JPH05274239A - Network resource selecting system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To select desired resources easily and to utilize them by communicating the attribute information of the desired resources to a control means and obtaining necessary information for utilizing the resources from the control means. CONSTITUTION:The user of a computer 111 first inputs to connect a laser beam type printer inside a network 100 as a local printer device. This request is communicated to a resource control service part 103 of a server A101 inside a self domain, and is further informed of a directory service part 102. The directory service part 102 retrieves a directory data base 104 with informed attributes as key words. When they are not present after retrieving, that effect is communicated to the resource control service part 103, and the resource control service part 103 inquires of a server B106. Then, the server B, similar to the server A. retrieves a data base 109 and replies to the server A when they are present, and the server. A communicates that they are present in the server B to the computer 111.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a network resource selecting method in a network system including a plurality of computers connected to a network, resources such as peripheral devices, and a server supporting the use of these resources.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a network in which resources such as a plurality of computers and peripheral devices, servers for supporting the use of these resources are connected to a network, and resources such as files and peripheral devices are shared within the network. There is a system.

In such a network system, when the first computer intends to use resources such as a printer connected to a second computer existing in the same network, the first computer is supposed to use the resources. The user needs to have the information that enables the user to select the desired printer resource uniquely.

Therefore, conventionally, as information that enables selection of a target resource, information that meets the required specifications depending on what kind of resource one wants to use, for example, which directory of which computer If you want to actually use the target resource such as the printer by giving it in the form of a special file in advance, set the connection based on this information, declare the sharing of the resource, and connect to another computer. I am trying to access the resources that I am accessing as if they were resources connected to me.

On the other hand, as disclosed in "Server control system" of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-284949, the resources to be connected are divided into some groups in advance in the form of identifiers, and the identifiers are designated. There is a method of selecting a resource by requesting the use of the target resource and connecting to the server and the resource.

[0006]

However, in the above-mentioned prior art, the user needs to have information in advance to uniquely select the target resource, so refer to that information one by one. However, there is a problem that the work to select the target resource is troublesome.

Further, in the method of grouping the resources in the network and utilizing the desired resource by the identifier, it is necessary to confirm the relationship between the attribute of each grouped resource and its identifier. As described above, there is a problem that the work for selecting the target resource is troublesome.

[0008] An object of the present invention is to provide a network resource selection system which can easily select a target resource.

[0009]

According to the present invention, in order to solve the above problems, a server that supports the use of resources is provided with a management unit that manages resources belonging to its own server by attribute information representing its characteristics, When using the resource, the computer in the network notifies the management means of the attribute information of the target resource, obtains the information necessary for using the resource from the management means, and uses this information to obtain the target resource. I chose to use.

[0010]

According to the above means, when a user tries to use a certain resource in the network, the resource is not directly and uniquely specified but the attribute of the resource desired to be used, for example, in the case of a printer, its printing is performed. Attribute information such as laser beam method or dot impact method, what the printer control code is, where the printer is installed, etc. is sent to the server, and the attribute indicated by the notified attribute information is sent to the server. The user decides which resource has the specified resource, sends back information such as the file name or logical address necessary to use the resource to the computer, and selects and uses the target resource based on this returned information. It is not necessary to have the information to uniquely select the target resource, and you can easily select the target resource simply by specifying the attribute. It can be utilized in.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to illustrated embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a network system to which the present invention is applied. A server A 101, a server B 106 and a computer 111 are connected to the network 100.

Among them, the server A 101 is provided with a server software such as a resource allocation service section 103 for managing resource allocation windows with the computer 111 and dynamic resource information, and a directory service section 102 for managing directory information in the network. A directory database 1 that is installed and that also stores directory information
04, a dot impact printer A 105 as a peripheral device, and a shared file disk 113 are connected.

Similarly, the server B 106 also includes a resource management service unit 108, a directory service unit 107,
A directory database 109, a laser beam printer B110, and a shared file disk 114 are connected.

The resource management service units 103 and 108 dynamically manage the operating states of the resources belonging to their own servers, and statically and dynamically with other servers in the network. It sends and receives information to and from each other.

