JP2014041446A - Device monitoring program, device monitoring apparatus, and device monitoring method for monitoring failure in multi-function device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a device monitoring method which can integrally manage failures in authentication processing of a multi-function device in addition to normal failures that occur in the multi-function device even if the authentication processing of the multi-function device is managed by an authentication management server.SOLUTION: A multi-function device management system comprises a multi-function device, an authentication management server, and a device monitoring server. The multi-function device notifies the device monitoring server of a failure that occurs with information about the failure type and the occurrence time. The authentication management server notifies the device monitoring server of an URL which can display detailed information about an authentication failure. The device monitoring server generates a screen displaying a list of failures in the multi-function device by setting links in the URLs reported by the authentication management server, so that it is possible to integrally manage failures of the multi-function device including authentication failures.

Description

  The present invention relates to a device monitoring system including a multifunction device connected to a network, an authentication management server that performs authentication processing of the multifunction device, and a device monitoring server that monitors a failure of the multifunction device.

  In recent years, peripheral devices such as computers, printers, facsimiles, and multifunction devices having a copy function are commonly connected to each other via a local area network (LAN) so that many users can share their assets. It has become a target.

  In such a network environment, an account is often registered for a multi-function device, and access is restricted by the registered account. Management such as grasping the usage status of each user, restricting printing of illegal documents, and restricting mass printing are performed by restricting access to the multifunction device registration account.

  However, in current large-scale corporate networks where a large number of users share a large number of devices, a configuration in which a separate authentication management server is installed in order to manage account information and the authentication process collectively has increased. Yes.

  Patent Document 1 discloses an example of a failure notification control method via a login server (authentication management server). Specifically, there is a method of notifying the user who executed the print job from the host computer of the failure and, when the user is absent, reporting the failure to the host computer of the currently logged-in user via the authentication management server. Have been described.

JP 2004-280214 A

  However, in the above-described conventional device monitoring program, when an authentication failure occurs by the authentication management server, it is difficult to identify the user who has the failure, so it is difficult to notify the authentication failure that occurred in the authentication management server. there were.

  Therefore, there is a problem that a system for monitoring an authentication failure occurring in the authentication management server is required in addition to a monitoring system for a failure occurring in the multifunction device.

In a multifunction device management system comprising a multifunction device connected to a network, an authentication management server that integrally manages authentication processing of the multifunction device, and a device monitoring server that monitors the state of the multifunction device.
For multi-function devices,
A failure type notification means for notifying the device monitoring server of the type of failure that has occurred when a failure occurs in the terminal itself;
A failure occurrence time notification means for notifying the device monitoring server of failure occurrence time information when a failure occurs in the terminal itself;
In the authentication management server, an authentication failure identification unit that receives an inquiry from the device monitoring server and identifies an authentication failure that has occurred from the time of failure occurrence and the MAC address of the multifunction device when an authentication failure occurs in the multifunction device;
Authentication failure detailed information storage location notification means for notifying the device monitoring server of an address storing information related to the authentication failure specified by the authentication failure specifying means;
In the device monitoring server, an authentication management server management table in which a MAC address of the multifunction device, an IP address, and an address of an authentication management server that manages authentication processing are registered;
When failure information is notified from the multi-function device, authentication failure determination means for determining whether or not there is an authentication failure;
Obtaining an authentication management server address by referring to the authentication management server management table and obtaining an address of an authentication management server when the authentication failure determination means determines that the failure notified from the multifunction device is an authentication failure Means,
The failure occurrence time notified from the multi-function device and the MAC address of the multi-function device are notified to the address acquired by the authentication management server address acquisition means, and an address storing detailed information about the authentication failure is requested. Authentication failure detailed information requesting means,
As a result of the request by the authentication failure detailed information requesting means, the authentication failure detailed information storage destination receiving means for receiving the address at which the detailed information regarding the authentication failure notified from the authentication management server is received.
A failure information notification screen generating means for generating a screen for displaying a list of failure information notified from the multifunction device;
Authentication failure details for inserting the address information received by the authentication failure detailed information storage destination receiving means when the failure information list of the multi-function device generated by the failure information notification screen generating means includes information related to the authentication failure A multi-function device management system characterized by adding information storage information insertion means.

