JP2007081938A - Apparatus diagnostic system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an apparatus diagnostic system capable of diagnosing a state of an apparatus independently of an operating state of an application. <P>SOLUTION: The apparatus diagnostic system 10 includes: a diagnostic object apparatus 12 being an object of apparatus diagnosis; and a monitoring server 13 for monitoring a communication state of the diagnostic object apparatus 12. A network interface driver 31 of the diagnostic object apparatus 12 includes: a copy packet acquisition section 316 for acquiring a copy of a packet to be transmitted/received; a destination setting section 317 for setting an address of the monitoring server as a destination address of the copy packet acquired by the copy packet acquisition section 316; and a copy packet transmission section 316 for transmitting the copy packet to the destination set by the destination setting section 317. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a device diagnosis system that can diagnose the state of a device via a network.

Conventionally, a maintenance management system for diagnosing the state of a device connected to a network has been known. Patent Document 1 discloses an example of a conventional maintenance management system. The maintenance management system described in Patent Document 1 includes a printing device and a host device that supplies data to the printing device. When a failure occurs in the printing device, the printing device collects information necessary for failure analysis, and transmits the collected information and failure information indicating the failure that occurred to the mail server as an e-mail. With the maintenance management system configured as described above, information for analyzing a failure can be acquired by a maintenance person accessing the mail server.
JP 2000-29807 A

  However, in the above-described maintenance management system, there is a possibility that the printing apparatus that monitors the processing state will also stop when the system fails. In this case, there is a problem that the situation cannot be grasped because the administrator is not notified of the failure. In addition, when a failure with an unknown cause occurs, it is necessary to add a function to output a communication log to the application in order to examine the content of the communication that caused the failure, so analysis cannot be performed immediately. There was a problem.

  In view of the above background, an object of the present invention is to provide a device diagnosis system that can diagnose the state of a device regardless of the operating state of an application.

  The apparatus diagnosis system of the present invention includes a diagnosis target apparatus to be diagnosed and a monitoring server that monitors a communication state of the diagnosis target apparatus, and the diagnosis target apparatus acquires a copy of a packet transmitted and received through a network. A duplicate packet acquisition unit; a destination setting unit that sets an address of the monitoring server as a destination address of the duplicate packet acquired by the duplicate packet acquisition unit; and the duplicate packet is transmitted to the destination set by the destination setting unit And a duplicate packet transmission unit that includes a network interface driver.

  With this configuration, since the network interface driver of the diagnosis target device generates a copy of the packet transmitted / received through the network and transmits the copy packet to the monitoring server, the monitoring server grasps the communication state of the diagnosis target device, and the diagnosis target device Can be diagnosed. In the diagnosis target apparatus, since the transmission / reception packet is copied and transferred by the network interface driver, the transmission / reception packet can be transferred regardless of the operation state of the application of the diagnosis target apparatus.

  In the apparatus diagnosis system of the present invention, the destination setting unit has a configuration in which the MAC address field and the IP header field of the duplicate packet acquired by the duplicate packet acquisition unit are changed to the destination address of the monitoring server.

  With this configuration, the duplicate packet can be transferred to the monitoring server.

  In the apparatus diagnosis system of the present invention, the destination setting unit encapsulates the duplicate packet acquired by the duplicate packet acquisition unit, and in the encapsulated data, a MAC header destined for the monitoring server, an IP header, It has a configuration for adding a UDP header.

  With this configuration, it is possible to transfer a duplicate packet in which destination information of a packet to be transmitted and received is duplicated to the monitoring server.

  In the apparatus diagnosis system of the present invention, the destination setting unit has a configuration for adding time information to the encapsulated data.

  With this configuration, the transmission time and reception time of the packet can be transmitted to the monitoring server, so that detailed diagnosis is possible.

  In the apparatus diagnosis system of the present invention, the destination setting unit stores in advance a transfer determination condition for determining whether or not to transfer the duplicate packet to a monitoring server, and sets a destination address based on the transfer determination condition. It has a configuration to perform.

