JP2000151599A - Network management system and network nanagement method applied to the system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To attain proper configuration management as a result by properly updating a management database based on a management condition of a node corresponding to address information acquired from a network in the network management system that uses the management database storing network configuration information to conduct the configuration management. SOLUTION: The network management system 1 discriminates whether or not a found-out IP address is registered in a DHCP address database 13. Based on the result, in the case that the found-out IP address is an address assigned from the DHCP server 3, a management database 11 is updated so as to match a concerned node 20 with a management condition of presence of a sole address.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a network management system for realizing various management functions on a computer network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A computer network (hereinafter simply referred to as a network) is connected to a plurality of computers such as personal computers, communication devices such as routers and hubs, and communication lines (hereinafter collectively referred to as nodes). For example, LAN (Local Area Net)
work). In order to operate such a network efficiently and stably, a network management system that performs network management is required.

[0003] The network management function monitors the state of components such as nodes (concept including logical elements such as data and addresses other than hardware elements) and manages them, and manages failures of nodes and the like. It is a management function such as fault management. The network management system is, for example, an SNMP (Simple Network Manag).
A management database (MIB) for exchanging management information required for the management function and storing the management information is provided by using a network management protocol such as an element protocol.

The management information includes configuration information necessary for configuration management and fault information required for fault management. The failure information is information for monitoring an abnormal state such as whether the node is operating normally, information for identifying the node in which the abnormal state has occurred and the content of the failure, and the like.
The configuration information is information relating to the connection relationship between networks (also referred to as topology), the hardware configuration on the network (such as the connection relationship between nodes), and the software configuration.

[0005] The network management system is a computer connected to a network, and realizes the above-described network management function by executing network management software. The network management system also includes, as constituent elements, a disk drive for constructing the management database and a display device for displaying management information on a display screen in a predetermined form. This makes it possible to display configuration information and fault information, such as displaying a network diagram on the display screen in a form that is easy for the user to confirm, and displaying the operation status of each node in a form in which the display color is changed. it can.

[0006]

As described above, the network management system stores management information as a management database, and executes management processing using configuration information and fault information included in the management information. . Here, as a method by which the system acquires the configuration information, there is a method in which the user sets the network configuration, the connection relation of each node, and the like on the input screen. In recent years, for such a manual operation method, a method has been developed in which the system can automatically acquire configuration information directly from a network. As a specific example, the system acquires information from an existing node (recognized node) including a computer on which the system itself operates, in order to find a node existing on the network and incorporate it into the management database. (See, for example, US Pat. No. 5,185,860). As a node discovery method, DHCP (D
dynamic HostConfiguration
Protocol) IP assigned by the server
A method using an (Internet Protocol) address and a method using a name server have been proposed (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application No. 9-282444). These methods use a new IP from the network.
An object of the present invention is to obtain an address, and for the network management system to take in the name and the IP address of a node connected to the network without delay. Here, the IP address may be simply referred to as an address.

[0007] In short, the network management system is
It is possible to acquire (discover) an IP address from a network, recognize the existence of a node connected to the network, and update configuration information necessary for network configuration management. Therefore, the system can automatically acquire the IP address from the network and automatically update the configuration information (management information) stored in the management database accordingly.

[0008] However, in the conventional method as described above, the function of automatically finding an IP address for identifying a node from the network can be put to practical use, but the processing for updating the configuration information has been improved. There is room for In other words, when the management database is updated, the management content for the corresponding node is switched (changed), but there is room for improvement in this switching function. Hereinafter, the problem will be specifically described.

In the conventional method, since there is no viewpoint on how to associate the discovered IP address with the node, the system cannot recognize the connection relation of the node.
There is a possibility that appropriate management processing cannot be performed. As a specific example, TCP / IP (Tr
announcement Control Protocol
In general, a node connected by a protocol based on the Internet Protocol (ol / Internet Protocol) can have a plurality of IP addresses. For example, a router generally has an IP address for each of a plurality of network interfaces. Further, depending on the configuration, a plurality of IP addresses may be assigned to one interface.

For this reason, for a certain node, the IP
It is assumed that another IP address is found in a state where the address is managed as assigned. In this case, if the system cannot obtain a condition such as the number of IP addresses to be assigned to the node, it is difficult to recognize an appropriate configuration.
That is, for example, despite being a node to which a plurality of IP addresses can be assigned, the system may erroneously recognize that a node corresponding to another discovered IP address load does not exist on the network.

An object of the present invention is to provide a network management system for performing configuration management using a management database storing network configuration information, based on a management condition of a node corresponding to address information acquired from the network. To properly update the configuration and consequently realize appropriate configuration management.