  In the device monitoring system according to the present invention, even in an environment where authentication processing of a multi-function device is managed by an authentication management server, failures related to authentication processing are integrated with normal failures that occur in the multi-function device. It becomes possible to manage.

  Therefore, for example, the failure of multi-function devices such as “out of paper”, “out of toner”, “paper jam” and authentication-related failures such as “password mismatch” and “account expiration” that occur in a multi-function device are managed by the same system. Will be able to.

Device monitoring system configuration diagram Block diagram showing the hardware configuration of the device monitoring server Software block diagram of device monitoring system Flow chart showing operation of device monitoring program when authentication failure is detected Flow chart showing the operation of the device monitoring program when the failure notification list is displayed Data structure diagram of SNMP (Trap) message DB table configuration diagram for managing authentication management server address and storage location of failure detailed information Figure of fault notification list and fault details screen

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

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a device monitoring system to which the embodiment of the present invention is applied.

  In the figure, reference numeral 100 denotes a local area network. The local area network 100 is connected to a device monitoring server 110, an authentication management server 120, multifunction function devices 130, 140, 150, and client PCs 160, 170.

  In the device monitoring server 110, a device monitoring program is running, and a failure of the multifunction device is detected by periodic polling of the multifunction device or event notification from the multifunction devices 130, 140, and 150.

  In the embodiment of the present invention, polling by SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) and SNMP Trap message (hereinafter referred to as “SNMP Trap message”) are used as means for polling by the device monitoring server 110 and event notification from the multifunction device 130, 140, 150. The event notification by simply “Trap” is assumed.

  In the authentication management server 120, an authentication management program is running, and the authentication processing of the multifunction device 130, 140, 150 and the client PC 160, 170 is integratedly managed.

  More specifically, the authentication management server 120 receives the authentication information input from the operation screens of the multifunction device 130, 140, 150 and the client PC 160, 170 and matches the authentication information registered in advance. Determine whether or not. If the input authentication information matches the authentication information registered in the authentication management server, access to the multifunction device 130, 140, 150 and the client PC 160, 170 is permitted, and otherwise Controls to deny access.

  Further, it is assumed that the authentication management server 120 also holds a history of accesses to the multifunction device 130, 140, 150 and the client PCs 160, 170 and detailed information on various failures that have occurred in the authentication process.

  Failures that occur in the authentication process assumed in this embodiment are “password mismatch”, “double login”, “expiration of authentication information expiration”, and the like.

  Reference numerals 130, 140, and 150 denote multi-function devices having both a printer function, a facsimile function, and a copy function.

  Reference numerals 160 and 170 denote client computers on which, for example, Windows 7 (registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation) is operating as an OS.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the device monitoring server 110 to which the embodiment of the present invention is applied. The device monitoring server 110 is a general computer, and the authentication management server 120 and the client PCs 160 and 170 have the same hardware configuration.

  In FIG. 1, the device monitoring server 110 includes a CPU 200 that executes a device monitoring program (described in detail later) stored in a ROM 201 or a hard disk (HD) 210. Further, the CPU 200 comprehensively controls each device connected to the system bus 203.

  A RAM 202 functions as a main memory, work area, and the like for the CPU 200. A keyboard controller (KBC) 204 controls instruction input from a keyboard (KB) 208, a pointing device (not shown), or the like.

  Reference numeral 205 denotes a DISP controller (DISPC) that controls display on a display (DISP) 209.

  A disk controller (DKC) 206 controls access to the hard disk (HD) 210, the floppy (registered trademark) disk controller (FD) 211, and the CD-ROM drive (CD) 212.

  A network interface card (NIC) 207 bi-directionally exchanges data with the multifunction device 120, 130, 140 via the LAN 100.

  Unless otherwise specified in all the explanations to be described later, the hardware execution entity related to the device monitoring server 110 is the CPU 200, and the software control entity is the device monitoring stored in the hard disk (HD) 210. It is a program.

  The device monitoring program may be supplied in a form stored in a storage medium such as a CD-ROM. In this case, the program is read from the storage medium by the CD-ROM drive 212 and the hard disk (HD) 210. To be installed.

