JPH0865301A - Network management system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To efficiently obtain a management report or objective edited contents by editing and outputting the management report of objective management contents only with network manager's definition operation of contents of the management report. CONSTITUTION: A report definition part 2 defines items and analysis contents required for report generation based on the indicating operation of the network manager passing a management report definition information input part 1 and registers them as editing definition information 3. A collected information setting part 10 instructs a network monitor device 15 to collect the monitor information based on each item contents of this information 3. A collected information analysis part 4 analyzes monitor information collected by the device 15 based on analysis contents of information 3 defined by the part 2 and stores the results as analysis information 6. A report editing part 5 edits the management report of a corresponding format based on the analysis result stored as information 6 and item contents of editing definition information 3 defined by the report definition part 2.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a system for monitoring the operating state of each device (hereinafter referred to as a network constituent element) which constitutes a network, and is particularly required for comprehensively managing the network. The present invention relates to a network management system suitable for efficiently creating information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, for example, "Nikkei Electronics 1990 8-20 (no. 507)" (1990)
, Pp. 116-137, published by Nikkei BP, Inc., as described in SNMP (Simple Network Ma).
Attention has been focused on the importance of managing the operating states of network components by a network monitoring device represented by a management protocol manager or a LAN analyzer. The conventional network monitoring device collects and accumulates management information such as network component information and operation information by SNMP or the like and provides it to the network administrator. The network management information has become enormous due to the diversification of network components and the usage of the network under various conditions. In addition, the network monitoring device itself has been developed with various products according to its purpose in order to meet diversifying demands.

For example, the above SNMP manager is
It is an operating condition monitoring device in the network function of a personal computer or a workstation incorporated in a network, and a LAN analyzer is a device that traps data on the line to monitor the operating condition. There is also a network device monitoring device called a router, bridge, or hub that monitors the operating status of network devices. Therefore, in order to manage the desired network, the network administrator must have a network management information analysis technology and
Operational knowledge of various network monitoring devices such as an SNMP manager and a LAN analyzer is required.

Various network monitoring devices such as the SNMP manager and the LAN analyzer have a main function of collecting and accumulating information and operation information of each network constituent element to be monitored by each device. Therefore, when linking each of these network monitoring devices in one network to comprehensively manage the network from various viewpoints, the network administrator needs to know various information collected and accumulated by each of these network monitoring devices. Must be analyzed based on the knowledge and experience of the network administrator himself and edited as a management report using spreadsheet software or word processor.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a conventional network management system. In the network management system shown in this figure, the network monitoring device 1
Reference numeral 5a defines monitoring information to be collected based on a predetermined collection information definition operation 61 performed by a network administrator through a keyboard or the like, and stores the definition content as collection definition information (file) 12. Collection definition section 11
And a collection execution unit 13 that collects target monitoring information based on the definition content accumulated in the collection definition information (file) 12 and accumulates it as the collection information (file) 14. The monitoring information accumulated in 14 is displayed, printed, accumulated (magnetic disk, etc.), and output as collected information 66 to 68, respectively.

The network administrator uses the program storage type information processing apparatus 16a to collect information 66 to 68.
Create a management report based on. That is, the network administrator first analyzes the collected information 66 to 68 via the collected information analysis control unit 64 by a predetermined collected information analysis operation 62. The analysis result is accumulated as analysis information (file) 6. Then, the network administrator carries out a predetermined report editing operation 63 through the report editing control unit 65, and the analysis information (file) 6
The management reports 7 to 9 for the analysis results accumulated in are created, and are output on a medium such as display, print, and storage (magnetic disk, etc.). As described above, in the conventional network management system, a collected information definition operation 61 for collecting network management information, a collected information analysis operation 62 for analyzing collected information, and a report editing operation 63 for creating a management report. And, the data operation is executed in the individual environment, and the work of creating the management report in the network management system is not easy.

