WO2002099683A1 - Procedes destines a l'affichage de la topologie d'un reseau physique et de l'etat d'un environnement par emplacement, organisation ou partie responsable - Google Patents

Procedes destines a l'affichage de la topologie d'un reseau physique et de l'etat d'un environnement par emplacement, organisation ou partie responsable Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2002099683A1
WO2002099683A1 PCT/US2002/009179 US0209179W WO02099683A1 WO 2002099683 A1 WO2002099683 A1 WO 2002099683A1 US 0209179 W US0209179 W US 0209179W WO 02099683 A1 WO02099683 A1 WO 02099683A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
server
data
network
client machine
appliances
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/US2002/009179
Other languages
English (en)
Inventor
Sloan A. Childers
John Elderton
Michael Primm
Original Assignee
Netbotz, Inc.
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Netbotz, Inc. filed Critical Netbotz, Inc.
Publication of WO2002099683A1 publication Critical patent/WO2002099683A1/fr

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L43/00—Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
    • H04L43/12—Network monitoring probes
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L41/00—Arrangements for maintenance, administration or management of data switching networks, e.g. of packet switching networks
    • H04L41/02—Standardisation; Integration
    • H04L41/0213—Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L41/00—Arrangements for maintenance, administration or management of data switching networks, e.g. of packet switching networks
    • H04L41/02—Standardisation; Integration
    • H04L41/024—Standardisation; Integration using relational databases for representation of network management data, e.g. managing via structured query language [SQL]
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L67/00—Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
    • H04L67/01—Protocols
    • H04L67/02—Protocols based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L67/00—Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
    • H04L67/01—Protocols
    • H04L67/02—Protocols based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
    • H04L67/025—Protocols based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP] for remote control or remote monitoring of applications
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L67/00—Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
    • H04L67/01—Protocols
    • H04L67/12—Protocols specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L67/00—Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
    • H04L67/50—Network services
    • H04L67/75—Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L69/00—Network arrangements, protocols or services independent of the application payload and not provided for in the other groups of this subclass
    • H04L69/30—Definitions, standards or architectural aspects of layered protocol stacks
    • H04L69/32—Architecture of open systems interconnection [OSI] 7-layer type protocol stacks, e.g. the interfaces between the data link level and the physical level
    • H04L69/322—Intralayer communication protocols among peer entities or protocol data unit [PDU] definitions
    • H04L69/329—Intralayer communication protocols among peer entities or protocol data unit [PDU] definitions in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L43/00—Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
    • H04L43/04—Processing captured monitoring data, e.g. for logfile generation
    • H04L43/045—Processing captured monitoring data, e.g. for logfile generation for graphical visualisation of monitoring data
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L43/00—Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
    • H04L43/06—Generation of reports
    • H04L43/065—Generation of reports related to network devices
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L43/00—Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
    • H04L43/08—Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
    • H04L43/0805—Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters by checking availability
    • H04L43/0817—Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters by checking availability by checking functioning
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L43/00—Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
    • H04L43/10—Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route
    • H04L43/106—Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route using time related information in packets, e.g. by adding timestamps
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L67/00—Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
    • H04L67/34—Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications involving the movement of software or configuration parameters 

Definitions

  • This invention relates in general to a system and method for monitoring network equipment. More specifically, the invention relates to a system and method of monitoring network-enabled sensor equipment from a remote location.
  • Typical problems include localized environmental excesses leading to failure. Another problem is theft.
  • Typical monitoring solutions do not provide for video imaging of remote server locations over a network.
  • Computer equipment is typically placed in server rooms for two reasons: security and environmental control. Remote video imaging of a server room over a network can provide for maintaining security of the equipment despite the lack of a physical presence on site.
  • a typical computer room can house hundreds of devices, ranging from expensive server grade computers to bridges, routers, uninterruptible power supplies and telephone equipment.
  • a server room's environment requires monitoring because out-of- limit environmental variables can eventually affect the equipment in the room. For example, high temperatures, humidity (for example, from water leaks), or lack of airflow can detrimentally affect the equipment.
  • alarms such as smoke and fire alarms, or the status of room openings, are important to determine. While the expense of replacing server room components if they fail is great, currently existing monitoring solutions are not cost effective for smaller-sized companies to implement despite the potential costs of such losses.
  • the system may have a server.
