KR20060065240A - Controlled device including agent, control apparatus thereof and method for upgrading agent automatically - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed are an automatic upgrade method of a remote management agent mounted on a controlled device managed by a remote management system and performing an operation such as monitoring / control on the controlled device, and a remote management system using the same.

A remote management system having an automatic upgrade function of a remote management agent according to the present invention may request a registration inquiry of a new agent, receive a new agent, and perform a new upgrade according to a request of the remote management agent and the remote management agent. It includes a remote management server that checks whether the agent is registered, and transmits a new agent to the agent.

According to the present invention, a plurality of agents installed in various controlled devices can be upgraded automatically or immediately to a new version at the request of an administrator.

Description

Controlled device including agent, control device controlling the same, and agent automatic upgrade method {Controlled device including agent, control apparatus about and method for upgrading agent automatically}

1 is a view schematically showing the overall configuration of a remote management system according to the present invention.

Figure 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a remote management server according to the present invention.

Figure 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a remote management agent according to the present invention.

4 is a flowchart illustrating an automatic upgrade method of a remote management agent and an operation of a remote management system using the same according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a flowchart illustrating an automatic upgrade method of a remote management agent and an operation of a remote management system using the same according to another embodiment of the present invention.

The present invention relates to a remote management system, and more particularly, to a controlled device managed by a remote management system, a control device for controlling the same, and an automatic upgrade method of an agent mounted on the controlled device.

The remote management system is used for the purpose of remotely managing various devices (hereinafter referred to as "controlled equipment"), such as electronic measuring instruments, medical devices, construction equipment, fuel tanks, and printers, which are scattered throughout the industry. to be.

The remote management system can reduce the maintenance cost of the device by performing the management / control of the controlled device, such as monitoring, diagnosis, control, software upgrade, etc. at a remote location, and detects a possible failure in advance This prevents the system from running smoothly.

The controlled device, which is a management target of the remote management system, is equipped with a remote management agent to perform a command from a remote administrator instead.

The remote management agent is a kind of software module, and exists in various forms according to the platform of the controlled device on which the remote management agent is mounted.

In the operation of such a remote management system, it is necessary to upgrade the remote management agent along with a server and a management console of the remote management system due to a change in user's request and environment.

Conventionally, in order to upgrade the remote management agent, a system operator directly visits a place where the controlled device is located and upgrades the remote management agent in operation to a new version, or a user directly executes the upgrade function on the controlled device. The new version of the remote management agent was downloaded and replaced using a transfer method such as FTP / TFTP (File Transfer Protocol / Trivial File Transfer Protocol).

However, the former upgrade method is inconvenient for the system operator to go to the place where the controlled device is located and upgrade the remote management agent. The upgrade process is a difficult process requiring a high level of expertise and expertise corresponding to a program developer, and wastes a lot of time and manpower in the upgrade process. In addition, under a management environment in which various types of controlled devices are mixed, an operator must have knowledge of each of the different types of remote management agents mounted for each controlled device.

In addition, in the latter upgrade method, there is no inconvenience in that a system operator or the like directly visits a remote management agent, but a process of requesting the upgrade and downloading a new remote management agent is performed manually. That is, the worker directly finds the controlled device and executes the upgrade process, or the owner of the controlled device having no specialized knowledge has to execute the upgrade directly.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above problems, the controlled device capable of upgrading the self-installed agent to a new version of the agent without the user's involvement, the control device and the automatic upgrade of the agent to control it The purpose is to provide a method.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a controlled device, a control device for controlling the same, and an automatic upgrade method of an agent for managing the controlled devices of multiple environments simultaneously under a single integrated management environment.

In order to solve the above technical problem, the controlled device of the present invention includes: a scheduler for outputting an agent inquiry / request message to a remote management server to inquire whether a new agent is registered; And an agent exchange unit configured to receive a new agent from the remote management server and upgrade the agent.

The agent inquiry / request message preferably includes platform code of the controlled device on which the agent is mounted and version information of the current agent.

The scheduler periodically outputs an agent inquiry / request message at regular time intervals or receives an upgrade command from the remote management server to initiate a request for registration of a new agent.

