JP2000349804A - Network management system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a network management system that manages a network to which a plurality of computer systems are connected. SOLUTION: A plurality of computer systems 1 comprises a plurality of computer-and-communication units 2 and management units 10 that manage the computer-and-communication units 2. The computer systems 1 are interconnected via a network 100 and connected to an integral management unit 3. Furthermore, the integral management unit 3 is connected to a browsing communication unit 4. The management units 10 unify a message denoting information relating to operating states of the computer-and-communication units 2 into a common format to all the computer systems 1 and transmit the unified message to the integral management unit 3. A network manager uses the browsing communication unit 4 to browse a message stored in the integral management unit 3.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to management of a network of a computer system having a plurality of computers and a plurality of communication devices, and more particularly to management of a network in which a plurality of computer systems are mixed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the recent increase in the performance of communication devices such as computers and routers, computer systems that provide various functions by connecting a plurality of these communication devices and communicating with each other have become widespread. Such computer systems are becoming more and more composed of communication devices, and the management of such systems tends to be increasingly difficult.

In a computer system using TCP / IP as a communication protocol, it is possible to use SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) having a network management function, thereby easily performing network management. it can. Specifically, the computer system has a network management device, which communicates with various communication devices using SNMP, and detects a failure of these communication devices. Currently, network management using SNMP is performed in many computer systems.

[0004] However, since SNMP is a communication protocol used only between communication devices, it is not possible to manage power supplies, cables, and the like, which are components of a network other than these communication devices. There are many points.
Therefore, a network management system using an original method without using SNMP has been proposed.

For example, in the network management system disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2768875, the physical arrangement of the network components can be grasped, and the radio coverage at the place where these network components are installed can be examined in more detail. Information can be obtained.

When a new computer system is operated, an existing network may be used instead of constructing a new network. Therefore, a plurality of computer systems are mixed in one network. Some of these computer systems use SNMP to manage the network, while others use the unique methods described above to manage the network. And a display message are prepared.

[0007]

However, in the above network, even when the same operation is performed, different operations must be performed for each computer system, or when the same information is expressed. However, inconveniences such as a different message being displayed for each computer system may occur, and as a result, the burden on the network administrator may increase, and operation errors and response errors may occur frequently.

[0008] Information on the operating states of each computer and communication device, such as setting information and fault information of each computer and communication device, collected by the network management device of each computer system is managed for each system. Cannot be used to manage the entire network. Therefore, for example, when a failure occurs in a certain computer system, if the cause of the failure is a failure of a computer and a communication device managed by a network management device of another computer system, the network of the failed computer system Since the management device cannot grasp the failure of the computer and the communication device, there arises an inconvenience such as a delay in recovery from the failure.

Further, SNMP used by many computer systems to perform network management is based on OSI.
(Open Systems Interconnection) Although UDP (User Datagram Protocol) is used as the transport layer of the basic reference model, since UDP does not have an acknowledgment function to confirm whether the receiving side has received data, the UDP There is no guarantee that data has been passed from the receiver to the receiver.

[0010] The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and by unifying operations and display messages related to network management that differ from one computer system to another, it is possible to reduce an operation error and a response error by a network administrator. The purpose is to provide a network management system that can be used.

Another object of the present invention is to integrate and manage information on operating states of a plurality of computers and communication devices constituting each computer system distributed on a network, An object of the present invention is to provide a network management system that can utilize such information for managing the entire network.

Still another object of the present invention is to guarantee that data has been passed from the transmitting side to the receiving side by performing communication between the transmitting side and the receiving side while performing an acknowledgment. To provide a network management system that can

[0013]

A network management system according to a first aspect of the present invention manages a network to which a plurality of computer systems including a plurality of computers and communication devices and a management device for managing the computers and the communication devices are connected. A network management system, wherein the management device is adapted to collect information on the operating state of a plurality of computers and communication devices constituting the computer system for each of the computer systems. It is characterized by having an integrated management device that integrates and manages the management devices. According to the network management system of the present invention, in a network in which a plurality of computer systems coexist, a plurality of management devices that collect information on the operating states of a plurality of computers and communication devices for each computer system are integrated. to manage. Therefore, the information can be used for operation management of the entire network.