  • the server may be in communication with a network appliance. Further, the server may be in communication with the client machine.
  • the server may function to download sensory data from the network appliance or appliances and store the information. Further, the server may function to upload configuration data to the network appliance or appliances.
  • the server may communicate with the client machine.
  • the server may transfer software to the client machine.
  • the software may permit the client machine to access sensory data on the server and to manipulate configuration data.
  • the server, network appliance, and client may communicate through an interconnected network.
  • the interconnected network may be a global network, wireless network, wide area network, and local area network, among others.
  • the server may be in commumcation with the network appliances. Further, the server may be in communication with the client machine. A server may download information from the network appliances associated with sensor data. Further, the server may upload configuration data to the network appliances. A server may also supply software to the client machine. The software may enable the client machine to access data on the server, manipulate the data, display the data and change configuration data associated with the network appliances.
  • the server may also have map configuration data. These data may be transferred to the client machine and used to display data associated with the network appliances. Further, the data may be displayed as icons arranged on a display. These icons may be organized in a manner that represents physical location, status, and function, among others. Furthermore, these icons may be superimposed on a graphic element.
  • the graphic element may be a map, an image, or a plot, among others.
  • the server may also function to store image data associated with the network appliances.
  • the image data may be stored in a manner that associates the image data with other sensory data or sensory events occurring on the network appliances.
  • the image data may be a still image, an infrared image or a movie, among others.
  • the software may be acquired from the server.
  • the software may enable the client machine to access information associated with the network appliances. This information may be sensory data and/or configuration data, among others.
  • the software may also enable the client machine to display the data.
  • the data may be displayed in the form of a map, a graph, or a table, among others.
  • the software may also enable the client machine to manipulate data, map configuration data, and configurations associated with network appliances, among others.
  • the client may customize a map by specifying the organization of icons associated with network appliances and their data associated therewith. Alternately, the client may manipulate the access of other users to the map.
  • the client may also manipulate configurations associated with network appliances by changing a parameter associated with several network appliances to a same value for each of the several network appliances.
  • the client may also manipulate a graph, such that data associated with multiple sensors from multiple network appliances may be displayed.
  • the client may also display image data associated with sensors and/or physical events associated with the network appliances.
  • the map configuration data may be automatically generated or configured by a client, among others. Further, the map configuration data may have restricted permissions such that the map may be viewable by one or few other users. Further, the map may have a configuration such that users are given varying permissions associated with viewing and changing the map.
  • the map may also display icons super imposed over a background. For example, the background may depict a map of a physical location over which icons are displayed representing the physical location of an associated network appliance.
  • the method may include changing a parameter associated with several network appliances to a same value for each network appliance.
  • a client machine may perform the change.
  • the change may then be stored on a server.
  • a network appliance may then ping the server.
  • the server may respond with new configuration data.
  • the network appliance may respond with a confirmation and the server may respond to the confirmation with additional data, if available.
  • the graph may be a graph of data associated with network appliances.
  • the graph may be displayed on client machine.
  • the graph may be associated with various sensors associated with multiple appliances.
  • the sensors may be of a same type, a varying type, or a combination of types, among others.
  • the image may be acquired from a image acquisition enabled network appliance.
  • the network appliance may acquire the image in response to an event on another network appliance, or the same network appliance, or combinations of network appliances, among others.
  • the image may be transferred to a server for storage.
  • a server may store the image in a manner such that the image is associated with the event! Further, the image may be stored such that it is associated with a time the image was taken, the time of the event, or other factors. Further, the image may be associated with various network appliances. As such, a system for remote monitoring of network equipment is described.
  • Figure 1 is a schematic block diagram of a system, according to the invention.
