JP2613361B2 - LAN setup operation learning and training system - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a workstation,
The present invention relates to a LAN setup operation learning / training system in which operation learning and operation training for connecting a device such as a personal computer (PC) to a local area network (LAN) can be performed by one relatively inexpensive device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The setup of a LAN system is L
Address of device connected to AN system and LA connected
This is to set the address of the N system in a specific file of each device. The person in charge of maintenance of the LAN system must, of course, be familiar with the LAN system setup operation. However, an actual LAN system is composed of various combinations of workstations and personal computers, and therefore has many types and is expensive. Therefore, it is extremely difficult for each of the maintenance personnel to practice the operation of each type of LAN system with the actual machine. In other words, it is not possible to secure sufficient training time per person, and it is difficult to practice LANs having various configurations.

[0003] In general, there is known a simulation method in which the same environment is simulated when learning by an actual machine is difficult. For example, the applicant of the present application has
In the simulator for service processor (SVP) training previously proposed in Japanese Patent No. 212528 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-61730), a simulation is performed by using command and screen data and data indicating correspondence between commands and screens as simulation data. Is disclosed. Specifically, a data collection device is connected between the SVP and the console, and the console is actually operated to
The command and screen data flowing between the console and the console are collected by the data collection device. From this collected data,
Control data representing the correspondence between commands and screens is created by a program.

[0004]

However, in the LAN system, since the screen (message) changes according to other factors (for example, setting contents of a setting file to be described later) for the same command, only the command is used. There is a problem that the conventional simulation method for associating screens cannot cope with the problem.

[0005] Further, a message displayed and output upon execution of a setup command for LAN setup and an operation confirmation command includes a device name and a device address. Depends on the configuration of the LAN system to which is connected (number of devices, presence / absence of connection with other LANs, etc.). Therefore, in order to simulate the setup command and the operation check command, there is a problem that the screen data collected from the actual system cannot be used as it is.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems. The purpose is to provide a learning and training system.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, a LAN setup operation learning / training system according to the present invention performs learning / training of a setup operation of a LAN system in which a plurality of devices are connected via a network. A screen data output in response to input of various commands used for the setup operation, which is connected to a real machine LAN system, and displays the command and setting data information indicating the current setting status of the LAN system. Data collecting means for collecting the data collected by the data collecting means as simulation data, and simulating the operation of the own apparatus and the other apparatus in the network by the pseudo own apparatus and the pseudo other apparatus. Simulator means for simulating as Upon receiving the command used for the set-up operation, the pseudo own device in the emulator means simulates the screen data in which the command and the setting status of the LAN system at that time coincide with the collected command and setting data information. It is taken out from the data storage means and output to a display.

[0008]

The data collecting means collects, as simulation data, the screen data and the system setting status data obtained based on the command input at the time of the actual setup operation of the real machine LAN system in association with the command. , Stored in the storage means. At this time, a character string in the screen data that changes depending on the device configuration is marked. At the time of simulation, simulation data in which both the input command and the system setting status at that time match are searched, and the screen data is displayed and output. At this time, the character string marked is replaced with an appropriate character string and output.

As described above, an actual LAN system is composed of various combinations of workstations and personal computers (hereinafter simply referred to as workstations or WSs), and therefore has many types and is expensive. System requires only one workstation, and one can learn and train setup operations for many types of LAN systems. In particular, as simulation data, setting data information indicating the current system setting status is also collected,
Since the setting data information is also collated during the simulation, a simulation unique to the setup operation of the LAN system can be performed. In addition, by using the screen data that is obtained by marking a portion that changes depending on the LAN configuration, it is not necessary to prepare simulation data for, for example, different partner devices.

Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to relatively easily simulate a typical setup operation for many types of LAN systems.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

First, a procedure for setting up a LAN system will be described with reference to FIG. Generally, a LAN system is set up in the following procedure.
The numbers of the following steps correspond to the same numbers in the figure.

(1) In one device (workstation or personal computer) 31 connected to the LAN 43, a text editor (sentence editing program) 33 is used to store predetermined information (device) in the setting file 30 in the hard disk 30. Or LAN address). In this address, it is necessary to set the address of the own device and the addresses of all the parties to communicate with.

