JP2004318413A - Information gathering system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information gathering system enabling collection of information even in a network environment using a dynamic NAT. <P>SOLUTION: This information gathering system is provided with a manager device 10, an agent device 30, and a router 300 having a dynamic NAT function connecting the manager device 10 and the agent device 30 together on an IP network. The information gathering system is also provided with a mediating device 20 electrically connected to the agent device 30 via a LAN 40. The mediating device 20 makes the agent device 30 collect information required by the manager device 10, and the collected information is directly transmitted to the manager device 10 from the agent device 30. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an information collection system, and more particularly to an information collection system for collecting, storing, and providing traffic information and system information on a network.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Nowadays, communication networks have been developed, and it is a user's concern to grasp network performance (traffic information) and usage status (system information).
[0003]
Generally, information on an agent device (managed device) to be managed is collected, stored, and provided by a manager device (management device) connected via a network. The information collection of the agent device is performed, for example, by using an SNMP (management information base) information collection process used in a network management protocol called SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) to collect information of the SNMP agent (agent device) by an SNMP manager (manager device) Is done by getting.
[0004]
The transmission and reception of information between the SNMP manager and the SNMP agent by the MIB information collection process is performed by message data corresponding to an SNMP command called a PDU (Protocol Data Unit). The message data includes a GetRequest used when the SNMP manager requests the SNMP agent to send information, a GetResponse used when the SNP agent device responds to the GetRequest request, and an agent There is Trap or the like used when notifying the contents of an event spontaneously.
[0005]
In the MIB information collection process, the SNMP manager requests the traffic information by transmitting a GetRequest to the SNMP agent group at a constant period. On the other hand, the SNMP agent group returns traffic information and the like to the SNMP manager by a GetResponse. Then, the traffic information returned to the SNMP manager is stored in the database.
[0006]
However, in such an MIB information collection system, there is a problem that a request and a response traffic are generated for the information collection, and when the data amount of the traffic information of the agent to be collected increases, a load is applied to the network. Occurs.
[0007]
Usually, the data items collected from the SNMP agent by the SNMP manager at regular intervals are the same, and the data items are different when there is a change in the data items to be collected from the SNMP agent, or when an SNMP agent is added or changed. Only when there is. As described above, when the pair of GetRequest and GetResponse is used, the SNMP manager sends almost the same GetRequest to the SNMP agent every time. Therefore, it is conceivable to reduce the amount of traffic for information collection by eliminating such transmission of the almost same GetRequest.
[0008]
According to the network management system described in Patent Literature 1, the SNMP manager sets a data item to be collected, an information collection interval, or a data collection time for each SNMP agent. Each SNMP agent transmits data to the SNMP manager using Trap based on these settings. As described above, if the data items to be collected, the intervals at which data is collected, or the data collection times are set in advance for the SNMP agent, the SNMP agent transmits data to the SNMP manager according to the set conditions. It suffices to reduce the traffic volume for information collection to about half.
[0009]
In addition, there is a dynamic NAT (Network Address Translation) that enables communication between networks having different address spaces by converting a private address into a global address. The dynamic NAT provides a means for dynamically allocating one global address to a plurality of private addresses and communicating with an external device. A plurality of terminals can share one global address.
[0010]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-2000-134203 (page 1)
[0011]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, according to the above-described conventional technique, it is not possible to cope with a case where the setting of the SNMP agent group to be observed is changed regardless of the intention of the SNMP manager. When dynamic NAT is used for the SNMP agent that uses a private address, the address of the device on the SNMP agent (private address) side is not guaranteed unique on the Internet, and a different global address is assigned for each communication. Data cannot be sent from the (global address) side to the private address side.
[0012]
That is, if the above-described conventional technique is performed using dynamic NAT in which the address of the agent can be changed, there has been a problem that the GetRequest cannot reach the SNMP agent from the SNMP manager.
[0013]
The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object of the present invention is to provide an information collection system capable of collecting information even in a network environment using dynamic NAT.
[0014]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems and achieve the object, in an information collection system according to the present invention, a global site having a manager device for collecting information and a private site having an agent device for providing information And a router having a dynamic NAT function for performing address translation for enabling data transmission between the private site and the global site, wherein the private site is An intermediary device electrically connected to the agent device via a LAN, the intermediary device causes the agent device to collect information requested by the manager device, and sends the collected information directly to the manager device. Transmitting to the manager device via the mediation device. To.