  • Figure 2 A is a schematic block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of the system as seen in Figure 1;
  • Figure 2B is another schematic block diagram of another exemplary embodiment of the system as seen in Figure 1 ;
  • Figure 2C is a schematic block diagram of a further exemplary embodiment of the system as seen in Figure 1 ;
  • Figure 3 A is a block flow diagram of an exemplary method for use by the system as seen in Figure 1;
  • Figure 3B is a block flow diagram of an exemplary method for use by the system as seen in Figure 1 ;
  • Figure 4 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of the client as seen in Figurel ;
  • FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of the server as seen in Figure
  • Figure 6 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a network appliance as seen in Figure 1 ;
  • Figure 7 is a schematic block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a map as seen in Figure 5;
  • Figure 8 A is schematic block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of the map as seen in Figure 7;
  • Figure 8B is a schematic block diagram of another exemplary embodiment of the map as seen in Figure 7;
  • Figure 8C is a schematic block diagram of a further exemplary embodiment of the map as seen in Figure 7;
  • Figure 8D is a schematic block diagram of another exemplary embodiment of the map as seen in Figure 7;
  • Figure 9A is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a configuration of several network appliances as seen in Figure 5;
  • Figure 9B is a block diagram of another exemplary embodiment of a configuration as seen in Figure 5;
  • Figure 10 is a block flow diagram of an exemplary method for use by the system as seen in Figure 1 ;
  • Figure 11 is a block flow diagram of an exemplary method for use by the system as seen in Figure 1 ;
  • Figure 12 is a schematic diagram of a exemplary embodiment of a grouping according to Figure 5;
  • Figure 13 A is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a display for use by the system of Figure 4;
  • Figure 13B is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a display for use by the system as seen in Figure 4;
  • Figure 13 C is a block diagram of a further exemplary embodiment of a display for use by the system as seen in Figure 4;
  • Figure 14 is a chart of an exemplary embodiment as displayed by the system of Figure 4.
  • Figure 15 is a schematic block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a display for use by the system of Figure 4.
  • FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of the system according to the invention.
  • the system 10 has a server, a client 12 and a network appliance 16.
  • the server 14 is connected to one or more network appliances 16 through an interconnected network.
  • the server 14 may function to transfer sensor data from the network appliance 16 and transfer configuration data to the network appliances 16.
  • the server 14 is also connected to a client machine 12.
  • the client machine 12 may access, display and/or manipulate data stored on the server 14. In this manner, the client 12 may remotely monitor network appliances 16 and the client 12 may reconfigure the network appliances 16.
  • the client 12 may be connected to the server 14 through an interconnected network.
  • the server 14 may be connected to the network appliance 16 through an interconnected network.
  • the interconnected network may take various forms. These forms may include a global network, wide area network, local area network, wireless network, phone systems, and satellite communications systems, among others. Further, these networks and systems may use various method, protocols, and standards, including, among others, ethernet, wireless ethemet, TCP/IP, HTTP, FTP, SNMP, Blue Tooth, and others.
  • various security methods may be used in transferring data, including SSL, among others.
  • a user-controlled level of security may be provided. A standard protocol may allow the client and server to be physically located on separate sides of a firewall, adding another level of security to the customer.
  • the client 12 may acquire instructions for accessing, displaying and manipulating data from the server 14. These instructions may also be transferred by the server from the server 14 on an as needed basis.
  • the server 14 may communicate with one or more network appliances 16.
  • the one or more network appliances 16 may be located in a server room.
  • the one or more network appliances 16 may have sensors for sensing environmental conditions and security states of the server room.
  • the network appliances 16 may collect data associated with temperature, humidity, door sensors, alarms, power quality, motion detectors and cameras, among others.
  • the network appliances 16 may, for example, communicate with the server 14 through hypertext transfer protocols.
  • the network appliances 16 are connected to an interconnected network, such as a local area network, wide area network, global network, and wireless network, among others.
  • the network may, for example, use a TCP/IP protocol communications method.
  • the network appliances 16 may, for example, communicate with the server 14 using a hypertext transfer protocol.
  • the network appliances 16 may ping a server 14 with an HTTP method communication.
  • the server 14 may respond to that HTTP ping method communication with data associated with the configuration of the network appliance 16.
  • the network appliances 16 may use the HTTP method communication to transfer data to the server 14.
  • the network appliance 16 may use an HTTP Post method to send information relating to alarms and alerts.
  • Some alarms and/or alerts may have associated image data which may be stored on the server 14.
  • the server may associate the image data with the alert.
  • Alerts delivered via HTTP Posts may allow other appliances to communicate and deliver information to servers that cannot initiate communications with the Appliances, for example, due to firewalls or intermittent network connectivity. This approach may provide superior reliability, security, and connectivity to conventional SNMP alert delivery.
  • the HTTP Post method may also be used to implement periodic posting of data from the network appliance to the server.
  • the end-user may also configure appliances to periodically deliver their sensor data to the present invention, "pushing" the data to the server instead of having the server "pull” the data from the appliance.