In addition, the control device according to the present invention comprises an agent storage unit for storing the agent mounted in the controlled device; The agent distribution server checks whether a new agent is registered in the agent storage unit according to a registration request inquiry of the controlled device, and downloads a new agent from the agent storage unit and transmits the new agent to the controlled device.

The agent storage unit preferably further comprises an agent registration management unit for controlling the registration, modification and deletion of the agent.

The agent registration management unit, a distribution management console for providing a user interface; And an agent management server that registers, modifies, and deletes an agent in the agent storage unit according to an administrator's command through the distribution management console.

Preferably, the distribution management console transmits an administrator's upgrade command to the controlled device.

In addition, the agent automatic upgrade method according to the present invention, when viewed based on the controlled device, requesting the remote management server to check whether the registration of the new agent; In response to the request, receiving a new agent from the remote management server in the presence of the new agent; And performing an upgrade using the received new agent.

Inquiry whether the registration of the new agent is periodically performed at a predetermined time interval, or preferably to be initiated according to the upgrade command of the remote administrator.

In addition, in another aspect, the automatic agent upgrade method according to the present invention includes the steps of checking whether a new agent is registered according to a request from a controlled device, when viewed based on a control device; And as a result of the checking of the step, transmitting the new agent to the controlled device so that the new agent can be upgraded in the controlled device in the presence of a registered new agent.

In addition, the remote management system according to the present invention includes a remote management agent for requesting whether a new agent is registered or not; And a remote management server that checks whether a new agent is registered at the request of the remote management agent and transmits the new agent to the agent.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

First, in describing the present invention, a remote management agent refers to an agent mounted in a controlled device, among other agents.

1 is a view schematically showing the overall configuration of a remote management system according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, a remote management system according to the present invention includes a controlled device 100, 110, 120 and a remote management server 200 connected through a network such as the Internet.

The controlled devices 100, 110, and 120 are equipped with remote management agents 101, 111, and 121 for performing commands of administrators at remote locations, respectively. The remote management agent (101, 111, 121) should be mounted in a form operable according to the platform of the controlled device (100, 110, 120). For example, the remote management agent mounted depending on whether the operating system of the controlled device (100, 110, 120) is Linux (Linux), Windows (Windows), embedded OS (embedded OS).

In the remote management system according to the present invention, a method of automatically upgrading the remote management agents 101, 111, and 121 is largely divided into two methods.

First, the remote management agent (101, 111, 121) transmits an agent inquiry / request message to the remote management server 200 to check whether there is the latest version of the agent according to its platform at regular intervals, the remote management server After receiving the message and checking whether the latest version of the agent exists, the remote management agent 101, 111, 121 is upgraded to the latest agent by transmitting the latest version of the agent back to the remote management agent 101, 111, 121. to be.

Second, the administrator of the remote management server 200 instructs the upgrade command for one or a plurality of agents, and the remote management agent receiving the upgrade command inquires the agent of the remote management server 200 as in the first method. When the request message is transmitted, the remote management server 200 checks whether the latest version of the agent exists and transmits the latest version of the agent to the remote management agent.

In the second method, when a remote administrator sends an upgrade command to each agent, similarly to the first method, the remote management agent receiving the upgrade command inquires of the latest version of the agent from the remote management server. The upgrade process is performed by request, which is different from the prior art in which the user of the controlled device directly executes the upgrade process.

2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the remote management server 200.

2, the remote management server 200 according to the present invention includes an agent registration management unit 210, an agent storage unit 220, and an agent distribution server 230.

The agent registration manager 210 registers a new agent in the agent storage 220 or performs agent registration / management, such as modifying or deleting an agent stored in the agent storage 220.

Specifically, the agent registration management unit 210 includes a distribution management console 212 and the agent management server 214.

The distribution management console 212 provides a user interface for the administrator 250 to query, delete, or modify an agent currently registered in the agent storage unit 220. In addition, as described below, the manager 250 transmits an upgrade command to one or more remote management agents through the distribution management console 212 so that the upgrade of the remote management agent mounted in the controlled device is performed. You can also control it.