[0007]

The problems to be solved by the prior art are as follows: collected information definition operation for collecting network management information, collected information analysis operation for analyzing collected information, and management report. The point is that the management report in the network management system cannot be created without manual operation of data such as report editing operation for creation. An object of the present invention is to solve these problems of the prior art, and a network management report capable of editing and outputting a management report of a desired management content only by defining operation of the content of the management report by a network administrator. It is to provide a creation device.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the network management system of the present invention comprises: (1) Creation of management reports 7 to 9 to be output, which are defined by a network manager by a predetermined instruction operation. Instructing each network monitoring device 15 to collect the relevant monitoring information based on the items and analysis contents necessary for the monitoring information (collection information (file) 14) collected by each network monitoring device 15 based on this instruction. Management report 7
It is characterized in that a management report creating unit 16 for editing and outputting 9 is provided. (2) In the network management system described in (1) above, the management report creation unit 16 provides items and analysis contents necessary for creating a report to be output based on a predetermined instruction operation by the network administrator. Based on the report definition section 2 to be defined and the content of each item (edit definition information (file) 3) defined by the report definition section 2, collection information setting for instructing each network monitoring device 15 to collect the relevant monitoring information. Part 10
And the collected information analysis for analyzing the monitoring information collected by each network monitoring device 15 based on the instruction from the collected information setting unit 10 based on the analysis contents (edit definition information (file) 3) defined by the report definition unit 2. Part 4 and the result of analysis by the collected information analysis unit 4 (analysis information (file)
6) and the report editing unit 5 for editing the management reports 7 to 9 in the corresponding formats based on the item contents (edit definition information (file) 3) defined in the report defining unit 2. In addition, (3) the network administrator performs a predetermined instruction operation on the report creating apparatus that analyzes the monitor information output from each network monitoring apparatus and edits the report in a predetermined format based on the predetermined instruction operation of the network administrator. Based on the above, the report definition unit 2 that defines the items and analysis contents necessary for creating the management report to be output, and the definition contents (edit definition information (file) 3) of this report definition unit 2 are stored in each network monitoring device. The collection information setting unit 10 which is converted corresponding to the collection definition unit 15 and is sent to each collection definition unit 2, and the definition contents (collection definition information (file) 1 from the collection information setting unit 10
Analysis information (edit definition information (file)) defined by the report definition unit 2 for the monitor information (seed collection information (file) 14) collected by the network monitoring device 15 corresponding to 2)
3) Collected information analysis unit 4 that analyzes based on the above, and the result of analysis by this collected information analysis unit 4 (analysis information (file) 6)
And a report editing unit 5 that edits the management reports 7 to 9 in a corresponding format based on the (edit definition information (file) 3) item content defined in the report definition unit 2 and performs a predetermined instruction operation by the network administrator. Analysis of monitoring information (analysis information (file) 6) and management report 7-
It is characterized in that 9 is automatically created.

[0009]

In the present invention, the interface information (edit definition information (file) 3) with the corresponding network monitoring device (15) is generated from the purpose of the report and the edit format information defined by the report definition unit (2). Is set. Based on this information (edit definition information (file) 3), necessary information (species collection information (file) 14) is collected by the corresponding network monitoring device (15). The collected management information (species collection information (file) 14) is analyzed by the collection information analysis unit (4), and the analysis information (analysis information (file) 6) and report edit format information (edit definition information (file) 3 ), The report editing unit 5 edits and outputs the network management report (7 to 9). In this way, the network administrator can obtain the desired management report (7-9) simply by defining the purpose and edit format of the required management report via the report definition unit (2).

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the configuration of the network management system of the present invention according to the present invention. The network management system of this embodiment includes a network monitoring device 15 that monitors the operating states of network components and collects and stores network management information.
A management report creating unit 16 according to the present invention that automatically creates management reports 7 to 9 based on management information (monitoring information) collected by the network monitoring device 15 in a format defined by a network administrator by a predetermined operation. Is provided. The network monitoring device 15 has the same configuration as the conventional device shown in FIG. 9, except that a device such as a keyboard for performing the collection information definition operation 61 and the collection information (file) 1
There is no need for a device for displaying, printing, accumulating (magnetic disk, etc.) the monitoring information accumulated in 4 and outputting it as collected information 66 to 68, respectively.

