JP2000194628A - Unit and method for network device control - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To set the values of a device which are already set to an unset device through easy operation by setting the set values of a previously set network device to an unset network device according to the decision result of design values of setting items. SOLUTION: A PC 200 on which network managing software runs is equipped with a CPU 201 which executes a network management program which is stored in a ROM 202 or on a hard disk(HD) 211 or supplied from a floppy disk drive(FD) 212 and totally controls respective devices connected to a system bus 204. A RAM 203 functions as the main memory, work area, etc., of the CPU 201. In this case, it is decided whether or not the set values of setting items are different by network devices and the set values of the previously set network device are set to an unset network device according to the decision result.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a network device control apparatus and method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the development of computer equipment as a base of a computer network and its communication technology, a high-speed and highly reliable computer network has appeared in recent years. Accordingly, the types of devices that can be connected to a network have increased, and network management software for managing a plurality of devices has been developed.
By using these network management software, information on various devices on the network can be obtained.

[0003] As a method for managing devices on a network, several attempts have been made by many standard organizations. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has established Open System Interconnectio
It provides a general-purpose reference framework called the (n, OSI) model. O of this network management protocol
The SI model is based on the common management information protocol (Comon Manage
ment Information Protocol (CMIP).
This CMIP is a common European network management protocol.

In the United States, a simple network management protocol (Simple Network Management Protocol,
There is a variant of CMIP called SNMP) ("Introduction to Simple Book Internet Management")
M. T. Rose = Author / Matsushima Eiki = Translated by Toppan Co., Ltd., see the first edition on December 15, 1995)).

According to this SNMP network management technology, the network management system includes at least one network management station (NMS), several managed nodes including agents, and the management stations and agents exchanging management information. Contains the network management protocol used for The user is N
By using the network management software on the MS to communicate with the agent software on the managed node, data on the network can be obtained or changed.

Here, the agent is software that operates as a background process for each target device. When a user requests management data from a device on the network, the management software sends the object identification information in a management packet or frame to the target agent. The agent interprets the object identification information, retrieves data corresponding to the object identification information, and sends the data in a packet to the user. Occasionally, a corresponding process is called to retrieve the data.

[0007] The agent holds data on its own state in the form of a database. This database is called MIB (Management Information Bass).
Call it e). FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing the structure of the MIB.
As shown in FIG. 1, the MIB has a tree-structured data structure, and all nodes are uniquely numbered. FIG.
In, the number written in parentheses is the identifier of the node. For example, the identifier of the node 101 shown in FIG. 1 is “1”. The identifier of node 102 is node 1
Since it is “3” below 01, it is described as “1.3”. Similarly, the identifier of the node 103 is “1.3.
6.1.2 ". This node identifier is called an object identifier (Object Identifier).

[0008] This MIB has a management information structure (SM).
I: Structure of Management Information) and RFC1155 Structure and Identification of Manage
ment Information for TCP / IP-based Internets. This SMI is ASN. 1 (Abstract
Syntax Notation One = Abstract syntax notation. OSI of 1
Defined using language.

Next, a method of setting a network device will be described. The network management station can set the device by using a direct object access method in which a user specifies an individual object using an object ID or by providing a GUI in the form of user-friendly information. There is an indirect object access method with a conversion module. An example of a network management station using the indirect object access method is Hewlett-Packard
(HP) has JetAdmin.

[0010]

However, in the above-described method for setting network management software,
For each setting item, the user has to perform some input one by one, and it is necessary to perform a troublesome operation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and has as its object to provide a network device control apparatus and method which can set a set value of a set device to an unset device by a simple operation. And

[0012]

In order to achieve the above object, a network device control apparatus according to the present invention comprises: a judging means for judging whether a set value of a setting item differs for each network device; And setting means for setting the set value of the set network device to an unset network device in accordance with the result of the determination.

In order to achieve the above object, a network device control method according to the present invention includes a determining step of determining whether a set value of a setting item is different for each network device; Setting a setting value of a set network device to an unset network device accordingly.

