JPH11296457A - Network device control method/device using sump protocol and conatining network management software, and record medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To normally obtain and set data for an object which can be processed even if a part of the object cannot normally be processed by dividing the object contained in an SNMP message becoming an error and transmitting them as SNMP messages for every single object. SOLUTION: The response of an SNMP message transmitted in a step S101 is received in a step S102. When it is judged that an error occurs in a step S103, it is judged whether a request is for a plurality of objects in a step S104. When the request is for a plurality of objects, a plurality of objects are divided in a step S106 and they are transmitted as the SNMP messages for a single object in a step S107. Thus, the object which can at least normally be processed can normally be processed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a network device control method and apparatus by network management software using an SNMP protocol, and a recording medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There have been many attempts by standard organizations to manage devices on a network. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has established Open System Interconnectio
n, OSI) model was provided. The OSI model of the network management protocol is based on the Common Management Information Protocol.
Formation Protocol (CMIP). CMIP
Is a common European network management protocol.

In the United States, a simple network management protocol (SN) is used as a more common network management protocol.
There is a variant of the protocol related to CMIP called MP). ("Introduction to TCP / IP Network Management Aiming for Practical Management", MT Rose, author / Nishida Takeshi, translated by Toppan Co., Ltd., see the first edition on August 20, 1992).

According to the SNMP network management technology,
A network management system includes at least one network management station (NMS), a number of managed nodes, each including an agent, and a network management protocol used by the management stations and agents to exchange management information. The user can acquire and change data on the network by communicating with the agent software on the managed node using the network management software on the NMS.

[0005] An agent is software that runs as a background process for each target device. On the other hand, the NMS and the network management software operating on the NMS are generally called a manager.

When a manager requests management data from a device on a network by a user operation,
The manager sends the object identification information to the target agent in a management packet or frame. The agent interprets the object identification information, retrieves data corresponding to the object identification information, puts the data in a packet, and sends it back to the manager. Occasionally, a corresponding process is called to retrieve the data.

[0007] An agent holds data on its own state in the form of a database. This database is referred to as MIB (Management Information Bass).
Call it e). FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram showing the structure of the MIB. As shown in FIG. 6, the MIB has a tree-structured data structure, and all nodes are uniquely numbered.
In FIG. 6, the number written in parentheses is the identifier of the node.

For example, in FIG. 6, the identifier of the node 601 is 1. The identifier of the node 602 is the node 601
Since it is 3 below, it is written as 1.3. Similarly, the identifier of the node 603 is described as 1.33.6.1.2.

[0009] This node identifier is called an object identifier (OBJECT IDENTIFIER).

This MIB has a management information structure (SM
I: Structure of Management Information)
RFC1155 Structure and Identification of Management
Information for TCP / IP-based Internets. FIG. 6 shows only a part of the MIB defined as a standard.

Reference numeral 604 denotes a node which is a vertex of an object group called a standard MIB provided as a standard in a device managed by SNMP, and the detailed structure of an object under this node is described in RFC1213 Management Inf.
ormation Base for NetworkManagemtn of TCP / IP-based
internets: defined in MIB-II.

Reference numeral 605 denotes a node which is the top of an object group called a printer MIB provided as a standard feature of a printer managed by SNMP, and the detailed structure of an object under this node is described in RFC 1759 Pri.
nter MIB.

Reference numeral 606 denotes a node which is called a private MIB and is a vertex for companies and organizations to define their own MIB. A node 607 is called a company extension MIB, and is a node serving as a vertex for a company to perform its own extension in the private MIB. Canon Inc. is assigned 1602 as a company number for its own definition, and a top node 608 for defining Canon MIB (Canon MIB), which is a unique MIB for Canon, is a node representing a company. Node 607
Is located below. The object identifier of the top node of the Canon MIB is 1, 3, 6, 1, 4, 1, 160
2.

[0014] In SNMP, the MIB of the agent is used.
Use the following messages to examine and set variables in

GET REQUEST message (from the manager to the agent) Reads the specified MIB variable. GET NEXT REQUEST message (from the manager to the agent) Reads the next value of the specified MIB variable according to the order of the MIB. GET RESUPONSE Message (from agent to manager) Response from agent to request (GET / GET NEXT / SET REQUEST) ・ SET REQUEST message (from manager to agent) Set value specified in MIB variable ・ TRAP message (from agent to manager) The SNMP message that informs the manager of the occurrence of an abnormality or event from the agent to the manager is composed of a version number, an SNMP community name, and a PDU (Protocol Data Unit). 1 (Abstract S
BER (Basic Encoding Rule) of yntax Notation 1)
Follow. The following 5 Ps corresponding to each message
DUs must be supported.