[0015]
According to the present invention, even if a request for information collection cannot be made directly from the manager device to the agent device, the agent device can cause the agent device to collect information requested by the manager device.
[0016]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, an embodiment of an information collecting system according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that the present invention is not limited by the embodiment.
[0017]
Embodiment 1 FIG.
Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the information collecting system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In the information collection system, a global site 100 and a plurality of private sites 200 are connected via a router 300 having a dynamic NAT function on an IP (Internet Protocol) network.
[0018]
The manager device 10 is installed at the global site 100. The manager device 10 includes a collection target editing unit 11, a collection target storage unit 12, a collection data reception unit 13, a collection data storage unit 14, a collection data disclosure unit 15, and a mediation device cooperation unit 16.
[0019]
The collection target editing unit 11 edits the data items collected from each of the agent devices 30 and the information of the agent device 30 and the mediation device 20 that have been input. The collected data receiving unit 13 receives traffic information and the like transmitted from each agent device 30 and accumulates the information in a time series. The collected data storage unit 14 stores collected data such as traffic information accumulated by the collected data receiving unit 13. The collected data disclosure unit 15 searches the collected data according to the user's request from the collected data storage unit 14 and provides the information to the user by displaying the collected data in a graph or the like. The mediation device linking unit 16 provides the data items to be collected, the data collection interval, the IP address of the agent device 30 to be collected, and the like to each mediation device 20 under management of the manager device 10. . The collection target storage unit 12 stores the information of the collection target edited by the collection target editing unit 11.
[0020]
Here, the minimum data stored in the collection target storage unit 12 will be described. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of data stored in the collection target storage unit 12.
[0021]
FIG. 2A is a diagram illustrating an intermediary device list representing information on the intermediary devices 20 managed by the manager device 10. The intermediary device name for uniquely identifying the intermediary device 20. The data collection interval indicates the time interval at which the agent device 30 performs data collection, and the data update time indicates the time at which information on the agent device 30 is updated and set. Note that there is no duplication of the mediation device name in the mediation device list.
[0022]
FIG. 2B is a diagram showing an agent list representing information on the agent device 30 managed by the mediation device 20, and includes an agent name for uniquely identifying the agent device 30, an IP address of the agent device 30, It is composed of the mediation device name. Note that, in the agent device list, if the mediation device names are the same, there is no duplication of agent names.
[0023]
FIG. 2C is a diagram showing a collection target list showing traffic information and the like to be observed by the agent device 30. The collection target data item names to be collected such as the CPU usage rate and the traffic amount, and the mediation device Name, agent name. For example, when information is collected by SNMP, an identifier of an OID (Object Identifier) is added to the collection target data item name.
[0024]
The private site 200 includes one mediation device 20, a plurality of agent devices 30, and a LAN (Local Area Network) 40 for electrically connecting these.
[0025]
The mediation device 20 includes a manager device cooperation unit 21, an agent device setting unit 22, and a collection target storage unit 23. The manager device linking unit 21 acquires, from the manager device 10, data items to be collected, data collection intervals, the IP address of the agent device 30 to be collected, and the like. The agent device setting unit 22 controls the setting of data items to be collected and the transmission instruction of the collected data for each of the agent devices 30 in the management of the mediation device 20. The collection target storage unit 23 stores information such as a data item to be collected, a data collection interval, and an IP address of the agent device 30 to be collected, which are acquired from the manager device 10 by the manager device cooperation unit 21.
[0026]
The agent device 30 includes a data observation unit 31, a data transmission unit 32, and an observation data storage unit 33. The data observation unit 31 observes the value of the collection target data item set by the mediation device 20. The collection target data includes, for example, system information of a computer in which the agent device 30 is mounted, such as a CPU usage rate and a memory usage amount, and traffic information for each packet, each port, and each address. The observation data storage unit 33 temporarily stores the observation results obtained by the data observation unit 31. The data transmission unit 32 transmits the observation result obtained by the data observation unit 31 to the collected data reception unit 13 of the manager device 10.
[0027]
The router 300 having the dynamic NAT function enables communication between networks having different address spaces by translating a private address into a global address. One global address is dynamically allocated, and transmission from the private site 200 to the global site 100 can be performed. Since the address on the agent device 30 (private) side is not guaranteed unique on the Internet and a different global address is assigned for each communication, data transmission from the manager device 10 (global) side to the agent device 30 side Can not.
