JPH10336189A - Network managing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To automatically execute configuration processing necessary for network management by providing a manger for managing information to use the network and an agent being a managed device and imparting an Anycast address to the manager. SOLUTION: The agent E is connected to a sub-net S1 and the system of the agent E is started. The agent E originates a network management and register requesting packet to a network management Anycast address. The manager M1 which receives the packet registers the agent E in a management objective database. Moreover, the manager M1 originates a management resiter response packet to the agent E. Information required for management is recorded in a local memory area and the manager M1 is registered as the one for managing itself after that. Then, a normal SNMP network management processing is executed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a TCP / IP (Tr
The present invention relates to a network management method in a network environment.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a TCP / IP network environment, the network configuration is frequently changed.

For example, when a network device is newly added (connected) to a network, various information (IP address (Information Provider) concerning an NMS (Network Management System) is added to the network device.
Address), community name, etc.) must be set, but this setting is manually performed by a user or the like.

When a manager that manages information for using a network goes down, an agent managed by the manager is not managed at all. A method of centrally managing network management environment information by a server is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-668.
However, in this system, the above problem occurs when the server system goes down.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Including the above example,
The conventional network management method has the following problems.

A first problem is that when a new network device is connected, information about the manager (such as the manager's IP address and community name) must be manually set for the new network device.

A second problem is that if network management becomes impossible due to a hardware failure or system failure of the manager, it becomes impossible to manage all network devices to be managed. .

It is an object of the present invention to provide a network management system in which a configuration process required for performing network management is automated.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a network management system which realizes distributed management by a plurality of managers.

[0010]

According to the present invention, a TCP is provided.
/ A network management system for managing an IP network, comprising: a manager for managing information for using the network; and an agent being a managed device, wherein the manager is provided with an Anycast address. A network management method is obtained.

According to the present invention, the agent transmits a network management registration request packet addressed to an Anycast address when the agent is connected to a network or activated, and the network management having the Anycast address as a destination is performed. A request packet is routed to the agent that is the shortest to the agent on a routing metric; and the manager that has received the network management registration request packet has its own IP address, community name, MIB access right,
And transmitting to the agent a network management registration response packet in which information necessary for management of the agent including a polling cycle is written, to the agent. Can be

Further, according to the present invention, after the network management registration process with the manager is completed, the agent monitors SNMP communication with the manager, and communicates with the manager over a polling cycle. If there is no communication, the manager interprets that the system has gone down, executes the network management registration process again using the Anycast address, and performs routing with another manager. can get.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a network management system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

In the present invention, in order to effectively realize network management in a TCP / IP network environment in which the network configuration is frequently changed, the manager as an NMS is requested to perform RFC1546 Host Anycasting.
Network management Anycast address specified by Service (hereinafter, referred to as Anycast address except for a part)
Is given.

By representing the manager with the Anycast address, it is not necessary to manually set the manager's IP address for the agent, and the agent can automatically acquire the manager's IP address and community name.

In addition, when the manager that manages the agent goes system-wide, the agent detects this by monitoring over a polling cycle, and the same Anycas
By sending a network management registration at the t address, IP routing automatically routes to other managers and management continues.

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a TCP / IP network to which the network management system according to the present invention is applied. FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram for explaining a network management registration process between the agent E and the manager M1 in FIG. FIGS. 3A and 3B are flowcharts showing operations of the agent E and the manager in FIG. 1, respectively.

In FIG. 1, T to which the present management method is applied
The CP / IP network is composed of two bus-type subnets S1 and S2 and one router R connecting them. Each subnet is provided with managers M1 and M2 as NMSs.

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3, an agent E is newly connected to the subnet S1, and the system of the agent E is activated (step Sa1). The agent E sends a network management record request packet (REG-re) to the network management Anycast address.
q) is transmitted (step Sa2).

This packet is received by the manager M1 which is the shortest manager on the IP routing metric.

The manager M1 that has received the REG-req
(Step Sm1) registers the agent E in a local management target database (not shown) (Step Sm2). Further, the manager M1 transmits to the agent E a management registration response packet (REG-res) in which information necessary for management including its own IP address, management community name, and polling cycle is written (step Sm3).

The agent E that has received the REG-res from the manager M1 records information necessary for management including a manager IP address, a community name, and a polling cycle in a local memory area (not shown) (step Sa3). , The manager M1 is registered as a manager that manages itself thereafter. After this, normal S
An NMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) network management process is executed between the manager M1 and the agent E (steps Sm4, Sa4).

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the routing when the system of the manager M1 in the present invention goes down. FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram illustrating a network management registration process between the agent E and the manager M2 when the manager M1 goes down according to the present invention.

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 5, agent E
Monitors the SNMP communication in step Sa5, and when the SNMP packet is not received from the manager M1 for the polling period acquired in the network management registration process (step Sa3), if the manager M1 does not receive the SNMP packet for some reason. It is determined that the system has gone down, the information about the local manager M1 is cleared, and a management registration request is sent again (step S).
a2).

In the next management registration processing, the network management registration request packet (REG-req) transmitted to the Anycast address is routed to the manager M2 which is next to the manager M1 on the routing metric.

Management registration request packet (REG-req)
Receives the information (step Sm1), the manager M2 registers the agent E in the local management target database (step Sm2), and writes information necessary for management including its own IP address, management community name, and polling cycle. Registration response packet (REG-re
s) to the agent E (step Sm).
3).

The agent E, which has received the management registration response packet (REG-res) from the manager M2, records the information of the response packet again in the local memory (step Sa3), and sets the manager M2 as a manager that manages itself thereafter. Register as After this, normal S
An NMP network management process is executed between the manager M2 and the agent E (steps Sm4, Sa
4).

[0028]

The network management method according to the present invention is as follows.
In a network management method for managing a TCP / IP network, the network management system includes a manager for managing information for using the network and an agent which is a managed device, and the manager is given an Anycast address. This eliminates the need to manually set the manager's IP address, and automatically performs the configuration processing required for network management.

Also, the agent monitors SNMP communication with the manager after the network management registration processing with the manager is completed, and if there is no communication with the manager during the polling cycle, the manager goes down. If it is interpreted that the network management registration process is executed again using the Anycast address and is routed to another manager, distributed management by a plurality of managers is realized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a TCP / IP network to which a network management method according to the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram illustrating a network management registration process between an agent and a manager according to the present invention.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are flowcharts showing operations of an agent and a manager in the present invention, respectively.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing routing when a manager goes down according to the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram for explaining a network management registration process between the agent and the manager when the system goes down in the manager according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 E Agent M1, M2 Manager R Router S1, S2 Subnet

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A network management system for managing a TCP / IP network, comprising: a manager for managing information for using the network; and an agent being a managed device, wherein the manager includes an Anycast
A network management method wherein addresses are assigned. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the agent sends a network management registration request packet addressed to an Anycast address when the agent is connected to a network or activated, and the network management request packet having the Anycast address as a destination is transmitted to a routing server. The metric is routed to the agent which is the shortest to the agent, and the manager receiving the network management registration request packet manages the agent including its own IP address, community name, MIB access right, and polling period. Transmitting a network management registration response packet in which necessary information has been written to the agent, to perform a network management registration process. 3. The agent, after completing the network management registration process with the manager,
The SNMP communication with the manager is monitored, and if there is no communication with the manager during the polling cycle, the manager is interpreted as having gone down, and the network management registration process is performed using the Anycast address. 3. The network management method according to claim 2, wherein the network management method is executed again and is routed to another manager.