[0014]

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

<< Configuration of PC Side >> The PC side to which the network management software moves will be described.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a PC on which network management software can operate. In the figure, reference numeral 200 denotes a PC on which network management software operates. The PC 200 executes a network management program stored in the ROM 202 or the hard disk (HD) 211 or supplied from the floppy disk drive (FD) 212.
And generally controls each device connected to the system bus 204.

Reference numeral 203 denotes a RAM, which functions as a main memory, a work area, and the like for the CPU 201. 205, a keyboard controller (KBC);
B) Control input of instructions from 209 or a pointing device (not shown). 206 is a CRT controller (C
RTC) and controls display on the display (CRT) 210. 207 is a disk controller (DK
C), a hard disk (HD) 2 for storing a boot program, various applications, editing files, user files, a network management program, and the like.
11 and floppy disk controller (FD) 212
And control access. A network interface card (NIC) 508 exchanges data with an agent or a network device via the LAN 100 in both directions. << Network management software module configuration >>
Next, the configuration of the network management software using the MIB object database will be described. The network management device is realized on a PC having the same configuration as a PC capable of realizing the conventional network management device as shown in FIG. The hard disk (HD) 21
1 stores a program of network management software, which is an operation entity in all the descriptions to be described later. In all the descriptions below, the subject of execution is the CPU 201 unless otherwise specified.

On the other hand, the main entity of the control on the software is the network management software stored in the hard disk (HD) 211. In the embodiment, the OS is assumed to be, for example, Windows 95 (manufactured by Microsoft), but is not limited to this. In addition, the network management program uses a floppy disk or CD-
The program may be supplied in a form stored in a storage medium such as a ROM. In this case, the program is read from the storage medium by a floppy disk controller (FD) 212 shown in FIG.
It is installed on a hard disk (HD) 211.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a module configuration of the network management software in the embodiment. This network management software is stored in the hard disk 211 shown in FIG. At that time, the CPU 201 uses the RAM 203 as a work area.

In FIG. 3, reference numeral 301 denotes a device list module, which displays a list of devices connected to the network. Reference numeral 302 denotes a general control module, which controls other modules based on an instruction from a device list. Reference numeral 303 denotes a module called a configurator, which performs special processing related to the network setting of the agent. A search module 304 is a module for searching for a device connected to the network. Devices searched by the search module 304 are displayed as a list by the device list module 301. 305 is
A NetWare job module that obtains the status of a print job from a network server using the NetWare API 316. For NetWare API, for example, Novel
“NetWareProgrammer * s Guide f published by l company
or C "etc. This book is available from Novell.

Reference numerals 306 and 307 denote UI (User Interface) modules for displaying a device detail window to be described later, and a UI for each target model for displaying detailed information.
Module exists. Both 308 and 309 are called control modules, which are responsible for control specific to the target model from which detailed information is acquired. Like the UI module, each control module exists for each target model for displaying detailed information. The control A module 308 and the control B module 309 acquire MIB data from the device to be managed using the MIB module described later, convert the data as necessary, and transmit the data to the corresponding UIA module 306 or UIB module 307, respectively. give.

Reference numeral 310 denotes a module called an MIB module which performs object identifier <=> object key conversion. Here, the object key is a 32-bit integer corresponding to the object identifier on a one-to-one basis. The object identifier is a variable length identifier,
Since it is cumbersome to implement network management software, this network management software internally uses fixed-length identifiers that correspond one-to-one with object identifiers. Modules higher than the MIB module 310 handle MIB information using this object key. This greatly reduces the implementation of network management software. This object identifier <=> object key conversion is performed by calling the 318 OIM module.

Reference numeral 311 denotes an SNMP module.
It transmits and receives NMP packets. Reference numeral 312 denotes a common transport module which absorbs a difference between lower protocols for carrying SNMP data. In practice, depending on the protocol selected by the user during operation, the IPX handler 313 or the UDP handler 3
Either of 14 is responsible for transferring data. In addition, IP
The X handler 313 uses NetWare 316 as an implementation, and the UDP handler 314 implements WinSock 31
7 is used. About WinSock, for example, Windo
See the specification of ws Socket API v1.1. This document is available in several places, including, for example, Visual C ++, a Microsoft compiler.

The current protocol 315 used by the configurator 303 indicates either the IPX protocol or the UDP protocol selected by the user during operation.

