JPH0887439A - Directory system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To lighten the load on a central processor by greatly decreasing the frequency of inquiry from an application program to a directory and then decreasing the quantity of communication between them. CONSTITUTION: This directory system is constituted having an information registration part 42 which registers directory information that an application program 31 requires accordingly a request from the application program 31, an information reporting control part 43 and an interface part 45 which monitor whether or not directory information registered in the information registration part 42 as to directory information registered in a directory information part 52 is modified, and an information modification reporting part 44 which informs the application program 31 that the information is modified when the modification is recognized by the information reporting control part 43 and interface part 45.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a directory system used for electronic mail services such as MHS (message communication processing system).

In recent years, networks using OSI (Open System Interconnection) have been used in all fields. As the contents of communication in a network become more complicated and sophisticated, the amount of communication increases at an accelerating rate, and the amount of communication in each computer system also increases. It is desirable to reduce the amount of communication as much as possible and to reduce the load on the central processing unit of the computer system as much as possible.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a network system using OSI (Open System Interconnection), a communication support service has been provided in which information about a communication partner is stored in a database and can be retrieved and acquired when necessary. C
It is standardized as a directory system by CITT and ISO.

With the establishment of such OSI directory technology, the application program used according to the purpose of the network system can obtain various information required by the application program itself, for example, the individual name of the cash dispenser that the application program handles. Or, you can get the protocol information, etc. required when connecting to the cash dispenser at any time, when needed,
Moreover, the latest information can be obtained.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing an example of a conventional network system 80. The network system 80 includes a plurality of computer systems 81, 82, 8
3 are connected by the network NW. Each computer system 81, 82 has an application program 81 for performing business processing, communication control processing, and the like.
a, 82a, DSA (Directory System System) for managing and processing directory information.
t) 81b, 82b, DI for storing directory information
B (Directory Information B)
as) 81c, 82c, etc. are provided. In each computer system 81, 82, 83, a directory is constructed by DSA and DIB.

[0006] For example, in the computer system 81, the application program 81a is activated by an instruction input from an operator or a command from another program, and each time the application program 81a forms a part of the directory and is not shown.
The DSA 81b is accessed via A (Director User Agent) to acquire necessary directory information.

In the network system 80, the directory information is distributed and stored in a plurality of DIBs 81c, 82c, 83c and the like, and the directory information may be updated as appropriate to have new contents. DU
Upon receiving the request from A, the DSA 81b provides the necessary directory information to the DIB8 alone or in collaboration with another DSA.
1c, 82c, 83c, etc. are searched and it is returned to the request source application program 81a via the DUA.

[0008]

As described above, in the conventional network system 80, the DS is added every time the application program 81a needs the directory information.
Need to contact A81b, DSA81b
Searches the DIB 81c of its own system or makes an inquiry to the DSAs 82b and 83b of other systems.

Therefore, every time a large number of application programs 81a need directory information, the application programs 81a and the DSA are internally stored in the computer system 81.
Communication is performed with 81b, and the amount of communication becomes enormous and the load on the central processing unit becomes heavy.

Also, other computer systems 82, 8
Since the amount of communication is increased between 3 and 3, the line is congested, the processing time becomes long, and the communication cost becomes high.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and greatly reduces the number of inquiries from an application program to a directory, reduces the amount of communication between them, and reduces the load on the central processing unit. The purpose is to do.

[0012]

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a directory system comprising a directory information base for storing directory information and a directory information management unit for managing the directory information base, and a directory unit. A directory system having an application program for obtaining directory information by using the information registration unit for registering directory information required by the application program based on a request from the application program, and the directory information base. Of the stored directory information, with respect to the directory information registered in the information registration unit, an information monitoring unit that monitors whether or not there is a change, and when the information monitoring unit recognizes that there is a change, Tell the application program to that effect. An information change notification unit which, configured with a.

In the directory system according to the second aspect of the present invention, the directory information management unit periodically copies the directory information stored in another directory system connected by the network to the directory information base. And a replication unit for this purpose.

In the directory system according to the third aspect of the present invention, the information registration unit includes directory information that needs to be monitored, an application program name that requires notification when the directory information changes, and a notification method. Is registered and configured.

In the directory system according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, a plurality of the application programs and one of the information registration units are provided, and the information registration unit requests each of the plurality of application programs. Registration is performed based on.

[0016]

The information registration unit registers the directory information required by the application program based on the request. The information monitoring unit monitors whether or not there is a change in the directory information registered in the information registration unit among the directory information stored in the directory information base. The information change notification section
When the directory information changes, the application program is notified of that.

The replication section periodically copies the directory information stored in another directory system to the directory information base. The application program, at appropriate timing, for example, at startup,
The necessary directory information is acquired from the directory section, and the directory information that needs to be notified when the directory information is changed is registered in the information registration section. Only when you do so, make an inquiry to the directory section. As a result, the amount of communication from the application program to the directory section is greatly reduced.

