JP2922450B2 - How to collect LAN terminal information - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to monitoring of a local area network (LAN), and more particularly to a method for collecting terminal information of a LAN.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, LAN has become widespread in companies and the like,
Services are also provided for remotely monitoring this LAN system, maintaining it, and searching for and solving the cause of a failure when a failure occurs.

When a failure occurs in a LAN, information on the failure exists in a related terminal or the like. Therefore, it is necessary to obtain various types of information held by the related terminals and the like in order to isolate a fault, specify a cause, and the like.

[0004] Not only coping with failure occurrence, but also LA
For preventive maintenance at N, periodic collection of various preventive maintenance information (for example, traffic information, error retry count information, etc.) is also required.

[0005] The reason for collecting such information manually is as follows.
It takes time and personnel, and it may not be possible to take appropriate measures for failure. In addition, since the preventive maintenance information has a larger number of times of collection and a larger amount of information collected at one time than the information collected at the time of failure, it is not practical to collect information manually than the collection of failure information.

[0006] For such a reason, the LAN described above is used.
In order to quickly perform the monitoring / troubleshooting process at a remote location, it is preferable to remotely collect information on terminals (including preventive maintenance information). For that, the customer's L
It is conceivable to connect the AN system and the remote operation management system via a public network and collect necessary information by communication.

[0007] More specifically, it is possible to connect to the access target terminal via a line at a location (remote) away from the access target terminal and control / execute at least a part of the function of the terminal (login). Remote login (telnet, rlogin, etc.) can be used. In other words, by executing at least some of the functions that can be performed by the local terminal on the remote terminal, as if the remote terminal had replaced the local terminal, it is possible to access the target information of the local terminal to be accessed. it can.

[0008]

However, since the remote login method enters the target system from the outside and operates within the system, the access is simple, but the unauthorized access by a third party is also easy. The problem in is big.

In order to enhance security, it is necessary to strictly set the entire target system (setting of an ID that can be entered, setting of an operable range for each ID, setting of a file that can be referred to, and the like). It is difficult and impractical to require all customer systems.

Further, depending on the type of the target system, the location of the required terminal information file (for example, M
In many cases, the path (path in S-DOS) and its name are different, and there is a problem that file search cannot be easily performed.
In particular, as the number of devices connected to the network increases with the multivendorization, etc., even if the file name where the maintenance information required for each terminal exists is different or the file name is the same, the path (PATH) name is used. Is different.

Further, it is not preferable in view of security that the file name is opened.

Therefore, according to the present invention, when terminal information of a LAN system is collected through a public network, access to a target file is easily performed while maintaining security of the LAN system. .

[0013]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method for collecting LAN terminal information from a remote operation management system via a public network, the information being related to terminals constituting a LAN at a remote location. As one terminal connected to
A dedicated monitoring terminal for collecting LAN terminal information is provided, and the information correspondence table for associating the actual file name of the collection target information of each monitoring target terminal with a general information name viewed from the remote operation management system side is provided. Provided in the terminal, LAN
When a failure occurs, the remote operation management system transmits the name of the information collection target terminal and the general information name of the collection target information to the monitoring terminal via the public network, and the monitoring terminal receiving the transmission transmits the collection name. The general information name of the target information is converted into the corresponding real file name by the information correspondence table, and by accessing the file of the real file name of the terminal designated by the information collection target terminal name, L
An object of the present invention is to provide a method for collecting LAN terminal information, wherein AN terminal information is collected and the collected LAN terminal information is returned to the remote operation management system under the general information name.

In this method of collecting LAN terminal information,
The information correspondence table may be separately provided for each monitoring target terminal.

After receiving the terminal name and the general information name from the remote operation management system, the monitoring terminal temporarily disconnects the line, and returns the monitoring LAN terminal information when returning the collected LAN terminal information. It is preferable that the side calls back to the remote operation management system.

It is desirable that a communication protocol excluding a remote login function be used for communication between the remote operation management system and the monitoring terminal.

[0017] Further, a schedule table is provided in the monitor terminal that defines a collection cycle for periodically collecting terminal information for each monitor target terminal and a general information name of the collection target. With reference to the table, predetermined information of the monitored terminal is collected for each period determined for the monitored terminal, and the collected L is collected.
It is also possible to transfer the AN terminal information to the remote operation management system under the general information name.