[0014] A network management system according to a second aspect of the present invention is the network management system according to the first aspect, wherein the management device stores information on the operating states of a plurality of computers and communication devices collected by the management device. Storage means, means for creating a first message representing information relating to the operating state of a specific communication device from information stored in the first storage means, an identifier representing the type of the first message, and A storage unit that stores a priority assigned in advance to the storage unit; a unit that creates a second message based on the identifier, the priority, and the first message; Means for transmitting to the device. According to the network management system according to the present invention, the management device stores information on the operating states of the plurality of computers and communication devices collected by the management device in a database,
Using this database, a message representing information on the operating states of a plurality of computers and communication devices is created. Further, an identifier indicating the type of the created message and a priority assigned in advance to each identifier are stored in the database. Further, a new message is created from the identifier, the priority, and the created message, and this message is transmitted to the integrated management device. As a result, different display messages for each computer system can be unified based on a predetermined standard common to all management devices.

[0015] A network management system according to a third invention is the network management system according to the first invention or the second invention, wherein the management device determines whether the integrated management device has normally received the second message. Means for detecting whether the second message has been normally received and transmitting the second message again when the second message has not been received normally. ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to the network management system which concerns on this invention, the management apparatus which is a transmission side can transmit a message, confirming whether the integrated management apparatus which is a reception side received normally, and can receive normally. If not, resend the message. Therefore, it is possible to guarantee whether data has been passed from the transmission side to the reception side.

A network management system according to a fourth invention is the network management system according to the second invention or the third invention, wherein the integrated management device receives the second message from the management device, and Second
And a plurality of storage means for storing the message for each management device. According to the network management system of the present invention, the integrated management device receives a unified display message based on a standard common to all management devices, and stores the received message in a database prepared for each management device. I do. Thus, since a database is provided for each management device, even if a new computer system is built on the same network,
There is no need to change the existing database, and the operation of the integrated management device becomes easy.

A network management system according to a fifth aspect of the present invention is the network management system according to the first to fourth aspects, wherein the integrated management device receives an information disclosure request from a communication device connected to the integrated management device. In this case, the information processing apparatus further includes a search unit that searches for appropriate information from the plurality of storage units, and a transmission unit that transmits the searched information to the communication device. According to the network management system of the present invention, the integrated management device includes:
In response to a request from the browsing communication device, the information stored in the integrated management device is searched, and the searched information is transmitted to the browsing communication device. By using this browsing communication device, it is not necessary to use different operations for each computer system, and the network can be managed by a common operation.

[0018]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a network management system according to the present invention.
In FIG. 1, reference numerals 1, 1... Denote computer systems. The computer systems 1, 1,... Are a plurality of computers and communication devices 2, 2,. 10... Also, the computer systems 1, 1... Are mutually connected via a network 100. Are connected to the integrated management device 3, and the integrated management device 3 is connected to the browsing communication device 4.
Is connected to

The management devices 10, 10,..., Centered on the CPU 11, provide the CPU 11 with a communication processing interface 12 for communicating with other devices, and a RAM or RO.
This is a connection between an operation information database 13 composed of M and a management code database 14. The communication processing interface 12 is used for communication with the integrated management device 3, the computer, and the communication devices 2, 2,. The operation information database 13 includes management devices 10, 10...
(Hereinafter referred to as operation information) about the operating states of the computers and the communication devices 2, 2. Further, the management code database 14 includes an identifier indicating a type of a message indicating the operation information (hereinafter, referred to as an operation information message), a priority assigned to each identifier, and a keyword of the operation information message. Contains a code table.