  • This mechanism allows the server to collect and record data from appliances that it is not capable of initiating communications with, such as appliances located behind a fully blocking firewall to inbound network requests.
  • the delivery of this data may be set to require a user-id and password, allowing the present invention to authenticate the delivered data.
  • the same transactions used for communicating the current sensor values and states may be used to verify status. If the delivery of the data is significantly overdue (i.e. by some period of time, or some number of scheduled Posts are missing), the Server will declare the Appliance "offline” or "missing in action”.
  • the server 14 may communicate with the network appliance 16 using an HTTP Get call.
  • the server 14 and network appliances 16 may use various communications methods. These methods may include file transfer protocol, hypertext transfer protocol, SNMP, among others.
  • the communications may include messages associated with HTML, XML, HTTP post, HTTP get, compressed data, and image data, among others.
  • the communication may occur on intervals. These intervals may be fixed periodically, vary with date or time, be adjustable, or any combination, among others. In addition, timeouts and retries may be configured.
  • the server may attempt to find network appliances through discovery. For example, the server may attempt to communicate with each possible address in a given IP address range. In addition, it may attempt to communicate with each of a specified set of ports that the user has configured the HTTP servers on their appliances to use.
  • the ability to schedule a discovery or collect environmental sensor data during a control window makes life easier for network administrators to reduce network management traffic during peak hours.
  • This approach may allow the user to configure which days of the week to scan for their appliances, as well as what time of day to do the scan.
  • This feature may also allows the user to find appliances located at network sites that are only "dialed up" during certain scheduled times of days, without wasting time and effort attempting to discover them when they are not connected to the central site.
  • the present invention supports an arbitrary number of discovery policies, allowing discovery to be fine-tuned for multiple sites and different customer policies.
  • the system may also support "discovering" appliances by handling Appliance-initiated
  • Appliance is one already managed by the Server. If not, the Appliance will be automatically added, either unconditionally or if it meets certain criteria configured by the user (i.e. only devices on certain subnets, certain models, or matching membership criteria for certain Groups (see 3.9)).
  • the Server's response to the Post may be used to tell the Appliance how often to check-in in the future (if it is accepted) or to not Post again in the future (if it is rejected), among others.
  • the server 14 may communicate with a client machine 12.
  • the client machine 12 and server 14 may be coupled to an interconnected network.
  • the interconnected network may take various forms. These forms may include global networks, local area networks, wide area networks, wireless networks, phone switching networks, and others. Further, these networks may use various protocols, such as TCP/IP.
  • the client machine 12 may communicate with the server 14 using hypertext transfer protocols.
  • the client machine 12 may have a web browser that communicates with the server 14.
  • the web browser may be a JAVA enabled browser.
  • a JAVA enabled browser may download an applet from the server 14.
  • the applets may enable the client machine to access, display, and/or manipulate data stored on the server 14.
  • the client machine 12 may be able to access information associated with sensor data, configuration data, image data, network appliance status, and map configuration data, among others.
  • the client machine 12 may query the server using SQL to retrieve the desired data. However, various other methods may be used to retrieve data.
  • the client machine 12 may then display the data in various formats including tables, maps, and graphs, among others. Furthermore, the client 12 may, in one exemplary embodiment, dynamically load JAVA programming object classes for viewing, accessing, and/or manipulating various data. Most of the HTTP replies returned from the server are in plain ASCII text. However there are several situations where binary transfers of Java Objects are far more efficient. For these scenarios, a Network Class Loader may be implemented so the server can create complex return-objects for the client. Since the client may be relatively small, a mechanism may provide the underlying Object code to the client before it receives the Object itself. The Network Class Loader is that solution. In other words, the client can make a request to the server and receive both an Object containing data, and the code necessary to decode and execute the returned Object within the client's application environment.
  • This feature may further enhance the ability of third-party developers (both end-user and ISVs) to extend the present invention, since the definitions of these interfaces and the classes returned can be published without requiring the ISV to include potentially obsolete versions of the class implementations in their delivered code (since the up-to-date versions will be served to the application from the present invention using the Network Class Loader).
  • returned objects from the server may utilize the Object serialization standard put forth by Sun Microsystems in the Java Runtime Environment.
  • the client machine 12 may also manipulate and organize data.
