JP7230332B2 - Management server, method, program and management system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a management server , method, program and management system.

Conventionally, there has been known a system in which when a service is provided to a client from a server provided on a network such as the Internet, and a failure occurs, another server is activated instead.

In the conventional system described above, services cannot be provided until a new server is activated and server switching is completed. Further, in conventional systems, clients are not notified that services are temporarily unavailable due to server switching. Therefore, in the above-described conventional system, the user receiving the service cannot grasp that the service is temporarily not provided due to server switching.

An object of the technology disclosed herein is to notify the occurrence of server switching.

A technology disclosed herein includes a receiving unit that receives operating state information indicating an operating state of a device management apparatus connected to an image forming apparatus ; A server construction unit that refers to a setting information storage unit that stores setting information of a device management apparatus and generates a copy of the virtualized device management apparatus, and the image forming apparatus connected to the device management apparatus On the other hand, the management server includes a notification unit that notifies that the device management apparatus is switched to a copy of the generated device management apparatus due to the occurrence of the failure .

It is possible to notify the occurrence of server switching.

It is a figure which shows an example of a fault management system configuration. This is an outline of the operation of the management server. It is a figure which shows an example of the hardware constitutions of a management server. It is a figure explaining the function of a management server. It is a figure which shows an example of customer information. It is a figure which shows an example of server information. It is a figure which shows an example of apparatus information. It is a figure which shows an example of setting information. It is a flowchart explaining operation|movement of a management server. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of a notification. 4 is a flowchart for explaining a process of accumulating log information; FIG. 11 is a flowchart for explaining processing for predicting the occurrence of a failure; FIG.

Embodiments will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a failure management system configuration.

The fault management system 100 of this embodiment is a system virtually constructed on a network such as a cloud environment, and includes, for example, a device management server 200, a status monitoring server 300, and a management server 400.

The device management server 200 manages, for example, various devices connected to the network N1. The network N1 may be, for example, a network managed by Company A, and the device management server 200 may be a server owned by Company A.

Devices connected to the network N1 include various devices such as general information processing devices, image forming devices, image projection devices, and electronic blackboards.

The status monitoring server 300 monitors the status of the equipment management server 200 . Specifically, the status monitoring server 300 monitors the status of the device management server 200 and notifies the management server 400 of the occurrence of the failure when the device management server 200 fails.

The management server 400 of the present embodiment creates a copy of the device management server 200 upon receipt of the failure notification of the device management server 200 . Also, the management server 400 of this embodiment notifies each device connected to the network N that the device management server 200 is being switched to another device management server.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the outline of the operation of the management server. In the fault management system 100 of this embodiment, the device management server 200 holds setting information indicating the settings of each device that is connected to the network N1 and managed by the device management server 200 .

In this embodiment, the management server 400 acquires this setting information from the device management server 200 in advance. Then, when the state monitoring server 300 detects that a failure has occurred in the device management server 200, the management server 400 refers to the setting information of the device management server 200 and installs devices having the same functions as the device management server 200. A management server 500 is constructed.

In other words, when a failure occurs in the device management server 200, the management server 400 constructs a backup server (alternative server) for the device management server 200 from the setting information of the device management server 200 held by itself.

Then, the management server 400 transmits to each device connected to the network N1 a notification indicating that the service is temporarily not provided because the server is being switched.

Therefore, in this embodiment, it is possible to notify the occurrence of server switching. In addition, in this embodiment, since a backup server having the same function as the failed server is constructed after a failure occurs, there is no need to prepare a always-operating backup server on the network. Therefore, the user of network N1 can reduce the cost of providing a backup server on the network.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, the management server 400 retains the setting information of the device management server 200, so that when a failure occurs in the device management server 200, the device management server 200 can quickly perform the same functions as the device management server 200. , a copy of the device management server 200 can be constructed.

It should be noted that constructing a copy of the device management server 200 in this embodiment means copying a device management apparatus (alternative server) virtualized using virtualization technology and constructing it on the network. , there is no need to prepare a new, physically different server. Building a virtualized server on a network in this way may be called provisioning.

The hardware configuration of the management server 400 of this embodiment will be described below with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of a management server;

The management server 400 of this embodiment is an information processing device having a drive device 401, an auxiliary storage device 402, a memory device 403, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 404, an interface device 405, etc., which are connected to each other via a bus B. is.

A program for realizing processing in the management server 400 is provided by a recording medium 406 such as a CD-ROM. When the recording medium 406 storing the program is set in the drive device 401 , the program is installed from the recording medium 406 to the auxiliary storage device 402 via the drive device 401 . However, the program does not necessarily have to be installed from the recording medium 406, and may be downloaded from another computer via the network. The auxiliary storage device 402 stores installed programs, as well as necessary files and data.

