JP2011159127A - Management device, management system, management method, program, and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain, monitor and manage the device information of each vendor device in a multi-vendor network environment. <P>SOLUTION: The management device includes a storage means for storing obtaining information for a plurality of vendors to manage vendor devices using a network management protocol and obtain device information; an obtaining means for acquiring the device information from the plurality of vendor devices according to the obtaining information; and a management means for managing the obtained device information in association with each of the vendors. The obtaining information includes the location information of standard device information that can be commonly obtained from all of the plurality of vendor devices, and the location information of extension device information that can be obtained for each vendor device depending on each of the plurality of vendor devices. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to the fields of a management apparatus, a management system, a management method, a program, and a recording medium.

  In recent years, networks have become more and more complex under all computer environments. As a technique for managing and monitoring such a network, SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) is known. SNMP is a protocol that defines a communication method for information for monitoring and controlling network devices (nodes) on a network. A network managed and monitored using SNMP is classified into an SNMP manager and an SNMP agent when classified from the functional aspect.

  The management device (SNMP manager) is a server device that comprehensively manages and monitors managed nodes and managed devices in the network. The managed node (SNMP agent) stores status information used for management in a management database called MIB (Management information base), and the management device can manage the managed node at regular or arbitrary timing. The state is managed by acquiring the MIB value from the. Conversely, by sending a trap (notification of failure etc.) from the managed node to the management device, the network administrator in the management device can quickly detect troubles and state changes that have occurred in the managed node. It has become.

  Actually, almost all networks of companies are composed of various devices by multiple vendors (for example, various server devices and copiers), and each vendor monitors each device for the purpose of stable operation of the device. There are many cases where a system is established. For example, Company A installs the above-described management device for the device A delivered by itself, Company B for the device B delivered by the Company, and Company C for the device C delivered by the Company, and monitors the operation status thereof. Vendors make reports that summarize the monitoring status and regularly report to customers.

  Under such circumstances, more recently, there has been a demand from the customer side to monitor not only a specific device but also all devices in a network environment. In order to meet such demands, some vendors are monitoring not only their own equipment but also other companies in the network environment.

  However, there are certain restrictions when a specific vendor (for example, Company A) monitors not only its own devices but also devices of other companies (for example, Company B and Company C). In other words, MIB information can also be obtained for other company's equipment if it is general-purpose information such as standard MIB, so monitoring and management should be performed including not only device information of its own equipment but also general equipment information of other company's equipment. I can. On the other hand, non-generic information based on an extended MIB (Private MIB) or proprietary protocol is device information unique to each company, and therefore cannot be obtained (it cannot be accurately interpreted but cannot be used) . Therefore, when a specific vendor monitors not only its own equipment but also other company's equipment in the network environment, it can acquire and monitor equipment information including standard MIB and extended MIB for its own equipment, but standard MIB for other company's equipment. Only acquired and monitored device information, including only. For this reason, the report summarizing the monitoring situation was not necessarily satisfactory.

  In this regard, the invention described in Patent Document 1 attempts to acquire information related to a vendor, but it is quite difficult to acquire vendor-specific device information (for example, extended MIB) that can be managed by the device.

  In addition, when each vendor company individually builds a monitoring system that includes not only its own devices but also other companies' devices in a network environment, each monitoring system acquires device information for each device in the network environment. Therefore, duplicate access occurs at least with respect to the standard MIB. For this reason, an extra load is generated in the network, and device resources are unnecessarily consumed, so that the efficiency of device monitoring and management is not necessarily good. In this case, the reports from the vendors also include duplication of information and incomplete information. Therefore, both the vendor side and the customer side require extra manpower to sort useful information, so the report is still not satisfactory.

  FIG. 1 is an example of a conventional network monitoring environment diagram by a plurality of vendors. Company A devices, Company B devices, and Company C devices are connected to customer sites in a multi-vendor environment, and each device is monitored by a monitoring system of each company. The monitoring status is transmitted to each company's remote management center, and a report for each company is created based on the accumulated monitoring status. In such an environment, the efficiency of device monitoring / management is not always good as described above.