PDU for GetRequest-PDU GET REQUEST message PDU for GetNextRequest-PDU GET NEXT REQUEST message PDU for GetResponse-PDU GET RESPONSE message PDU for SetRequest-PDU SET REQUEST message Trap -PDU for PDU TRAP message The data format of these PDUs (Trap-PDU
2) are shown in FIG.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 201 denotes an SNMP message; 202, an area for storing SNMP version information; 203, a group of one agent to be managed by SNMP and one or more managers for managing the agent; This is an area for setting the name of a converted community (community name). The agent compares with the community name to which the agent belongs, and accepts the request only when it matches. Reference numeral 204 denotes an area where each SNMP PDU is stored, and 205 denotes a PDU. The SNMP message contains the type of the message (GET
REQUEST, GET NEXT REQUEST, SET REQUEST).

Reference numeral 206 denotes GET REQUEST, GET NEXT REQUEST,
A request ID set by the manager at the time of SET REQUEST request is set. Agent GETs the response
Set the same value in RESPONSE so that the manager can determine which request it responds to. An area 207 stores an error status. The error status is used for notification (GET RESPONSE) from the agent to the manager when there is an error in the SNMP message requested by the manager.
DU sets noError. The following errors can be notified as agents.

NoError: normal (no error).

TooBig: As a result, when converting the response into an SNMP message, the length limit of the agent has been exceeded.

NoSuchName: The specified object name cannot be found. In the case of GET NEXT REQUEST, this error is returned at the end of the search.

BadValue: The length, type, and value of the object specified by SET REQUEST are incorrect.

ReadOnly: SET REQUEST has been requested for an object that can only be read.

GenErr: An error other than the above occurred on the agent side.

An area 208 stores an error index indicating the number of an object in the requested SNMP message that has an error.

Reference numeral 209 denotes an object name (210, 21)
2) and an array (variable) of pairs of values (211 and 213)
-bindings). Therefore, S
The NMP message can store requests for a plurality of objects in one message.

FIG. 4 shows one SNM for an agent.
Multiple objects (ObjectA, Object
FIG. 9 is a sequence diagram when an arbitrary value is set to (B, ObjectC).

In FIG. 4, at 401, the manager sends a SET REQUEST message for setting values, X, Y, and Z to a plurality of objects, ObjectA, ObjectB, and ObjectC.

In response to this, at 402, the agent notifies the manager that a value has been appropriately set to each object by a GET RESPONSE message.

FIG. 5 shows that a manager sends a plurality of objects (ObjectA, Object
FIG. 9 is a sequence diagram in a case where a request for setting data for (B, ObjectC) is made. In the figure, the agent is in a state where it is impossible to set information for a part of the requested object (ObjectA), and the network management software of the manager operates to retransmit the SNMP message in which the error has occurred. .

At 501, the manager sends a SET REQUEST message for setting values, X, Y, and Z to a plurality of objects, ObjectA, ObjectB, and ObjectC.
In 502, since the agent failed to set ObjectA, the error status was set to GenErr and GET RESPONSE
Returns the message. At 503, the request in error is resent again, but the agent still has ObjectA
GET RESPONSE message is returned as an error because the value cannot be set to Note that network management software that retransmits such an errored request is generally conventional.

As an operation of the agent, processing of a plurality of objects from the manager is performed by one SN.
When requested by the MP message, it is common that if a part of the specified object cannot be processed normally by the agent, the processing for other objects is not guaranteed.

[0033]

Therefore, in the above-described conventional network device control apparatus and method using the SNMP protocol, when processing of a plurality of objects is requested by one SNMP message, the agent requests the processing of the object. If some of the objects cannot be processed, no processing is performed on other objects, which has been a significant obstacle in obtaining and setting data from the manager.

Further, even when the error message is retransmitted as in the above-described conventional network device control apparatus and method using the SNMP protocol, the state of the agent is still required for a plurality of requests. It is meaningless if some of the objects cannot be processed.

Therefore, an object of the invention according to the present application is to request acquisition and setting of data fields for a plurality of objects by one SNMP message, and a part of all objects requested by the agent is not processed normally. In such a case, a plurality of objects included in the SNMP message in which an error occurred is divided, and each of the objects is transmitted as an SNMP message for each single object, so that the agent cannot process a part of all the requested objects normally. It is an object of the present invention to realize a network device control apparatus and method capable of normally acquiring and setting data for a processable object.

[0036]

Means for Solving the Problems To achieve the above object, the present invention comprises the following constitution.