  With this configuration, packets to be transferred to the monitoring server can be selected.

  In the apparatus diagnosis system of the present invention, the duplicate packet acquisition unit acquires a packet written in a reception buffer of a network interface driver and a copy of a packet written in a transmission buffer, and the duplicate packet transmission unit includes the destination setting A packet in which the destination address is set in the transmission section is written in the transmission buffer.

  With this configuration, a packet can be transmitted according to the set destination address.

  The diagnosis object apparatus of the present invention includes a reception buffer for storing a packet received via a network, a transmission buffer for storing a packet to be transmitted via the network, and a copy of the packet stored in the reception buffer and the transmission buffer. A duplicate packet acquisition unit for acquiring the destination address, a destination setting unit for setting the address of the monitoring server as a destination address of the duplicate packet acquired by the duplicate packet acquisition unit, and a replica for which the destination address is set by the destination setting unit A network interface driver including a duplicate packet transmission unit that writes a packet to the transmission buffer;

  With this configuration, similar to the device diagnosis system of the present invention, since the network interface driver copies and forwards the transmission / reception packet, the transmission / reception packet can be transferred regardless of the operating state of the application, and the monitoring server performs the diagnosis. The communication state of the target device can be grasped, and the state of the diagnosis target device can be diagnosed. Various configurations of the apparatus diagnosis system of the present invention can also be applied to the diagnosis target apparatus of the present invention.

  According to the present invention, since the network interface driver copies and forwards the transmission / reception packet, the transmission / reception packet can be transferred regardless of the operation state of the application of the diagnosis target device, and the monitoring server grasps the communication state. It has an excellent effect that the state of the diagnosis target device can be diagnosed.

Hereinafter, an apparatus diagnosis system 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of a diagnosis target apparatus 12 diagnosed by the apparatus diagnosis system 10 of the present embodiment. Before describing the configuration of the diagnosis target device 12 with reference to FIG. 1, the configuration of the device diagnosis system 10 of the present embodiment will be described.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a system for explaining the apparatus diagnosis method according to the first embodiment of the present invention. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the device diagnosis system 10 includes a diagnosis target device 12, a monitoring server 13, and a client device 14. The diagnosis target device 12, the monitoring server 13, and the client device 14 are connected by a network 11.

  The diagnosis target device 12 communicates with the client device 14 via the network 11. For example, the diagnosis target device 12 returns a response message to the request message transmitted by the client device 14. The diagnosis target device 12 transfers a packet transmitted / received to / from the client device 14 to the monitoring server 13.

  The monitoring server 13 receives and stores the packet transferred from the diagnosis target device 12. Thereby, when the diagnosis target device 12 fails, the cause of the failure can be analyzed by referring to the stored packet.

  The diagnosis target device 12 will be described with reference to FIG. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the diagnosis target device 12 prints a network interface driver (hereinafter referred to as “driver”) 31 for performing communication via the network 11, for example, in response to a request from the client device 14. An application 33 that performs processing such as database search and a protocol stack 32 that transfers packets between the driver 31 and the application 33 are provided. The driver 31 is stored in a packet receiver 311 that receives a packet from the network 11, a reception buffer 313 that stores a packet received by the packet receiver 311, a transmission buffer 314 that stores a transmission packet, and a transmission buffer 314. A packet transmission unit 312 for transmitting the received packet. These configurations are the same as those of a normal driver.

  The driver 31 includes a packet transfer processing unit 315 that transfers packets transmitted and received by the diagnosis target device 12. The packet transfer processing unit 315 captures a copy of the packet that the protocol stack 32 reads from the reception buffer 313, and further captures a copy of the packet that the protocol stack 32 writes to the transmission buffer 314. Then, the packet is corrected so that the packet taken in with reference to the transfer information 34 reaches the monitoring server 13 and is written in the transmission buffer 314. The packet transfer processing unit 315 includes a duplicate packet acquisition unit 316, a destination generation unit 317, and a duplicate packet writing unit 318.