  • the client machine 12 may establish dynamic groups, organized by chain of command, business infrastructure, or physical location, among others. These groups may be displayed in a tree structure. Further, these groupings may, for example, be implemented using dynamically created queries.
  • the client machine may have various embodiments.
  • the client machine may communicate with the server 14 through various protocols. These protocols may include FTP, HTTP, SNMP, among others.
  • the client machine 12 may contain software.
  • the software may be functional to acquire and load various programming objects and classes.
  • the software may also be written in various languages such as JAVA, C++, Visual Basic, among others.
  • the server 14 may also communicate to the client machine 12 an alert associated with storage capacity. Further, the server 14 may implement automated backup.
  • FIG. 2A is a schematic block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of the system as seen in Figure 1.
  • the system 30 may have a server 34 connected to an interconnected network 32.
  • the system 30 may have client machines 36, 38, network appliances 40, 42, or third party appliances 44 connected to a network 32, among others.
  • the server 34 may function to store information associated with the network appliances. This information may include sensor data, configuration data, image data and map configuration files, among others. The data or information may be down loaded by the server 34 from the network appliances 40, 42. Alternately, the network appliances 40, 42 may transfer data or information to the server 34 through the interconnected network 32.
  • the server may acquire data from a third party appliance 44 through the interconnected network 32.
  • a server 34 may store, group and organize the information and data. Further, the server may supply the information to one or more client machines 36, 38, through
  • One or more client machines 36, 38 may communicate with the server 34 through an interconnected network 32.
  • the clients 36, 38 may access data, display, and manipulate data, among others.
  • the clients 36, 38 may acquire instructions and/or programs associated with accessing the data from the server 34.
  • FIG. 2B is a schematic block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of the system as seen in Figure 1.
  • the system has a server connected to two interconnected networks 52, 54.
  • the interconnected network 52 also connects to client machines 58, 60, and 62.
  • the interconnected network 54 may connect to one or more network appliances 64, 66, 68, 5 and/or third party appliances 69.
  • a server 56 may transfer information to and from the one or more appliances 64, 66, 68 and/or the third party appliances 69 through the interconnected network 54. This information may be sensor data, configuration data, and images, among others.
  • the server 56 may store the information and supply that information to client machines 0 58, 60, 62.
  • the client machines 58, 60, 62 may, for example, access, display and/or manipulate the data associated with the network appliances 64, 66, 68 and third party appliances 69. Further, the client machines 58, 60, 62 may acquire from the server 56, instructions, objects, classes, and programs, among others, for accessing, displaying and manipulating the data associated with the network appliances 64, 66, 68 and third party appliances 69, as stored on the 5 server 56.
  • FIG. 2C is a schematic block diagram of a further exemplary embodiment of the system as seen in Figure 1.
  • the system 70 has a server 76.
  • the server 76 may be connected to a network appliance A 84 or optionally connected to a network appliance B 88.
  • Network appliance A 84 and network appliance B 88 may be connected to an interconnected network 74. !0
  • network appliance 86 and a third party appliance 89 may be connected to the interconnected network 74.
  • the server 76 may be connected to the network appliance A84 through various means. These means may include a global network, wide area network, local area network, wireless network, phone systems, and satellite communications systems, among others. Further, these networks and systems may use various method, protocols, and standards, including, among others, ethernet, wireless ethernet, TCP/IP, HTTP, FTP, SNMP, Blue Tooth, and others.
  • server 76 may be connected to network appliance B 88 through various means. These means may include a global network, wide area network, local area network, wireless network, phone systems, and satellite communications systems, among others. Further, these networks and systems may use various method, protocols, and standards, including, among others, ethernet, wireless ethernet, TCP/IP, HTTP, FTP, SNMP, Blue Tooth, and others.
  • server 76 may be connected to network appliance A 84 and network appliance B 88 through the same, different, or various combinations, among others, of interconnected communication methods.
  • the server 76 may be connected to one or more client machines 78, 80 82 through an interconnected network 72.
  • the client machines 78, 80, 82 may, through the interconnected network 72, access, display, and manipulate data associated with the network appliances 84, 86, 88 and/or third party appliances 89 as stored on the server 76.
  • the client machines 78, 80, 82 may acquire from the server 76, instructions, objects, and classes, among others, for accessing, displaying and manipulating data as stored on the server 76.