That is, the network device control method includes an SNMP message transmitting step of transmitting an appropriate SNMP message by a user's operation;
SN transmitted in the NMP message transmission step
An SNMP message receiving step of receiving an SNMP message as a response from the agent to the MP message; a received message analyzing step of determining whether the SNMP message received in the SNMP message receiving step is an error; and the received message analyzing step In the case where the received SNMP message is an error, the number of objects analysis step of determining whether the SNMP message transmitted in the SNMP message transmission step includes a plurality of objects; and A single object dividing step of dividing into a single object when it is determined that a plurality of objects are included in the SNMP message; Every single object, SN
Generating and transmitting an MP message.

Further, the network device control device comprises:
SNMP message transmitting means for transmitting an appropriate SNMP message by a user operation; SNMP message receiving means for receiving an SNMP message as a response from an agent to the SNMP message transmitted in the SNMP message transmitting step; Receiving message analyzing means for determining whether the SNMP message received by the receiving means is an error; and, if the SNMP message received by the receiving message analyzing means is an error, a plurality of SNMP messages transmitted by the SNMP message transmitting means. Object number analyzing means for determining whether or not an object is included;
When it is determined that the message includes a plurality of objects, a single object dividing step of dividing the message into a single object, and an SN for generating and transmitting an SNMP message for each of the divided single objects
MP message division transmitting means.

Alternatively, the network device control method includes an SNMP message transmitting step of transmitting an appropriate SNMP message by a user's operation;
SN transmitted in the NMP message transmission step
An SNMP message receiving step of receiving an SNMP message as a response from the agent to the MP message; a received message analyzing step of determining whether the SNMP message received in the SNMP message receiving step is an error; and the received message analyzing step In the case where the received SNMP message is an error, the object number analyzing step of determining whether or not the SNMP message received in the SNMP message receiving step includes a plurality of objects; and A single object dividing step of dividing into a single object when it is determined that a plurality of objects are included in the SNMP message; Every single object, SN
Generating and transmitting an MP message.

[0040] Alternatively, the network device control device includes an SNMP message transmitting means for transmitting an appropriate SNMP message in response to an operation from a user;
SNMP sent in P message sending step
SNMP message receiving means for receiving an SNMP message as a response from the agent to the message, received message analyzing means for determining whether the SNMP message received by the SNMP message receiving means is an error, and receiving by the received message analyzing means When the SNMP message is an error, the number-of-objects analyzing means for determining whether or not the SNMP message received by the SNMP message receiving means includes a plurality of objects;
When it is determined that a plurality of objects are included in the NMP message, a single object dividing step of dividing into a single object, and an SNMP message is generated and transmitted for each of the divided single objects. SNMP message division transmission means.

Further, in the network device control method, the suitable SNMP message by the operation by the user is GetRequest, SetRequest, GetNextRequest.

Further, in the network device control apparatus, the suitable SNMP message by the operation by the user is GetRequest, SetRequest, GetNextRequest.

Further, the recording medium receives an SNMP message as a response from the agent to the SNMP message transmitted in the SNMP message transmitting step for transmitting an appropriate SNMP message by an operation of the user. An SNMP message receiving step, and an SN received in the SNMP message receiving step.
A received message analyzing step of determining whether or not the MP message is an error; and if the SNMP message received in the received message analyzing step is an error, the SNMP message transmitted in the SNMP message transmitting step includes a plurality of objects. Analyzing the number of objects to determine whether or not the plurality of objects are included in the transmitted SNMP message in the analyzing the number of objects, dividing a single object into single objects Generating an SNMP message for each of the divided single objects;
And transmitting an SNMP message division transmission step.

Alternatively, the recording medium receives an SNMP message as a response from the agent to the SNMP message transmitted in the SNMP message transmitting step in which the SNMP message is transmitted in the SNMP message transmitting step in accordance with an operation of the user. Receiving an SNMP message;
The SNMP message received in the SNMP message receiving step is a received message analyzing step of determining whether there is an error, and if the SNMP message received in the received message analyzing step is an error, the received SNMP message is received in the SNMP message receiving step. In the object number analysis step of determining whether a plurality of objects are included in the SNMP message, and in the object number analysis step,
When it is determined that a plurality of objects are included in the received SNMP message, a single object dividing step of dividing into a single object, and an SNMP message is generated for each of the divided single objects, And transmitting an SNMP message division transmission step.

[0045]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG.
A network device control apparatus and method including network management software using the NMP protocol will be described.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a PC on which the network management software according to the present invention can operate. In FIG. 7, reference numeral 701 denotes a PC on which network management software operates. PC 701 is a ROM
703 or a hard disk (HD) 712 or a floppy disk drive (FD) 7
The system includes a CPU 702 for executing a network management program supplied from the CPU 13, and comprehensively controls each device connected to the system bus 705.