(2) LA using setup command
N is set up (activated).

(3) Steps (1) and (2) are performed in LA
This is performed for all devices connected to N.

(4) In one device, use an operation check command to check whether the device is correctly connected to the LAN.

(5) Confirm that the LAN application (virtual terminal, file transfer, etc.) operates. (Note that this application is stored in the memory in each workstation together with the setup command and the operation confirmation command.) (6) Steps (4) to (5) are performed for all devices connected to the LAN. Do it for.

The operations of the setup command, the operation confirmation command, and the application depend on the contents of the setting files of the own device and the partner device. That is,
The output screen data differs depending on the check result of the setting contents of the setting file. The check content also includes a command execution history indicating whether or not a certain command has been executed. For example, the ifconfig command is a command for starting up the network of the own apparatus. If this command is not executed, the LAN application command cannot be executed. Therefore, in the “LAN setup operation learning / training system” of the present invention, information written in the setting files of the own device and the partner device is used as a part of the simulation data.

The setup command is a LAN command.
Is a generic term for the commands used in the setup of, and typical ones are, in addition to the above-mentioned ifconfig command,
There are a hostname command for setting the host name of the own device, and a route command for registering route information when a plurality of networks are interconnected.

FIG. 1 shows a configuration example of a LAN setup operation learning / training system of the present invention.

The system 10 can be constituted by a general work station, and includes a simulation data storage section 12 for storing a plurality of sets of commands 13, screen data 14 and setting data 15 as simulation data 16, a keyboard 18. The simulation processing unit 11 searches for appropriate screen data from the simulation data in accordance with the command input from the PC and the setting data indicating the current setting status of the LAN system, and outputs the screen data to the display 19.

Simulation data 16 whose outline is shown in FIG. 1 is data defining a setup command, an operation confirmation command, and an operation of an application.
It can be realized as a table as shown in FIG. That is, as shown in FIG. 2A, each simulation data 16 includes one command that triggers display of a screen, and setting data information that is data indicating the current LAN setting status (check result). And screen data information representing screen data determined corresponding to these. FIG. 2B shows a specific example. In this example, an operation check command called “network reachability check command”, setting data information indicating “setup completed” indicating that the setup is correctly performed, and a “network reachability check command screen at normal time” are displayed. If the screen data information and the simulation data are configured as a set, and the network reachability investigation command is entered in a state where setup has been completed, a screen is displayed indicating that the network reachability investigation command is executed normally. Which indicates that.

Next, FIG. 2 shows the configuration of an apparatus for collecting simulation data. This data collection device can also be constituted by a workstation, and may be the same workstation as the learning / training system shown in FIG. This data collection device 20
A LAN port 21 connected to the LAN 43; a program memory 22 for storing a setup command, an operation check command, and an application;
8 to start the program in response to the command from the display 8 and display the screen data of the execution result on the external display 29.
, A command storage unit 24 for storing commands and screen data collected in this process, and a screen data modification unit 25 for changing screen data in the data storage unit 24. The changed screen data is output as simulation data 16 together with the corresponding setting data information and command. The program memory 22 and the data memory 22 may be separate memories, or may be separate storage areas of one memory.

Referring to FIG. 5, the operation of the data collecting apparatus of FIG. 2 will be further described. First, the data collection device 20 is connected to the LAN.
43, and start up the data collection device. Then, an initial screen as shown in FIG. 6 is displayed. Therefore,
The following processing is performed. The numbers of the following steps correspond to the same numbers in the figure. The simulation data creator checks in advance how many setting conditions of the setting files 42 and 51 of the own device 20 and the partner device 39 exist for each command, and creates a program for creating the setting condition by the number of setting conditions. Keep it.

(1) The simulation data creator
A command is input from a keyboard 29 on the display 28. At this time, one of the programs for creating the setting status (setting status creating program) is selected.

(2) The data collection device 20 stores the input command in the memory 24.

(3) The data collection device 20 activates the selected setting status creation program, and associates the check contents of the setting file at that time with the command stored in (2) in the memory 24. To memorize. As the check contents, as shown in FIG. 12, a check ID indicating a check item and a check result (○ or ×) are stored as a pair.