  Next, FIG. 3 shows a software configuration of each device constituting the device monitoring system according to the present invention.

  A device monitoring program 300 runs on the device monitoring server 110.

  The device monitoring program 300 operating on the device monitoring server 110 according to the embodiment of the present invention is stored in the hard disk (HDD) 210 unless otherwise specified, and the execution subject is the CPU 200.

  The device monitoring program 300 monitors the status of the multifunctional devices 130, 140, and 150 to be monitored according to the procedure described later, and notifies a registered administrator by sending an email via the email notification unit 303 when a failure is detected. It is a program to do.

  In the device monitoring program 300, 301 is a WWW server that runs on the device monitoring server 110.

  The device monitoring program 300 receives an HTML data transmission request from the WEB browser program 350, 360 running on the client PC 160, 170 via the WWW server 301, and acquires various types of information from the multifunction device 130, 140, 150. .

  Further, HTML data is generated from the acquired information regarding the multifunction device 130, 140, 150 and transmitted to the WEB browser program 350, 360 running on the PC 160, 170 via the WWW server 301.

  An overall control unit 302 is a functional module for controlling the device search unit 304 and the device monitoring unit 305 to communicate with the multifunction device 130, 140, 150 to acquire and set information and generate HTML data. It is.

  Reference numeral 303 denotes an email notification unit for notifying the administrator registered in advance via the SMTP control unit 307 of the detected failure information of the multifunction device 130, 140, 150 and various information related to the device monitoring program 300. It is a functional module.

  A device search unit 304 is a functional module for searching for the multifunction device 130, 140, 150 and registering necessary information in the database unit 306. More specifically, the device search unit 304 controls the SNMP control unit 308 and plays a role of searching for the multifunction devices 130, 140, and 150 on the network by a method such as unicast or broadcast by SNMP.

  A device monitoring unit 305 is used for polling by SNMP at a predetermined period set via the SNMP control unit 308 to acquire the status information of the multifunction device 130, 140, 150 and determine whether there is a failure or not. It is a functional module.

  Further, the device monitoring unit 305 can receive the Trap notified from the multifunction device 130, 140, 150 via the SNMP control unit 308. Thereby, the device monitoring program can detect the state change of the multifunction device 130, 140, 150 in real time.

  Reference numeral 306 denotes a database unit, which is a functional module for storing information related to the failure of the multifunction device 130, 140, 150 detected by the device monitoring program 300.

  The database unit 306 further stores an authentication failure that has occurred in the multifunction device 130, 140, 150, an address of an authentication management server that is an inquiry destination of detailed information when the authentication failure has occurred, and the like.

  An SMTP control unit 307 is a functional module for receiving a request from the mail notification unit 303 and performing SMTP (SIMPLE MAIL TRANSPROTOCOL) protocol control to notify an administrator of various types of information including failure information. .

  Reference numeral 308 denotes an SNMP control unit, which is a functional module for performing SNMP protocol control.

  The SNMP control unit 308 is used to set information in the multifunctional devices 130, 140, and 150 to be managed and to acquire management information including failure information from the multifunctional devices 130, 140, and 150. Is done.

  A TCP / IP control unit 309 is a functional module for performing communication control using the TCP / IP protocol in response to requests from the SMTP control unit 307 and the SNMP control unit 308.

  An authentication management program 310 runs on the authentication management server 120.

  The authentication management program 310 operating on the device monitoring server 110 according to the embodiment of the present invention is stored in the hard disk (HDD) 210 of the authentication management server 120 unless otherwise specified, and the execution subject is the CPU 200.

  The authentication management program 310 is a program for performing authentication processing of the multifunction device 130, 140, 150 and the client PC 160, 170.

  The authentication management program 310 also has a role of detecting a failure that has occurred during the authentication process and storing it in the authentication database unit.

  In the authentication management program 310, reference numeral 311 denotes a WWW server, which is a functional module for receiving requests from the WEB browser programs 350 and 360 on the client PCs 160 and 170 and transmitting HTML data generated from authentication-related information. is there.