Directory service units 102 and 10
Reference numeral 7 statically manages resources belonging to its own server as attribute information such as a printing method such as a laser beam method or a dot impact method if the printing method is a printer, or information such as a control code and an installation location. This information is stored in the directory database 10
4, 109 are stored.

2 and 3 show the directory databases 104 and 109 of the server A 101 and the server B 106, respectively.
2 shows an example of the contents of FIG. 2, in the directory database 104, as attribute information of the printer A 105, resource type = printer, resource name = printer A, printing method = dot impact, control code = LIP.
S (a type of page description language, a type of code for controlling printer printing), device name = / dev /
lp0 is stored and the directory database 10
As attribute information of the printer B110 in FIG. 9, resource type = printer, resource name = printer B, printing method = laser beam, control code = LIPS, device name = / dev /
This indicates that lp2 is stored.

On the other hand, in FIG. 3, attribute information of shared directory name = ADOS101, OS = DOS, file type = source, software type = email is stored in the directory database 104 regarding the email resources.
Shared directory name = ADOS102, OS = DOS,
This indicates that attribute information of file type = object and software type = e-mail is stored.

Further, it is indicated that the directory database 109 stores the attribute information such as shared directory name = BDOS101, OS = OS2, file type = source, software type = RDB (relational database) regarding relational database resources. ..

FIG. 4 shows an input example of a command for declaring to use the laser beam printer in the network 100 from the computer 111 and an example of a graphical user interface. The printing method and the control code are attributes. It is entered as information.

FIG. 5 shows an input example of a command and an example of a graphical user interface for declaring from the computer 111 to use the electronic mail software registered in the shared file 113 or 114 in the network 100. , OS type, file type, and software type information are input as attribute information.

When the server A 101 or 106 receives the attribute information of the used resource from the computer 111, if the requested resource does not exist in its own server, it makes an inquiry to another server. It is necessary to know the address of the server in the network 100. FIG. 6 shows an example of a table in which address information of neighboring servers is stored as a part of a directory database. On the server A 101 side, “207. 0.0.
1 ”is stored, and the server B 106 side has the server A 10
“207.0.0.2” is stored as the Internet protocol address (IP address) for No. 1.

Here, the upper "207.0" is the network identification information indicating which network is in consideration of the case where there are a plurality of networks, and the lower "0.0" is the logical address in the network. Is logical address information indicating

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described.

First, the laser beam printer in the network 100 from the computer 111 is changed to the local printer device (LPT1) 1 as shown by the broken line in FIG.
An example of using it as 12 will be described.

In this case, the user of the computer 111 first selects the laser beam printer in the network 100 as a local printer device according to the command input example of FIG. 4A or the command input example of FIG. 4B. Enter to connect.

In this example, the attributes of the connection request printer are "printing method = laser beam, control method = LIP."
S ". This request is communicated via the network 100 to the resource management service unit 103 of the server A 101, which is a server in the own domain, and the server A 1
The directory service unit 102 in 01 is notified.
Therefore, the directory service unit 102 searches the directory database 104 using the notified attribute information as a keyword.

However, in this example, since the attribute information regarding the laser beam printer is not registered in the directory database 104, the resource management service unit 103 is notified of the information indicating this. Therefore,
The resource management service unit 103 refers to the neighboring server information table of FIG. 6 registered in the server A 101, and determines whether the neighboring server has a printer having the attribute requested by the computer 111 via the network 100. Contact us.

In this example, as shown in FIG. 6A, since the server B 106 is registered as the neighboring server information, the server B 106 is inquired. Then, the resource management service unit 108 and the directory service unit 107 of the server B 106 search the directory database 109 as to whether or not the laser beam printer is connected in the same manner as above. In this example, since attribute information regarding the laser beam printer is registered in the directory database 109, the server B 106 returns information indicating this to the server A 101 via the network 100.

In response to this reply, the server A 101 informs the computer 111 via the network 100 that the laser beam printer requested by the computer 111 is present in the server B 106.

Therefore, in the computer 111, the server B
Network OS to use printer B 110 of 106 as printer device 112 of computer 111
Declare the printer to be shared.