(4) The command execution processing unit 23 of the data collection device 20 executes the input command.

(5) The data collecting device 20 displays the screen data output based on the command being executed on the display 28, and associates the screen data with the commands and setting conditions of (2) and (3) in the memory 24. Remember. The simulation data creator repeats the input of the command as many times as the number of setup conditions for the setup command, the operation check command, and the application.

(6) The data collection device 20 has a memory 24
Command, screen data, and setting data stored in
After the screen data is changed by the screen data modify processing unit 25, these data are stored as simulation data 16 in an external storage device such as a floppy disk device. Using the simulation data and the simulator program stored in the floppy disk, a plurality of learners can similarly learn at other plurality of workstations.

The above check results at the time of collecting the simulation data are all recorded as setting data information. At the time of the simulation, the necessary data for each command is selectively used.

With the above procedure, the collection of the simulation data is completed.

Next, the screen data modify processing unit 25
Before explaining the processing of FIG. 7, an example of the screen data before the change collected by the data collecting apparatus will be described with reference to FIG.
This example is an output screen example when the ping command is executed. The ping command indicates that the own device and the partner device are L
This is a command for confirming whether or not a connection has been made via the AN. Specifically, a command for transmitting a connection confirmation is transmitted to confirm that a response packet is returned from the partner apparatus. The command is started by designating a partner device name (host name) or an IP address in a command option. When activated, first, a partner device name (IP address) 75 and a transmission packet size 71 are displayed. Thereafter, while the command is being executed, the size of each transmission packet, the name of the partner device (IP address), the sequence number, and the time required for the packet to reciprocate are displayed (73). At the end of the command, the number of transmitted packets, the number of received packets, the number of lost packets, and the time required for packet round-trip (minimum, average, maximum) are displayed (74).

The screen data modify processing unit 25
Will be described. As illustrated in FIG. 7, the screen data collected by the data collection device includes a device name (host name) and an IP address. They are,
It is determined individually in each communication in each LAN configuration, and it is not appropriate to use the collected screen data as shown in FIG. 7 as it is on the simulator (to be described in detail later). Need to be changed. On the other hand, in a setting file in each WS as shown in FIG. 8, a host name and an IP address of the WS connected to the LAN are recorded. The screen data modify processing unit 25 compares the host name and the IP address in the setting file with the character strings in the screen data in FIG.
That is, the position (modify position) on the screen where the host name or IP address to be changed exists can be specified. The character string of the host name at the specified position is marked with a mark indicating that it is a host name. The mark may be any mark that can be recognized by the simulator described later as the display position of the host name. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 9, a mark is given by replacing the character string indicating the actual host name with a character string “% HOSTNAME%”. Similarly, a character string indicating the actual IP address is expressed as “% IPADR
% ". Instead of performing the character string replacement, a unique display attribute may be added to the host name and the IP address so that the simulator can detect it later.

Next, FIG. 11 shows a configuration of a LAN setup operation learning training system realized by the simulation processing unit 11 in the system of FIG. 1, that is, a simulator. The simulator 110 has its own device 113 and a counterpart device 111 in its own device,
Simulate an AN system. The operation of the simulator 110 will be described. The numbers of the following steps correspond to the same circled numbers shown in FIG.

(1) First, the simulator 110 is started. At this time, an initial screen as shown in FIG. 10 is displayed. Therefore, the learner selects one task from a plurality of training tasks (LAN configuration) given by the instructor. This determines the LAN configuration. Then, the learner inputs a command. Note that L described in FIG.
In the outline of the AN setup, first, predetermined information is written in the setting file using a text editor. In this simulator, a text editor command is treated as one of the commands. This command is different from the command for LAN setup.
Writing to the setting file is performed using a text editor by this command. Writing and changing the configuration file itself are also subject to operation training.

(2) The simulator 110 checks the format of the input command using the same logic as that of the actual device (command check). If this command is correct, proceed to the following steps.

(3) Check the setting contents of the setting files of the own device and the partner device. For example, regarding the network setup, the host name, the IP address, and the network name are not registered duplicately, the contents are the same between the workstations that configure the network, or the network setup is completed. Is checked (setting check).