  In view of the above problems, the present invention provides a management apparatus, management system, management method, program, and recording medium that acquire, monitor, and manage device information of each vendor device in a multi-vendor network environment. With the goal. More specifically, it is possible to acquire, monitor, and manage device information from multiple vendors centrally on a single device, and to present a report that summarizes the monitoring status to customers in a batch. It is possible.

  In order to solve the above problems, a management apparatus according to the present invention is a management apparatus that manages vendor devices by a plurality of vendors using a network management protocol, and obtains device information from the plurality of vendor devices. Storage means storing information, acquisition means for acquiring device information from the plurality of vendor devices based on the acquisition information, and managing device information acquired from the plurality of vendor devices in association with each vendor And the acquisition information includes location information of standard device information that can be acquired in common from all of the plurality of vendor devices, and extended devices that can be acquired for each vendor device depending on the plurality of vendors. The acquisition means receives from the first vendor device standard device information based on the location information of the standard device information, and First extension device information based on location information of the extension device information of the first vendor device is acquired, and from the second vendor device, standard device information based on the location information of the standard device information, and the second vendor Second extension device information based on the location information of the extension device information of the device is acquired.

  In order to solve the above problem, the management device is connected to a plurality of collection devices that collect device information acquired from the plurality of vendor devices via a network so as to be able to communicate with each other, and is managed by the management unit Transmission means for transmitting information to the collection device is provided.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, the management device may acquire acquisition information for the storage means to acquire device information that can be acquired and requested by the plurality of collection devices for each of the plurality of vendor devices. Remember.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, the management device may be configured such that the transmission unit obtains device information that can be acquired or / and requested based on device information managed by the management unit in association with each vendor. Each of them is transmitted to the corresponding collection device.

  In order to solve the above problem, in the management device, the acquisition information is acquisition information for acquiring device information that can be acquired by at least two or more of the collection devices.

  In order to solve the above problem, in the management apparatus, the acquisition unit does not acquire device information from some of the plurality of vendor devices.

  In order to solve the above problem, in the management apparatus, the acquisition unit acquires the device information using SNMP as a network management protocol, the device information is an MIB value, and the acquisition information is an object of the MIB value. The MIB value includes a standard MIB value acquired without depending on the vendor device and an extended MIB value acquired depending on the vendor device.

  In order to solve the above problem, the management apparatus further includes unique information based on a unique protocol managed for each vendor device in the device information, and the acquired information is obtained by using the unique protocol. Contains information to obtain.

  In addition, what applied the arbitrary combination of the component of this invention, expression, or a component to a method, an apparatus, a system, a computer program, a recording medium, etc. is also effective as an aspect of this invention.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a management device, a management system, a management method, a program, and a recording medium that acquire, monitor, and manage device information of each vendor device in a multi-vendor network environment.

It is an example of the conventional network monitoring environment diagram by multiple vendors. It is a network block diagram concerning this embodiment. 2 is a hardware configuration diagram illustrating a main configuration of an embodiment of an integrated device 10. FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram illustrating main functions of an embodiment of an integrated device 10. FIG. FIG. 3 is a software block diagram illustrating main functions of an embodiment of the integrated device 10. An example of management setting information is shown. An example (part) of the “standard MIB” ini file is shown. An example (part) of an “extended MIB” ini file is shown. It is a sequence diagram explaining the apparatus information acquisition process which the integrated apparatus 10 performs.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings in each embodiment.

[System configuration]
(Network configuration)
First, before describing specific contents of the present invention, a network configuration for carrying out the present invention will be described. FIG. 2 is a network configuration diagram according to the present embodiment. As shown in the figure, the network according to the present embodiment includes a customer site 20, remote management centers 30 to 50 of each company, and a remote integrated device management center 60.

  The customer site 20 includes an integrated device management apparatus 10, company devices 21 to 25, and a router 25.

  An integrated device management apparatus (hereinafter referred to as an integrated device for short) 10 according to the present invention is a so-called network monitoring server that monitors and manages each company's devices 21 to 25 connected in the customer site 20 as monitored devices. When monitoring each company's equipment, the integrated apparatus 10 functions as an SNMP manager because it uses the above-described SNMP.

  Each company's devices 21 to 25 are connected to a network so as to play a role specific to each device to a customer. These company devices 21 to 25 are monitored and managed by the integrated device 10 for the purpose of stable operation. Since each company's devices 21 to 25 use SNMP as monitored devices (monitoring target nodes), they function as SNMP agents. Since each company device 21-25 functions as an SNMP agent, status information (MIB information) used for monitoring and management is stored in the MIB database.