That is, the printer B in the server B 106
The procedure for sharing 110 is executed. Here, as a procedure for sharing, for example, LAN Management which is one of network operating systems.
Assuming that r is used, a procedure called "NET USE" is executed. Specifically, the local device name, server name, and resource name in the server are specified as arguments.

As a result, it is displayed to the user of the computer 111 that the printer B110 of the server B106 can be used as the local device 112, and the command is terminated.

After that, the user of the computer 111 can print out the data by simply accessing the local device 112 as usual.

In this embodiment, the network 100
If there are only two servers in the network, but if there are three or more servers, the servers registered in the neighboring server information table are sequentially inquired to search for the resource requested by the computer. ..

Next, an example of using a shared file in the network 100 from the computer 111 as an X: drive will be described.

In this case, as in the previous example, the user of the computer 111 follows the command input example of FIG. 5A or the command input example of FIG. Input the connection request 114.

Here, as an application example in the development environment of the program, it is assumed that the sources of various software and the directory storing the objects are shared, and in order to see the source of the DOS e-mail therein, " It is assumed that "OS = DOS, file type = source, software type = email" is set. This request is transmitted to the resource management service unit 103 of the server A 101, which is a server in the own domain, and is further notified to the directory service unit 102, as in the previous example. Therefore, the directory service unit 102 searches the directory database 104.

In this example, as shown in FIG. 3A, since the computer in the network 100 is permitted to use the directory database 104 with the shared directory name "ADOS101", the server A106 is used.
The resource management service unit 103 and the directory service unit 102 of (1) return information indicating this to the computer 111 via the network 100 in the same manner as described above.

Based on this response, the computer 111 executes the sharing process, that is, the procedure for sharing the shared file "ADOS101" in the server A101 as in the previous example. Then, as in the previous example, the computer 1
Local drive X: to DO for 11 users
It displays that the S email source is accessible and terminates the command.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

For example, as a procedure for sharing a printer, a local device name, a server name, and a resource name in the server are designated as arguments, but information that can identify a target resource such as a logical address or a physical address is used. You may make it a common procedure by doing.

[0043]

As described above, according to the present invention, the server supporting the use of resources is provided with the management means for managing the resources belonging to the own server by the attribute information representing the characteristics thereof, and the computer in the network is When using a resource, the attribute information of the target resource is communicated to the management means, information such as the physical address necessary to use the resource is obtained from the management means, and the target resource is selected by this information. The user can easily select and use the target resource only by knowing the attribute of the required resource.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of contents of a directory database when sharing a printer.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of contents of a directory database when sharing a file.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a command input example for declaring to use a laser beam printer in a network from a computer.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a command input example for declaring from a computer that a directory storing a source program in a network is used as a local drive.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of neighboring server information that each server has as a part of directory database contents.

[Explanation of symbols]

101, 106 ... Server, 102, 107 ... Directory service section, 103, 108 ... Resource management service section,
104, 109 ... Directory database, 105,
110 ... Printer, 111 ... Computer, 112 ... Local printer device, 113, 114 ... Shared file, 115 ... Local drive.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. In a network system including a plurality of computers connected to a network, resources such as peripheral devices, and a server supporting the use of the resources, the server shows characteristics of the resources belonging to the server itself. Management means for managing by attribute information is provided, and when using the resource, the computer notifies the management means of the attribute information of the target resource, and obtains the information necessary for using the resource from the management means. , A network resource selection method characterized by selecting and using a target resource based on this information. 2. The management unit dynamically manages a first management unit that statically manages attributes of resources that belong to its own server, and an operating state of resources that belong to its own server, and a network. A second management means for transmitting and receiving statically and dynamically managed information to and from other servers in the server, and the attribute information in response to the notification of the attribute information from the computer to the own server. If the resource corresponding to the resource exists in the local server, information such as the physical address related to the resource is returned. If the resource does not exist in the local server, the other server is inquired whether the resource exists and the resource 2. The network resource selection method according to claim 1, wherein the identification information of the server in which is present is returned.