  • the server 76 may store data associated with the network appliances 84, 86, 88 and third party appliances 89. This information may include sensor data, configuration data, map configuration data, groupings and associations, accessibility information, and image data, among others.
  • the server may, for example, communicate with network appliance A 84 to transfer the data. Alternately, the server 76 may communicate with network appliance B 88 to transfer the data.
  • network appliance A 84 may act as an intermediate between network appliances 86, 88, third party appliances 89 and the server 76.
  • Network appliance A 84 may function as an intermediary by storing a directory of data, acting as a proxy, or acting as a data reciprocal, among others.
  • the client machine may connect to a server to acquire data.
  • the data may change or fluctuate dynamically on the varying conditions at a network appliance.
  • Various methods may be used to update the data as displayed on the client machine.
  • the client machine may stay connected to the server continuously.
  • continuous connection to the server may represent a burden to the network.
  • the client machine may periodically download updates from the server.
  • the data integrity as displayed on the client machine may suffer, as changes to the data on the server may not be seen on the client machine.
  • Figure 3 A shows a method for communicating between the client and server.
  • the client may connect to the server as seen in a block 92.
  • the client may wait and acquire data updates as they occur as seen in a block 94.
  • the client may then disconnect as seen in a block 96.
  • the data displayed may not be updated by the server.
  • the client may then wait for a period of time as seen by a block 98 and reconnect.
  • periodic disconnection will improve network communications or decrease network load.
  • the periods of connecting and disconnecting may be constant, manipulated, or fluctuate with activity or demand. For example, during periods o flow activity, the disconnect period may be increased. Alternately, during periods of high activity, the connect period may be increased. Furthermore, these periods may be changed in response to user interaction, user activity, and network appliance activity, server activity, among others.
  • the client may connect using various methods and protocols, among others. Alternately, the client may use a ping method or various GET or POST methods to contact the server at varying intervals. These intervals may be increased or reduced to simulate a connection or wait period.
  • Figure 3B shows a block flow diagram of an exemplary method for use by the server.
  • the method 100 involves cueing data as seen in a block 102 when the client machine is disconnected. Then, data is automatically delivered, as seen in a block 104, when the client machine is connected.
  • data is automatically delivered, as seen in a block 104, when the client machine is connected.
  • various other embodiments may be envisaged for communicating between the client and the server.
  • Figure 4 shows an exemplary embodiment of a client machine as seen in Figure 1.
  • the client machine 110 may have a processor 112, programmable circuitry 114, one or more network interfaces 116, one or more user interfaces 118, and storage mediums 120, among others.
  • a storage mediums 120 may store application data. Further the storage mediums may store downloaded data and information 128.
  • the client 110 may have various configurations. These elements may or may not be included. Further, these elements may be separate, together, or in various combinations, among others.
  • the processor 112 may function to interpret the instructions and application data.
  • the processor may take various forms. These forms may include CPUs, embedded processors, JAVA enabled processors, and various computational circuitry, among others. Further, the processor may operate with an operating system such as Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows ME, Windows NT, Windows CE, Linux, Unix, BSD, MacOS 9.x, MacOS X, Sun OS, PALM, or a Java-based operating system, among others.
  • the programmable circuitry 114 may take various forms. These forms may enable a user to program the client machine 110 using various interfaces such as a keyboard, mouse, network, drive, and handheld circuitry, among others.
  • the network interfaces may take various forms. These forms may include various circuitry for communicating through ethernet, wireless ethernet, Blue Tooth, phone lines, and modems, among others.
  • User interfaces may take various forms. These forms may include monitors, keyboards, wireless devices, handheld devices, and a mouse, among others.
  • the storage mediums 120 may take various forms. These forms may include hard drives, floppy drives, removable drives, cards, CD-ROM, CD-RW, CD-R, DVD, DVD-R, DVD-RW, RAM, and flash memory, among others.
  • the storage mediums 120 may store various applications 122, applets 126 and or data 128.
  • the client 110 may function, for example, to access, display and manipulate data stored on a server and associated with network appliances.
  • the client may use installed applications to access, display and manipulate the data.
  • the client may download applications, applets, and object classes, among others, to access, display, and/or manipulate the data.
  • the client may use various combinations of installed and downloaded application, applets, object classes, among others.
  • the applications, applets, object classes may take various forms. These forms may include internet browsers, stand alone applications, interpreters, libraries, and instruction sets, among others.