[0012]

According to the present invention, a group of addresses (IP addresses) issued from a server connected to a computer network and assigned to a requesting node is registered. It is a network management system having a specific database. The server means is a node having an address automatic setting function for automatically assigning an IP address such as a DHCP server. This system, when acquiring an address existing on a computer network, determines whether or not the address is registered by referring to a specific database, and updates the management database based on the determination result. It has.

With the system having such a configuration, when an IP address found on a network is registered in a specific database, it can be recognized as an IP address automatically assigned by the DHCP server. In other words, the node corresponding to the IP address is recognized as having a management condition of managing the IP address as a unique address. Therefore, the system updates the configuration information of the management database with the found IP address.

On the other hand, if the found IP address is not registered in the specific database, the corresponding node is recognized as having a management condition managed by a plurality of IP addresses. Therefore, the system adds the found IP address to the management database as a part of the configuration information. In short, the network management system of the present invention can determine whether the node corresponding to the discovered IP address has one or more of the management conditions by referring to the specific database means. Therefore, it is possible to appropriately recognize the node configuration on the network and switch to an appropriate management method that matches the management conditions of each node.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram functionally explaining the configuration of a network management system related to the present embodiment.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining a hardware configuration of the system. (Configuration of Network Management System) As shown in FIG. 2, the network management system according to the embodiment includes a computer 100 connected to a LAN. L
The AN includes the same computer 100 and a plurality of nodes 2 (2
0, 21) and a DHCP server or a name server, which will be described later, are connected via a communication line 200 (see FIG. 1). Each of the nodes 20 and 21 is assumed to be a device such as a personal computer.

A computer 100 equipped with a network management system includes a CPU 101, a main memory (DRAM) 102, a disk drive 103, a LAN
An interface 104 and a man-machine interface 105 are provided. The CPU 101 executes the network management processing of the embodiment by executing the program loaded in the main memory 102. This network management software is stored in the disk storage medium of the disk drive 103.

The disk drive 103 means an external storage device such as a hard disk drive, a floppy (registered trademark) disk drive, or an optical disk drive. The LAN interface 104 is an interface for connecting to a network and transmitting and receiving data and addresses. Man-machine interface 1
Reference numeral 05 denotes an input / output interface such as an input device such as a keyboard and a mouse operated by a user, and a display device for displaying various information related to network management on a display screen.

FIG. 1 is a functional conceptual diagram of software that realizes the network management system 1 of the embodiment on a computer 100. The system 1 stores management information necessary for network management such as configuration management of each of the nodes 20 and 21 in a management database 11. The database control unit 10 controls operations such as searching and updating of the management database 11 and a DHCP address database (specific database means) 13 described later. The state monitoring unit 12 periodically sends a diagnostic message for monitoring the operating state to each of the nodes 20 and 21 registered in the management database 11. Then, the state monitoring unit 12 receives the response to the diagnosis message, determines the operation state of each of the nodes 20 and 21, and reflects the operation state on the management database 11 via the database control unit 10.

The system 1 displays a network on a display screen of a display device via a man-machine interface 105 shown in FIG. 2 based on the contents of the management database 11 (management information such as configuration information and fault information). A diagram and an operating state of each node are displayed in a form in which a display color is changed, and management information such as configuration information and failure information is provided to a user (administrator). (Network configuration and DHCP address database)
This embodiment assumes a network configuration in which a DHCP server 3 is connected to a LAN, and each of the nodes 20 and 21 is automatically assigned an IP address from the DHCP server 3. The DHCP server 3 pools a plurality of IP addresses, and when each of the nodes 20 and 21 starts up, responds to a request based on the DHCP (protocol).
It has an address automatic setting function for dynamically assigning an IP address. Each time the nodes 20 and 21 start up, the DHC
There is a possibility that a different IP address is assigned from the P server 3.

Further, in the network configuration of the present embodiment, since a name server (DNS server, etc.) 4 is connected, the system 1 can receive various services from the name server 4. That is, the name server 4 holds the information on the relationship between each of the host names and domain names of each of the nodes 20 and 21 and the dynamically changing IP address in accordance with the change. It has the function of providing them accordingly. Thereby, the network management system 1 is provided with the configuration information related to each of the nodes 20 and 21 to be managed from the name server 4 and accumulates the configuration information in the management database 11 (see FIG. 3). It should be noted that the name server 4 itself includes a host name and a domain name, and a dynamically changing I name.
The system may not directly hold the information related to the P address, but may respond to, for example, an inquiry request from the system 1 by obtaining the information from another name server (for example, a WINS server).

