JPH07129529A - Method for acquiring structural information in communication network - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the time loss due to the inquiry of the structural information in a communication network by acquiring the structural information of a host computer to be a communication opposite party and the structural information on the terminal system that the host computer to be the communication opposite party controls before the communication between terminal systems is started after each host computer is started. CONSTITUTION:When the communication program 12 on this side is started, the CCP 2 on this side, the communication line 3 on this side, the terminal system 4 on this side and an inter-CCP connection line 9 are made to be in activated states. At this time, if a communication program 52 on the opposite side is already started, and the CCP 6 on the opposite side and the inter-CCP connection line 9 are in activated states, a structural information request command is delivered to the communication control program 52 on the opposite side from the communication control program 12 on this side via the inter-CCP connection line 9. Thus, the structural information on the communication network that the communication program 52 on the opposite side has, is requested and structural information record is acquired. By the acquired structural record, the structural information within the communication control program 12 on this side is defined.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a communication network configuration information acquisition method in a communication network in which a plurality of host computers for managing a plurality of terminal systems are connected via communication lines.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there are mainly two methods for acquiring and defining the configuration information of a communication network to which a plurality of host computers are connected.

In the first method, a part of the configuration information of the host computer of the communication partner and the configuration information of a plurality of terminal systems managed by the host computer of the communication partner, such as a device name, is used as the configuration information of the own host computer. When the terminal system between hosts starts communication, it makes an inquiry to the host computer of the communication partner using the above-mentioned part of the configuration information defined in the host computer as a keyword, and the configuration information and communication of the host computer of the communication partner. Detailed configuration information about the terminal system managed by the partner host computer, such as device type and address, device-specific information such as maximum data length for each device, maximum number of connections, busy retry count, no-response monitoring time, and communication This is a method of obtaining profile information for each layer.

In the second method, the configuration information of all communication networks including the configuration information of the host computer of the communication partner and the configuration of the terminal system managed by the host computer of the communication partner is defined as one configuration information. Every
By obtaining all the configuration information regarding the host computer of the communication partner from this definition, it is a method that does not require an inquiry to the host computer of the communication partner at the time of starting communication by the terminal system between the hosts.

[0005]

However, in the first method described above, a part of the configuration information of the host computer of the communication partner and the configuration information of the terminal system managed by the host computer of the communication partner is preliminarily set by the host. There is a problem that it must be defined in the computer configuration information.

Further, when user communication is started by the terminal system between the host computers, there is a problem that time is lost at the time of communication start by making an inquiry every time using a part of this configuration information as a keyword.

In the second method, the configuration information of all the communication networks including the configuration information of the host computer of the communication partner and the configuration information of the terminal system managed by the host computer of the communication partner is defined as one configuration information. Therefore, there is a problem that the configuration information becomes complicated in the configuration of a large-scale communication network, and the definition and maintenance work of the configuration information becomes complicated.

An object of the present invention is to define the configuration of a communication network for a host computer as a communication partner without defining a part or all of the configuration information of the communication network in advance and at the time of starting user communication by the terminal system between the host computers. An object of the present invention is to provide a method for acquiring configuration information of a communication network that reduces time loss due to information inquiry.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a configuration information acquisition method for a communication network in which a plurality of host computers for managing a plurality of terminal systems are connected via communication lines, After starting each host computer and before starting communication between the terminal systems,
Each host computer issues a configuration information request command to the host computer of the communication partner to obtain the configuration information of the host computer of the communication partner and the configuration information of multiple terminal systems managed by the host computer of the communication partner. And

[0010]

According to the above means, after each host computer is started and before the communication between the terminal systems is started, each host computer issues a configuration information request command to the host computer of the communication partner, Since the configuration information of the host computer of the communication partner and the configuration information of the plurality of terminal systems managed by the host computer of the communication partner are acquired, a part or all of the configuration information of the communication network is defined in advance. In addition, at the time of starting user communication by the terminal system between the host computers, the time loss due to the configuration information inquiry to the host computer of the communication partner is reduced.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing an overall configuration of a communication network according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, the local host computer 1 includes a local application program 11 and a local communication management program 12. Further, a communication control processing device (hereinafter, referred to as CCP) 2 on the self side is connected to the host computer 1 on the self side. Further, the own side terminal system 4 is connected to the own side CCP 2 through the own side communication line 3.

On the other hand, the other host computer 5
Like the host computer 1 of the own side, it has an application program 51 of the other side and a communication management program 52 of the other side. Similarly, the other-side host computer 5 is also connected with the other-side CCP 6.

A partner terminal system 8 is connected to the partner CCP 6 through a partner communication line 7. The CCP2 on the own side and the CCP6 on the other side are connected by the inter-CCP connection line 9.

In the local communication management program 12, local host computer 1, local communication management program 12, local application program 11, local CCP 2, local communication line 3 and local terminal system as the configuration information of the communication network. 4 is defined, and the CCP connection line 9, the partner CCP 6, the partner host computer 5, and the partner communication management program 52 are defined.

However, the partner application program 51, the partner communication line 7, and the partner terminal system 8 are not defined in the communication network configuration information for the own communication management program 12.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing a processing procedure when acquiring network configuration information.