  An authentication control unit 312 compares the authentication information received from the multifunction device 130, 140, 150 and the client PC 160, 170 with the authentication information registered in the authentication information database 314, and determines whether or not the authentication process is successful. Functional module.

  A communication control unit 313 is a functional module that controls communication for receiving authentication information from the multi-function devices 130, 140, and 150 and the client PCs 160 and 170 and notifying the authentication processing result.

  Reference numeral 314 denotes an authentication information database, which is a functional module for registering authentication information of the multifunction device 130, 140, 150 and client PC 160, 170 registered by the administrator.

  The authentication information database 314 further stores the authentication processing result as a history together with the time when the authentication control unit 312 performs the authentication processing. The authentication processing result in the present invention includes, in addition to “authentication success”, detailed information of authentication failure such as “illegal user ID”, “password mismatch”, “double login”, and the like.

  Reference numeral 320 denotes an SNMP agent that operates on the multifunction device 130.

  The SNMP agent 320 is a program that refers to the MIB information unit 321 and returns a response to the SNMP request transmitted from the device monitoring program 300 corresponding to the SNMP manager.

  The SNMP agent 321 also plays a role of actively notifying the device monitoring program 300 of a failure occurring on the multifunction device 130 by TRAP.

  The MIB information unit 322 is a database that holds various types of information related to the multifunction device 130 in the format of MIB (MANAGEMENT INFORMATION BASE).

  Note that the SNMP agent 330 of the multifunction device 140 and the SNMP agent 340 of the multifunction device 150 have the same configuration as the SNMP agent 320 of the multifunction device 130.

  Furthermore, it is assumed that the MIB information unit 331 of the multifunction device 140 and the MIB information unit 341 of the multifunction device 150 have the same configuration as the MIB information unit 322 of the multifunction device 130.

  350 and 360 are user agent programs for using the WORD WIDE WEB on the client PCs 160 and 170. As the browser program in the embodiment of the present invention, Internet Explorer (registered trademark), FireFox (registered trademark) or the like is assumed, but there is no particular limitation.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation when the device monitoring program 300 according to the embodiment of the present invention detects an authentication failure of the multifunction device 130, 140, 150 to be monitored.

In the figure, in step S400, the state monitoring process of the multifunction device 130, 140, 150 by the device monitoring unit 305 is started, and the process proceeds to step S401.
In step S401, an event is received from the multifunction device 130, 140, 150, and the process proceeds to step S402.

  In the device monitoring program 300 according to the embodiment of the present invention, it is assumed that the Trap of the SNMP message is received as the event notified from the multifunction device. However, in the present invention, the event from the multifunction device is limited to Trap. Not what you want.

  In step S402, it is determined whether or not the trap received in step S401 is for notifying the failure of the multifunction device 130, 140, 150.

  If it is determined in step S402 that the trap received in step S401 is to notify the failure of the multifunction device 130, 140, 150, the process proceeds to step S403, and otherwise, the process returns to step S401.

  In the device monitoring program 300 according to the embodiment of the present invention, it is determined whether or not a failure is notified by referring to the Trap Generic Trap Type field and the Specific Trap Type field.

  The data structure of Trap will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

  In step S403, if the device monitoring program 300 determines that the failure has been notified by the trap received in step S402, the cause of the failure is analyzed and the process proceeds to step S404.

  In step S404, it is determined whether the failure notified by Trap is an authentication failure as a result of the analysis in step S403. If it is determined in step S404 that the failure indicates an authentication failure, the process proceeds to step S405. Otherwise, the process proceeds to step S407.

  In step S405, when it is determined that the failure detected in step S404 indicates an authentication failure, the database 306 is referred to, and it is determined whether or not the authentication management server 120 holding detailed information related to the authentication failure is registered. Is done.

If it is determined in step S405 that the authentication management server 120 is registered, the process proceeds to step S406. Otherwise, the process proceeds to step S408.
The holding format of information related to the authentication failure in the database 306 will be described in detail in FIG.

  In step S406, the detailed information regarding the authentication failure notified when it is determined in step S405 that the authentication management server 130 for managing the detailed information regarding the authentication failure is registered is acquired from the authentication management server 130, and the process proceeds to step S408. To do.