[0018]

1 is a network system 1 according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the information registration unit 42.

In the network system 1, a plurality of computer systems 11, 12, 13 ...
Are connected and configured by. Since the configurations of the computer systems 11, 12, 13 ... Are the same, one of the computer systems 11 will be described.

The computer system 11 has an application program section 21, an information change notification mechanism 22, and a directory 23. The application program unit 21 includes a plurality of application programs 31 (application programs 31a, 31b, 3
1c ...). Each application program 31 has acquired a memory 32 for storing directory information. When the application program 31 is started, it acquires necessary directory information from the directory 23 and stores it in the memory 32.
To be stored. After that, the directory 23 is inquired only when necessary directory information is changed.

The information change notification mechanism 22 comprises an information change registration section 41, an information registration section 42, an information notification control section 43, an information change notification section 44, and an interface section 45. The information change notification mechanism 22 is realized by software, for example.

The information change registration unit 41 uses the application program 3
From 1, a request for notification is accepted when specific directory information changes. Such a request:
This is performed by issuing an SVC for information registration from the application program 31. Upon receiving the request, the information change registration unit 41 registers in the information registration unit 42 the directory information name that needs to be monitored, such as the name or identification name of the application program 31 and the notification method when the directory information has changed. .

Only one information registration unit 42 is created in the common memory so that it can be accessed from both the application space and the directory space. Information registration section 4
2, the information name NDI that is the directory information to be monitored, the application program name NAP that requires notification, the notification method WNT, and the address ADD are registered in 2. The former three are searchable as a key of directory information.

There are two types of notification method WNT, ECB notification and exit activation. The address ADD in the case of ECB notification is the address of the ECB, and the address ADD in the case of exit notification is the address of the exit.

The ECB notification is an ECB (Event C
It is to notify by using the control block). The ECB is used by the task of the application program 31 to interrupt the process and wait, and the ECB is designated to operate the task.
Apply ST. In other words, the ECB is a control block used to synchronize with an event that occurs asynchronously, here the notification from the information change notification unit 44 to the application program 31.

Exit notification is to notify using an exit routine. The exit routine is a routine that is asynchronously interrupted and executed during the processing of the application program 31. The information change notification unit 44 activates the exit routine.

The information notification control unit 43 monitors the information notified from the interface unit 45 based on the contents registered in the information registration unit 42. If there is a change in the information that matches the information name NDI registered in the information registration unit 42, the information change notification unit 44 is activated.

The information change notification unit 44 is the information notification control unit 4
The application program 31 that is started by the step 3 and matches the application program name NAP registered for the changed information name NDI is notified that the directory information has changed.

The interface unit 45 uses the directory 2
The replication control is performed in cooperation with the third embodiment. That is, the directory processing unit (DS) of another computer system.
When the directory information is sent from A) by the replication protocol, the directory information is extracted from the directory 23, and the information notification control unit 43 is activated by using this. The replication protocol includes all information notification and difference information notification.

The directory 23 includes a directory processing unit (DSA) 51 and a directory information unit (DIB) 5.
Have two. The directory processing unit 51 has a replication unit 51 for periodically copying the directory information stored in the DIBs of the other computer systems 12, 13 and 14 to the directory information unit 52.
a is provided.

In order to reduce the amount of communication, the information notification control unit 43 and the interface unit 45 for comparing the directory information are built in the same space as the directory processing unit 51. Further, the information change registration unit 41 and the information change notification unit 44 use the SV in order to reduce the overhead of information notification between the application space and the directory space.
Implemented as C handler and activity.

Next, the operation of each section will be described with reference to the flow charts shown in FIGS. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the information change registration unit 41. When there is a registration request from the application program 31 (Yes in # 11), the existence of the information registration section 42 is checked (# 12). In the case of the first registration request in the computer system 11, since the information registration unit 42 has not been created yet (No in # 12), a new information registration unit 42 is created (# 13).

The information registration unit 42 is searched with the information name NDI issued together with the registration request from the application program 31 as a key, and the application program name NAP of the application program 31 and the notification method WNT are searched at the same information name NDI. And the address ADD are registered (# 14). Then, the information notification control unit 43 is requested to monitor (# 15).

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the operation of the information notification control unit 43. When the interface unit 45 notifies that the directory information has changed (# 2
If YES, the presence of the information registration unit 42 is checked (# 22). If the information registration unit 42 does not exist, the application program 31 need not be notified.

If the information registration section 42 exists (# 2
2), it is checked whether or not the changed directory information is registered in the information registration section 42 (# 2).
3). If it is registered, control is given to the information change notifying section 44 to notify the registered application program 31 (# 24).

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the operation of the information change notifying section 44. If the information notification control unit 43 notifies the information change (Yes in # 31), the information registration unit 42 is referred to determine the application program name NAP of the application program 31 to be notified and the notification method WNT (# Three
2) The information change is notified according to the notification method WNT (# 33).