A RAM 704 functions as a main memory, a work area, and the like for the CPU 702. Reference numeral 706 denotes a keyboard controller (KBC), and a keyboard (KB) 71
It controls input of instructions from 0 or a pointing device (not shown). 707 is a CRT controller (CRTC)
Controls the display on the CRT display (CRT) 711. A disk controller (DKC) 708 controls access to a hard disk (HD) 712 and a floppy disk controller (FD) 713 that store a boot program, various applications, editing files, user files, a network management program, and the like. Reference numeral 709 denotes a network interface card (NIC) for exchanging data bidirectionally with an agent or a network device via the LAN 700.

Next, the configuration of the network management software of the present invention will be described.

The network management device of the present invention is realized on a PC having the same configuration as a PC capable of realizing the conventional network management device as shown in FIG. The hard disk (HD) 712 stores a program of network management software according to the present application, which is an operation main body in all the descriptions below. In all of the following description, unless otherwise specified, the subject of execution is a CPU 70 on hardware.
2. On the other hand, the subject of control on software is network management software stored in a hard disk (HD) 712. In the present embodiment, the OS is assumed to be, for example, Windows 95 (manufactured by Microsoft), but is not limited thereto.

The network management program according to the present invention may be supplied in a form stored in a storage medium such as a floppy disk or a CD-ROM. In this case, a floppy disk controller (FD) 71 shown in FIG.
3 or a CD-ROM drive (not shown) reads a program from a storage medium and installs the program on a hard disk (HD) 712.

FIG. 8 is a module diagram showing an example of the module configuration of the network management software according to the present invention.

The network management software according to the present invention is stored in the hard disk 712 in FIG. At that time, CP
U702 uses the RAM 704 as a work area.

In FIG. 8, reference numeral 801 denotes a device list module, which is a module for displaying a list of devices connected to the network. Reference numeral 802 denotes a general control module that controls other modules based on an instruction from a device list.
Reference numeral 803 denotes a module that is called a configurator and performs special processing related to the network setting of the agent. A search module 804 is a module that searches for a device connected to the network. Devices searched by the search module 804 are displayed as a list in a device list 801. 8
Reference numeral 05 denotes a NetWare job module for acquiring the status of a print job from a network server using the NewWare API 816. (For NetWare API,
For example, the "NetWare Programme" issued by Novell
r's Guide for C ", etc. This book can be purchased from Novell, Inc.) 806 and 807 are for displaying a device detail window that displays more detailed information of each according to the type of device. There is a UI module for each target model for which detailed information is to be displayed, and 808 and 809 are called control modules and are responsible for control specific to the target model for which detailed information is to be obtained. The control module 808 and the control B module 809 use the MIB handling module 810 to acquire MIB data from the device to be managed, and To convert the data to the corresponding UI A
The data is passed to the module 806 or the UIB module 807.

The MIB handling module 810 includes:
Overall control module 802, control A module, control B
Information (community name, object identifier, etc.) required to generate an SNMP message in response to a request from the module is sent to the SNMP protocol module 811.
Notify.

Reference numeral 811 denotes an SNMP protocol module for transmitting and receiving SNMP packets.

Reference numeral 812 is a common transport module that absorbs a difference between lower protocols for carrying SNMP data. Actually, it is a module that absorbs the difference between the protocols selected by the user during operation. In practice, depending on the protocol selected by the user during operation, either the IPX handler 813 or the UDP handler 814 plays a role in transferring data. The UDP handler uses WinSock 817 as an implementation. (For WinSock, for example, WindowsSocket
See the API v1.1 specification. This document is available from multiple sources, but is included with, for example, Visual C ++, a Microsoft compiler. ) The current protocol 815 used by the configurator 803 is based on the I selected by the user during operation.
Indicates either the PX protocol or the UDP protocol.

FIG. 1 shows that the network management software according to the present invention requests data setting for a plurality of objects (ObjectA, ObjectB, ObjectC) by one SNMP message, and the agent side requests a part of the requested object (ObjectA). 11 is a flowchart illustrating an operation when an SNMP message is divided for each object and transmitted when information cannot be set.

Referring to FIG. 10, in step S100, the user operates the keyboard (KB) 710 or
Using a mouse or the like, the network management software according to the present invention stored in the hard disk (HD) 712 is started to operate to acquire information on the network device to be managed. By this operation, the device list module 801 and the UIA module 806, UI
A request is generated from any one of the B modules 807, and the API of the MIB handling module 810 is called from any one of the general control module 802, the control A module 808, and the control B module 809 in response to the request.

