JP2001154883A - Device for offering remote monitor information in distributed network management environment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a network monitoring device for minimizing effect on an intra-enterprise network in performing centralized monitoring from a remote place in a distributed network management environment constituted of monitoring devices distributed and arranged at a plurality of sites. SOLUTION: A monitoring device connected with remote access terminals automatically operates the data link of monitoring devices at all sites only by performing remote access to arbitrary sites, and edits monitor information pertinent to a requested condition and offers the information. Also, information requests from the remote access terminals and response transmission from the monitoring device are asynchronously operated. Thus, a network monitoring system for realizing the shortening of the connecting time of remote access, the traffic reduction of an intra-enterprise network and the assurance of display responsiveness can be offered.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a distributed network management system for monitoring fault information and operation status of devices constituting a communication network by monitoring devices arranged at a plurality of sites, and more particularly to an improvement of a remote monitoring function. is there.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a corporate network in which offices and branches are divided into a plurality of sites, network monitoring devices for monitoring fault information and operation status of devices constituting a communication network are distributed and arranged at each site. Maintenance is often performed by maintenance personnel. A network monitoring system having such a configuration is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-294732.
No.).

In such a distributed network management environment using monitoring devices arranged at a plurality of sites, when the monitoring device is connected by remote access and centralized monitoring is performed remotely, the following method is generally used.

(Conventional method 1) A method in which a centralized monitoring device is installed, monitoring information is periodically collected and stored from monitoring devices at all sites, and information is acquired by connecting to the centralized monitoring device for remote access.

(Conventional method 2) A method of remotely accessing each site from a public line and connecting to a monitoring device installed at the site to collect information.

(Conventional method 3) A method of remotely accessing an arbitrary site from a public line and then remotely connecting to a monitoring device at each site through a corporate network to collect information.

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of the conventional system 1. In the conventional method 1, a centralized monitoring device a is installed, and the centralized monitoring device a collects information from the monitoring devices A to Z that monitor network devices at each site each time a failure occurs or periodically. When performing remote monitoring with the remote access terminal 2,
The centralized monitoring device a is remotely accessed to obtain monitoring information of each site.

FIG. 4 shows a conventional system 2 and a conventional system 3. In this embodiment, remote monitoring is performed only by the monitoring device at each site. In the conventional method 2, remote access is performed from the remote access terminal 2 to an arbitrary site, and thereafter, a remote connection is made to the monitoring device A of each site through a corporate network to collect and monitor information. When monitoring another site, a new remote monitoring device is connected via a corporate network to acquire information. In the conventional method 3, the remote access terminal 2 remotely accesses a site from which monitoring information is to be obtained, and connects to a monitoring device Z at the site to collect and monitor information. When monitoring another site, a new remote access to the site is performed to acquire information.

[0009]

In the above-mentioned conventional system, there is a problem in the following environment.

(1) When the type of information to be provided for remote monitoring is different from the type of information provided on the monitoring device at each site (in this case, it is necessary to collect and edit information dedicated to remote monitoring) .

(2) When communication is performed between the network monitoring devices at each site, and when the resources of the company network are shared with other business systems (this environment is generally used).

(3) When it is desired to provide centralized monitoring information of all sites by remote monitoring by remote access.

The problems with the conventional method will be described below.

In the case of the above-mentioned conventional system 1, since the centralized monitoring device needs to periodically collect monitoring information from all sites, there are the following problems.

(Problem 1) Since a centralized monitoring device needs to be installed, the development cost and the amount of maintenance work of the monitoring equipment increase.

(Problem 2) In an environment where remote monitoring by remote access is not frequently performed, periodically collecting and editing information dedicated to remote monitoring from all sites is a waste of network resources in a company. Become. There is also a method of extending the information collection cycle in the centralized monitoring device, but in that case, there is a problem in the real-time property of the provided information.

In the above-mentioned conventional systems 2 and 3, since no centralized monitoring device is installed, the above-mentioned conventional system 1 (problem 1).
Although there is no problem of (problem 2) and monitoring information of each site can be confirmed, there are the following problems.

(Problem 3) Since it is necessary to connect to each site, it takes extra time to check the monitoring information of all sites, which causes problems such as a decrease in work efficiency and an increase in communication cost. . Therefore, it is not suitable for centralized monitoring.

(Problem 4) In the case of the conventional system 2, there is a security problem since remote access is made and then the monitoring device at each site is connected using the corporate network. Further, when remote connection is prohibited by a router or the like in the network connecting the respective sites, it is not possible to connect to the monitoring device of another site.

An object of the present invention is to provide a network monitoring system capable of reducing the connection time of remote access, reducing the traffic of a corporate network, and ensuring display responsiveness in order to solve the above-mentioned problems. I do.

[0021]

According to the present invention, a monitoring device connected from a remote access terminal performs data cooperation with monitoring devices at all sites only by remote access to an arbitrary site, and satisfies a required condition. A means for automatically collecting monitoring information to be monitored from all sites' monitoring devices, editing the information for remote monitoring and providing the information, and a process for collecting data from the monitoring devices at all sites in parallel to create centralized monitoring information. Means for shortening the time and means for shortening the connection time for remote access by enabling a request for providing monitoring information from a remote access terminal and receiving monitoring information from a monitoring device to be performed asynchronously are provided.

As a result, it is possible to provide a network monitoring system in which the connection time for remote access is reduced, the traffic on the corporate network is reduced, and the display response time is reduced.

[0023]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 shows a form of a network monitoring system according to the present invention to which an agent function unit for performing data cooperation between monitoring apparatuses is added.