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the interface section 45. The interface unit 45 issues a replication request to the directory 23 every time a predetermined time elapses by the timer function (#
41, 42). When the directory processing unit 51 notifies that replication has been performed (YES in # 43), it is checked whether or not the directory information has changed (# 44). When there is a change, the information notification control unit 43 is notified (# 45).

Upon receiving the information change notification from the information change notification mechanism 22, the application program 31 receives the directory 23.
Are accessed to obtain the directory information, and communication is performed between them.

As described above, the application program 31 notifies the information change notifying mechanism 22 in advance of what kind of directory information is to be obtained, instead of inquiring the directory 23 for directory information each time directory information is needed. I'll do it. The directory 23 always takes in the distributed directory information in the directory information section 52 of its own system by using the replication protocol. The information change notification mechanism 22 uses the directory 2
It has an interface unit 45 for interfacing with the device 3, and knows that the contents of the directory information stored in the directory information unit 52 have changed. The changed directory information is compared with the directory information registered in the information registration unit 42. If it is the directory information requested by the application program 31, the application program 31 is notified that the directory information has changed.

Therefore, the application program 31 does not need to inquire the directory information for the directory information every time it needs the directory information, but makes an inquiry only when the necessary directory information is changed. The amount of communication between and is greatly reduced, and the load on the central processing unit is greatly reduced.

Further, since the directory processing unit 51 has a replication unit 51a and the directory information is copied from another system at an appropriate timing and stored in the directory information unit 52, it is distributed to other systems. It is not necessary to make an inquiry to another system every time the directory information is needed.
The W traffic is reduced. Therefore, it is possible to solve the conventional problems that the lines are congested, the processing time is lengthened, and the communication cost is increased due to the increase in the communication amount.

Moreover, when the directory information changes, the application program 31 can acquire the new information, so that the application program 31 can always use the correct directory information.

Further, according to the above-mentioned embodiment, it is effective in reducing system resources such as a memory and a CPU for establishing a connection / association with another system.

In the above embodiment, the information change registration unit 4
1 may be interposed between the information notification control unit 43 and the information notification control unit 43 and the information change notification unit 44, and message communication may be performed using the mailbox. In that case, for message communication from the information change registration unit 41 to the information notification control unit 43, the directory information to be registered is passed as a parameter. In addition, the information change registration unit 41 and the information change notification unit 4
4 may be realized as a local service in the application space.

In the above embodiment, the directory 23
In the directory section of the present invention, the information change registration section 41 and the information registration section 42 in the information registration section of the present invention, the information notification control section 43 and the interface section 45 in the information monitoring section of the present invention, and the information change notification section 44. Is the information change notification unit of the present invention,
The directory processing unit 51 corresponds to the directory information management unit of the present invention, the directory information unit 52 corresponds to the directory information base of the present invention, and the replication unit 51a corresponds to the replication unit of the present invention.

In the above-described embodiment, the configuration, processing content, processing sequence, processing timing of the information change notification mechanism 22, other components or the overall configuration, arrangement, number, processing content of the computer systems 11 to 14 and the network system 1. The above can be variously modified in accordance with the gist of the present invention.

[0047]

According to the inventions of claims 1 to 4,
It is possible to significantly reduce the number of inquiries from the application program to the directory, reduce the amount of communication between them, and reduce the load on the central processing unit.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, it is not necessary to make an inquiry to the other system every time the directory information distributed to the other system is required, and the communication amount of the network is reduced.

According to the invention of claim 4, the change of the directory information can be efficiently monitored, which contributes to the reduction of the communication amount.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a network system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of an information registration unit.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation of an information change registration unit.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation of an information notification control unit.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation of an information change notification unit.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the interface unit.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing an example of a conventional network system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 computer system (directory system) 21 application program section 23 directory (directory section) 31 application program 41 information change registration section (information registration section) 42 information registration section 43 information notification control section (information monitoring section) 44 information change notification section 45 Interface part (information monitoring part) 51 Directory processing part (directory information management part) 51a Replication part 52 Directory information part (directory information base)

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A directory system having a directory section including a directory information base for storing directory information and a directory information management section for managing the directory information base, and an application program for acquiring the directory information using the directory section. Of the directory information stored in the directory information base, the information registration unit that registers the directory information required by the application program on the basis of a request from the application program, and is registered in the information registration unit. An information monitoring unit that monitors whether or not there is a change in the directory information that exists, and an information change notification unit that notifies the application program of the change when the information monitoring unit recognizes that there is a change. Dire characterized by having Kutori system. 2. The directory information management section is provided with a replication section for periodically copying directory information stored in another directory system connected by a network to the directory information base. The directory system according to claim 1. 3. The information registration unit is registered with directory information that needs to be monitored, an application program name that requires notification when the directory information changes, and a notification method. Alternatively, the directory system according to claim 2. 4. A plurality of said application programs and one said information registration unit are provided, and said information registration unit performs registration based on respective requests from said plurality of application programs. The directory system according to item 3.