  The duplicate packet acquisition unit 316 acquires a duplicate of the packet read by the protocol stack 32 from the reception buffer 313 and the packet that the protocol stack 32 writes to the transmission buffer 314.

  The destination generation unit 317 generates a destination address of the duplicate packet acquired by the duplicate packet acquisition unit 316. The destination generation unit 317 is connected to the transfer information table 34.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of data in the transfer information table 34. The transfer information table 34 is recorded in a magnetic storage device such as a RAM, a ROM, or a hard disk drive. The transfer information table 34 holds the MAC address, IP address, and port number of the monitoring server 13. When the diagnosis target device 12 and the monitoring server 13 are connected via a router, an address conversion device, etc., the MAC address and IP address of the monitoring server are recorded in the transfer information table 34 as appropriate. deep.

  The transfer information table 34 holds information on transfer determination conditions. The transfer determination condition is a condition for determining whether or not to transfer a packet transmitted and received by the diagnosis target device 12 to the monitoring server 13. This transfer determination condition includes IP address information and port information, and it is determined based on whether or not these information matches. A plurality of these conditions can be registered. According to the transfer information table 34 shown in FIG. 3, a packet having an arbitrary port of a device having an IP address of 192.168.0.60 as a transmission source and a port number 5002 of the diagnosis target device 12 as a transmission destination is diagnosed. When the packet transfer processing unit 315 reads a packet whose source is the port number 5002 of the target device 12 and whose destination is any port of the device having the IP address of 192.168.0.60, the transfer processing is performed. In this example, when the stored condition is met, the destination address is set and the transfer is performed. However, when the stored condition is not met, the destination address may be set.

  The destination generation unit 317 refers to the transfer information table 34 and sets the destination address of the duplicate packet. In this embodiment, the destination address recorded in the MAC header and IP header of the duplicate packet is rewritten to the destination address recorded in the transfer information table 34.

  The duplicate packet writing unit 318 writes the duplicate packet in which the destination address is set by the destination generation unit 317 in the transmission buffer 314. As a result, the duplicate packet written in the transmission buffer 314 is transmitted by the packet transmission unit 312.

  The protocol stack 32 performs protocol processing and packet transfer between the network interface driver 31 and the application icon 33.

  Next, the operation of the diagnosis target apparatus 12 according to the present embodiment will be described. When the diagnosis target device 12 receives a UDP packet from the client device 14, the packet reception unit 311 records the received packet in the reception buffer 313. Next, the packet transfer processing unit 315 reads a copy of the UDP packet.

  FIG. 4A is a diagram illustrating an example of a packet read from the reception buffer 313. As shown in FIG. 4A, the packet has an Ethernet (registered trademark) header, an IP header, and a UDP header. Since the packet read from the reception buffer is a packet addressed to the diagnosis target device 12 from the client device 14, the MAC address of the client device 14 is the source MAC address, and the IP address of the client device 14 is the source IP address. The MAC address of the diagnosis target device 12 is written in the destination MAC address, and the IP address of the diagnosis target device 12 is written in the destination IP address. Although an example of generating a duplicate packet of a received packet will be described here, a duplicate packet is similarly generated for a transmission packet.

  The transfer processing unit 315 rewrites the Ethernet (registered trademark) address and the IP address according to the data held in the transfer information table 34. In this embodiment, since the duplicate packet is transferred from the diagnosis target apparatus 12 to the monitoring server 13, the destination address is rewritten with the MAC address and IP address of the monitoring server 13 as shown in FIG. To the MAC address and IP address of the monitored server 12. Also, the header checksum is recalculated with the IP address after rewriting, and the calculated numerical value is written. Further, the destination port number is changed to a port number on which the monitoring server 13 is waiting for reception.