  • the client may connect to a server through a network interface 116.
  • the client may have a JAVA enabled web browser.
  • the web browser may function to acquire an applet from the server through the network interface 116.
  • the applet may function to enable access to the data, display the data in various forms, and enable manipulation of the data.
  • the client may manipulate data on the server to alter map configurations, network appliance associations, accessibility and permission information, annotate data associated with events, and network application configuration data, among others.
  • applet or applets may also function to permit changing and/or manipulation of configuration data associated with network appliances. For example, one or more parameters associated with one or more network appliances may be changed. A parameter associated with several network appliances may be changed to a same value for each network appliance. Alternately, a single value may be changed associated with a single parameter of a single network appliance. Furthermore, configuration settings may be uploaded to the server for future implementation on the network appliances.
  • the applet or applets may enable the client machine to display data.
  • the applet or applications may display a map.
  • the map may have icons associated with the network appliances. Further, these icons may be used to display representations of the data. These icons may also be superimposed on a graphic, image, map or plot, among others. Further, the icons may be arranged according to type, location, alarm state, configuration, parameter value, or organization, among others.
  • the applications or applets may display the data as a table.
  • the table may display a current value of a parameter associated with a sensor on or connected to a network appliance.
  • the table may display alarm states associated with network appliances.
  • the table may display configuration parameters and data associated with network appliances.
  • the table may further enable manipulation and changing of the values within the table.
  • the data may be displayed in graphical forms.
  • These graphs may additionally offer the ability to chart data associated with one or more sensors associated with one or more network appliances.
  • the applications or applets may also function to dynamically download data objects, classes, program elements, useful for accessing, displaying and/or manipulating new data elements.
  • a network class loader may be implemented in an application or applet such that new data classes may be implemented. These may, for example, be written in JAVA.
  • the applications and/or applets may also function to display image data.
  • the image data may, for example, be associated with events, network appliances, and sensor data, among others.
  • the applet or applets may display the image data in association with the events, network appliances, and/or sensor data.
  • the client machine 110 may be a personal computer running an operating system such as, for example, Windows 2000.
  • the client machine 110 may have an browser such as Internet Explorer 6.0 and be Java enabled.
  • the client machine may be a handheld device with an operating system such as PALM or WINDOWS CE and be Java enabled.
  • an operating system such as PALM or WINDOWS CE
  • various devices may be envisaged.
  • various operating systems and computer languages may be used.
  • a client machine 110 may have fully functional access to information stored on the server and associated with network appliances. Further, the client may function to view, create, and manipulate groupings of network appliances. The client machine 110 may function to establish permissions to groupings.
  • Figure 5 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a server as seen in Figure 1.
  • a server 130 may have a processor 132, programmable circuitry 134, network interfaces 136, and storage mediums 138 and user interfaces 148.
  • a storage medium 138 may hold databases 140, applications 142, instructions 144 and map configuration data 146. However, these element may or may not be included. Further, these elements may be separate, together, or in various combinations, among others.
  • a processor 132 may take various forms. These forms may include CPUs, embedded processors, JAVA enabled processors, and various computational circuitry, among others. Further the processor 132 may operate using an operating system such as Window 2000, Windows NT, Linux, BSD, UNIX, Mac OS X, Mac OS 9.x, or a Java-based operating system, among others.
  • an operating system such as Window 2000, Windows NT, Linux, BSD, UNIX, Mac OS X, Mac OS 9.x, or a Java-based operating system, among others.
  • a programmable circuitry 134 may take various forms. These forms may enable a user to program the server 130 using various interfaces such as a keyboard, mouse, network, drive, and handheld circuitry, among others.
  • a network interfaces 136 may take various forms. These forms may include various circuitry for communicating through ethernet, wireless ethernet, Blue Tooth, phone lines, and modems, among others.
  • Storage mediums 138 may take various forms. These forms may include hard drives, floppy drives, removable drives, cards, CD-ROM, CD-RW, CD-R, DVD, DVD-R, DVD-RW, RAM, and flash memory, among others.
  • the storage mediums 138 may hold databases 140, applications 142, instructions 144 and map configuration data 146.
  • the databases 140 may take various forms. These forms may include Oracle databases, SQL compatible databases, Jet databases, generic databases, tables, and spreadsheets, among others.