(4) Execute the internal operation (only the part that affects the display) according to the check of the setting contents (internal operation execution). For example, when executing a telnet command which is a command for becoming a virtual terminal of the partner device, the host name of the partner device is specified in the option. te
For the lnet command, it is checked whether the character string specified by the option matches one of the host names recorded in the configuration file (see FIG. 8),
If they do not match, an error message is displayed. If they match, the IP address defined as a pair with the host name becomes the IP address of the partner device.

(5) A plurality of simulation data 16
From among the commands having the same setting data as the input command (data search).

(6) The screen data of the found simulation data 16 is output to the display 18. At this time, the simulator 110 replaces the character strings “% HOSTNAME%” and “% IPADR%” at the modification positions marked in the screen data with the data (host name and / or IP address) corresponding to this command.
Address) and output. The corresponding host name and IP address are obtained by the simulator 110 from the setting file or the execution status of the command. For example, when the ping command is activated by the following command input @ping h30502 02, an example of the output screen is as shown in FIG.

This command has the host name "h305
The device checks whether the IP address is “2” from the setting file shown in FIG.
02.19.12.2 ". Therefore,
The simulator is “% HOSTNAME%” and “%
Each of the character strings “IPADR%” is “h3050
02 "and" 202.19.12.2 ".

[0043]

According to the present invention, operation learning and operation training for connecting devices such as workstations and personal computers to a LAN are provided.
It can be performed with one relatively inexpensive device.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a LAN setup operation learning / training system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a data collection device for creating simulation data used in the system of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram for explaining an outline of a general LAN setup.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a structure of simulation data in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the operation of the data collection device shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram for explaining an initial screen of the data collection device.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram for describing screen data collected by the data collection device.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a setting file in which a host name and an IP address are recorded.

FIG. 9 shows the host name and IP in the screen data shown in FIG. 7;
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of screen data with an address mark.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram for explaining an initial screen as a simulator of the system in FIG. 1;

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the operation of the system in FIG. 1 as a simulator.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram of information other than addresses stored in a setting file according to the embodiment.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram of an output screen by simulation in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 LAN setup operation learning and training system, 1
1 ... Simulation processing unit, 12 ... Memory, 13 ... Command, 14 ... Screen data, 15 ... Setting data, 16 ...
Simulation data, 18 ... keyboard, 19 ... display.

Claims (8)

(57) [Claims] 1. A system for learning and training a setup operation of a LAN system in which a plurality of devices are connected via a network. The system is connected to an actual LAN system and receives various commands used for the setup operation. Data collecting means for collecting screen data output in response to the command and setting data information indicating the setting status of the LAN system at that time, and using the data collected by the data collecting means as simulation data Simulation data storage means for storing, and simulator means for simulating the operation of the own device and the other device in the network as the pseudo own device and the pseudo other device, and the pseudo own device in the simulator means is used for the setup operation. After receiving the command, this command LAN setup operation learning / training system, wherein screen data whose setting status of the LAN system at that time coincides with the collected command and setting data information is taken out from the simulation data storage means and output to a display. . 2. The setting status of the LAN system is a LAN status.
2. The LAN setup operation learning and training system according to claim 1, wherein the determination is made based on setting data stored in a setting file in each device in the system. 3. The LAN setup operation learning / training system according to claim 1, wherein the setting status of the LAN system is a check result of a predetermined check item. 4. The command used for the setup operation includes a setup command for starting a LAN system, an operation confirmation command for confirming operation of the LAN system, and an application command for executing an application. LAN setup operation learning and training system. 5. The data collecting means detects a character string in the collected screen data which changes based on the LAN system configuration, and adds a mark recognizable by the simulator means to the character string. 5. The LAN setup operation learning / training system according to claim 1, wherein the character string is replaced with an appropriate character string and output. 6. The LAN setup operation learning / training system according to claim 5, wherein the character string changed based on the LAN system configuration is a device name and a device address of a device connected to the LAN system. 7. The LAN setup operation learning / training system according to claim 5, wherein the mark attached to the character string is a predetermined character string. 8. The LAN setup operation learning / training system according to claim 5, wherein the mark attached to the character string is a change of a display attribute of the character string.