The packet transfer processing unit 315 writes the packet whose destination address has been rewritten to the transmission buffer 314 by the duplicate packet writing unit 318. The packet transmission unit 312 transmits the packet stored in the transmission buffer 314 according to the address written in the header. Since the MAC address and IP address of the monitoring server 13 are written as the destination in the header of the duplicate packet, the duplicate packet is transmitted to the monitoring server 13.
The apparatus diagnosis system 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention has been described above.

  According to the apparatus diagnosis system 10 of the first embodiment, the packet transfer processing unit 315 takes in packets received and transmitted through the network 11 and uses Ethernet (registered trademark) based on information held in the transfer information table 34. ) The header and the IP header can be rewritten, and the received packet and the packet to be transmitted can be transmitted to the monitoring server 13. Thereby, the monitoring server 13 can investigate the packet transmitted and received by the diagnosis target device 12 without depending on the operation state of the application 33. For example, even when the operation of the application 33 is stopped, the diagnosis target device 12 can transfer the packet to the monitoring server 13, so that the monitoring server 13 can grasp the situation.

  In addition, in the diagnosis target apparatus 12 of the apparatus diagnosis system 10 according to the present embodiment, the application 33 does not need to be equipped with a special function, so that an effect of being versatile can be obtained. Furthermore, since the device itself does not need a mechanism for detecting the occurrence of a failure, and does not require a complicated operation such as notification of failure information by e-mail, for example, in a device having a low processing speed and a small memory capacity such as an embedded device. A big effect can be expected.

  Further, in the first embodiment, since the transfer information table 34 includes information on the transfer determination condition, by referring to the transfer determination condition in the transfer information table 34 and comparing the packet with the determination condition, There is an effect that the packet transfer processing unit 315 can select the packets to be transferred.

(Second Embodiment)
Next, the apparatus diagnosis system 10 according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described. The device diagnosis system 10 according to the second embodiment has the same basic configuration as the first device diagnosis system 10, but the destination address setting method in the destination generation unit 317 of the packet transfer processing unit 315 is different.

  FIG. 5A is a diagram illustrating an example of a packet read from the reception buffer 313. In the second embodiment, the destination generation unit 317 does not rewrite the contents of the Ethernet (registered trademark) header, IP header, and TCP header, but encapsulates these information and data in a UDP packet. Then, as shown in FIG. 5B, the destination generation unit 317 refers to the information in the transfer information table 34, and adds the Ethernet (registered trademark) header, IP header, and UDP header to the encapsulated data. Is generated.

  According to the apparatus diagnosis system 10 of the second embodiment, an Ethernet (registered trademark) header and an IP header are generated based on information held in the transfer information table 34, and received by encapsulating the data. The transmitted packet and the packet to be transmitted can be transmitted to the monitoring server 13. As a result, the monitoring server 13 can obtain the same effect as the apparatus diagnosis system 10 of the first embodiment in which the packet transmitted / received by the diagnosis target apparatus 12 can be investigated without depending on the operation state of the application 33. .

  In the second embodiment, since the destination and transmission source information of the transmitted / received packet is also encapsulated and transmitted, the monitoring server 13 can diagnose the diagnosis target device 12 with detailed information.

(Third embodiment)
Next, an apparatus diagnosis system 10 according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described. The apparatus diagnosis system 10 of the third embodiment has the same basic configuration as the apparatus diagnosis system 10 of the second embodiment, but sets the destination address in the destination generation unit 317 of the packet transfer processing unit 315. The method is different.

  FIG. 6A is a diagram illustrating an example of a packet read from the reception buffer 313. Also in the third embodiment, as in the second embodiment, the destination generation unit 317 encapsulates the information and data of the Ethernet (registered trademark) header, the IP header, and the TCP header in a UDP packet. Then, a packet in which an Ethernet (registered trademark) header, an IP header, and a UDP header are added to the encapsulated data is generated. In the third embodiment, a packet is generated by adding time information to the UDP payload portion of the UDP header.