In FIG. 2, first, when the local communication management program 12 is activated, the local CCP 2, local communication line 3, local terminal system 4 and CCP connection line 9 are activated (step 121). ). At this time, the other party communication management program 52 has already been started and the other party CCP
6 and the CCP connection line 9 are also active (step 122), the local communication management program 12 sends the CCP
It communicates with the other party communication management 52 via the inter-connection line 9 and sends a configuration information request command to the other party communication management program 52 to request the configuration information of the communication network that the other party communication management program 52 has. (Step 12
3), obtain the configuration information record 127 (see FIG. 3).

In the local communication management program 12, the configuration information record 1 acquired from the partner communication management program 52
27 defines the configuration information in the local communication management program 12. Similarly, the partner communication management program 52 also defines the configuration information of the own communication management program 12 acquired from the own communication management program 12 in the configuration information within the partner communication management program 12 (step 124).

As a result, user communication by the terminal system between the self-side application program 11, the other-side terminal system 8 and the other-side application program 51 becomes possible (step 125).

Similarly, user communication by the terminal system between the counterpart application program 51 and the local terminal system 4 becomes possible.

If the own communication management program 12 is started, the other communication management program 52 is not started, the CCP connection line 9 is inactive, and communication with the other communication management program 52 is performed. If not possible (step 122: no), the other party communication management program 52
(Step 126).

In this waiting state, user communication cannot be performed by the terminal system between the own application program 11, the other terminal system 8 and the other application program 51.

After that, when the partner communication management program 52 is activated and the partner CCP2 and the CCP connection line 9 are activated, the partner communication management program 12 sends a C
By communicating with the other party communication management program 52 via the CP connecting line 9,
A configuration information request command is sent to request the configuration information of the communication network that the partner communication management program 52 has, and the configuration information record 127 shown in FIG. 3 is acquired.

In the local communication management program 12, the configuration information record 1 acquired from the partner communication management program 52
It is defined by 27 in the configuration information in the local communication management 12.

Similarly, the counterpart communication management program 52 is defined in the configuration information in the counterpart communication management program 12 based on the configuration information of the local communication management program 12 obtained from the local communication management program 12.

As a result, user communication by the terminal system between the own application program 11, the other terminal system 8 and the other application program 51 becomes possible.

Similarly, user communication by the terminal system between the partner application program 51 and the own terminal system 4 becomes possible.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the internal structure of the configuration information record. In FIG. 3, the configuration information record 127
Is the PDU tag 1271, PDU length 1272, host name 12
73, the other party configuration information creation time 1274, and the entry (1) 1275 to the entry (n) 1275n.

Further, each entry, for example, the entry (1) 1275 has a classification 1275a and an entry length 127.
5b and other party's various configuration information (application program, communication line, and terminal system) 1275
It is composed of c.

As shown in FIG. 3, the configuration information record 127
When the own communication management program 12 communicates with the other party communication management program 52 for the first time, or by providing the other side communication management program 52, the fields of the date and time defining the configuration information of the other party communication management program 52 are provided therein. Only when the configuration information of the communication management program 52 is defined again, the configuration information record 127 acquired from the partner communication management program 52 is defined in the configuration information in the local communication management program 12.

As described above, it is possible to reduce the time loss due to the inquiry of the configuration information at the time of starting the user communication by the terminal system between the host computers.

When the own-side communication management program 12 communicates with the other-side communication management program 52, first, only the information related to the date and time when the configuration information is defined is reported, and the information is judged. Only when the side communication management program 12 communicates with the other party communication management program 52 for the first time and when the configuration information of the other party communication management program 52 is redefined, the configuration information record 1
27 may be acquired.

[0034]

As described above, according to the present invention, in a method for acquiring configuration information of a communication network in which a plurality of host computers that manage a plurality of terminal systems are connected via communication lines, each host computer is activated. After that, but before the communication between the terminal systems is started, each host computer issues a configuration information request command to the host computer of the communication partner, and the configuration information of the host computer of the communication partner and the host computer of the communication partner Since the configuration information of the plurality of terminal systems managed by the host computer is acquired, it is possible to reduce the time loss due to the configuration information inquiry at the time of starting the user communication by the terminal system between the host computers.

This eliminates the need to define a part or all of the communication network configuration information in advance,
This has the effect of reducing the definition work of the configuration information and maintenance work by the administrator of the computer center.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an embodiment of a communication network to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure when acquiring configuration information according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an internal configuration diagram of a configuration information record according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Host computer on the side, 11 ... Application program on the side, 12 ... Communication management program on the side, 2 ... C on the side
CP, 3 ... Own communication line, 4 ... Own terminal system, 5 ...
Remote host computer, 51 ... Remote application program, 52 ... Remote communication management program, 6 ... Own CCP, 7 ... Own communication line, 8 ... Own terminal system, 9
... CCP connection line, 127 ... Configuration information record, 12
74 ... Creation time of partner configuration information.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Hidenori Shimizu 5030 Totsuka-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Incorporated company Hitachi Ltd. Software Development Division

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A method for acquiring configuration information of a communication network in which a host computer that manages a plurality of terminal systems is connected via a communication line, the method comprising: Before starting communication, each host computer issues a configuration information request command to the host computer of the communication partner, and displays the configuration information of the host computer of the communication partner and the configuration information of multiple terminal systems managed by the host computer of the communication partner. A method for acquiring configuration information of a communication network, characterized by acquiring.