  The integrated apparatus 10 monitors the state by acquiring MIB information (including standard MIB values and extended MIB values) from each company's devices 21 to 25 at regular or arbitrary timing using SNMP. Conversely, by sending a trap (notification of a failure or the like) from each company's equipment 21 to 25 to the integrated device 10, the integrated device 10 can quickly detect troubles and state changes that have occurred in each company's equipment. It has become.

  The router 25 is a network device connected to each company's remote management centers 30 to 50 via a WAN (Wide Area Network) such as the Internet or various public line networks. Specifically, the data packet from the integrated device 10 is distributed and transferred to the remote management centers 30 to 50 of each company.

  The remote integrated device management center 60 (actually a server device in the center) acquires the device information collected by the integrated device 10 and then distributes and transmits the device information to the remote management centers 30 to 50 of each company. . For example, device information (including standard MIB value and extended MIB value) of device A is transmitted to company A. The extended MIB values of the company B and the company C equipment are not transmitted to the company A, but the standard MIB values of the company B and the company C equipment may be transmitted as necessary. This is because the extended MIB value often includes technical information unique to each company and is generally treated as trade secret information.

  In the remote integrated device management center 60, a report summarizing the operation status and failure status of the device is created. The report created here is a centralized and collective report created including device information (including standard MIB values and extended MIB values) of Company A, Company B, and Company C. From the viewpoint of customer usability, it is better to create a report centrally and present it to the customer.

  The remote integrated device management center 60 may be established jointly by each company, for example, but is desirably positioned as a third party organization. As described above, since device information often includes technical information unique to each company, the center handling the device information should be independent and neutral without relying on the vendor.

  Each company remote management center 30-50 is a remote management center which each company of A company, B company, and C company manages. Each company's remote management center 30-50 (actually a server device in the center) acquires the device information transmitted from the remote integrated device management center 60 and uses it for the maintenance of its own devices. The device information basically includes a standard MIB value and an extended MIB value of the vendor device. However, as described above, the extended MIB value of the other company's device is not included, but the standard MIB value of the other company's device may be included.

(hardware)
Next, the hardware configuration of the integration apparatus 10 will be briefly described. FIG. 3 is a hardware configuration diagram showing the main configuration of one embodiment of the integrated device 10. The integrated device 10 includes, as main components, a CPU 101, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 102, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 103, an auxiliary storage device 104, a storage medium reading device 105, an input device 106, a display device 107, and a communication device. 108.

  The CPU 101 is composed of a microprocessor and its peripheral circuits, and is a circuit that controls the entire apparatus. The ROM 102 is a memory that stores a predetermined control program (software component) executed by the CPU 101. The RAM 103 executes various control operations by the CPU 101 executing a predetermined control program (software component) stored in the ROM 102. This is a memory used as a work area (work area) when performing.

  The auxiliary storage device 104 is a device that stores various information including a general-purpose OS (Operating System), an integrated device management program, an SNMP program, device information (for example, MIB information), and device information transmission destination information. A storage device such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) is used. In addition to the auxiliary storage device 104, the various types of information may be stored in various storage media such as CD-ROM (Compact Disk-ROM) and DVD (Digital Versatile Disk), and other media. Various types of information stored in the medium can be read via a drive device such as the storage medium reader 105. Therefore, various information can be obtained by setting a recording medium in the storage medium reader 105 as necessary, and an integrated device management program can also be installed.

  The input device 106 is a device for the user to perform various input operations. The input device 106 includes a mouse, a keyboard, a touch panel switch provided so as to be superimposed on the display screen of the display device 107, and the like. The display device 107 is a device that displays various data related to device management on a display screen. For example, it is composed of LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) and the like.

  The communication device 108 is a device that communicates with other devices via a network. Supports communication according to various network forms including wired and wireless networks.

(function)
Next, the function which shows the main structures of the integrated apparatus 10 is demonstrated. FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram showing the main functions of one embodiment of the integrated device 10. The integrated apparatus 10 includes a storage unit 401, an acquisition unit 402, and a transmission unit 403 as main functions.