  In the device monitoring program 300 in the embodiment of the present invention, a URL indicating a link to the authentication monitoring program 310 is assumed as information acquired from the authentication management server in step S406. By starting the authentication management program 310 from this URL, it is possible to display detailed information regarding the authentication failure determined in step S404.

  In step S407, when it is determined that the trap received in step S404 is a failure other than the authentication failure, detailed information is generated from the failure information included in the trap and the information of the multifunction device stored in the database 306. The process proceeds to step S408. The detailed information in step S407 is a URL indicating a link to the device monitoring program 300. By starting the device monitoring program 300 using this URL, it is possible to refer to detailed information of a failure that has occurred in the multifunction device 130, 140, 150.

  In step S408, the detailed information generated in steps S406 and S407 is stored in the database 300, and the process proceeds to step S409.

  In step S409, the information regarding the failure stored in the database 306 in step S408 is notified to the administrator by sending mail via the mail notification unit 303 and the SMTP control unit 307, and the process ends.

  It should be noted that the email notified to the administrator in this step S409 describes the outline of the failure that occurred in the multifunction device 130, 140, 150, information about the date and time of occurrence, and the like.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation when displaying a screen (hereinafter referred to as a failure notification list) for listing failure information generated in the multifunction device in the device monitoring program 300 according to the embodiment of the present invention by a user operation.

  In step S500, the user performs a login operation on the device monitoring program 300 in step S500, and the process proceeds to step S501. In the login operation in step S500, the user ID and password are input. Note that the authentication processing by login in step S500 may be local authentication processing of the device monitoring program 300 itself, or may be integrated authentication processing via the authentication management program 310.

  In step S501, the user performs an operation for displaying the failure notification list, and the process proceeds to step S502.

  In step S502, a check regarding the authority of the authentication information input in step S500 is performed, and the process proceeds to step S503.

In step S503, as a result of the authority check of the authentication information in step S502, it is determined whether the authentication information has administrator authority. If it has administrator authority, the process proceeds to step S504. Then, the process proceeds to step S505.
In step S504, as a result of the determination in step S503, when it is determined that the input authentication information has administrator authority, a failure notification list including link information to the failure details screen is generated, and the process proceeds to step S506. To do.

  The failure details screen will be described with reference to FIG.

  In step S504, if it is determined as a result of the determination in step S503 that the input authentication information does not have administrator authority, a failure notification list that does not include link information to the failure details screen is generated, and the process proceeds to step S506. .

  In step S506, the failure notification list generated in steps S504 and S505 is displayed, and the process ends.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the data structure of Trap, which is one of the SNMP messages.

  In the figure, reference numeral 600 denotes a PDU (Protocol Data Unit), which is a basic data unit of SNMP configured by parameters to be described later.

  Reference numeral 601 denotes a PDU type field in which an ID indicating the type of SNMP request is set. In SNMP Version 1 (hereinafter referred to as SNMPv1), in addition to Trap (4), GetRequest (0), GetNextRequest (1), GetResponse (2), and SetRequest (3) are defined as PDU types.

  Among these messages, messages other than Trap have different data structures, and will not be described in the embodiment of the present invention.

  Reference numeral 602 denotes an enterprise field in which an MIB identifier indicating the managed system that has notified the trap message is stored.

  Reference numeral 603 denotes an Agent Address field, which is an area in which the IP address of the Trap message transmission source is stored.

  Reference numeral 604 denotes a generic trap type field, which is a field in which the next predefined trap type is stored.

  coldStart (0): There is a possibility that the SNMP agent is initialized and the MIB information is updated.

  warmStart (1): The SNMP agent has been initialized, but the MIB information has not been updated.

linkDown (2): A failure occurred in the communication line of the SNMP agent.
linkUp (3): The communication line of the SNMP agent has been restored.

  authenticationFailure (3): An SNMP message with a mismatched community name was received.

egpNeighborLoss (5): EGP (External Gateway Protocol) counter node went down.
enterpriseSpecific (6): An event uniquely defined by the vendor has occurred.