It is desirable that the monitoring terminal occupies a connection port with a public network after the startup.

In the present invention, a general name is used as the information name to be collected and is converted into an actual file name at the monitoring terminal. It is possible to easily specify the collection target without considering the path or path.

Further, it is possible to reduce the possibility that an unintended file is specified by mistake. That is, when the given general information name does not exist in the table, no access is made to any file, so that erroneous access or unauthorized access to a file other than the predetermined file is prevented.

If the information correspondence table is provided separately for each terminal to be monitored, it is possible to change the correspondence between the general name of information and the actual file name for each terminal.

By employing a callback from the monitoring terminal to the remote operation management system, the security can be further improved.

If a communication protocol excluding the remote login function is used for communication between the remote operation management system and the monitoring terminal, it is effective to prevent unauthorized access to the LAN system from the public network.

Further, the monitoring terminal can automatically collect necessary LAN terminal information by using the schedule table and transfer it to the remote operation management system.

After the monitoring terminal is started, it occupies a connection port with the public network, which also contributes to security improvement.

[0026]

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

FIG. 1 shows an example of the configuration of an entire system to which the present invention is applied. The customer system includes a plurality of terminals 11,
15 to which the LAN 13 is connected,
Is a LAN system including the LAN 12 connected to the LAN 13 via the LAN 13. Of course, L to which the present invention is applied
The AN system may be a system including only one LAN 13. The monitoring terminal 15 is a dedicated terminal for monitoring the LAN system and collecting various information. The monitoring terminal 15 is connected to a remote operation management system 19 via a public network 17. In this example, the remote operation management system 19 is owned by a service company different from the customer, but may be a part of the same company.

FIG. 2 shows a configuration example of the monitoring terminal 15. The monitoring terminal 15 includes a display device 151, a main body 152,
It comprises a keyboard 156, a modem 154 and the like. Body 15
2 is a LAN for connecting to the LANs 12 and 13.
A card (board) 158, a hard disk device 157 as an external storage device, an RS-232C interface unit 153 for connection with a modem 154,
Although not shown, it is provided with a central processing unit (CPU) of an ordinary personal computer, an internal memory (main memory) for storing programs and data, a display control unit, and the like.

The monitoring terminal 15 uses the keyboard 156 and the display device 1 to set initial data and the like.
51 are required, but are not always necessary during normal operation.

Next, the initial setting items in the embodiment will be described.

The following two items are set as communication environment setting items.

(1) Public Network Environment As setting items for connecting to the remote operation management system via the public network, there are: a telephone number of the remote operation management system; an ID and a password for connection; (2) LAN Environment Setting items of the LAN environment include a host name and an IP address. These items are environment items of the customer system and are usually set in advance by communication software.

Next, the setting items of the collection conditions will be described with reference to the table shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 shows a table group used in the monitoring terminal 15 of the present embodiment. Here, the terminal table 71,
Maintenance information correspondence table 73, schedule table 75
Are used.

The terminal table 71 stores an identification name 711 of each terminal constituting the LAN system and a corresponding table name 712 of the maintenance information correspondence table 73 in a pair. Thereby, different maintenance information (LAN terminal information) can be collected for each terminal.

The maintenance information correspondence table 73 stores a pair of a maintenance information name 731 which is a general information name of the terminal and a full path name (including an actual file name) of the maintenance information. . As a result, it is possible to cope with the fact that the remote operation management system side does not need to be aware of the actual file name and even if the location (path) where the file exists differs for each maintenance information.

The schedule table 75 is a table for collecting preventive maintenance information.
Collection target terminal name 752 and collection target maintenance information name 75
3 is stored. This makes it possible to set a different collection cycle for each terminal and for each piece of maintenance information.

These tables are stored in the hard disk 1
Held to 57, read to the internal memory at the time of need. Of course,
It is also possible to store the data in a memory or ROM backed up by a battery.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described by dividing it into a process when a failure occurs and a process when collecting preventive maintenance information.

The processing when a failure occurs will be described with reference to the schematic diagram of FIG. 3 and the flowchart of FIG.