  The storage unit 401 stores management setting information and device information (for example, MIB value) acquired from each company's devices 21 to 25. The management setting information is a setting file for performing device management. For example, the OID (Object ID) of the MIB value to be acquired from each company's devices 21 to 25, the position information (for example, URL) of the unique information by the unique protocol, the device Information such as destination information is specified. Details will be described later with specific examples.

  The device information acquisition unit 402 has a function of acquiring device information from each company's devices 21 to 25 based on the OID of the MIB value of the management setting information and the position information of the unique information based on the unique protocol. Note that the acquired device information is stored (stored) in the storage unit 401 described above.

  The device information transmission unit 403 has a function of transmitting device information stored (stored) in the storage unit 401. The transmission destination is, for example, the remote integrated device management center 60 described above, and the transmitted device information is used to create a report.

  Note that these functions described above are actually realized by programs executed by the CPU 101. Since the integrated device 10 is a so-called network monitoring server as described above, it naturally has a monitoring / management function provided in the normal monitoring server (not shown).

  FIG. 5 is a software block diagram illustrating the main functions of one embodiment of the integration apparatus 10. In the application layer, a monitoring / management application 500 is installed, and a company A dedicated application 510, a company B dedicated application 520, and a company C dedicated application 530 are added as plug-ins. In the platform layer, functions corresponding to each application are realized.

  The monitoring / management application 500 is an application that realizes general main functions of the monitoring / management server. Specifically, the standard MIB information acquisition function 501, SNMPV1 / V2 communication function 502, SNMPV3 communication function 503, HTTPS / SOAP communication function 504, and PING execution function 505 are realized. Thereby, the integrated device 10 can acquire standard MIB information and can execute various monitoring functions.

  Company A dedicated application 510 is provided by Company A, and is an application that implements Company A extended MIB information acquisition function 511 and Company A proprietary protocol information acquisition function 512. By adding the company A dedicated application 510, the integrated apparatus 10 can acquire the company A extended MIB information (company A private MIB information) and the company A unique protocol information.

  Company B dedicated application 520 is provided by Company B, and is an application that implements Company B extended MIB information acquisition function 521 and Company B original protocol information acquisition function 522. By adding the company B dedicated application 520, the integration apparatus 10 can acquire the company B extended MIB information and the company B unique protocol information.

  The company C dedicated application 530 is provided by the company C, and is an application that implements the company C extended MIB information acquisition function 531 and the information acquisition function 532 of the company C original protocol. By adding the C company dedicated application 530, the integration apparatus 10 can acquire the C company extended MIB information and the C company original protocol information.

  Other vendors such as an application dedicated to company D and an application dedicated to company E can also be added to the integrated device 10 as plug-ins as needed so as to be compatible with multi-vendor devices. Since each company-specific application is provided by each vendor, it is advisable to clarify the specifications of the interface etc. for plug-ins.

(Management setting information)
FIG. 6 shows an example of management setting information. The management setting information is a setting file for device management. For example, the OID of the MIB value to be acquired from each company's devices 21 to 25, the position information (for example, URL) of the unique information by the unique protocol, and the transmission destination of the device information Information is specified. As shown in FIG. 2, because the company devices 21 to 25 to be monitored are connected to the customer site in this embodiment, the number of devices to be managed in the management setting information (here, 5 devices). ) Is registered.

  “Device ID” indicates a unique ID assigned to each device. “Device model name” indicates the model name of the device. “Vendor name” indicates the vendor name of the device. “Remote integrated device management center” indicates location information of the remote integrated device management center. “Remote management center” indicates the location information of the remote management center of each vendor. The location information is referred to when specifying the transmission destination of the device information. Here, the location information is defined by a URL, but needless to say, it may be defined by an IP address or the like.

  The “standard MIB” defines the location information of the standard MIB to be acquired from the device, more specifically, the OID of the standard MIB. In this embodiment, a file such as “xxx.ini” is specified, and an OID (Object ID) of a standard MIB to be acquired from the device is defined in “xxx.ini” separately provided. Referenced. Here, the standard MIB (value) is the same and common for any device. As shown in the actual diagram, in the “standard MIB”, the same ini file is specified between vendors. Since the standard MIB is acquired in order to monitor monitoring items that are generally well-known when monitoring a device, it is normal for each company's device to specify and acquire a common standard MIB. That is. FIG. 7 shows an example (part) of the “standard MIB” ini file.