As described above, the present system 1 uses the DHC
A P address database (hereinafter abbreviated as a DHCP database) 13 is provided. The DHCP database 13 stores a set of IP addresses (assigned to each node) issued from the DHCP server 3 (see FIG. 4). The present system 1 transmits / receives an inquiry to / from the DHCP server 3 and a response to the
Obtained from the P server 3. In addition, through the man-machine interface 105, the
A set of P addresses may be set in the DHCP database 13. Here, the DHCP database 13 includes
Instead of all the IP addresses pooled by the DHCP server 3, a set of issued IP addresses may be used.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing the configuration of the management database 11. Here, a case where management information including a host name, a domain name, an IP address, an operation status, and a status update date and time for each node is stored is shown. As described below, depending on the type of node, one node can have a plurality of IP addresses. For this reason,
In the management database 11, an IP address chain pointer is set to hold information of a plurality of IP addresses in a chain structure.

FIG. 5 shows a network configuration in which the LAN 51 of the embodiment is connected to another LAN 52 or the Internet 53 via a router 50. Router 50
Are managed as one node from the network management system 100 of the LAN 51 of the embodiment. (Management Process of Network Management System) The operation of the network management system according to the embodiment will be described below with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 6 and 7 and FIGS. 8 to 10 in addition to FIGS.

First, in the network according to the embodiment, as described above, it is assumed that the nodes (20, 21) are automatically assigned an IP address issued from the DHCP server 3. The procedure of this method will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

When a node (node 20) starts, an inquiry for obtaining an IP address is sent to the DHCP server.
The message is transmitted to the P server 3 (step S1). This processing corresponds to processing for confirming the DHCP server 3 by a broadcast method. Therefore, DH
If there is no response from the CP server 3, the IP address acquisition process ends (NO in step S2).

When a response is received from the DHCP server 3, the node 20 requests allocation of an IP address (step S2).
YES, S3). In response to a request from the node 20, the DHCP server 3 converts the pool of IP addresses into
An address is selected and transmitted (step S4). The node 20 is assigned by receiving the transmitted IP address (step S5).

As described above, the network management system 1 stores a set of IP addresses issued by the DHCP server 3 for assignment to the requesting node in the DHCP database 13 (see FIG. 4). In this state, an update process of the management database 11 of the network management system 1 will be described with reference to a flowchart of FIG.

First, the system 1 performs, as processing necessary for the configuration management of each node, an IP existing on the network.
It is assumed that an address is searched and a certain IP address (A2) is found (step S10). As a method of discovering an IP address existing on a network, a method disclosed in a known document (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application No. 9-282444) is employed.

The system 1 refers to the DHCP database 13 via the database control unit 10 and checks whether the found IP address (A2) is registered (step S11). If registered in the DHCP database 13, the system 1 determines that the discovered IP address (A2) has been distributed by the DHCP server 3 (YES in step S12). Based on the result of this determination, the system 1 determines that if the discovered IP address is an address assigned by the DHCP server 3, the system 1 has a management condition that it is the only IP address of the corresponding node (here, 20), that is, The only I
The configuration management of recognizing the existence of the node only by the P address is executed.

Specifically, the system 1 refers to the management database 11 via the database control unit 10 and
The existing IP address (A1) included in the configuration information including the host name and the domain name of the node 20 corresponding to the discovered IP address (A2) is searched (step S1).
3). At this time, it is assumed that the management database 11 is in a state as shown in FIG. The system 1 deletes the existing IP address (A1) from the management database 11, and registers the discovered IP address (A2) as a new address (steps S14 and S15). Thereby, the management database 11 is updated as shown in FIG.

On the other hand, if the IP address (A2) is not registered in the DHCP database 13, the system 1 judges that the DHCP server 3 has not distributed the found IP address (A2) (NO in step S12). Based on this determination result, the system 1 executes configuration management based on a management condition that the node (here, 21) corresponding to the discovered IP address has a plurality of IP addresses. Specifically, for example, the management database 11 is set based on the management condition that one interface has a plurality of IP addresses, and the presence of the interface on the network is recognized by the set plurality of IP addresses. I do.

Further, the system 1 refers to the management database 11 via the database control unit 10 to search for configuration information including the host name and domain name of the node 21 corresponding to the found IP address (A2), Existing I
Along with the P address (A1), the discovered IP address (A
2) is additionally registered as a new address (step S)
15). Thereby, as shown in FIG. 10, the management database 11 is updated.