The agent management server 214 is a part that receives a command of the manager 250 input through the distribution management console 212 and performs a corresponding operation. That is, according to the command of the manager 250 input through the distribution management console 212, it registers a new agent in the agent storage unit 220, or performs an operation such as modifying and deleting the existing agent.

The agent storage unit 220 stores an agent mounted in the controlled device, and is controlled by the agent registration management unit 210 as described above.

In addition, the agent storage unit 220 classifies and stores an agent list for each platform of the controlled device, and stores each agent file in a predetermined folder. In addition, the agent storage unit 220 serves to check the latest version of the agent file in response to a request from the agent distribution server 230 and transmit it to the agent distribution server 230 as will be described later. .

The agent distribution server 230 confirms whether the new agent is registered in the agent storage unit 220 according to the agent inquiry / request message of the remote management agent 240, and from the agent storage unit 220. The new agent is downloaded and transmitted to the remote management agent 240.

3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the remote management agent 240.

Referring to FIG. 3, the remote management agent 240 includes a scheduler 242 and an agent exchange unit 244.

The scheduler 242 periodically outputs an agent inquiry / request message requesting confirmation and download of a new agent to the agent distribution server 230 according to a predetermined time unit, or the distribution management console. When the administrator instructs the upgrade command through 212, the agent inquiry / request message is output according to the upgrade command. Here, the periodically outputting the agent inquiry / request message according to a predetermined time unit is based on the upgrade method according to the first method described above, and is output by the distribution management console 212 according to the administrator's upgrade command. This is due to the upgrade method according to the second method.

The agent inquiry / request message includes the platform code of the agent transmitting the message and information on the current agent version.

The agent distribution server 230 requests the agent storage unit 220 of the latest version of the agent suitable for the platform of the remote management agent by using the platform code and the current agent version included in the agent inquiry / request message.

The agent storage unit 220 receiving the request transmits the latest version of the agent to the agent distribution server 230, and the agent distribution server 230 transmits an agent inquiry / request message remotely. The agent exchange unit 244 of the management agent 240 transmits the latest version of the agent.

The agent exchange unit 244 downloads the latest version of the agent from the agent distribution server 230 and performs the upgrade.

4 is a flowchart illustrating an automatic upgrade method of a remote management agent and an operation of a remote management system using the same according to an embodiment of the present invention. 4 is by the first upgrade method described above.

Referring to FIG. 4, the scheduler 242 of the agent periodically outputs an agent inquiry message to the agent distribution server 230 to check whether a new agent is registered in the agent storage 220 (step 300). ). As described above, the agent inquiry message includes the platform code of the remote management agent and the version information of the current remote management agent.

Upon receiving the agent inquiry message, the agent distribution server 230 requests whether a new agent is registered in the agent storage unit 220 using the platform code and current remote management agent version information (step 310).

Specifically, the agent distribution server 230 retrieves a list of agents registered with the agent storage unit 220 having the same platform code as that of the requesting remote management agent, and the current version within the result. Search for a higher version agent.

If there is a new agent as a result of the search, the new agent is downloaded from the agent storage unit 220 and transmitted to the request remote management agent (step 320).

When the download of the new agent file from the agent distribution server 230 is completed, the existing remote management agent executes the agent exchange unit 244 (step 330), and the existing remote management agent is terminated (step 340).

The agent exchange unit 244 performs the upgrade by replacing the existing remote management agent with the downloaded new agent (step 350), drives the new agent after the upgrade is completed (step 360), and ends by itself.

5 is a flowchart illustrating an automatic upgrade method of a remote management agent and an operation of a remote management system using the same according to another embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 4, the scheduler 242 outputs an agent inquiry / request message at regular intervals in order to check whether a new agent is inquired. In the second upgrade method of FIG. Indicates the upgrade, the remote management agent 240 initiates the output of the agent inquiry / request message. It is similar to the first agent upgrade method described in FIG. 4 except for the above difference.

Specifically, the remote manager 250 instructs the remote management agent 240 mounted in the controlled device through the distribution management console 212 (step 400).

The scheduler 242 of the remote management agent 240 receiving the upgrade instruction outputs an agent inquiry / request message to the agent distribution server 230 to inquire whether a new agent is registered (step 410).