  The “extended MIB” defines location information of the extended MIB to be acquired from the device, more specifically, the OID of the extended MIB. In the present embodiment, a file such as “xxx.ini” is designated, and the OID of the extended MIB to be acquired from the device is defined in “xxx.ini” provided separately, and is referred to when the extended MIB is acquired. In this way, when changing the extended MIB to be acquired, each vendor has only to replace “xxx.ini” corresponding to their own device, which is convenient for operation. Here, an extended MIB (value) different for each vendor is acquired. As shown in the actual diagram, in the “extended MIB”, a different ini file is specified for each vendor. This is natural if the extended MIB is vendor-specific device information. FIG. 8 shows an example (part) of an “extended MIB” ini file.

  “Protocol” defines the location information of the unique protocol information to be acquired from the device, more specifically, the name of the file in which the unique information is stored. In the present embodiment, a file such as “xxx.ini” is specified, and a file name to be acquired from the device is defined in “xxx.ini” separately provided, and is referred to when acquiring information of the unique protocol. In addition, as for the information of the original protocol, the information of the original protocol which is different for each vendor is acquired. As shown in the actual diagram, "Protocol" specifies a different ini file for each vendor. This is natural because the information of the original protocol is the device information unique to the vendor.

  The “management level” is a value arbitrarily defined by each vendor, and is a parameter that allows each vendor to flexibly set a level at which the device is to be monitored and managed. Utilizing the management level, for example, the information to be acquired as device information may be only the standard MIB, whether to acquire the extended MIB (which information of the extended MIB is to be acquired), or the information of the original protocol (Furthermore, what information of the original protocol information is to be acquired) can be specified. Specifically, “management level: 1” can be set for only the standard MIB, “management level: 2” can be set for acquiring the extended MIB, and “management level: 3” can be set for acquiring unique protocol information. . Also, when specifying information to be acquired in the extended MIB, the management level can be defined in the above-mentioned ini file using a value of 4 to. By providing a management level in this way, vendors can flexibly specify device information that they want to acquire from time to time, so that it is possible to prevent excessive information acquisition, and within the necessary range depending on the situation and application. Device information can be acquired. Specifically, when the device is a copying machine, only the extended MIB value indicating the number of copies needs to be acquired if only the number of copies used for accounting is to be known.

[Operation]
FIG. 9 is a sequence diagram illustrating device information acquisition processing performed by the integration apparatus 10. The integrated apparatus 10 acquires device information (standard MIB value, extended MIB value, unique protocol) from each company's devices 21 to 25 using SNMP. This will be described below with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 2, five devices 21 to 25 of each company are connected. In this sequence diagram, three devices of A company device 21, B company device 23, and C company device 24 will be described.

  First, this sequence, that is, device information acquisition processing is started periodically or at an arbitrary timing. The arbitrary timing corresponds to, for example, a case where the user operates the integration apparatus 10 and performs an operation for acquiring device information. In addition, a case where a device information acquisition request is made to the integrated apparatus 10 from the above-described centers 30 to 60 via the remote is also applicable.

  When the device information acquisition process is started, the device information acquisition unit 402 of the integration apparatus 10 acquires management setting information from the storage unit 401 (S901). This is to identify the device that acquires the device information and the device information to be acquired. Specifically, the setting values of “device ID”, “standard MIB”, “extended MIB”, and “Protocol” are acquired (FIG. 6). Here, the integrated apparatus 10 can specify the network address (for example, IP address) of the device based on the “device ID”. The integrated device 10 naturally recognizes the network address of the device to be monitored separately. The setting values of “standard MIB”, “extended MIB”, and “Protocol” refer to the above-mentioned ini file, and acquire the OID of the specific MIB value of each information and the location information of the unique protocol information.

  First, the device information acquisition unit 402 accesses the device A device 21 once, and acquires information on the standard MIB value, the extended MIB value, and the unique protocol (S902 to 904).

  Similarly, the device information acquisition unit 402 accesses the company B device 23 once, and acquires information on the standard MIB value, the extended MIB value, and the unique protocol (S905 to 907).