As can be seen from the schematic diagram of FIG. 3, in the process for the occurrence of a fault, the terminal name (terminal a) and the information name (information a) from which information is to be collected are monitored from the remote operation management system 19 as fault isolation information. Send to terminal 15 (○
1) The monitoring terminal 15 receiving this refers to the terminal table 71 and the maintenance information correspondence table 73 (○ 2,
3) Obtain the full path name of the information a. Based on this full path name, the target file is accessed (○ 4), and the information of the requested terminal is returned to the remote operation management system 19 with the requested information name (○ 5). Based on the returned information, the remote operation management system 19 performs a work of isolating a failure or the like.

This processing procedure will be described in further detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

The occurrence of a failure in the LAN system is detected by a manual (or automatic) notification from the LAN system side (501). On the other hand, the remote operation management system 19 manually (or automatically) inputs a target terminal name and a general information name as information for fault isolation, and sends the information to the monitoring terminal 15 via the public network. An information collection request is made (502). At this time, security is maintained by calling the telephone number of the line to which the modem 154 (FIG. 2) of the monitoring terminal 15 is connected, and performing communication using an ID and password for access and a unique communication protocol. Dripping. That is, it is possible to access the terminal 15 only for collecting the fault isolation information.
The “unique communication protocol” here is a protocol that does not support (or suppresses) remote login as described above.

The monitoring terminal 15 starts (51)
After 1), RS-232C which becomes the mouth (port) of the public network
The port (even if there is more than one) is occupied by this process (5
12). Upon receiving the above request from the remote operation management system 19, the line is temporarily disconnected (513). This is performed later by the remote operation management system 1 from the monitoring terminal 15 side.
9 to make a call. Next, referring to the terminal table 71, the corresponding maintenance information correspondence table 73 is searched based on the target terminal name (514). Next, the actual file name (full path name) is searched based on the general information name with reference to the obtained maintenance information correspondence table 73 (51).
5). Here, the given general information name is shown in Table 7.
If not, an error occurs. This allows
Access to files other than the predetermined file is prohibited. Using the real file name obtained in step 515, target information is collected from the target terminal (516). Thereafter, a call is made from the monitoring terminal 15 to the remote operation management system 19 to establish a communication path between the two, and the collected information is transferred under the information name (general information name) of the request source (517). By this callback, information transfer to other than the remote operation management system 19 is reliably prevented,
Further, security can be improved. The telephone number of the remote operation management system 19 used at the time of callback can be set in advance in a communication program to be used.

The remote operation management system 19 that has received the collected information analyzes the collected information and determines whether there is an abnormality (failure) (504).

In this way, when a failure occurs in the LAN system, it is possible to quickly collect terminal information necessary for isolating the failure from a remote location while maintaining security.

Next, a process for collecting preventive maintenance information will be described with reference to the schematic diagram of FIG. In this case, unlike when a failure occurs, there is no action from the remote operation management system 19 to the monitoring terminal 15, and the monitoring terminal 15 starts processing spontaneously. For this purpose, a schedule table 75 is used in addition to the terminal table 71 and the maintenance information correspondence table 73. That is, the collection of the corresponding information of the corresponding terminal is started according to the cycle set in the schedule table 75 (（1). The corresponding maintenance information correspondence table name is obtained by searching the corresponding terminal table 71 from the terminal identification name (テ ー ブ ル 2) (（3). With reference to the maintenance information table, a general maintenance information name is obtained for an actual file name (full path name) unique to the terminal (○ 3). Furthermore, the information of the terminal is collected from the actual file name (○
4). This collected information is stored in the remote operation management system 1
9 (○ 5), and is used by the remote operation management system 19 for periodic information collection and preventive maintenance.

Referring to FIG. 6, a detailed processing procedure at the time of preventive maintenance will be described. The processing (602) executed after the start-up of the monitoring terminal 601 is the same as step 512 in FIG.
Thereafter, the schedule table 75 is periodically referred to, and the following processing is started for each set cycle (603).
First, referring to the terminal table 71, the corresponding maintenance information correspondence table 73 is searched based on the target terminal name (60).
4). Next, referring to the obtained maintenance information correspondence table 73, an actual file name is searched based on general information (605). Therefore, file information is collected from the corresponding terminal by using file transfer (606). Then, a telephone call is made from the monitoring terminal 15 to the remote operation management system 19 to establish a communication path between them, and the collected information is transmitted to the remote operation management system 19 under the requested general information name. Also in this case, a unique communication protocol is used. The remote operation management system 19
The transmitted information is received (611), and the collected information is analyzed and used for preventive maintenance of an abnormality (failure) (61).
2).