The management report creating unit 16 according to the present invention is
A management report definition information input unit 1 including keyboard input, a report definition unit 2 for defining the output format of the management reports 7 to 9, edit definition information (file) 3 created by the report definition unit 2, The collection information analysis unit 4 that analyzes the collection information from the collection information (file) 14 of the network monitoring device 15 to create the analysis information (file) 6, the editing definition information (file) 3, and the analysis information (file) 6. Based on the contents, the report editing unit 5 that creates management reports 7 to 9 based on the contents, and based on the items and analysis contents necessary for creating the management report to be output, which is defined by the network administrator by a predetermined instruction operation. , Instructing the network monitoring device 15 to collect the relevant monitoring information, and the network monitoring device 15 based on this instruction It analyzes the collection and monitoring information, and outputs the edit management reports 7-9.

That is, the report definition unit 2 determines the items necessary for creating a report to be output based on a predetermined instruction operation of the network administrator through the management report definition information input unit 1 (see FIG. 3). Edit definition information (file) 3 which defines the analysis contents and whose details are shown in FIG.
Register as The collection information setting unit 10 instructs the network monitoring device 15 to collect the relevant monitoring information based on the content of each item of the edit definition information (file) 3. The collection information analysis unit 4 edits the monitoring information (collection information (file) 14) collected by the network monitoring device 15 based on the instruction from the collection information setting unit 10, and edit definition information (file) defined by the report definition unit 2. Analysis is performed based on the analysis contents in 3, and the result is stored in analysis information (file) 6. The report editing unit 5 then analyzes the analysis results stored in the analysis information (file) 6 and the edit definition information (file) 3 defined by the report definition unit 2.
Edit the management report in the corresponding format based on the item contents in.

The operation of each section constituting the management report creating section 16 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an operation example according to the present invention of the report definition unit in FIG. The report definition unit 2 edits the information input by the management report definition information input unit 1 to create edit definition information (file) 3. As input information, first, the "purpose" of the report is selected on the menu format input screen whose details are shown in FIG. Next, as shown in FIG. 3, the "part" that specifies the network component that is the target of the operation information collection, the "collection period", the "collection time zone", and the "collection interval" of the operation information are input. . Then, as a report edit format definition, either a graph, a table, or a combination of a graph and a table is input as the “display format”.

From the input "purpose", the collected information is specified by referring to the purpose management table 22, and its "identifier" is specified.
Ask for. Further, the "management source" that specifies the network monitoring device 15 that acquires the collected information is obtained from the input "region" by referring to the target management table 21. The "identifier" thus obtained is added to the other input items, and is created for each "management source" as the edit definition (file) 3 whose details are shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the operation of the collection information setting section in FIG. 1 according to the present invention. The collection information setting unit 10 refers to the edit definition information (file) 3 to acquire information about the collection information (type), and the collection information definition unit 11
The setting information 31 for the
Defines the collection definition information (file) 12 based on the setting information 31. Based on the collection definition information (file) 12, the collection execution unit 13 in FIG. 1 collects the target monitoring information, and collects information (file) 14
Accumulate as.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the operation of the collected information analysis unit in FIG. 1 according to the present invention. The collection information analysis unit 4 includes the editing definition information (file) 3 and the collection information (file) 14 (here, a plurality of collection information (files) 1
4a to 14c), information about collected information and statistical information (type) is acquired, processed into a table format, and analysis processing of maximum / minimum values is performed, and the result is analyzed information (file). Accumulate as 6.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the operation of the report editing section in FIG. 1 according to the present invention. The report editing unit 5 refers to the edit definition information (file) 3 and the analysis information (file) 6, performs layout processing such as graphing of text and tabular data, creates management reports 7 to 9, and specifies them. Output according to the format (display, print, store, etc.).