  Similarly, the device information acquisition unit 402 accesses the company C device 24 once and acquires the standard MIB value and the extended MIB value (S905 to 909). Here, information on the original protocol is not acquired from the device of company C. This is because such setting is not made if the management setting information in FIG. 6 is referred to. Note that when the amount of information to be acquired is very large, it is not always necessary to limit the access to one time, and it is also possible to acquire information on these devices by multiple accesses (even in this case, one device from each vendor company). The same device information is not acquired twice).

  When device information is acquired from each company's device, the device information acquisition unit 402 stores the acquired device information in the storage unit 401 (S910). Note that the device information acquired here is stored in association with the name of the device from which the device information is acquired and the vendor name.

  S901 to 910 are one cycle of the device information acquisition process, and a certain amount of device information is accumulated in the storage unit 401 as the repetition process is performed. The device information is transmitted to the remote integrated device management center 60 at a fixed amount, every fixed period, at the timing of user operations on the integrated device 10, requests from the centers 30 to 60, and the like.

  When transmitting device information, the device information transmitting unit 403 acquires management setting information from the storage unit 401 (S911). Specifically, a setting value indicating the location of the “remote integrated device management center” is acquired to identify the transmission destination (FIG. 6).

  The device information transmission unit 403 acquires the device information accumulated from the storage unit 401 (S912). Specifically, the standard MIB value, extended MIB value, proprietary protocol information of company A device 21, standard MIB value, extended MIB value, proprietary protocol information of company B device 23, standard MIB value of company C device 24, extension The MIB value is acquired. If the above-mentioned “management level” is expanded so that the range of device information to be transmitted is associated with the management level, it is necessary to transmit to the center although it is stored in the storage unit 401 for each vendor. It is possible to omit transmission of device information such as “No”.

  The device information transmission unit 403 transmits device information to the remote integrated device management center 60 (S913). The sequence of the device information acquisition process performed by the integrated device 10 is as described above.

  In the acquisition and transmission of the device information, it is conceivable that the request by the user side operation / setting and the request from each of the centers 30 to 60 are made at substantially the same time. In this case, it is not always desirable to perform a device information acquisition process for requests at substantially the same time. In other words, depending on the freshness of the acquired device information (how much time has passed since the acquisition), even if the device information is not sequentially acquired from each company's devices 21 to 25, the stored device information is used. There are cases where it doesn't matter. In that case, it can be an effective means to set an expiration date of the device information to be acquired and stored, and to determine acquisition of the device information from the expiration date.

  Specifically, based on the expiration date (for example, within 3 minutes after acquisition) of the device information set by the user or each vendor 30 to 60, the acquisition date / time of the latest acquired device information and the acquisition request date / time From the difference, it is determined whether device information should be acquired from each company's devices 21 to 25 or stored device information should be used in response to a request. Regarding the acquisition date and time and the date and time of the acquisition request, a timer may be mounted in the integration apparatus 10, or may be acquired from the acquisition source and the acquisition request source, respectively. Moreover, when setting an expiration date, it is not necessary to apply the expiration date in all request cases, and an acquisition request for acquiring device information from the devices 21 to 25 regardless of the expiration date, and an acquisition request for applying the expiration date. It may be properly used.

  This device information acquisition process is performed for the purpose of collecting device information from the viewpoint of report creation, and the integrated device 10 is a network monitoring server. When the acquired device information indicates an abnormal value (predetermined threshold value) In addition, when a trap is raised from the device (SNMP agent) side, the device information can be directly transmitted to each of the centers 30 to 60 at any time.

  Regarding the transmitted device information, when the remote integrated device management center 60 acquires the device information, the remote integrated device management center 60 distributes and transmits the device information to the remote management centers 30 to 50 of each company. Of course, the remote integrated device management center 60 has location information (for example, URL, IP address, etc.) of transmission destinations for each vendor. Then, for example, device information of the company A device 21 (standard MIB value extended MIB value, unique protocol information) is transmitted to the company A. The extended MIB values (because of the secret information) of the B company device 23 and the C company device 24 are not transmitted to the A company, but the standard MIB value may be transmitted as necessary. In the remote integrated device management center 60, a report summarizing the operation status and failure status of the device is created. The report created here is created in a unified manner including the device information of Company A, Company B, and Company C, and is presented to the customer collectively.