The integrated management device 3 includes a CPU 31 and a communication processing interface 32, 32...
. And a WWW interface 34 for communicating with the browsing communication device 4. The communication interfaces 32, 32,.
1... Are prepared. Similarly, an integrated management database 33, 33... Is prepared for each computer system 1, 1,..., And stores messages received from the management devices 10, 10,. WWW interface 34
Is an interface for providing a WWW service to the browsing communication device 4.

The browsing communication device 4 is provided with a W
It is connected to the WW interface 34 and has a WWW browser installed. Using the WWW browser, the contents of the integrated management database stored in the integrated management device 3 are browsed.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of the management devices 10, 10,... Provided in the network management system according to the present invention. First, the management devices 10 and 10
.. Are collected from the computer and the communication devices 2, 2... Managed by the..., And the collected operation information is stored in the operation information database 13 (S2-1). Next, an operation information message is created from the operation information database 13 (S2-2). The contents of the created operation information message are compared with the keywords in the management code table stored in the management code database 14, and a management code and a priority are assigned to the operation information message (S
2-3). Then, based on the assigned management code and priority and the operation information message, an integrated management message described later is created (S2-4). The created integrated management message is transmitted to the integrated management device 3 via the communication processing interface 12 (S2-5).

FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 show a management code database 14 of different management apparatuses 10, 10,...
2 shows an example of a management code table stored in the management code table. FIG.
FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a management code table stored in a management code database 14. As described above, the management code table stores an identifier (hereinafter, referred to as a management code) indicating the type of the operation information message, a priority assigned to each management code, and a keyword of the operation information message. Hereinafter, the priority means that the smaller the value is, the more important the message is.

In FIG. 3, as an example of the management code, A
001 and A002 are shown. As an example of the priority and the keyword, “1” and “down” for the management code A001, but the management code A002
, “2” and “Exceeded the allowable value” are shown, respectively. Here, for example, when the terminal 2A is stopped due to a failure, the management device 2 that collects the operation information of the terminal 2A detects an abnormality of the terminal 2A from the collected operation information, and “the terminal 2A has gone down. Is created. In this case, since the message includes the keyword “down”, A001 is assigned as the management code and 1 is assigned as the priority to this message.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a management code table stored in the management code database 14. FIG.
Similarly, as shown in FIG.
1 and A002 are shown. As an example of the priority and the keyword, “1” is set for the management code A001.
And “communication is not possible”, “2” and “exceeded the default value” are shown for the management code A002, respectively. Here, for example, when the terminal 2C is stopped due to a failure, the management devices 10, 10,... Collecting the operation information of the terminal 2C detect an abnormality of the terminal 2C from the collected operation information, and “communicate with the terminal 2C”. Is not possible. " In this case, since the message includes the keyword “communication is not possible” as a keyword, A001 is assigned as the management code and 1 is assigned as the priority to this message.

When comparing the example of FIG. 3 with the example of FIG. 4, the management code and the priority are the same, but the keywords are different. This is because, in the examples of FIGS. 3 and 4, the message indicating that a certain device has stopped due to a failure is different for each of the management devices 10, 10,..., And the keyword is accordingly different. In order to treat messages having different keywords in a unified manner, in the examples of FIGS. 3 and 4, when a certain device is stopped due to a failure, the management code is set to A001. Further, a predetermined value for a certain setting of a certain device is compared with an actual value of the setting, and if the actual value is larger, the management code is set to A00.
It is 2.

FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 show examples of integrated management messages created by different management devices 10, 10,. FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of the integrated management message. 5, items of the integrated management message include a management device name indicating the name of the management device 10, 10,..., The date and time when the operation information message was acquired, a computer name indicating the name of the computer and the communication device 2, 2,.
., A computer address indicating the addresses of the computer and the communication devices 2, 2,..., A management code, a priority, and a message content. Among these items, the management device name, date and time, computer name, computer address, and message content are extracted from the operation information message. The value assigned to the management information message by the above-described processing is written in the management code and the priority.