The memory device 403 reads out and stores the program from the auxiliary storage device 402 when a program activation instruction is received. The CPU 404 executes functions related to the management server 400 according to programs stored in the memory device 403 . The interface device 405 is used as an interface for connecting to the network.

Note that the management server 400 may be implemented as a system of a plurality of computers each having a configuration as shown in FIG. Also, the equipment management server 200 and the status monitoring server 300 may have the same hardware configuration as the management server 400 .

Next, with reference to FIG. 4, functions of the management server 400 of this embodiment will be described. FIG. 4 is a diagram explaining the functions of the management server.

The management server 400 of this embodiment includes an input unit 410, a customer information management unit 411, a server management unit 412, a setting information acquisition unit 413, a monitoring status reception unit 414, a server construction unit 415, a notification unit 416, an output unit 417, a failure It has a predictive detector 418 . These units are implemented by the CPU 404 of the management server 400 reading programs from the auxiliary storage device 402 and executing them.

The management server 400 of this embodiment also has a customer information storage unit 420 , a server information storage unit 430 , a device information storage unit 440 , a setting information storage unit 450 and a log information storage unit 460 . Each of these storage units is provided in the auxiliary storage device 402, the memory device 403, or the like of the management server 400. FIG.

The input unit 410 receives input of various types of information to the management server 400 . The customer information management section 411 manages customer information stored in the customer information storage section 420 . Specifically, for example, the customer information management unit 411 stores the customer information input by the input unit 410 in the customer information storage unit 420 .

The setting information acquisition unit 413 periodically acquires setting information from the device management server 200 and stores it in the setting information storage unit 450 . The setting information is, for example, information held by the device management server 200 for managing each device on the network N1, and is information indicating settings related to each device on the network N1.

The monitoring status receiving unit 414 receives information indicating the status of the device management server 200 monitored by the status monitoring server 300 from the status monitoring server 300 . In the following description, information received by the monitoring status receiving unit 414 from the status monitoring server 300 will be referred to as operating status information indicating the operating status of the equipment management server 200 .

The server construction unit 415 refers to the setting information of the failed device management server 200 stored in the setting information storage unit 450, and substitutes for the device management server 200 having the same functions as the device management server 200. A substitute server 500 is constructed. In other words, the server construction unit 415 creates a functional unit having the same functions as the failed device management server 200 as the substitute server 500 on the network.

The notification unit 416 notifies the devices managed by the device management server 200 that the device management by the device management server 200 is being switched to the management by the alternative server 500 .

The output unit 417 outputs various information. Specifically, the output unit 417 may transmit various types of information to an external device, or display various types of information on a display or the like connected to the management server 400 .

The failure prediction detection unit 418 stores log information regarding failure occurrence in the log information storage unit 460 . The failure prediction detection unit 418 also refers to the log information stored in the log information storage unit 460 and predicts the occurrence of a failure. Details of the processing of the failure prediction detection unit 418 will be described later.

The customer information storage unit 420 of this embodiment stores customer information about customers (users) who use the device management server 200 and the network N1 connected to the device management server 200 .

The server information storage unit 430 stores server information about the device management server 200 . The device information storage unit 440 stores device information about the devices managed by the device management server 200 . Devices managed by the device management server 200 are devices connected to the network N1. The setting information storage unit 450 stores setting information set in the device management server 200 . The log information storage unit 460 stores log information regarding the occurrence of failures.

Next, customer information, device information, server information, and setting information will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 to 8. FIG.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of customer information. The customer information of this embodiment has information items such as customer name, server type, and device, and the item "customer name" is associated with other items. Information including the value of the item "customer name" and the values of other items is called customer information. The customer information may include items other than the items shown in FIG.

In the example of FIG. 5, company A owns the device management server 200, and the device name of the device management server 200 is server XX.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of server information. The server information of this embodiment has server name, memory capacity, HDD capacity, and application name as information items, and the item "server name" is associated with other items. Information including the value of the item "server name" and the values of other items is called server information.

The value of the item "memory capacity" indicates the memory capacity of the device management server 200 indicated by the server name. The value of the item "HDD capacity" indicates the hardware capacity of the device management server 200 indicated by the server name. The value of the item "application name" indicates the name of the application installed in the device management server 200 indicated by the server name.

Note that the server information may include items other than the items shown in FIG. The server information of this embodiment mainly includes information about the hardware specifications of the device management server 200 specified by the item "server name".