In step S101, step S100
Analyze the parameters of the API called at
Request to the P protocol module 811. In response to this, the SNMP protocol module 811 generates an SNMP message according to the request and notifies the common transport module 812 of the message. The common transport module 812 transfers data to either the IPX handler 813 or the UDP handler 814 according to a protocol selected by the user during operation. After the above operation, the SNMP message is sent to the LAN 700 via the network interface card (NIC) 709.
Sent out.

In step S102, step S101
SNMP message (GET REQUEST, G
An SNMP message (GetResponse) as a response to ET NEXT REQUEST, SET REQUEST is received via the network interface card (NIC) 709. The received SNMP message is notified from the common transport module 812 to the SNMP protocol module 811 via one of the IPX handler 813 and the UDP handler 814 according to the selected protocol, and the SNMP protocol module 81
In step 1, the received SNMP message is analyzed.

In step S103, the PDU 205 of the SNMP message (GetResponse) received in step S102 is analyzed in the SNMP protocol module, and the result is notified to the MIB handling module. Here, referring to the error status 207 of the PDU 205, if an error has occurred, the process proceeds to step S104.

In step S104, step S101
Variable-bindi of the SNMP message sent in
The MIB handling module determines whether or not the ns 209 includes a plurality of objects. If the ns 209 includes one object, the process proceeds to step S105. If the ns 209 includes a plurality of objects, the process proceeds to step S106. Move to

In step S105, step S101
Variable-bindi of the SNMP message sent in
If it is determined that the ngs 209 is composed of one object, the MIB handling module 8
From 10, a request is made to the SNMP protocol module 811 and subsequent modules to retransmit the SNMP message transmitted in step S <b> 101.

In step S106, the MIB handling module 810 sets variable-bindings2 of the SNMP message transmitted in step S101.
09 is determined to be composed of a plurality of objects, the plurality of objects are divided into a single object, and a variab
Request the SNMP protocol module to generate an SNMP message with le-bindings 209.

In step S107, in step S107,
The SNMP message generated in the MIB handling module 810 and the SNMP protocol module 811 is notified to the common transport module 812. In the common transport module 812, depending on the protocol selected by the user at the time of operation, either the IPX handler 813 or the UDP handler 814 Transfer the crab data. After the above operation, a plurality of newly generated SNMP messages are transmitted to the LAN 700 via the network interface card (NIC) 709.

As described above, the response of the SNMP message transmitted in step S101 is received in step S102, and if it is determined in step S103 that an error has occurred, it is determined in step S104 whether the request is for a plurality of objects. When it is determined that the request is for a plurality of objects, the plurality of objects are divided in step S106 and are transmitted as an SNMP message for a single object in step S107, so that the agent is requested. Even when one or several objects in a plurality of objects cannot be processed normally, at least the objects that can be processed normally can be processed normally.

FIG. 3 is a sequence diagram when the network management software according to the present invention requests data setting for a plurality of objects (ObjectA, ObjectB, ObjectC) by one SNMP message. It is assumed that the agent cannot set information for a part of the requested object (ObjectA) in FIG.

In the figure, at 301, a plurality of objects, ObjectA, O
SET to set the values, X, Y, Z for bjectB, ObjectC
A REQUEST message is sent.

At 302, since the agent failed to set ObjectA, the error status is set to genErr and a GET RESPONSE message is returned.

In response to this, the manager sends the SNMP message transmitted in 301 as a message for setting the value X to ObjectA, a message for setting the value Y to ObjectB, Obj
Split into messages that set the value Z in ectC,
Transmission is made at 303, 305, and 307. In response to this, the agent returns errors in 304, 306, and 308, respectively, assuming that only the message for ObjectA transmitted in 303 is an error, and that other requests can be normally processed.

As described above, when the SNMP message for a plurality of objects transmitted in 301 is not normally processed on the agent side, and the response is received in error in 302, 303, 305, 3
By controlling to divide the message into the messages transmitted in step 07, objects that can be processed normally on the agent side are processed normally, so that the efficiency of network management and acquisition and setting of software data can be improved. It is possible to dramatically improve.

The network management software according to the present invention described above is executed by a PC 701 in FIG. 7 which is a block diagram showing a configuration of a PC on which the network management software can operate, by a program installed from the outside. Is also good. In this case, the program is stored in a storage medium such as a CD-ROM, a flash memory or a floppy disk, or an information group including the program from an external storage medium via a network such as e-mail or personal computer communication.
The present invention is applied even when the data is loaded on the PC 701 and supplied to the PC 701.