FIG. 5 shows examples of integrated management messages when the terminal 2A is stopped due to a failure and when the amount of data received by the router 2B exceeds a predetermined value. The message contents of these integrated management messages are "terminal 2A has gone down" and "data processing amount of router 2B has exceeded a predetermined value", respectively.

FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of the integrated management message. FIG. 6 shows examples of the integrated management message when the router 2D stops due to a failure and when the amount of data stored in the terminal 2C exceeds a predetermined value. The message content of each of these integrated management messages is "Cannot communicate with router 2D"
And "The data storage amount of terminal 2C has exceeded the allowable value."
It has become.

When comparing the example of FIG. 5 with the example of FIG.
The management code of the integrated management message on the line is A0 in both cases.
Since the management codes are the same as 01, it can be understood that these indicate that a certain device has failed and stopped. Since the priority is “1”, it can be determined that the message is the most important message. Since the management code of the integrated management message in the second line is the same as A002 in both cases, these are the predetermined values for a certain setting of a certain device and the actual values of the setting. It can be seen from the comparison that the actual value is larger. Since the priority is “2”, it can be determined that the message is relatively important.

As described above, the plurality of management apparatuses 10, 10,...
By using a common message format for the operation information messages collected by the computer, different messages can be unified for each computer system. In addition, since the unified message includes a management code and a priority, which are predetermined standards common to all management devices, it can be understood that different expressions represent the same information even if different expressions are used. Since it is possible to determine whether the message is a proper message or not, it is possible to avoid a mistake of the network administrator when the failure occurs.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of the integrated management device 3 included in the network management system according to the present invention. First, when the integrated management device 3 receives certain data from the management devices 10, 10... Or the browsing communication terminal 4, the received data is transmitted to the management devices 10, 1.
0 or an information disclosure request from the browsing communication device 4 (S7-).
1). If it is determined that the message is an integrated management message from the management devices 10, 10 ..., the management device name in the integrated management message is confirmed (S7-2), and the integration for the confirmed management devices 10, 10 ... is performed. The integrated management message is stored in the management databases 33 (S7-3). Also S
If it is determined in 7-1 that the request is an information disclosure request from the browsing communication device 4, the content of the information disclosure request is confirmed (S7-4), and one or a plurality of integrated management databases are determined according to the content. .. (S7-5), and transmits the searched information to the browsing communication device 4 (S7-).
6).

As described above, the operation information stored in the plurality of operation information databases 13 distributed on the network is integrated and managed by the integrated management device 3, so that
These operation information can be used for operation management of the entire network.

In the browsing communication device 4, a plurality of integrated management databases 3 stored in the integrated management device 3 are stored.
Can be searched for, so that the operation information of the communication device can be checked by a common operation, and an operation performed by a network administrator caused by having to use different operations for each computer system. Mistakes can be avoided. Since this operation uses a widely used WWW browser, there is no need to learn a special operation.

The integrated management databases 32, 32,...
Are prepared for each of the computer systems 1, 1,..., So that when a new computer system is constructed on an existing network, the existing integrated management database 3
Since there is no need to change 2, 32,...
Operation is easy.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a communication procedure at the time of transmission in S2-5 of FIG. In this communication procedure, TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) is adopted in the transport layer of the OSI basic reference model. First, the integrated management message is registered in the transmission buffer (S8-1), and it is determined whether or not there is an integrated management message registered in the transmission buffer other than the integrated management message (S8-2). If it is determined that there is such an integrated management message (YE in S8-2)
S) is a step S8- until the integrated management message is deleted.
Repeat 2. On the other hand, if there is no registered message (NO in S8-2), the integrated management message registered in S8-1 is transmitted to the integrated management device 3 (S8-1).
8-3). Next, it is determined whether or not a reception response message has been received from the integrated management device 3 (S8-4). Here, the reception response message is a message created by an acknowledgment function provided in TCP.