After the above step, the agent distribution server 230 requests the agent storage unit 220 to check whether the new agent is registered, and downloads the new agent and performs the upgrade (steps 420 to 470). The same description as in the steps 320 to 360 of FIG. 4 will be omitted.

As described above, the present invention may be applied to a home network environment to integrate various home network-connected home appliances including home gateway / home server in each home to provide homeowners with maintenance and various services. In addition, it can be applied to remote management systems throughout other industries, so that multiple agents installed in various controlled devices can be automatically upgraded to a new version automatically or at the request of an administrator.

On the other hand, the automatic upgrade method of the remote management agent according to the present invention can be implemented as computer-readable code on a computer-readable recording medium. The computer-readable recording medium includes all kinds of recording devices in which data that can be read by a computer system is stored. Examples of computer-readable recording media include ROM, RAM, CD-ROM, magnetic tape, floppy disks, optical data storage devices, and also in the form of carrier waves (eg, transmission over the Internet). It includes what is implemented. The computer readable recording medium can also be distributed over network coupled computer systems so that the computer readable code is stored and executed in a distributed fashion.

According to the present invention as described above, a plurality of agents mounted on various controlled devices can be automatically upgraded to a new version automatically or at the request of an administrator.

In addition, different types of agents installed in heterogeneous devices can be upgraded for each version so that the controlled devices can be managed simultaneously under a single integrated management environment. In the remote management system according to the present invention, it is possible to upgrade the agents in various environments with a minimum of operations, thereby reducing the cost of system maintenance.

Claims (15)

In a controlled device having an agent for controlled control in a remote management system environment, A scheduler that outputs an agent inquiry / request message to a remote management server to query whether a new agent is registered; And And an agent exchange unit for receiving a new agent from the remote management server and performing an upgrade of the agent. The method of claim 1, The agent inquiry / request message includes: And a platform code of the controlled device equipped with the agent and version information of the current agent. The method of claim 1, And the scheduler periodically outputs an agent inquiry / request message at predetermined time intervals. The method of claim 1, And the scheduler receives an upgrade command from the remote management server and initiates an inquiry request for registration of a new agent. In a control device for controlling a controlled device in a remote management system environment, An agent storage unit for storing an agent mounted on the controlled device; The agent distribution server checks whether a new agent is registered in the agent storage unit in response to a registration request inquiry of the controlled device, and downloads a new agent from the agent storage unit and transmits the new agent to the controlled device. Control device, characterized in that. The method of claim 5, And an agent registration manager for controlling the registration, modification, and deletion of the agent in the agent storage unit. The method of claim 6, The agent registration management unit, A distribution management console providing a user interface; And And an agent management server configured to register, modify, and delete an agent in the agent storage unit according to a command of an administrator through the distribution management console. The method of claim 7, wherein The distribution management console is characterized in that for transmitting the upgrade command of the administrator to the controlled device. In the agent automatic upgrade method of the controlled device in the remote management system environment, Requesting whether a new agent is registered to the remote management server; In response to the request, receiving a new agent from the remote management server in the presence of the new agent; And The agent automatic upgrade method of the controlled device comprising the step of performing an upgrade using the received new agent. The method of claim 9, The automatic agent upgrade method of the controlled device, characterized in that the inquiry of the registration of the new agent is performed periodically at a predetermined time interval. The method of claim 9, Inquiry whether the registration of the new agent is automatically agent upgrade method of the controlled device, characterized in that initiated in accordance with the upgrade command of the remote administrator. In the agent automatic upgrade method of the controlled device in the remote management system environment, Checking whether a new agent is registered according to a request from the controlled device; And transmitting the new agent to the controlled device so that the new agent can be upgraded in the controlled device in the presence of the registered new agent. The method of claim 12, Inquiry whether the new agent registration whether the automatic upgrade method, characterized in that performed periodically at a predetermined time interval. The method of claim 12, The inquiry of whether the new agent is registered is initiated according to an upgrade command of a remote administrator. In the remote management system, A remote management agent requesting to check whether a new agent is registered and receiving upgrade to perform upgrade; And And a remote management server that checks whether a new agent is registered at the request of the remote management agent and transmits the new agent to the agent.

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