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of device information. The device information of this embodiment has customer name, device name, IP address, and connection destination server as information items, and the item “device name” is associated with other items. In this embodiment, information including the value of the item "device name" and the values of other items is called device information. Note that the device information may include items other than the items shown in FIG.

The value of the item "device name" indicates the name of the device. The value of the item "IP address" indicates the IP address of the device indicated by the device name. The value of the item "connection destination server" indicates the server to which the device indicated by the device name is connected.

In the example of FIG. 7, it can be seen that printer A and printer B, which are assets of company A, are connected to server XX.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of setting information. FIG. 8A shows an example of setting information related to connection settings set in the device management server 200 among the setting information stored in the setting information storage unit 450 . FIG. 8B shows an example of setting information related to the print server set in the device management server 200 among the setting information stored in the setting information storage unit 450 .

The setting information 81 shown in FIG. 8A indicates settings related to connections between the device management server 200 and various servers in the network N1.

The various servers within the network N1 are, for example, a print server for managing printing by a plurality of image forming apparatuses within the network N1, and a server for managing image data read by the scan function of the image forming apparatus. such as a scan server for

The setting information 82 shown in FIG. 8B indicates settings related to the print server managed by the device management server 200 .

As described above, the setting information storage unit 450 of this embodiment stores various setting information that the device management server 200 has for managing various devices on the network N1.

Note that the setting information 81 and 82 are part of the setting information acquired from the device management server 200 . For example, when a plurality of device management servers 200 exist in the fault management system 100, the setting information storage unit 450 of the present embodiment stores settings acquired from each device management server 200 for each device management server 200. Information may be stored.

Next, operations of the management server 400 of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 9 is a flow chart explaining the operation of the management server.

The management server 400 receives the operating status information of the device management server 200 from the status monitoring server 300 by the monitoring status receiving unit 414 (step S901). Subsequently, the monitoring status receiving unit 414 determines whether or not a failure has occurred in the device management server 200 from the operating status information (step S902).

In step S902, if no failure has occurred, the management server 400 returns to step S901.

In step S902, if the operating status information indicates that a failure has occurred, the management server 400 causes the server construction unit 415 to determine whether or not the failure is expected to be recovered without constructing a substitute server (step S902). S903). Incidentally, in this embodiment, the type of failure for which a substitute server should be constructed may be set in the server construction unit 415 in advance.

In step S903, if the fault is recoverable, the management server 400 refers to the device information storage unit 440, and notifies the device to which the device management server 200 is connected by the notification unit 416 of the recoverable fault. is notified (step S904), and the process ends.

In step S903, if it is determined that the fault should be set up as a substitute server, the management server 400 causes the notification unit 416 to notify the device to which the device management server 200 is connected to perform server switching due to the occurrence of the fault. (step S905).

Subsequently, the management server 400 constructs a substitute server on the network by the server construction unit 415 (step S906). Then, the server construction unit 415 acquires the setting information of the failed device management server 200 from the setting information storage unit 450, and passes it to the alternative server (step S907).

Subsequently, the management server 400 uses the notification unit 416 to notify the device to which the device management server 200 is connected that the restoration has been completed (step S908), and ends the process.

The notification output to each device in step S905 will be described below with reference to FIG.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a display example of notification. A screen 101 in FIG. 10 is an example of a screen displayed on, for example, an operation panel of an image forming apparatus connected to the network N1.

A screen 101 displays a message 102 indicating that a failure has occurred in the system, and a message 103 indicating that service provision will be temporarily interrupted in order to switch the device management server 200.

As described above, in this embodiment, by sending the message 103 to each device connected to the device management server 200, it is possible to notify the occurrence of server switching.

Note that although the notification is displayed on the screen in FIG. 10, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, if the device connected to the device management server 200 is a general computer or the like, the notification may be sent by e-mail or the like.

Next, accumulation of log information by the failure prediction detection unit 418 and prediction of occurrence of a failure will be described with reference to FIGS. 11 and 12. FIG.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating processing for accumulating log information. The processing in steps S1101 and S1102 in FIG. 11 is the same as the processing in steps S901 and S902 in FIG. 9, so description thereof will be omitted.

In step S1102, if the received operating status information indicates the occurrence of a failure, the failure prediction detection unit 418 accumulates log information indicating the occurrence of failure in the log information storage unit 460 (step S1103), and ends the process. .