In the following description, the network management software according to the present application is called "NetSpot".

<< Device List >> When the startup process of NetSpot is completed, a screen called a device list as shown in FIG. 4 is displayed. On this screen, information such as the name of the device connected to the network is displayed,
It is displayed as a list like 402 to 406 in the figure.

In NetSpot, a device is selected from this screen, and a setting screen for each device is opened to make settings.

Next, a method of copying the same settings as those of a device for which settings have been completed to another device will be described.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the setting process in this embodiment. First, in step S101, drag the icon of the device to be copied (the symbol image) displayed in the device list onto the icon of the device to be copied.
Drop. Then, in step S102, device setting values are obtained and stored for all setting items related to the device to be copied.

Next, in step S103, it is determined whether all the setting items are items to be set to different values for each device. For example, there is no problem if the same setting value is set for different devices for the toner density and the like, but there is a case where the same value such as an IP address must not be set. If the item to be set is an item to be set to a different value, the process proceeds to step S104, and the user is notified to set a different value. Then, in step S105, the value newly input by the user is set in the device as a set value.

Incidentally, as a result of step S103, even when the user is notified to set a different value, the same item may be copied.

In the above-mentioned step S103,
If it is not necessary to set different values for the items to be set, the process proceeds to step S106, and the setting values obtained in step S102 are set in the device to be copied.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the same value as the value set in the device is set in another device by dragging and dropping the icon of the device displayed in the device list. can do.

Therefore, when setting a new device, it is not necessary to perform any input for each setting item, and the setting operation can be greatly reduced.

Further, by giving attributes to the setting items and providing a branch depending on whether or not different information should be set for each device, the setting can be copied by one operation.

The present invention can be applied to a system including a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a reader, a printer, etc.), but can be applied to a single device (for example, a copier, a facsimile). Device).

An object of the present invention is to supply a storage medium storing a program code of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or an apparatus, and to provide a computer (CPU or MP) of the system or apparatus.
It goes without saying that U) can also be achieved by reading and executing the program code stored in the storage medium.

In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium implements the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a floppy disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, CD
-R, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM, or the like can be used.

When the computer executes the readout program code, not only the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized, but also the OS (Operating System) running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. ) May perform some or all of the actual processing, and the processing may realize the functions of the above-described embodiments.

Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written into a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, based on the instruction of the program code, It goes without saying that the CPU included in the function expansion board or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.

[0042]

As described above, according to the present invention,
With a simple operation, the set value of the set device can be set to the unset device, and the convenience for the user can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing the structure of a management information database (MIB).

FIG. 2 shows a P on which network management software can operate.
It is a block diagram which shows the structure of C.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a module configuration of network management software according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a device list screen according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a setting process according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 200 PC 201 CPU 202 ROM 203 RAM 204 System bus 205 KBC 206 CRTC 207 DKC 208 NIC 209 KB 210 CRT 211 HD 212 FD

Claims (7)

[Claims] A determining unit configured to determine whether a setting value of a setting item is different for each network device; and setting a setting value of a set network device to an unset network device according to a determination result of the determining unit. A network device control device, comprising: setting means for setting. 2. The apparatus further comprises: display means for displaying the network device as an icon; and designating means for designating an icon of the network device displayed on the display means, wherein the setting means sets the setting item. 2. The network device control device according to claim 1, wherein when the values are the same, the icon of the set network device is set by dragging and dropping the icon of the unset network device. 3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the display unit displays a list of icons of the network devices.
2. The network device control device according to item 1. 4. A determining step of determining whether a setting value of a setting item is different for each network device, and changing a setting value of a set network device to an unset network device according to a result of the determination in the determining step. And a setting step of setting. 5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: a display step of displaying the network device as an icon; and a designation step of designating an icon of the network device displayed in the display step. 5. The network device control method according to claim 4, wherein when the values are the same, the icon of the set network device is set by dragging and dropping the icon of the unset network device. 6. The display step of displaying a list of icons of network devices.
2. The network device control method according to 1. 7. A computer-readable storage medium storing a program code of a control method, comprising: a code of a determination step of determining whether a set value of a setting item is different for each network device; A setting step of setting a set value of a set network device to an unset network device.