  Reference numeral 605 denotes a specific trap type field, which is an area referred to when enterprise specific (6) is set in the generic trap type field 604.

  In the SNMP agents 320, 330, and 340 according to the embodiment of the present invention, an identifier indicating whether or not the trap indicates a normal system is stored in the Specific Trap Type field 605.

  Therefore, “0” is set in this field in the case of a normal event such as transition to the power saving mode, and “1” is set in this field in the case of a failure such as an authentication failure, out of paper, or out of toner.

  In the determination of the device monitoring program 300 in step S402 in FIG. 4, it is determined whether or not the Trap message is for notifying a failure depending on whether or not this field is “1”.

  Reference numeral 606 denotes a time stamp field, which is an area in which an elapsed time from when the agent is last activated (reinitialization) until a trap occurs is stored.

  Reference numeral 607 denotes a VBL (Variable Binding List) field that stores one or more MIB OIDs and their values.

  Reference numerals 608 and 610 denote OID fields, and reference numerals 609 and 611 denote value fields. In the OID fields 608 and 610, values obtained by adding an instance identifier to the actual OID assigned to each MIB object are stored.

  In the SNMP agent 320 according to the embodiment of the present invention, when the Specific Trap Type field is “1”, the type of failure can be specified by the failure code indicated by the OID fields 608 and 610 and the value fields 609 and 611.

  Therefore, it is assumed that the determination of the device monitoring program 300 in step S404 in FIG. 4 specifies the type of failure from the failure codes indicated by the OID fields 608 and 610 and the value fields 609 and 611.

  Further, the occurrence time of the authentication failure is notified by the OID fields 608 and 61 and the value fields 609 and 611 separately from the value of the Time Stamp field 606. In the device monitoring program according to the embodiment of the present invention, it is assumed that the authentication failure can be specified by the occurrence time of the authentication failure and the MAC address of the multifunction device.

  FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram of a data table stored in the database 306 in the device monitoring program 300 according to the embodiment of this invention.

  FIG. 7A is a data table for storing address information of an authentication management server that manages authentication information of each multifunction device 130, 140, 150.

  In the figure, reference numeral 700 denotes a target device MAC address field, which is an area for storing the MAC address of each device in order to specify the managed multifunction device 130, 140, 150.

  Reference numeral 701 denotes a target device IP address field, which is an area in which the IP addresses of the managed multifunction device 130, 140, 150 are stored.

  Reference numeral 702 denotes an authentication management server IP address field, which is an area for storing the IP address of the authentication management server 120 responsible for the authentication processing of the managed multifunction device 130, 140, 150.

  In the embodiment of the present invention, the authentication processing of the multifunction device 130, 140, 150 is performed by one authentication management server 120, but the present invention is not limited to this configuration. In the case of an environment managed by a plurality of authentication management servers, each IP address is stored in the authentication management server IP address field 702.

  The inquiry destination for the detailed information on the authentication failure in step S406 in FIG. 4 is determined by referring to this data table and acquiring the address of the corresponding authentication management server.

  FIG. 7B is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a failure detailed information storage destination management table for managing a storage destination of detailed information related to a failure that has occurred in the managed multifunction device 130, 140, 150.

  In the figure, reference numeral 710 denotes a target device MAC address field, which is an area for storing a MAC address for specifying the multifunction device 130, 140, 150 in which a failure has occurred.

  Reference numeral 711 denotes a failure occurrence time field, which is an area for storing the date and time when the failure occurred.

  Reference numeral 712 denotes a failure type field, which is an area in which information indicating the attribute of the failure that has occurred is stored. The failure type field 712 stores information for identifying “authentication failure”, “paper jam”, “out of paper”, “out of toner”, and the like.

  Information stored in the failure occurrence time field 711 and the failure type field is notified by the OID fields 608 and 610 and the value fields 609 and 611 included in the VBL 607 shown in the trap data structure in FIG. And

  A failure detail information storage destination field 713 stores a URL indicating a link to the authentication management server 120 when an attribute indicating “authentication failure” is stored in the failure type field 712.