Note that the log information indicating the occurrence of a failure may include, for example, information indicating the date and time when the failure occurred, information indicating the type of failure, the name of the device management server 200 in which the failure occurred, and the like.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating processing for predicting the occurrence of a failure. The failure prediction/detection unit 418 of this embodiment refers to the log information stored in the log information storage unit 460 and predicts the failure cycle (step S1201).

Subsequently, the failure prediction detection unit 418 determines whether or not failures occur at regular intervals (step S1202). In step S1202, if the constant cycle does not exist, the failure prediction detection unit 418 returns to step S1201.

In step S1202, if there is a certain period, the failure prediction detection unit 418 predicts the next failure based on the log information (step S1203).

Subsequently, the failure prediction detection unit 418 uses the notification unit 416 to notify the user of the prediction result (step S1204), and terminates the process. The notification destination of the prediction result may be, for example, the terminal for the administrator of the device management server 200 predicted to have a failure, or the device management server 200 predicted to have a failure as the connection destination. It may be a device that

Although the present invention has been described above based on each embodiment, the present invention is not limited to the requirements shown in the above embodiments. These points can be changed within the scope of the present invention, and can be determined appropriately according to the application form.

100 Failure Management System 200 Equipment Management Server 300 Status Monitoring Server 400 Management Server 410 Input Part 411 Customer Information Management Part 412 Server Management Part 413 Setting Information Acquisition Part 414 Monitoring Status Reception Part 415 Server Construction Part 416 Notification Part 417 Output Part 418 Failure Prediction Detection unit 420 Customer information storage unit 430 Server information storage unit 440 Device information storage unit 450 Setting information storage unit 460 Log information storage unit 500 Alternative server

JP 2016-152461 A

Claims (10)

a receiving unit that receives operating state information indicating an operating state of a device management apparatus connected to an image forming apparatus ;
when the operating status information indicates that a failure has occurred in the device management apparatus, referring to a setting information storage unit in which setting information of the device management apparatus is stored, and generating a copy of the virtualized device management apparatus; a server construction department that
a notification unit that notifies the image forming apparatus having the device management apparatus as a connection destination that the device management apparatus is switched to a copy of the generated device management apparatus due to the occurrence of the failure. . 2. The management server according to claim 1, further comprising a setting information acquisition unit for periodically acquiring setting information of said device management device from said device management device. a log information storage unit for accumulating log information indicating that the failure has occurred;
a failure prediction detection unit that refers to the log information, determines whether or not the failure occurs periodically, and predicts the occurrence of the next failure if the failure occurs periodically; have
3. The management server according to claim 1, wherein said notification unit notifies said device management apparatus of a result of prediction by said failure prediction detection unit. 4. The management server according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein said setting information includes information set for said image forming apparatus in order for said equipment management apparatus to manage said image forming apparatus . 5. The management server according to claim 1, wherein said notification unit causes a display unit of said image forming apparatus to display a screen including a message indicating that said copy is being generated. The setting information is
6. The management server according to any one of claims 1 to 5, which indicates settings related to connection between the device management apparatus and various servers in a network to which the device management apparatus is connected. The setting information is
7. The management server according to any one of claims 1 to 6, comprising settings related to a print server managed by said equipment management apparatus. A computer-based method, wherein the computer comprises:
receiving operating state information indicating the operating state of a device management apparatus connected to an image forming apparatus ;
when the operating status information indicates that a failure has occurred in the device management apparatus, referring to a setting information storage unit in which setting information of the device management apparatus is stored, and generating a copy of the virtualized device management apparatus; death,
A method of notifying the image forming apparatus having the device management apparatus as a connection destination that the device management apparatus will be switched to a copy of the generated device management apparatus due to the occurrence of the failure. a process of receiving operating state information indicating the operating state of a device management apparatus connected to an image forming apparatus ;
when the operating status information indicates that a failure has occurred in the device management apparatus, referring to a setting information storage unit in which setting information of the device management apparatus is stored, and generating a copy of the virtualized device management apparatus; and
causing a computer to execute a process of notifying the image forming apparatus having the device management apparatus as a connection destination that the device management apparatus will be switched to a copy of the generated device management apparatus due to the occurrence of the failure; program. a receiving unit for receiving operating state information indicating an operating state of a device management apparatus connected to an image forming apparatus ;
when the operating status information indicates that a failure has occurred in the device management apparatus, referring to a setting information storage unit in which setting information of the device management apparatus is stored, and generating a copy of the virtualized device management apparatus; a server construction department that
a notification unit that notifies the image forming apparatus having the device management apparatus as a connection destination that the device management apparatus is switched to a copy of the generated device management apparatus due to the occurrence of the failure. .

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