[Modification]
In the above embodiment, the device information acquired by the integrated device 10 is transmitted to the remote integrated device management center 60, and the remote integrated device management center 60 distributes and transmits the device information to the remote management centers 30 to 50 of each company. It was the composition to do.

  In this modification, this configuration is modified, and the device information acquired by the integration device 10 is transmitted to the remote management centers 30 to 50 of each company, and the remote management center 60 to the remote integrated device management center 60 by each company. It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which device information is distributed and transmitted.

  Here, the device information transmission unit 403 according to the present modification transmits the acquired device information to each company remote management center 30 to 50, and at this time, the device information to be transmitted for each company remote management center 30 to 50 is transmitted. It is necessary to distribute and send. This point will be described with reference to FIG. 9 again.

  In S911 of FIG. 9, when transmitting the device information, the device information transmitting unit 403 acquires the management setting information from the storage unit 401. At this time, in order to specify the transmission destination, the location of the “remote management center” is determined. The set value shown is acquired (FIG. 6). The device information acquired for each company device is distributed to the remote management centers 30 to 50 of each company, and then the device information is transmitted.

  According to this modified example, the processing increases as much as the device information distribution processing needs to be performed on the integrated device 10 side, but the device information is transmitted directly to the remote management centers 30 to 50 of the vendor, so the remote management center In 30 to 50, the device information can be transmitted to the remote integrated device management center 60 after selecting the device information used for creating the report. That is, it is possible to reflect in the report the device information in which unnecessary device information or unnecessary device information is dropped by the vendor judgment.

[Summary]
As described above, the device management apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment can efficiently acquire device information from vendor devices by a plurality of vendors in a multi-vendor environment. Conventionally, when a specific vendor (for example, Company A) monitors not only its own devices but also devices of other companies (for example, Company B and Company C), it has been difficult to acquire information using each company's own extended MIB or proprietary protocol. However, the device management apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment can be plugged in with an extension MIB corresponding to each company and a function for acquiring information based on a unique protocol. With these functions, not only standard MIB information but also a company-specific extension MIB or Information can be acquired using a proprietary protocol.

  In addition, standard MIB information to be acquired even in different vendor devices is common, but acquisition of standard MIB information can also be acquired by the device management apparatus 10 with a single access. Compared to the case of individual construction, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of duplicate access and to reduce the extra load on devices and networks.

  Conventionally, a report for each vendor company may include duplication of information or incomplete information, and reports from a plurality of vendors have been presented from the customer side. The acquired and collected device information can be created in the remote integrated device management center 60 including a centralized report including device information of each company, and can be presented to customers in a lump. Improvement can be expected.

  That is, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a management apparatus, a management system, a management method, a program, and a recording medium that acquire, monitor, and manage device information of each vendor device in a multi-vendor network environment.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to such specific embodiments, and various modifications and changes can be made within the scope of the gist of the present invention described in the claims. That is, in the present embodiment, the description has been made by taking SNMP as an example of the network management protocol. However, the present invention can be applied to a general network management protocol within the scope of the gist of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Integrated equipment management apparatus 20 Customer site 21 Company A equipment 22 Company A equipment 23 Company B equipment 24 Company C equipment 25 Company C equipment 26 Router 30 Company A remote management center 40 Company B remote management center 50 Company C remote management center 60 Remote Integrated Device Management Center 101 CPU
102 ROM
103 RAM
104 Auxiliary Storage Device 105 Storage Medium Reading Device 106 Input Device 107 Display Device 108 Communication Device 401 Storage Unit 402 Device Information Acquisition Unit 403 Device Information Transmission Unit

JP 2008-065831 A

Claims (17)