Monitoring device A for monitoring the corporate network
To Z are distributed in each site (business unit or branch unit), and a configuration of a distributed network management system in which each monitoring device is positioned equally. Each of the monitoring devices A to Z monitors the failure information and the operation status of the communication network device 1 of the site in which each device is in charge of monitoring, and in normal operation, the maintenance staff of each site installs the monitoring device on the site. It is assumed that a monitoring operation is performed using a certain monitoring device.

As a function for remote monitoring, an agent function unit 7 for performing data cooperation between the monitoring apparatuses is added to the monitoring apparatuses A to Z at each site as a function for remote monitoring.
The agent function unit 7 of each monitoring device does not execute communication between the monitoring devices in the normal monitoring, so that the network in the enterprise is not affected. The monitoring processing unit 6 in the monitoring device stores information that can be provided for remote monitoring when performing normal monitoring.

When the maintenance staff performs centralized monitoring of all sites from a business trip destination or the like, the remote access terminal 2 is used to select the nearest site from the monitoring servers A to Z of all sites, and to perform monitoring by remote access. Connect to A. After the connection, the maintenance staff inputs monitoring conditions from the remote access terminal 2 and transmits a remote monitoring information request to the monitoring device A.

The request from the remote access terminal 2 and the response reception of the centralized monitoring information from the monitoring device A are asynchronously performed. The system may be configured to wait for a response to the monitoring information in the state where the connection is made after the request, or to cancel the connection once, reconnect after a certain period of time, and then receive the response. This point is shown in the processing flow of <Remote access terminal (1) (2)> in the processing flow of FIG. With this method, the total connection time for remote access of the remote access terminal can be reduced.

In the connected monitoring apparatus A, after the communication processing unit 9 in the agent function unit 7 determines the monitoring condition requested from the remote access terminal 2 by the editing processing unit 8,
The communication processing unit 9 notifies the remote monitoring information collection request to the monitoring devices B to Z at all sites.

In the monitoring devices B to Z that have received the remote monitoring information collection request, the editing processing unit 8 in the agent function unit 7 determines the request condition from the request source monitoring device A, and extracts the monitoring information corresponding to the condition. Then, the communication processing unit 9 transmits a remote monitoring information collection response to the request source monitoring device A. The request source monitoring device A edits the information collected from the monitoring devices at all sites to provide the remote access terminal 2 and outputs the edited information. The remote access terminal 2 uses a web browser to receive and display the output result.

A request from the monitoring device A that issues a remote monitoring information collection request to the monitoring devices B to Z at all sites, and a remote monitoring information collection from the requested monitoring devices B to Z to the requesting monitoring device A The transmission of the response is performed in parallel for each monitoring device. In this regard, the processing flow of FIG.
The processing flow of the monitoring server (3) (4) (5)> is shown.
This shortens the time required to collect information from all sites, reduces the effect on the corporate network, and shortens the response time to remote access terminals.

Table 1 shows a comparison between the conventional system and the system according to the present invention.

[0033]

[Table 1]

In the method according to the present invention, the connection time can be calculated as “connection time of conventional method 1 + α” without installing a centralized monitoring device.
Centralized monitoring information can be provided. Further, since there is no communication using the corporate network in the normal operation as in the conventional method 1, there is an advantage that the influence on the corporate network can be reduced.

Using this method, in a distributed network management environment under the following conditions, it is possible to perform centralized monitoring from a remote place by efficiently using the resources of the corporate network.

(1) Information provided by remote monitoring by remote access needs to be edited compared to normal monitoring information, and the frequency of remote monitoring is not high. In environments where resources are expected to be wasted.

(2) Each site is connected by a high-bandwidth line such as a dedicated line in a company, and high-speed communication can be performed as compared with a remote access line.

[0038]

According to the present invention, when remote monitoring by remote access is performed in a distributed network management environment, the connection time for remote access is reduced, and the load on the corporate network is minimized. Centralized monitoring information of the site can be provided to the remote access terminal.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a system of a network monitoring device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a processing flow of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a conventional method (conventional method 1).

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a conventional method (conventional methods 2, 3).

[Explanation of symbols]

(FIG. 1) 2 remote access terminal, 7 agent function unit, 8 editing processing unit, 9 communication processing unit.

Continuing from the front page (72) Inventor Shinichi Yoshikawa 3-2-1 Sachimachi, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture Within Hitachi Engineering Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Yukio Funao 5-2-1 Omikacho, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture F-term in Hitachi Mfg. Omika Works (reference) 5B042 GA12 GA18 GA19 GA39 JJ02 MC15 MC19 5B089 GA11 GA21 GB02 HA01 JA35 JA36 JB16 JB22 KA04 KA05 KA08 KB04

Claims (1)

[Claims] When a remote monitoring is performed from a public line or the like via a web in a network management system including monitoring devices distributed at a plurality of sites, an agent function unit for linking monitoring data is provided in each monitoring device. Means for automatically collecting monitoring information from all sites by coordinating data between agent function units in monitoring devices at all sites in response to an information provision request to any monitoring device, and monitoring devices at all sites Means for reducing the time required to create centralized monitoring information by performing data collection processing from
Centralized monitoring of network monitoring of all sites remotely by means of shortening the connection time for remote access by enabling monitoring information provision requests from remote access terminals and monitoring information reception from monitoring devices to be performed asynchronously A network monitoring device characterized in that the connection time of the network has been reduced, the traffic between the monitoring devices has been reduced, and the display response time has been reduced.