JPH0779246A - Network management system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a management system in which it is not necessary for an operator to manage different kinds of node constitution information by automatically defining the different kinds of node constitution information necessary at the time of transmitting a request to the different kinds of node. CONSTITUTION:In a network system in which a managing station l manages different kinds of nodes 3 whose protocols are different through gate ways 2a and 2b, identifiers for specifying the different kinds of nodes 3 are automatically generated for each different kind of node by gate ways 2b and 2d at the time of request transmission, and stored as the different kind of node constitution information in which the identifiers are made to correspond to the addresses of the different kinds of nodes. Also, the managing station collects the different kind of node constitution information defined by each gate way from the gate ways, and stores it.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a child and a work management system, and more particularly to a network system in which a plurality of networks complying with different communication protocols are connected by a gateway, and in particular, a network complying with TCP / IP and TCP / IP. The present invention relates to a management system suitable when a network according to a protocol other than is connected.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art First, an explanation will be given of SNMP, which is a standard management protocol of a network conforming to TCP / IP, and conventional node management of a network conforming to a protocol other than TCP / IP from an SNMP management station.

Regarding SNMP, for example, M.K. T. As described in "Introduction to TCP / IP Network Management" (published by Toppan Co., Ltd.) by Rose / Translated by Takeshi Nishida, a network management protocol defined for collecting management information and setting processing from nodes in the network. Yes, it is realized by the manager program in the management station and the agent program in the managed node sending and receiving messages to and from each other.

That is, the manager program in the management station uses the UDP / IP packet to collect / set management information (message route information, traffic information such as the number of transmitted / received messages, fault information, etc.) as a managed node. Send a request message asking the agent program inside (host, router, bridge, etc.). The agent program collects / sets the requested information, sets the result in a response message, and sends it to the manager program.

If the managed node complies with a protocol other than TCP / IP, the above-mentioned SNMP cannot be supported. Such a heterogeneous node is managed by the following method in the conventional system.

The management station first sends a request to the gateway. The gateway translates the request into the protocol followed by the foreign node and then sends it to the foreign node. The foreign node has a program corresponding to the above-mentioned agent (called a unique agent), collects / sets the management information according to the request, and returns the result to the gateway. The gateway converts this into a TCP / IP protocol and sends it to the manager program.

In managing the foreign nodes as described above,
The gateway is called a "management proxy node", and the program that performs relay processing between the management station and the foreign node in the management proxy node is called a "proxy agent".

When a request is transmitted from the management station to the foreign node via the management proxy node, an identifier for identifying which foreign node in the network connected to the management proxy node is addressed to Will be needed. A community name is generally used as this identifier.

The "community name" is an ASCII character string for authenticating the manager on the agent side, and is information that is normally set in the header part of the SNMP message. Assign different community names to each foreign node, and when the manager program in the management station sends a request message to the foreign node, sets the community name assigned to the foreign node in the request message and manages it. Send to node. Pro in the management agent node
The xy agent checks the community name of the received request and identifies which foreign node the request is to.

Conventionally, for generating a community name for realizing management of the above-mentioned foreign node, and for defining foreign node configuration information in which a foreign node and a community name as its identifier are associated with a proxy agent and a manager. The procedure was left to the operator.

[0011]

However, in a network, in general, a configuration change frequently occurs due to addition of a node or connection to a new network. In this case, in the conventional method, each time the network configuration is changed, the operator has to generate a community name and associate the generated community name with a foreign node, which is very burdensome. It was Also, when sending a request to a foreign node, the community name assigned to the foreign node must be set and the IP address of the management proxy node must be specified and sent, which is originally assigned to the foreign node. The address could not be used. Therefore, there is a problem that the operability at the management station is poor.

[0012]

In order to solve the above problems, in the network management system of the present invention, when a management station sends a request to a foreign node via the gateway, the request to which foreign node is sent to the foreign node. The management station is provided with means for automatically generating an identifier for identifying each foreign node for each foreign node, and means for storing foreign node configuration information in which the generated identifier is associated with the address of the foreign node. The means for collecting the heterogeneous node configuration information from the gateway in the network, storing the address of the gateway in association with the collected heterogeneous node configuration information, and based on the collected heterogeneous node configuration information, the operator The identifier and gateway address are detected from the specified foreign node address. Means for, adds the retrieved identifier in the request message, characterized by providing means for transmitting to the gateway based on the address the search.