Although the flowcharts of FIGS. 5 and 6 are shown as independent ones for the sake of convenience, they are actually mixed, and the processing after step 513 in FIG. Is executed, and the processes after step 604 in FIG. 6 are executed by activation based on the internal schedule table 75.

[0050]

According to the present invention, when terminal information of a LAN system is collected through a public network, it is possible to easily access a target file while maintaining security of the LAN system. . That is, in response to a request via the public network, only information set in advance in the information correspondence table can be requested, so that security can be maintained. Also, since the information name of the LAN terminal information that can be requested is generalized, the remote operation management system can easily make a request without being aware of the environment (file name, path, etc.) of the file or the like of the LAN terminal. Is also prevented.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a monitoring terminal of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing processing contents when a LAN failure occurs in the system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing processing contents when collecting preventive maintenance information in the system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure when a LAN failure occurs in the system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure when collecting preventive maintenance information in the system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a table group used in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 terminal, 12, 13 LAN, 15 monitoring terminal, 1
7 public network 19 remote operation management system 71 terminal table 73 maintenance information correspondence table 75 schedule table 151 display device 152
Main body, 156 ... keyboard.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification symbol FI H04L 12/26 H04L 11/08 12/28 (56) References JP-A-5-334250 (JP, A) JP-A-2- 266443 (JP, A) JP-A-6-334690 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) G06F 15/00 320 G06F 12/00 537 G06F 12/00 545 G06F 13 / 00 351 H04L 12/24 H04L 12/26 H04L 12/28 JICST file (JOIS)

Claims (6)

(57) [Claims] 1. A method for collecting LAN terminal information from a remote operation management system via a public network, the information relating to a terminal configuring a LAN at a remote location, wherein the one terminal connected to the LAN is: A dedicated monitoring terminal for collecting LAN terminal information is provided, and the information correspondence table for associating the actual file name of the collection target information of each monitoring target terminal with a general information name viewed from the remote operation management system side is monitored. In the terminal, when a LAN failure occurs, the remote operation management system transmits the name of the information collection target terminal and the general information name of the collection target information to the monitoring terminal via the public network, and receives the transmission. The monitoring terminal converts a general information name of the collection target information into a corresponding real file name by the information correspondence table, and converts a general information name of the terminal designated by the information collection target terminal name. By accessing said actual file name of the file, collected LAN terminal information object, the LAN terminal information which is the collected back to the remote management system in the general information name, the collection subject information The general information name is
Access any file if not present
A method for collecting LAN terminal information, wherein the method does not perform the operation. 2. The information correspondence table is connected to the LAN.
2. The method for collecting LAN terminal information according to claim 1, wherein the LAN terminal information is provided separately for each monitored terminal. 3. The monitoring terminal, after receiving the terminal name and the general information name from the remote operation management system, temporarily disconnects the line, and returns the collected LAN terminal information when returning the collected LAN terminal information. 3. The method for collecting LAN terminal information according to claim 1, wherein a callback is made from the monitoring terminal to the remote operation management system. 4. The collection of LAN terminal information according to claim 1, wherein a communication protocol excluding a remote login function is used for communication between said remote operation management system and said monitoring terminal. Method. 5. A schedule table in which a collection cycle for periodically collecting terminal information for each terminal to be monitored and a general information name to be collected is provided in the monitoring terminal, wherein the monitoring terminal is configured to execute the schedule processing. With reference to the table, the defined information of the monitored terminal is collected at intervals determined for the monitored terminal, and the collected LAN terminal information is stored in the remote operation management system under the general information name. 2. The method for collecting LAN terminal information according to claim 1, wherein the information is transferred. 6. The monitoring terminal according to claim 1, wherein said monitoring terminal occupies a connection port with a public network after being started.
5. The method for collecting LAN terminal information according to any one of 5.