As described above with reference to FIGS. 1 to 8, in the network management system of the present embodiment, the network manager is required based on the required report management purpose and the edit output format definition operation by the network manager. Various information can be collected, analyzed, and edited and output. As a result, the network administrator can operate the management reports 7 to 9 only by operating the data according to the purpose of the management report definition operation.
The collection information definition operation for collecting network management information, the collection information analysis operation for analyzing the collected information, and the report editing operation for creating the management report, etc. There is no need for manual data manipulation. The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 8, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, in this embodiment, one network monitoring device (1
Although 5) is connected, a structure in which a plurality of types of network monitoring devices are connected may be used.

[0019]

According to the present invention, a network administrator can efficiently obtain a management report of a target edit content by merely defining the content of the management report, and the network monitoring device and the network management. Since it is not necessary for the network administrator to have specialized knowledge of information, it is possible to improve the efficiency and quality of work such as operability and operability in network management.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a configuration according to the present invention of a network management system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an operation example according to the present invention of a report definition unit in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing examples of respective items and analysis contents input from a management report definition information input unit in FIG.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing details of edit definition information (file) generated by a report definition unit in FIG.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an operation example of the collection information setting unit in FIG. 1 according to the present invention.

6 is an explanatory diagram showing an operation example of a collected information analysis unit in FIG. 1 according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an operation example of the report editing unit in FIG. 1 according to the present invention.

8 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a menu format input screen used in an input operation of input information by the management report definition information input section in FIG. 1. FIG.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a conventional network management system.

[Explanation of symbols]

1: management report definition information input part, 2: report definition part, 3: edit definition information (file), 4: collected information analysis part, 5: report editing part, 6: analysis information (file),
7-9: Management Report, 10: Collection Information Setting Section, 11:
Collection definition part, 12: Collection definition information (file), 13:
Collection execution unit, 14: collection information (file), 15, 15
a: network monitoring device, 16: management report creating unit, 16a: information processing device, 61: collected information definition operation,
62: collection information analysis operation, 63: report editing operation, 6
4: Collection information analysis control unit, 65: Report editing control unit,
66-68: Collected information

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. In a network management system incorporating a plurality of types of network monitoring devices for monitoring the operating status of network components, etc., creation of a management report to be output, which is defined by a network administrator by a predetermined instruction operation. Instructing each of the network monitoring devices to collect the relevant monitoring information based on the items and analysis contents necessary for the above, analyze the monitoring information collected by each network monitoring device based on the instruction, and display the management report. A network management system comprising a management report creating means for editing and outputting. 2. The network management system according to claim 1, wherein the management report creating unit displays items and analysis contents necessary for creating a management report to be output based on a predetermined instruction operation of a network administrator. A report definition unit to be defined, and a collection information setting unit to instruct each network monitoring device to collect the relevant monitoring information based on the contents of each item defined by the report definition unit, and an instruction from the collection information setting unit. Based on the analysis information defined by the report definition means, the collection information analysis means for analyzing the monitoring information collected by each network monitoring device based on the above, and the result analyzed by the collection information analysis means and the report definition means are defined. Based on the item content
A network management system comprising: a report editing means for editing the management report in a corresponding format. 3. A collection definition unit that defines monitoring information to be collected based on a predetermined input operation of a network administrator, and the target monitoring information is collected based on the definition contents of the collection definition unit. A network management system including a plurality of types of network monitoring devices equipped with collection executing means for monitoring the operating states of network components, analysis of monitoring information output by each network monitoring device, and report editing in a predetermined format. In a network management system consisting of a report creating device which is executed based on a predetermined instruction operation of a person, an item necessary for creating a management report to be output to the report creating device based on a predetermined instruction operation of a network administrator and The report definition means for defining the analysis contents and the definition contents of the report definition means are defined by Information corresponding to the collection definition means of the visual device and transmitted to each collection definition means, and the definition contents defined by the collection definition means corresponding to the definition contents from the collection information setting means Based on the analysis contents defined by the report definition means, the monitoring information collected by the collection execution means on the basis of the collection information analysis means, the result analyzed by the collection information analysis means and the report definition means are defined. A report editing means for editing the management report in a corresponding format based on the item contents is provided, and the analysis of the monitoring information and the creation of the management report are automatically performed based on a predetermined instruction operation of the network administrator. A characteristic network management system.