[0028]
The processing of the first embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of the information collection system according to the first embodiment.
[0029]
First, as initial settings, the mediation device name, agent name, data collection interval, agent IP address, collection target data items, and the like used in the collection target editing unit 11 are set in the manager device 10. Further, in the mediation device 20, a mediation device name, manager information, agent information, and the like are set. The manager information here includes an IP address and a URL for the mediation device 20 to access the manager device 10 via the IP network, and the agent information includes information from the agent list shown in FIG. Contains an agent name for identifying the agent device 30 managed by the agent. Further, manager information and the like are set in the agent device 30.
[0030]
The manager device 10 converts the data items collected from each agent device 30 using the collection target editing unit 11 and the information of the mediation device 20 and the agent device 30 managed by the manager device 10 as the information of the collection target as shown in FIG. Edit and create (step S100). The information to be collected is edited as needed even during the operation of the system, such as adding an agent or changing a data item to be collected. Next, the information on the collection target edited and created is stored using the collection target storage unit 12 (step S110). Thereafter, the manager device 10 enters a standby state.
[0031]
Next, the manager device cooperation unit 21 of the mediation device 20 requests the mediation device cooperation unit 16 for the information to be collected and acquires the information to be collected. The information acquisition here is performed based on the mediation device list, agent list, and collection target data list stored in the collection target storage unit 12. The data collection interval corresponding to its own mediation device name is obtained from the mediation device list, the agent name corresponding to its mediation device name and the IP address corresponding to the agent name are obtained from the agent list, and the collection target From the data list, a collection target data item name corresponding to its own mediation device name and agent name is acquired (step S120).
[0032]
Here, when the manager device cooperation unit 21 of the mediation device 20 cannot obtain the information of the collection target from the mediation device cooperation unit 16 of the manager device 10, the information of the collection target for the mediation device 20 in the manager device 10. Is not set, step S120 is performed again after a predetermined time has elapsed (step S130).
[0033]
The method by which the mediation device 20 acquires information to be collected from the manager device 10 is, for example, communication using SNMP GetRequest-GetResponse when using the MIB collection process, and using SQL (Structured Query Language) when using a relational database. Communication is performed, and if the file format is used, communication is performed by ftp (File Transfer Protocol) or http (HyperText Transport Protocol) access.
[0034]
Next, when the manager device cooperation unit 21 can acquire the information to be collected from the mediation device cooperation unit 16, the information to be collected is stored in the collection target storage unit 23 (step S140).
[0035]
Thereafter, the agent device setting unit 22 sets data items to be observed by each agent device 30 in each agent device 30 based on the information on the collection target stored in the collection target storage unit 23 (Step S150). ). After completing the settings for all the agent devices 30, the mediation device 20 waits for the time indicated by the data collection interval acquired from the mediation device list in the information to be collected.
[0036]
After the data items to be collected (data items to be observed) are set by the mediation device 20, the agent device 30 starts data observation of the data items to be collected by the data observation unit 31 (step S160). The value of the observed data is stored by the observation data storage unit 33 (step S170).
[0037]
The mediation device 20 accesses the manager device 10 after the time indicated by the data collection interval has elapsed, and checks whether or not the data update time of the mediation device list has been changed (step S180).
[0038]
If the data update time has been changed, the information to be collected has been changed, and the process returns to step S120 to acquire the information to be collected again. If the data update time has not been changed, the mediation apparatus 20 accesses the manager apparatus 10 and inquires whether the value of the data observed by the agent apparatus 30 may be transmitted to the manager apparatus 10 (step S190). ).
[0039]
The mediation device cooperation unit 16 of the manager device 10 that has received the inquiry about whether the value of the observed data may be transmitted determines whether or not transmission is possible to the mediation device 20 (step S200).
[0040]
When the manager device 10 cannot perform a new process, such as when the manager device 10 is making an inquiry from another mediation device 20 or receiving data from the agent device 30, the mediation is performed. A response indicating that transmission is impossible is made to the device 20. In this case, the intermediary device waits for a predetermined time and then accesses the manager device 10 to make an inquiry as to whether or not transmission is possible again.
[0041]
On the other hand, when the manager device 10 determines that the data observed by the agent device 30 may be received, the manager device 10 replies to the mediation device 20 that transmission is possible.
[0042]
In this way, by sending an inquiry to the manager device 10 as to whether the value of the observed data may be transmitted, it is possible to avoid transmitting collected data from many agents at the same time.