As described above, in the network management system of the embodiment, it is determined whether or not the IP address found on the network has been distributed from the DHCP server 3, and the management condition in the management processing is determined based on the determination result. To change. That is, in the case of an IP address distributed from the DHCP server 3, it can be estimated that the corresponding node 20 is usually a personal computer, and it is not practical to have a plurality of IP addresses. Therefore,
The system 1 updates the management database 11 so that the corresponding node 20 manages based on the management condition that the discovered IP address is the only address.
In a network adopting a method in which an IP address is assigned from the DHCP server 3, as described above,
Each time the node starts, the possibility that the IP address changes is increased. For this reason, the network management system 1 requires I
It is necessary to update the management database 11 according to the change of the P address. According to the management method of the present embodiment, a management process that matches the actual state of the network is realized by deleting the previously used IP address from the management database 11 and registering the newly discovered IP address. Can be.

A node such as a router has an IP address for each of a plurality of network interfaces, and one interface may have a plurality of IP addresses depending on the configuration. In such a case, the network management system of the embodiment sets the management database 11 based on a management condition that the network management system has a plurality of IP addresses, and executes configuration management that matches the management condition. Can be. That is, the system uses any of the set IP addresses,
It is possible to recognize that the node (such as a router) exists on the network.

As described above, the management function of the network management system 1 according to the present embodiment executes the software stored in the storage medium by using the CPU 1 of the computer 100.
01 is executed. In this embodiment, the storage medium is a disk storage medium of the disk drive 103, and also includes the main memory 102 into which software is loaded from the disk medium when the CPU 101 executes.

[0037]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, in a network management system for performing configuration management by a management database storing network configuration information, a node management corresponding to address information obtained from the network is managed. The management database can be appropriately updated based on the conditions, and as a result, appropriate configuration management can be realized. In other words, it is possible to realize network management that matches the actual state of the network according to the status of each node.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram for functionally explaining the configuration of a network management system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining a hardware configuration of the network management system.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing a configuration of a management database of the network management system.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram showing a configuration of a DHCP address database of the network management system.

FIG. 5 is an exemplary conceptual view showing an example of the network configuration of the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an exemplary flowchart for explaining a method of setting an IP address in the network according to the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the network management system.

FIG. 8 is a conceptual diagram for explaining a management database update process in the network management system.

FIG. 9 is a conceptual diagram for explaining a management database update process in the network management system.

FIG. 10 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a process of updating a management database in the network management system.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Network management system (software structure) 2 ... Node 3 ... DHCP server 4 ... Name server 10 ... Database control unit 11 ... Management database 12 ... State monitoring unit 13 ... DHCP address database (specific database means) 20, 21 ... Node Reference Signs List 100 network management system (hardware configuration) 101 CPU 102 main memory 103 disk drive 104 LAN interface 105 man-machine interface 200 LAN communication line

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A network management system for managing a network to which a plurality of nodes and a server having a function of assigning an address to each of the nodes are connected, wherein assignable address information held by the server is stored. A specific database to be retained; a management database to retain the correspondence between each node and an address; and recognizing an address existing on the network,
A network management system comprising: an update processing unit that determines whether the address is registered with reference to the specific database and updates the management database based on the determination result. 2. A management database for managing a network to which a plurality of nodes and a server having a function of assigning an address to each of the nodes are connected, and holding a correspondence between each of the nodes and an address, and A management method applied to a network management system having a specific database holding assignable address information held by a server, comprising: a step of finding an address existing on the network; and A management method, comprising: a step of determining whether or not the address obtained in the discovery step is registered; and a step of updating the management database based on a determination result of the determination step. 3. A management database for executing management of a network to which a plurality of nodes and a server having a function of assigning an address to each of the nodes are connected, and holding a correspondence between each of the nodes and an address; A computer-readable storage medium provided in a network management system having a specific database holding assignable address information held by a server, wherein a step of finding an address existing on the network; A management process comprising: determining whether an address acquired in the discovery step is registered; and updating the management database based on a determination result of the determination step. Computer set to run A storage medium that stores a program. 4. A management database for executing management of a network to which a plurality of nodes and a server having a function of assigning an address to each of the nodes are connected, and holding a correspondence between each of the nodes and an address; A management method applied to a network management system having a specific database holding assignable address information held by a server, comprising: a step of finding an address existing on the network; and A step of determining whether or not the address obtained in the discovery step is registered; and, if the address is registered based on the determination result of the determination step, an existing address corresponding to the address from the management database. Address, and register the new address. Updating the management database as described above. 5. A management database for managing a network to which a plurality of nodes and a server having a function of assigning an address to each of the nodes are connected, and holding a correspondence between each of the nodes and an address; A computer-readable storage medium provided in a network management system having a specific database holding assignable address information held by a server, wherein a step of finding an address existing on the network; A step of determining whether or not the address obtained in the discovery step is registered; and, if the address is registered, based on the determination result of the determination step, from the management database. Delete the existing address corresponding to the address And updating the management database so that the address is newly registered. A storage medium storing a program set by the computer to execute a management process.