0 split xlink:href based on ":"

if split elements returned <> 2 generate error message 45 else if split[01 == "file" fopen(split[l]) if failure on fopen mod- >add (NULL, new htmlText ("information not so available")) generate error log message else determine date of last modification find filecache entry in fileCacheMap 55 if (not found in cache) OR (date > cache.Date) mod->add (NULL, new htmlText (date)) LOOP copying file contents into buf HP CASE 0 1000 1297 if type == "text/plain" mod->add(NULL, new formatedText(buf)) else mod->add(NULL, new htmlText(buf)) end if 5 update cache else // found valid cache output the cache value to STDOUT end If else if split[01 == "command" 10 find cmdcache entry in cmdCacheMap if (not found in cache OR (ExpirationTimeExpired) Scan command and substitute for $OVLOGIN ON NT call AllocConsoleoo fix for problem with stdout 15 _popen (command line) if popen succeeds LOOP copying contents from -popen to buf if type == "text/plain" mod->add(NULL, new formatedText(buf)) else 20 mod->add(NULL, new htmlText(buf)) end if else mod->add (NULL, "information not available") generate error logmessage 25 end if update cmd Cache else // found in cache output the cache value to STDOUT end if 30 else if split[Ol == "httpil Scan http href and substitute for $OVLOGIN if inline == "Yes" // add <IFRAME> tag with appropriate attributes mod->add (NULL, new htmlText ("<I FRAME> 35 end if Next <A> tag will be ignored since contained by <IFRAME> on IE. Will be used by NetScape mod->add(NULL, new hyperlink (href Desc, href) if inline == "Yes" 40 mod- >add (NULL, new htmlText(1'</IFRAME>")) end if else // invalid href detected generate error log message end if 45 end if // if number of tokens <> 2 else // href of length 0 generate error log message end if else 50 generate error log message - invalid config element end if 11 HP CASE #10001297

Claims (6)

What is claimed is:

1. An system for extending a network management portal, the system comprising:

5 a portal (2 10), a generic module (220) connected to the portal; and a configuration file (205), connected to the portal and configured using XNM.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the configuration module contains XML tags to instruct the generic module to perform at least one function.

10

3. The system of claim 2, wherein said at least one function is to display output from a system command.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein said at least one function is to display output from an embedded html listing.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein said at least one function is to display output 15 from an external html file.

6. The system of claim 2, wherein said at least one function is to display output from an external LTRL.

111- HP CASE #10001297