[0043]
When the mediation device 20 receives a response indicating that transmission is possible from the manager device 10, the mediation device 20 issues an instruction to the agent device 30 using the agent device setting unit 22 to transmit the value of the observed data to the manager device 10 ( Step S210). At this time, a transmission instruction may be issued to a plurality of agent devices 30 simultaneously or sequentially according to the processing capacity of the manager device 10.
[0044]
After issuing a transmission instruction to the agent device 30, the mediation device 20 waits for the time indicated by the data collection interval acquired from the mediation device list shown in FIG. 2B, returns to step S180, and repeats the same processing. You.
[0045]
After receiving the transmission instruction of the observed data value from the mediation device 20 (step S220), the agent device 30 transmits the observed data value to the collected data receiving unit 13 of the manager device 10 (step S230).
[0046]
As a method of transmitting data from the agent device 30 to the manager device 10, for example, there is a method of uploading by ftp or http, accessing a database by SQL INSERT, and using SNMP GetResponse.
[0047]
In addition, the agent device 30 needs to have an identifier of the agent name in the collected information transmitted from the manager device 10 in order to distinguish the collected data transmitted from which agent device 30.
[0048]
For example, in the case of ftp or http, the agent name shown in FIG. 2 may be included in the data to be uploaded. In database access by INSERT of SQL, INSERT may be performed by providing a column for storing an agent name in each record of collected data. In the SNMP GetResponse, an agent name may be added to an area called RequestID in the packet, and the setting may be made so that the manager device 10 can read the content.
[0049]
The collected data receiving unit 13 of the manager device 10 receives the collected data (observed data values) transmitted from the agent device 30 and accumulates the data in chronological order (step S240). The accumulated collected data is stored using the collected data storage unit 14 (Step S250). The collected data at this time is stored in the order of time transmitted from the agent device 30 or in the order of time stored in the collected data storage unit 14.
[0050]
When storing the collected data, necessary processing may be added according to the content of the data. For example, when the collected data is the number of packets observed since the activation of the agent device 30, the difference between the number of previously observed packets and the number of currently observed packets is calculated and stored, or the number of packets is calculated in seconds. Convert and store. In addition, when there is a request from the user to disclose the collected data, the collected data disclosing unit 15 searches the collected data stored in the collected data storage unit 14 for the requested data and graphs the requested data. To provide.
[0051]
Normally, data is transmitted from the agent device 30 to the manager device 10 at a predetermined cycle based on the data collection interval and whether or not data transmission from the agent device 30 to the manager device 10 is possible. If the observation data is not transmitted from the device 30 to the manager device 10 in a predetermined cycle, the manager device 10 records the lack of the collected data.
[0052]
When making an inquiry to the manager device 10 as to whether or not transmission is possible in step S250, the mediation device 20 checks whether there is an error state (missing of collected data) recorded by the manager device 10. If it is in the error state, the agent device 30 in the error state is diagnosed, and the diagnosis result is transmitted to the manager device 10.
[0053]
As described above, according to the first embodiment, all traffic that triggers the setting and collection of data starts from the agent device 30. Therefore, like the dynamic NAT, the agent device 30 or Even when the IP address of the mediation device 20 cannot be determined, it is possible to effectively collect traffic information. Also, since the traffic for collection is basically sent unilaterally from the agent device 30, the load can be reduced as compared with the means using GetRequest-GetResponse.
[0054]
Embodiment 2 FIG.
Second Embodiment A second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In the second embodiment, the mediation device 20 is further provided with a collected data receiving unit 24 and a collected data storage unit 25.
[0055]
FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the information collecting system according to the second embodiment of the present invention. Components that achieve the same functions as those in the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1 among the components in FIG. 4 are assigned the same numbers, and duplicate descriptions are omitted.
[0056]
The mediation device 20 includes a collection data reception unit 24, a collection data storage unit 25, and a data transmission unit 26 in addition to the manager device cooperation unit 21, the agent device setting unit 22, and the collection target storage unit 23.
[0057]
The collected data receiving unit 24 receives traffic information and the like transmitted from each agent device 30 and accumulates the information in a time series. The collected data storage unit 25 stores collected data such as traffic information accumulated by the collected data receiving unit 13. The data transmitting unit 26 transmits the collected data stored in the collected data storage unit 25 to the collected data receiving unit 13 of the manager device 10.