  According to the apparatus diagnosis system 10 of the third embodiment, the monitoring server 13 can obtain time information of received packets and transmitted packets. Thereby, it becomes possible to grasp the operation state of the application from the communication state between the client device 14 and the diagnosis target device 12. For example, when the diagnosis target device 12 receives a request from the client device 14 and executes a task and performs an operation of returning the response, the packet reception time of the diagnosis target device 12 is compared with the packet transmission time. The time required for the processing of the application 33 can be known. As a result, when the response to the request of the application 33 becomes slower than usual, the monitoring server 13 can know so that the operation state of the diagnosis target device 12 is estimated to be unstable. Can do.

  The present invention can transfer transmission / reception packets regardless of the operation state of the application, has an excellent effect that the monitoring server can grasp the communication state of the diagnosis target device and can diagnose the state of the diagnosis target device, This is useful as a device diagnosis system for remotely diagnosing a device to be diagnosed.

The figure which shows the structure of the diagnostic object apparatus of embodiment The figure which shows the structure of the apparatus diagnostic system of embodiment The figure which shows the example of the data memorize | stored in the transfer information table (A) The figure which shows the example of the packet read from the receiving buffer (b) The figure which shows the example of the packet which changed the destination address (A) The figure which shows the example of the packet read from the receiving buffer (b) The figure which shows the example of the packet which added the destination address (A) The figure which shows the example of the packet read from the receiving buffer (b) The figure which shows the example of the packet which added destination address and time information

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Apparatus diagnostic system 11 Network 12 Diagnosis target apparatus 13 Monitoring server 14 Client apparatus 31 Network interface driver 311 Packet reception part 312 Packet transmission part 313 Reception buffer 314 Transmission buffer 315 Packet transfer process part 316 Duplicate packet acquisition part 317 Destination generation part 318 Duplication Packet writing unit 32 Protocol stack 33 Application 34 Transfer information table

Claims (7)

A diagnostic target device to be diagnosed;
A monitoring server for monitoring a communication state of the diagnosis target device;
With
The diagnostic target device is:
A duplicate packet acquisition unit that acquires a copy of a packet transmitted and received through the network;
A destination setting unit that sets the address of the monitoring server as a destination address of the duplicate packet acquired by the duplicate packet acquisition unit;
A duplicate packet transmission unit that transmits the duplicate packet to the destination set by the destination setting unit;
An apparatus diagnosis system comprising a network interface driver including   The apparatus diagnosis system according to claim 1, wherein the destination setting unit changes a MAC address field and an IP header field of the duplicate packet acquired by the duplicate packet acquisition unit to a destination address of the monitoring server. .   The destination setting unit encapsulates the duplicate packet acquired by the duplicate packet acquisition unit, and adds a MAC header, an IP header, and a UDP header to the monitoring server as the destination to the encapsulated data. The apparatus diagnosis system according to claim 1, wherein   The apparatus diagnosis system according to claim 3, wherein the destination setting unit adds time information to the encapsulated data. The destination setting unit stores in advance transfer determination conditions for determining whether or not to transfer the duplicate packet to a monitoring server,
2. The apparatus diagnosis system according to claim 1, wherein a destination address is set based on the transfer determination condition. The duplicate packet acquisition unit acquires a packet written in the reception buffer of the network interface driver and a copy of the packet written in the transmission buffer,
The apparatus diagnostic system according to claim 1, wherein the duplicate packet transmission unit writes a packet in which a destination address is set by the destination setting unit in the transmission buffer. A receive buffer for storing packets received over the network;
A transmission buffer for storing packets to be transmitted over the network;
A duplicate packet acquisition unit for acquiring a copy of a packet stored in the reception buffer and the transmission buffer;
A destination setting unit that sets the address of the monitoring server as a destination address of the duplicate packet acquired by the duplicate packet acquisition unit;
A duplicate packet transmitting unit for writing a duplicate packet in which a destination address is set in the destination setting unit to the transmission buffer;
An apparatus to be diagnosed comprising a network interface driver including

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