[0013]

With the above configuration, according to the present invention, the foreign node configuration information is automatically created in the management proxy node,
The foreign node configuration information is also stored in the management station. Also, the operator only needs to specify the address of the foreign node without considering the community name.
The request message can be sent to the designated foreign node via the management proxy node.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A network management system to which SNMP is applied will be described below as an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows the overall configuration of a system to which the present invention is applied. Here, between the management station 1 and the node 2 connected to the LAN 4, the standard protocol T
Communication is performed using CP / IP, and this is referred to as an "information network" in this specification. On the other hand, LA
The controller 3 connected to the N5 communicates using a non-standard unique protocol, which is called a "control system network".

The nodes 2b and 2d are connected to both the information system network and the control system network, and this serves as a management proxy node. Further, the controller connected to the control network as viewed from the management station is treated as a foreign node.

FIG. 3 shows the software configuration of the management station. As shown in FIG. 3, a platform 31 for realizing SNMP and an application program for managing the controller: AP (control system network discovery display AP 32, control system network configuration diagram display AP
33, controller management information collection / setting AP 34),
It is composed of an IP node configuration table and a controller configuration table. The details of the management APs 32, 33, and 34 will be described later. First, the table configuration will be described.

FIG. 4 shows the configuration of the IP node configuration table. This table is for managing the configuration of the information network, and is an area 4 for setting the node number.
1 and area 42 for setting the IP address of the node
And an area 43 for setting a type indicating whether or not the node is a management proxy node (if the management proxy node is proxy, otherwise set as AGT), and in the case of the management proxy node, from each management proxy node Area 44 for setting the head address of the collected controller configuration table.

FIG. 5 shows the configuration of the controller configuration table. This table is for managing the configuration of the control system network, and includes the control system networks 5a and 5a.
It is provided corresponding to b, and comprises an area 51 for setting the controller number, an area 52 for setting the community name assigned to each controller, and an area 53 for setting the address of the control system network. .

FIG. 6 shows the software configuration of the management proxy node and the controller, and the flow of request / response messages.

The management proxy node 2 comprises an SNMP platform 61, an agent 62, a proxy agent 63, a control communication protocol 64, a controller configuration table 64, and a configuration file 66. Here, in the configuration file, the numbers and addresses of the controllers connected to the control system network are registered in advance, and they are referred to when creating the controller configuration table.

Upon reception of the request from the management station, the agent refers to the community name and checks whether the request is to the node or the controller. In this embodiment, a community name called IPCOM is defined for a node connected to the information network, and identification is performed by this name. If it is a request to the node, management information is collected / set according to the request content and a response is returned. If it is a request to the controller, it is passed to the proxy agent.

Upon receiving the request delivered from the agent, the proxy agent identifies the request destination controller using the community name, converts the request destination controller into a control communication protocol, and then transmits the request to the designated controller. Further, the response received from the controller is converted to SNMP and then transmitted to the management station.

The controller 3 is composed of a control communication protocol 65 and an original agent 66,
The original agent accepts requests from proxy agents, collects / sets management information,
Returns the response.

Next, the agent 62 and proxy
The processing flow of the agent 63 and the unique agent 68 will be described.

FIG. 7 shows a processing flow of the agent. In the agent, first, from the management station to SN
The MP request is waited (process 71). Here, the request message and the response message have the same format.

These messages are, for example, as shown in FIG. 8, an area 81 for setting the SNMP version number, an area 82 for setting the community name, and a request type of the message (identifying whether management information is collected or set). Area 83 to set the code for doing)
Areas 84 and 85 for setting error status and error INDEX, and area 8 for setting variable list
6 and 6.

The error status and the error INDEX are
This is the area that becomes valid when a response message is sent.
Error information for the request (whether it ended normally or not, if it is abnormal, details of the error) is set. The variable list is
It is composed of a name (areas 8a, 8c, 8e) and a value (areas 8b, 8d, 8f). name
An ID for identifying the requested management information is set in, and a value indicated by the ID is set in value.
The number of names and values is the same as the number of pieces of management information when making a request, and when requesting the collection of n pieces of management information, it is composed of n pieces of names and values.