  Note that a URL indicating a local host for starting the device monitoring program 300 itself is stored as a URL registered in the case of a failure of a normal multifunction device excluding an authentication failure. The URL stored in the case of an authentication failure is a result of making an inquiry to the authentication management server 120 using the MAC address stored in 710 and the failure occurrence time stored in 711 as keys. Shall be notified.

  FIG. 8 is a UI image for notifying failure information to be displayed in the device monitoring program according to the present invention.

  FIG. 8A is an image diagram of the failure notification list.

  In the figure, reference numeral 800 denotes a device name assigned as an arbitrary user-friendly name to the multifunction device 130, 140, 150.

  Reference numeral 801 denotes a failure type, which displays a character string indicating the type of failure stored in the failure type field 712 of FIG.

  In this device monitoring program 300, the authority of the login account is checked in step S503 in FIG. 5, and in the case of administrator authority, a link to FIG.

  Reference numeral 803 denotes an IP address of the managed multifunction device 130, 140, 150.

  Reference numeral 804 denotes a MAC address of the multifunction device 130, 140, 150 under management.

  Reference numeral 804 denotes a failure occurrence time, which is equivalent to the failure occurrence time 711 in the failure detailed information storage destination management table of FIG.

  FIG. 8B is a failure details screen, which can be displayed from the link attached to the failure type 801 in FIG. It is a simple screen.

100 Local Area Network 110 Device Monitoring Server 120 Authentication Management Server 130, 140, 150 Multifunction Device 160, 170 Client PC

Claims (2)

In a multifunction device management system comprising a multifunction device connected to a network, an authentication management server that integrally manages authentication processing of the multifunction device, and a device monitoring server that monitors the state of the multifunction device.
For multi-function devices,
A failure type notification means for notifying the device monitoring server of the type of failure that has occurred when a failure occurs in the terminal itself;
A failure occurrence time notification means for notifying the device monitoring server of failure occurrence time information when a failure occurs in the terminal itself;
In the authentication management server, an authentication failure identification unit that receives an inquiry from the device monitoring server and identifies an authentication failure that has occurred from the time of failure occurrence and the MAC address of the multifunction device when an authentication failure occurs in the multifunction device;
Authentication failure detailed information storage location notification means for notifying the device monitoring server of an address storing information related to the authentication failure specified by the authentication failure specifying means;
In the device monitoring server, an authentication management server management table in which a MAC address of the multifunction device, an IP address, and an address of an authentication management server that manages authentication processing are registered;
When failure information is notified from the multi-function device, authentication failure determination means for determining whether or not there is an authentication failure;
Obtaining an authentication management server address by referring to the authentication management server management table and obtaining an address of an authentication management server when the authentication failure determination means determines that the failure notified from the multifunction device is an authentication failure Means,
The failure occurrence time notified from the multi-function device and the MAC address of the multi-function device are notified to the address acquired by the authentication management server address acquisition means, and an address storing detailed information about the authentication failure is requested. Authentication failure detailed information requesting means,
As a result of the request by the authentication failure detailed information requesting means, the authentication failure detailed information storage destination receiving means for receiving the address at which the detailed information regarding the authentication failure notified from the authentication management server is received.
A failure information notification screen generating means for generating a screen for displaying a list of failure information notified from the multifunction device;
Authentication failure details for inserting the address information received by the authentication failure detailed information storage destination receiving means when the failure information list of the multi-function device generated by the failure information notification screen generating means includes information related to the authentication failure A multi-function device management system characterized by adding information storage information insertion means. On the device monitoring server
An authentication information registration means for registering authentication information consisting of two attributes of at least administrator authority and general user authority, which consists of an ID and password for identifying a user;
An authentication information input means capable of inputting an ID and a password;
An authentication unit that compares the ID input by the authentication information input unit and the password with the registered authentication information and permits access only when they match,
As a result of the authentication means, an attribute acquisition means for acquiring attributes of a user who is permitted access;
Authentication that controls to insert the address information by the authentication failure detailed information storage information insertion unit into the failure information list generated by the failure information notification screen generation unit only when the attribute acquired by the attribute acquisition unit is administrator authority 2. The multifunction device management system according to claim 1, further comprising failure detailed information storage information insertion control means.