FIG. 9 shows a CD-RO as an example of a storage medium.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a memory map of M. An area 903 stores directory information, and indicates the positions of an area 902 storing the subsequent installation program and an area 901 storing the network management software. An area 902 stores an installation program. An area 901 stores network management software. When the network management software of the present invention is installed in the PC 701, first, the installation program stored in the area 902 storing the installation program is loaded into the system and executed by the CPU 702.
Next, the installation program executed by the CPU 702 reads the network management software from the area 901 storing the network management software, and stores the network management software on the hard disk 712.

The present invention can be applied to a system or an integrated device including a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a reader, etc.).
You may apply to the apparatus which consists of one apparatus.

A storage medium storing software program codes for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus, and a computer (or CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus is stored in the storage medium. Needless to say, the object of the present invention can be achieved by reading and executing the program code.

In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the novel function of the present invention, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a floppy disk, hard disk, optical disk, magnetic disk, CD-ROM, CD
-R, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM, or the like can be used.

The functions of the above-described embodiments are implemented when the computer executes the readout program codes, and the OS or the like running on the computer performs actual processing based on the instructions of the program codes. The functions of the above-described embodiment can be realized by performing a part or all of the above.

Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written into a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, based on the instruction of the program code, A CPU or the like provided in the function expansion board or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the functions of the above-described embodiments can also be realized by the processing.

The present invention is applicable to a case where the program is distributed from a storage medium storing a program code of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments to a requester via a communication line such as a personal computer communication. Needless to say, this can also be applied.

A printing apparatus to which the present invention is applied may be a laser beam printer. FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view showing the internal structure of a laser beam printer (hereinafter abbreviated as LBP) in this case. The LBP can input character pattern data or the like and print it on recording paper.

In FIG. 10, reference numeral 1040 denotes an LBP main body, which forms an image on a recording paper as a recording medium based on a supplied character pattern or the like. Reference numeral 1000 denotes an operation panel on which switches for operation and an LED display are arranged, and 1001 denotes a printer control unit for controlling the entire LBP 1040 and analyzing character pattern information and the like. The printer control unit 1001 mainly converts character pattern information into a video signal and outputs the video signal to the laser driver 1002.

The laser driver 1002 is the semiconductor laser 1
003 is a circuit for driving the laser beam 1003, which switches on / off a laser beam 1004 emitted from the semiconductor laser 1003 in accordance with an input video signal. Laser light 100
Reference numeral 4 denotes a rotating polygon mirror 1005 which scans on the electrostatic drum 1006 while being swung right and left. Thereby, the electrostatic drum 10
On 06, an electrostatic latent image of a character pattern is formed.

This latent image is developed by a developing unit 1007 around the electrostatic drum 1006 and then transferred to a recording sheet. A cut sheet is used as the recording paper, and the cut sheet recording paper is stored in a paper cassette 1008 corresponding to a plurality of types of papers mounted on the LBP 1040.
009 and the transfer rollers 1010 and 1011 are taken into the apparatus and supplied to the electrostatic drum 1006.

The printing apparatus according to the present embodiment has been described by taking a laser beam printer as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be applied to an ink jet printer described below. FIG. 11 is a schematic view of the inkjet recording apparatus IJRA. In the figure, a driving force transmission gear 501 is linked with a forward / reverse rotation of a driving motor 5013.
Lead screw 500 rotating via 1,5009
The carriage HC engaged with the fifth spiral groove 5004 has a pin (not shown), and is reciprocated in the directions of arrows a and b. An ink jet cartridge IJC is mounted on the carriage HC. Reference numeral 5002 denotes a paper holding plate, which platens the paper 500 in the moving direction of the carriage.
Press against 0. Reference numerals 5007 and 5008 denote home position detecting means for confirming the presence of the carriage lever 5006 in this area and switching the rotation direction of the motor 5013. Reference numeral 5016 denotes a member that supports a cap member 5022 that caps the front surface of the recording head. Reference numeral 5015 denotes suction means that suctions the inside of the cap, and performs suction recovery of the recording head through an opening 5023 in the cap. Reference numeral 5017 denotes a cleaning blade. Reference numeral 5019 denotes a member which allows the blade to move in the front-rear direction. These members are supported by a main body support plate 5018. It goes without saying that the blade is not limited to this form and a known cleaning blade can be applied to this example.
Reference numeral 5021 denotes a lever for starting suction for recovery of suction, which moves with the movement of the cam 5020 which engages with the carriage, and controls the movement of the driving force from the drive motor by a known transmission means such as clutch switching. Is done. These capping, cleaning, and suction recovery are performed when the carriage comes to the area on the home position side.
It is configured such that desired operations can be performed at those corresponding positions by the operation of 05. However, if desired operations are performed at well-known timing, any of the embodiments can be applied.