A management device that manages vendor equipment by multiple vendors using a network management protocol,
Storage means for storing acquisition information for acquiring device information from the plurality of vendor devices;
Acquiring means for acquiring device information from the plurality of vendor devices based on the acquisition information;
A management means for managing device information acquired from the plurality of vendor devices in association with each vendor;
The acquired information includes location information of standard device information that can be acquired in common from all of the plurality of vendor devices, and location information of extended device information that can be acquired for each vendor device depending on the plurality of vendors. ,
The acquisition means acquires, from the first vendor device, standard device information based on the location information of the standard device information and first extended device information based on the location information of the extended device information of the first vendor device,
Also, from the second vendor device, obtaining standard device information based on the location information of the standard device information and second extension device information based on the location information of the extended device information of the second vendor device,
Management device characterized by. A plurality of collection devices that collect device information acquired from the plurality of vendor devices are communicably connected via a network,
The management apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a transmission unit that transmits the device information managed by the management unit to the collection device.   3. The storage unit stores acquisition information for acquiring device information that can be acquired and requested by a plurality of the collection devices for each of the plurality of vendor devices. Management device.   The transmission unit transmits device information that can be acquired or / and requested to the collection device corresponding to each vendor based on the device information managed in association with each vendor by the management unit. The management device according to any one of claims 1 to 3.   5. The acquisition information according to claim 1, wherein the acquisition information is acquisition information for acquiring device information that can be acquired by at least two or more of the collection devices. Management device.   The management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the acquisition unit does not acquire device information from some of the plurality of vendor devices. The acquisition means acquires the device information using SNMP as a network management protocol,
The device information is an MIB value,
The acquisition information is an object identifier of the MIB value,
The management according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the MIB value includes a standard MIB value acquired without depending on a vendor device and an extended MIB value acquired depending on the vendor device. apparatus. The device information further includes unique information based on a unique protocol managed for each vendor device,
The integrated management apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the acquisition information includes information for acquiring the unique information using the unique protocol. A management method in a management apparatus for managing vendor devices by a plurality of vendors using a network management protocol,
A storage procedure for storing acquisition information for acquiring device information from the plurality of vendor devices;
An acquisition procedure for acquiring device information from the plurality of vendor devices based on the acquisition information;
A management procedure for managing device information acquired from the plurality of vendor devices in association with each vendor;
The acquired information includes location information of standard device information that can be acquired in common from all of the plurality of vendor devices, and location information of extended device information that can be acquired for each vendor device depending on the plurality of vendors. ,
The acquisition procedure acquires, from the first vendor device, standard device information based on the location information of the standard device information and first extended device information based on the location information of the extended device information of the first vendor device,
Also, from the second vendor device, obtaining standard device information based on the location information of the standard device information and second extension device information based on the location information of the extended device information of the second vendor device,
Management method characterized by. A plurality of collection devices that collect device information acquired from the plurality of vendor devices are communicably connected via a network,
The management method according to claim 9, further comprising: a transmission procedure for transmitting device information managed by the management procedure to the collection device.   11. The storage procedure stores acquisition information for acquiring device information that can be acquired and requested by a plurality of the collection devices for each of the plurality of vendor devices. Management device.   In the transmission procedure, based on the device information managed in association with each vendor by the management procedure, device information that can be acquired or / and requested is transmitted to the collection device corresponding to each vendor. The management method according to any one of claims 9 to 11.   A program for causing a computer to execute the management method according to any one of claims 9 to 12.   A computer-readable recording medium on which the program according to claim 13 is recorded. Management in which a management device that manages vendor devices by a plurality of vendors using a network management protocol and a plurality of collection devices that collect device information acquired from the plurality of vendor devices are connected to be able to communicate via a network A system,
The management device
Storage means for storing acquisition information for acquiring device information from the plurality of vendor devices;
Acquiring means for acquiring device information from the plurality of vendor devices based on the acquisition information;
A management means for managing device information acquired from the plurality of vendor devices in association with each vendor;
A transmission unit that transmits the device information managed by the management unit to the collection device;
The acquired information includes location information of standard device information that can be acquired in common from all of the plurality of vendor devices, and location information of extended device information that can be acquired for each vendor device depending on the plurality of vendors. ,
The acquisition means acquires, from the first vendor device, standard device information based on the location information of the standard device information and first extended device information based on the location information of the extended device information of the first vendor device,
Also, from the second vendor device, obtaining standard device information based on the location information of the standard device information and second extension device information based on the location information of the extended device information of the second vendor device,
Management system characterized by   16. The management according to claim 15, wherein the storage unit stores acquisition information for acquiring device information that can be acquired and requested by the plurality of collection devices for each of the plurality of vendor devices. system.   The transmission unit transmits device information that can be acquired or / and requested to the collection device corresponding to each vendor based on the device information managed in association with each vendor by the management unit. The management system according to claim 15 or 16.

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