[0058]
The processing according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of the information collecting system according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
[0059]
The configuration is the same as that of the first embodiment up to the point where the agent device 30 starts the data observation of the data item to be collected by the data observation unit 31 (step S160).
[0060]
After the agent device 30 completes the data observation of the set collection target data item, the agent device 30 transmits the value of the observed data to the mediation device 20 (step S300).
[0061]
The collected data receiving unit 24 of the mediation device 20 receives the collected data (observed data values) transmitted from the agent device 30 and accumulates the data in chronological order (step S310). The accumulated collected data is stored using the collected data storage unit 25 (Step S320).
[0062]
Then, after completing the reception of the collected data from all the agent devices 30 managed by the relay device 20, the relay device 20 transmits the collected data stored in the collected data storage unit 25 to the manager device 10 in a lump (step). S330).
[0063]
The collected data receiving unit 13 of the manager device 10 receives the collected data transmitted from the mediation device 20 and accumulates the data in chronological order (step S340), and stores the accumulated collected data using the collected data storage unit 14. Is performed (step S350).
[0064]
As described above, according to the second embodiment, the mediation device 20 collectively transmits the collected data to the manager device 10, so that the total traffic is reduced as compared with the case where each agent device 30 transmits the collected data to the manager device 10. Becomes possible. Further, even if a state in which communication between the mediation device 20 and the manager device 10 cannot be performed temporarily occurs, after the communication between the mediation device 20 and the manager device 10 can be performed, the collected data storage unit Since the collected data stored in the storage device 25 can be transmitted to the manager device 10, an information collection system resistant to failure can be obtained.
[0065]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, all the traffic that triggers the setting and collection of data starts from the agent side. Therefore, the IP address of the agent device side is uniquely determined by the manager side such as dynamic NAT. This makes it possible to effectively collect traffic information even when it is not possible to determine the traffic information.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an information collection system according to a first embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of data stored in a collection target storage unit 12 according to the first embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of the information collection system according to the first embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an information collection system according to a second embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of the information collecting system according to the second embodiment of the present invention;
[Explanation of symbols]
Reference Signs List 10 manager device, 11 collection target editing unit, 12, 23 collection target storage unit, 13, 24 collection data reception unit, 14, 25 collection data storage unit, 15 collection data disclosure unit, 16 mediation device cooperation unit, 20 mediation device, 21 manager device cooperation unit, 22 agent device setting unit, 26, 32 data transmission unit, 30 agent device, 31 data observation unit, 33 observation data storage unit, 40 LAN, 100 global site, 200 private site, 300 router.

Claims (7)

A global site having a manager device for collecting information, a private site having an agent device for providing information, and an operation of performing an address conversion for enabling data transmission between the private site and the global site. An information collection system comprising a router having a dynamic NAT function,
The private site includes an intermediary device electrically connected to the agent device via a LAN,
The mediation device causes the agent device to collect information requested by the manager device, and transmits the collected information directly to the manager device or transmits the information to the manager device via the mediation device. An information collection system that is characteristic. The information collection system according to claim 1, wherein the mediation device includes a first storage unit that stores information collected by the agent device. The manager device includes a second storage for storing information for the mediation device to access the agent device, information on data items to be collected by the agent device, and information on a time interval for collecting information on the agent device. With means,
The intermediary device includes an obtaining unit that accesses the manager device and obtains information stored in the second storage unit, and the intermediary device controls the agent device using the information obtained by the obtaining unit. The information collection system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: The mediation device further includes a third storage unit that stores the information acquired by the acquisition unit, and the mediation device controls the agent device using the information stored in the third storage unit. The information collection system according to claim 3, wherein the information is collected. The second storage unit further stores information on the date and time when the stored information is updated for each agent device,
When the stored information is not updated, the mediation device transmits the information collected by the agent device directly to the agent device, or transmits the information collected by the agent device through the mediation device. And transmitting the information to the manager device, and when the stored information is updated, causes the agent device to collect new information based on the updated information. The information collection system according to any one of the above. Only when it is possible to confirm that the information transmitted by the manager device is receivable, the mediation device allows the information collected by the agent device to be directly transmitted to the manager device or to the agent device. The information collection system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the collected information is transmitted to the manager device via the mediation device. The manager device includes a fourth storage unit that stores information transmitted from the agent device or the mediation device, and processes and provides the information stored in the fourth storage unit in response to a request from the agent device. The information collection system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, further comprising:

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