Next, a control configuration for executing the recording control of the above-described apparatus will be described with reference to a block diagram shown in FIG. In the figure showing the control circuit, 170
Reference numeral 0 denotes an interface for inputting a print signal, 1701 denotes an MPU, 1702 denotes a program ROM for storing a control program executed by the MPU 1701, and 1703 stores various data (such as the print signal and print data supplied to the head). It is a dynamic ROM. 1
A gate array 704 controls supply of print data to the print head 1708.
00, data transfer control between the MPU 1701 and the RAM 1703 is also performed. Reference numeral 1710 denotes a carrier motor for transporting the recording head 1708, and reference numeral 1709 denotes a transport motor for transporting the recording paper. Reference numeral 1705 denotes a head driver for driving the head, and 1706 and 1707 denote transport motors 1 respectively.
709, a motor driver for driving the carrier motor 1710;

The operation of the above control configuration will be described. When a recording signal is input to the interface 1700, the gate array 1
The recording signal is converted into recording data for printing between the 704 and the MPU 1701. And the motor driver 1
The printheads 706 and 1707 are driven, and the printhead is driven according to the print data sent to the head driver 1705 to perform printing.

The components of the present invention can be incorporated into the above-described control structure of the ink jet printer, and it is apparent that the present invention can be applied not only to the laser beam printer but also to the above ink jet printer and the like.

Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written into a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, based on the instructions of the program code, It goes without saying that the CPU included in the function expansion board or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

[0090]

As described above, the network device control apparatus and method including the network management software according to the present invention provide an appropriate S by user operation.
NMP message (GetRequest, SetRequest, GetNextR
equest), sends an SNMP message (GetResponse) as a response from the agent to the sent SNMP message, determines whether the received response is an error, and determines whether the received response is an error. It is determined whether the transmitted SNMP message includes a plurality of objects, and if it is determined that the transmitted message includes a plurality of objects, the message is divided into a single object, and the divided single By generating and sending an SNMP message for each object,
Even when the agent side cannot normally process one or several objects among the plurality of requested objects, the processing is normally performed at least on the objects that can be normally processed.

Further, the network device control apparatus and method including the network management software according to the present invention transmits an SNMP message for transmitting an appropriate SNMP message (GetRequest, SetRequest, GetNextRequest) according to a user operation, and responds to the transmitted SNMP message. S as response from agent
Receives an NMP message (GetResponse), determines whether the received response is an error, and if the received response is an error, determines whether the received SNMP message includes a plurality of objects and receives the received response. If we determine that a message contains multiple objects, we split it into a single object,
By generating and transmitting an SNMP message for each of the divided single objects, even if the agent side cannot normally process one or several objects among the plurality of requested objects, at least normally process the objects. The processing is normally performed for the object that can be used.

Thus, even when it is impossible to process a part of all the objects requested by the agent, data can be normally obtained and set for the objects which can be processed at least, and the network management software And the efficiency of data acquisition and setting is greatly improved.

[0093]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart when the network management software according to the present invention requests acquisition and setting of data for a plurality of objects by one SNMP message.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a PDU data format (other than Trap-PDU) of an SNMP message.

FIG. 3 is a sequence diagram in a case where the network management software according to the present invention requests data setting for a plurality of objects by one SNMP message.

FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram when a manager requests data setting for a plurality of objects by one SNMP message.

FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram when the manager requests data setting for a plurality of objects by one SNMP message (when the agent does not accept setting of information for some objects).

FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram showing the structure of an MIB.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a PC on which network management software according to the present invention can operate.

FIG. 8 is a module configuration diagram of network management software according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a memory map of a CD-ROM as an example of a storage medium.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a laser beam printer.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an ink jet printer.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating control of the printer.

[Explanation of symbols]

700 Local area network (LAN) 701 PC on which network management software runs 702 CPU 703 ROM 704 RAM 705 System bus 706 Keyboard controller (KBC) 707 CRT controller (CRTC) 708 Disk controller (DKC) 709 Network interface card (NIC) 710 Keyboard (KB) 711 CRT display (CRT) 712 Hard disk (HD) 713 Floppy disk drive (FD) 801 Device list module 802 Overall control module 803 Configurator 804 Search module 805 NetWare job module 806 UI module A 807 UI module B 808 Control module A 809 control module B 810 MIB handling module 811 SNMP protocol module 812 Common transport module 813 IPX handler 814 UDP handler 815 Current protocol used by configurator 603 816 NetWare API 817 WinSock

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code FI H04L 29/06 H04L 13/00 305Z