When the request is received, the community name is checked to identify whether the request is for the own node or for the controller (process 72). When the community name is IPCOM, the request is addressed to the node, and the request ID (collection / setting) and name are checked, and the management information collecting / setting process is executed.

After this, create a response message,
Send to management station (process 73, 7)
4). When the request message is not addressed to the agent, the request is passed to the proxy agent (process 75).

As described above, the agent collects / sets the management information according to the contents of the requested request and returns a response to the management station for the request addressed to the node. Pass the request to the agent.

Next, the processing of the proxy agent will be described with reference to FIG. When the proxy agent is activated, first, the setting process of the controller configuration table (FIG. 5) is executed (process 101). Here, controller number and address (areas 51 and 53)
For, read from the configuration file and set. As for the community name of the area 52, a different name is generated and set for each node (process 102). In this embodiment, CTLCOM
1, CTLCOM2, and CTLCOM3 are generated in this order and set.

After the setting of the controller configuration table is completed (processes 101 and 102), the system waits for a request message from the agent (process 103).

When the request message is received, the community name is read, the same name as the received community name is searched from the controller configuration table, and it is checked to which controller the request is made (process 104). Then, the address of the controller is read, a request is transmitted to the controller using the control system communication protocol, and a response is awaited (steps 105 and 106).

When a response is returned from the controller, the message is converted into an SNMP message and transmitted to the management station (process 107), and the request for the next controller is awaited.

In the controller 3, the unique agent 6
6 has been started, and the flow shown in FIG. 8 is executed. p
When a request is received while waiting for a request from the roxy agent (process 91), the content of the request is analyzed and management information collection / setting process is executed (processes 92 and 93). Then, a response is sent to the proxy agent (process 94), and the system waits for the next request.

With the proxy agent and the unique agent shown above, the request addressed to the controller is
It is passed to the unique agent in the designated controller using the control system protocol. Then, the proxy agent receives the response from the unique agent and transmits it to the management station.

Next, the control system network discovery display AP 32 in the management station, the control system network configuration diagram display AP 33, and the controller management information collection / setting AP
The processing of 34 will be described.

Here, the IP node connected to the information network has already been discovered, and the node number and the IP address (area 4) of the IP configuration table (FIG. 4) have been discovered.
1 and 42) are set.
It is also assumed that the configuration diagram of the information network shown in FIG. 10 has already been displayed. It is assumed that each icon 10 representing a node displayed on the window is associated with a node number. This is for editing each icon displayed on the window, and for associating the icon clicked by the mouse with the operator and the node number, and details thereof will be omitted in this embodiment.

Now, the operator first activates the control system network discovery AP32. When activated, the
The flow shown in 1 is executed.

First, the nodes set in the IP node configuration table are sequentially requested to collect (get) information in the controller configuration table (process 111). If the request is successful (the request is normally completed), that node is the management proxy node, and after collecting all the values in the controller configuration table, set the node type (area 43) to proxy. Then, the head address of the collected controller configuration table is set in the area 44 (processes 112 to 114). If it is not the management proxy node, after setting AGT to the node type (process 11
2, 115), the next node is checked. The above process is performed for all IP nodes (process 11)
6).

Next, based on the node type information set in the processing 114, 115, as shown in FIG.
Edit the P node network configuration diagram. The character "proxy" is additionally displayed on the icon 12 of the found management agent node, and the icon 13 indicating that the control system network is connected is displayed below the icon (process 11).
7, 118). The icon 13 newly displayed on the window is associated with which node is connected (process 119). Further, when the icon 13 is double-clicked, the control system network configuration diagram display AP33 is registered so as to be activated. Through the above processing, the operator can confirm the existence of the control system network.

When the operator double-clicks the icon of the control system network to be displayed, the control system network configuration diagram display AP33 is activated and the flow shown in FIG. 13 is executed.

First, the node number of the clicked icon is checked (process 131). Next, the address of the controller configuration table is acquired from the IP node configuration table, the information of the controller configuration table is referenced, and the configuration diagram of the control system network shown in FIG. 14 and the address assigned to each controller are displayed. (Process 13
2). Again, the displayed icon 13 is associated with the control number (process 133). Also,
Register the controller management information collection / setting AP 74 to be activated when the icon 13 representing the controller is double-clicked. When starting, the node number of the management proxy node is passed as an argument.