In S8-4, if no reception response message has been received (NO in S8-4), S8-4 is repeated until a reception response message is received. On the other hand, when a reception response message has been received (YES in S8-4)
Determines whether a reply message has been received from the integrated management device 3 (S8-5). Here, the reply message is a message created by a unique communication protocol. This communication protocol is formed on the upper layer of TCP, and when an operation information message is received from TCP,
Has a function of transmitting a reply message to the management apparatuses 10, 10,.... If a reply message has not been received in S8-5 (NO in S8-5), S8-5 is repeated until a reply message is received. On the other hand, if a reply message has been received (YES in S8-5), the integrated management message in the transmission buffer is deleted (S8-
6).

As described above, by adopting TCP instead of UDP in the transport layer of the OSI basic reference model, communication is performed while confirming the reception response message, so that data transmission from the transmission side to the reception side is guaranteed. You. In addition, even in the case where the reception response message is transmitted and received, in addition to the reception response message, in addition to the reception response message, an independent communication Use the reply message created by the protocol. Therefore, delivery of the integrated management message is more reliably guaranteed.

[0039]

As described above, according to the network management system of the first aspect, a plurality of operation information distributed on the network are integrated and managed by the integrated management device, so that the operation Information can be used for operation management of the entire network.

Further, according to the network management system of the present invention, the operation and the display message that are different for each computer system are unified, so that the burden on the network administrator can be reduced.

According to the network management system of the third aspect, by using TCP and a unique communication protocol, communication is performed between the transmitting side and the receiving side while performing an acknowledgment. Can guarantee that the data has been passed to the side.

According to the network management system of the fourth aspect, the integrated management device has a database for each management device, and even if a new computer system is constructed on the same network, Since there is no need to change the existing database, the operation of the integrated management device becomes easy.

Further, according to the network management system of the present invention, since the information stored in the integrated management device can be searched using the browsing communication device, different operations are used for each computer system. Since the necessity is eliminated, the present invention has excellent effects, such as the network can be managed by a common operation.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a network management system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of a management device included in the network management system according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a management code table stored in a management code database.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a management code table stored in a management code database.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of an integrated management message.

FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of an integrated management message.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of the integrated management device included in the network management system according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a communication procedure at the time of transmission in S2-5 of FIG. 2;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Computer system 2 Computer and communication equipment 3 Integrated management device 4 Browsing communication device 10 Management device 100 Network

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G06F 15/177 676

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A network management system that manages a network to which a plurality of computers and a communication device and a computer system including a management device that manages the computer and the communication device are connected, wherein the management device is the computer Information on the operating states of a plurality of computers and communication devices constituting the system is to be collected for each of the computer systems. On the other hand, an integrated management device for integrating and managing the plurality of management devices is provided. A network management system characterized by the following. 2. The management device according to claim 1, wherein the first storage unit stores information regarding the operating states of the plurality of computers and communication devices collected by the management device, and a specific storage device based on the information stored in the first storage unit. Means for creating a first message representing information relating to the operation state of the communication device; an identifier representing the type of the first message; and a second storage unit for storing a priority assigned in advance to each identifier. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: means for creating a second message based on the identifier, the priority, and the first message; and means for transmitting a second message to the integrated management device. Network management system. 3. The management device detects whether or not the second message has been normally received by the integrated management device, and transmits the second message again when the second message has not been normally received. 3. The network management system according to claim 1, further comprising means. 4. The integrated management device includes: a unit configured to receive the first message from the management device;
4. The network management system according to claim 2, further comprising: a plurality of storage means for storing the message for each management device. 5. The integrated management device, wherein when there is an information disclosure request from a communication device connected to the integrated management device, a search unit that searches for the appropriate information from the plurality of storage units, The network management system according to claim 1, further comprising a transmission unit configured to transmit the information to the communication device.