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. Appropriate SNMP according to user's operation
An SNMP message transmitting step of transmitting a message; and an SNMP receiving an SNMP message as a response from an agent to the SNMP message transmitted in the SNMP message transmitting step.
A message receiving step, a received message analyzing step of determining whether or not the SNMP message received in the SNMP message receiving step is an error; and an SN receiving in the received message analyzing step.
When the MP message is an error, an object number analyzing step of determining whether or not the SNMP message transmitted in the SNMP message transmitting step includes a plurality of objects;
When it is determined that the NMP message includes a plurality of objects, a single object dividing step of dividing the object into a single object; and generating and transmitting an SNMP message for each of the divided single objects A method for controlling a network device, comprising: an SNMP message division transmission step. 2. An appropriate SNMP according to a user operation
SNMP message transmitting means for transmitting a message, and SNMP for receiving an SNMP message as a response from an agent to the SNMP message transmitted in the SNMP message transmitting step
Message receiving means; and the SN received by the SNMP message receiving means.
Received message analyzing means for determining whether the MP message is an error, and SNMP received by the received message analyzing means
When the message is an error, the object number analyzing means for determining whether or not the SNMP message transmitted by the SNMP message transmitting means includes a plurality of objects;
When it is determined that a plurality of objects are included in the P message, a single object dividing step of dividing the object into a single object; and generating and transmitting an SNMP message for each of the divided single objects A network device control apparatus, comprising: an SNMP message division transmitting unit. 3. An appropriate SNMP according to a user operation
An SNMP message transmitting step of transmitting a message; and an SNMP receiving an SNMP message as a response from an agent to the SNMP message transmitted in the SNMP message transmitting step.
A message receiving step, a received message analyzing step of determining whether or not the SNMP message received in the SNMP message receiving step is an error; and an SN receiving in the received message analyzing step.
When the MP message is an error, an object number analyzing step of determining whether or not the SNMP message received in the SNMP message receiving step includes a plurality of objects;
When it is determined that the NMP message includes a plurality of objects, a single object dividing step of dividing the object into a single object; and generating and transmitting an SNMP message for each of the divided single objects A method for controlling a network device, comprising: an SNMP message division transmission step. 4. An appropriate SNMP according to a user operation
SNMP message transmitting means for transmitting a message, and SNMP for receiving an SNMP message as a response from an agent to the SNMP message transmitted in the SNMP message transmitting step
Message receiving means; and the SN received by the SNMP message receiving means.
Received message analyzing means for determining whether the MP message is an error, and SNMP received by the received message analyzing means
When the message is an error, the object number analyzing means for determining whether or not a plurality of objects are included in the SNMP message received by the SNMP message receiving means;
When it is determined that a plurality of objects are included in the P message, a single object dividing step of dividing the object into a single object; and generating and transmitting an SNMP message for each of the divided single objects A network device control apparatus, comprising: an SNMP message division transmitting unit. 5. An appropriate SN by an operation from the user
MP message is GetRequest, SetRequest, GetNextReq
4. The network device control method according to claim 1, wherein the network device is a uest. 6. An appropriate SN by an operation from the user
MP message is GetRequest, SetRequest, GetNextReq
5. The network device control device according to claim 2, wherein the device is a uest. 7. An appropriate SNMP according to a user operation
An SNMP message transmitting step of transmitting a message; and an SNMP receiving an SNMP message as a response from an agent to the SNMP message transmitted in the SNMP message transmitting step.
A message receiving step, a received message analyzing step of determining whether or not the SNMP message received in the SNMP message receiving step is an error; and an SN receiving in the received message analyzing step.
When the MP message is an error, an object number analyzing step of determining whether or not the SNMP message transmitted in the SNMP message transmitting step includes a plurality of objects;
When it is determined that the NMP message includes a plurality of objects, a single object dividing step of dividing the object into a single object; and generating and transmitting an SNMP message for each of the divided single objects A recording medium on which is recorded a program for causing a computer to execute an SNMP message division transmission step. 8. An appropriate SNMP according to a user operation
An SNMP message transmitting step of transmitting a message; and an SNMP receiving an SNMP message as a response from an agent to the SNMP message transmitted in the SNMP message transmitting step.
A message receiving step, a received message analyzing step of determining whether or not the SNMP message received in the SNMP message receiving step is an error; and an SN receiving in the received message analyzing step.
When the MP message is an error, an object number analyzing step of determining whether or not the SNMP message received in the SNMP message receiving step includes a plurality of objects;
When it is determined that the NMP message includes a plurality of objects, a single object dividing step of dividing the object into a single object; and generating and transmitting an SNMP message for each of the divided single objects A recording medium on which is recorded a program for causing a computer to execute an SNMP message division transmission step.