The controller management information collection / setting AP is
The flow shown in FIG. 15 is executed.

First, the controller number of the clicked icon is checked (process 151). Then, using the node number of the management proxy node passed as an argument as a key,
The IP address of the management proxy node and the address of the controller configuration table are obtained from the IP node configuration table. Then, the assigned community name is acquired from the controller number, and the operator waits for an instruction (processes 152 and 153).

Here, when the operator gives an instruction about the content of the request, a request message is created based on the instruction and is sent to the management agent node (process 1
54), waiting for the reception of the response message (Processing 1)
55).

In the request message, the acquired community name, the specified request ID, and the management information ID are set. Also, in the case of a management information setting request, the specified setting value is set. The transmitted request message addressed to the controller is returned as a response by the processing of the agent, proxy agent, and unique agent described above. Then, when the response is received, the content of the message (whether it is a normal end or not, the value of the collected management information) is analyzed and displayed in the window (process 156). This is repeatedly executed until there is an end instruction from the operator (process 157).

By the above processing, the operator can manage the controller using the configuration diagram of the control system network displayed on the window without having to be aware of the community name for identifying the controller. Further, the operator can automatically grasp the configuration of the control system network.

In the above embodiment, the control system discovery display AP is activated by the operator, but it is activated at the start-up of the management station and periodically.
A change in the network configuration may be detected by collecting the controller configuration table from the management proxy node and checking it with the value of the controller configuration table registered so far.

[0051]

According to the present invention, the operator is prox
The y agent and the management station do not need to define the foreign node configuration information. Also, the operator
It is possible to manage foreign nodes using the address of the foreign node without having to be aware of the community name. At the management station, it is possible to check whether there is a management proxy node in the network and to check if there is a foreign node under the management proxy node. Can understand the configuration of the node.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic flowchart of a proxy agent in the system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing an example of a network system to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a software configuration of a management station.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of an IP node configuration table.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of a controller configuration table.

FIG. 6 is a software configuration diagram of a management proxy node and a controller.

FIG. 7 is a schematic flowchart of an agent.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a format of an SNMP message.

FIG. 9 is a schematic flowchart of a unique agent.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen of an information network.

FIG. 11 is a schematic flowchart of a control system network discovery display AP.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen of a management proxy node.

FIG. 13 is a schematic flowchart of a control system network configuration diagram display AP.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen of a control network.

FIG. 15 is a schematic flowchart of a controller management information collection / setting AP.

[Explanation of symbols]

 name ... Management information identifier, value ... Management information value, MGR ... Management station, proxy ... Management proxy node, AP ... Application program, CTL ... Controller.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Emiko Yanagisawa 1099, Ozenji, Aso-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa Ltd. System Development Laboratory, Hitachi, Ltd. (72) Osamu Takada 1099, Ozen-ji, Aso-ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa Hitachi, Ltd. System Development Laboratory (72) Inventor Hiroshi Wataya 5-2-1 Omika-cho, Hitachi-shi, Ibaraki Hitachi Ltd. Omika factory

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of networks according to different communication protocols are mutually connected by a gateway, and a management station in one network passes through the gateway and a node in another network (called a foreign node) and management information. In a network management system that sends / receives request / response messages for collection / configuration, the gateway is for identifying which foreign node the request is when the management station sends the request to the foreign node via the gateway. The management station has means for automatically generating an identifier for each foreign node, and means for storing foreign node configuration information in which the generated identifier and the address of the foreign node are associated with each other. From the gateway above the foreign A means for collecting the configuration information and storing the address of the gateway in association with the collected foreign node configuration information, and an identifier and a gateway address from the foreign node address specified by the operator based on the collected foreign node configuration information And a means for adding the retrieved identifier to the request message and transmitting it to the gateway based on the retrieved address. 2. The management station checks for the presence of the gateway when it is activated and periodically.
The network management system according to claim 1, further comprising means for detecting a change in network configuration by collecting the foreign node configuration information from the gateway and comparing it with the already acquired foreign node configuration information.