  • the map configuration data 146 may also be stored in a database 140.
  • the instructions 144 may take various forms. These forms may include compiled code, interpreted code, Java code, Visual Basic code, C++ code, HTML code, PHP code, and Perl, among others.
  • the user interfaces 148 may take various forms. These forms may include monitors, keyboards, wireless devices, handheld devices, and a mouse, among others.
  • the server may function to download data from network appliances through the network interfaces 136.
  • the data may, for example, be stored in the databases 140. This data may be sensory data, configuration data, image data, among others. Further, the server may include applications and instructions for communicating with the network appliances.
  • a server 130 may also function to communicate with one or more client machines through the network interface or interfaces 136.
  • the server 130 may transfer applications 142 to the client machine. These applications and instructions may enable the client machine 110 to retrieve, display, and/or manipulate data. These applications may also be delivered in parts, classes, or software objects on an as needed basis.
  • a client machine may request an application from the server.
  • the server may deliver at least part of the application to the client machine.
  • a browser on the client machine may request a Java applet.
  • the Java applet may enable the client machine to access, display and manipulate data.
  • the applet may enable the client to organize and group network appliance data, develop user groups, change user access information, display maps, manipulate icons and map features, change network appliance configurations, display alarms, and annotate data, among others.
  • the client machine may store information on the server.
  • the server may deliver an application enabling the client to access the database and display image data associated with a camera enabled network appliance.
  • the server may deliver a part of an application enabling the client to display a table of network appliances and their associated parameters such as a value of a sensor or an alarm state, among others.
  • the server may deliver a part of an application which displays a tree of network appliances associated into groups.
  • the server may also deliver an application and associated map configuration data.
  • the application may enable the client to access and display a map.
  • the map may have icons superimposed on a background image.
  • the icons may represent network appliances or groupings of network appliances. Further, the icons may link to present or historical values of the network appliances associated with the icons.
  • an action such as clicking an icon may initiate another display such as another map, table, or graph.
  • the icons may have an appearance indicative of type, capabilities, status, alarm state, present or historical value of a parameter or sensor output, or responsible party, among others.
  • the icons may be arranged in a manner indicative of physical location, type, capabilities, status, alarm state, present or historical value of a parameter or sensor output, or responsible party, among others.
  • the background image may be a picture, video image, graph, contour plot, and vector plot, among others.
  • the application may also enable the client machine to manipulate user access data stored on the server.
  • the application may also enable the client machine to store map configuration data on the server 130.
  • FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a network appliance, for use in the system as seen in Figure 1.
  • the network appliance 150 may have a processor 152, a programmable circuitry 154, one or more network interfaces 156, one or more storage mediums 158, and one or more sensors 162, among others.
  • the storage medium 158 may hold data 160, among others. However, these elements may or may not be included. Further, these elements may be separate, together, or in various configurations, among others.
  • the processor 152 may take various forms. These forms may include CPUs, embedded processors, JAVA enabled processors, and various computational circuitry, among others.
  • the programmable circuitry 154 may take various forms. These forms may enable a user to program the network appliance 150 using various interfaces such as a keyboard, mouse, network, drive, and handheld circuitry, among others.
  • the network interfaces may take various forms. These forms may include various circuitry for communicating through ethernet, wireless ethernet, Blue Tooth, phone lines, and modems, among others. Further, the network interface may enable the network appliance to connect to various networks including global networks, LANs, WANs, phone networks, page networks, satellite communication systems, and wireless networks, among others. The network interface may enable communication between the network appliance 150 and a server and/or other network appliances. Further, the network interface may enable the use of various methods, protocols, and standards, included HTTP, FTP, SNMP, TCP/IP, LDAP, and others.
  • the storage mediums 158 may take various forms. These forms may include hard drives, floppy drives, removable drives, cards, CD-ROM, CD-RW, CD-R, DVD, DVD-R,
  • DVD-RW DVD-RW
  • RAM random access memory
  • flash memory any suitable type of media
  • the storage medium may store data associated with network appliance configuration, sensors, user access, other network appliances, and algorithms, among others.
  • the sensors 162 may take various forms. These forms may include temperature sensors, pressure sensors, airflow sensors, alarm sensors, dry contact sensors, humidity sensors, cameras, video cameras, infrared cameras, power quality sensors, data traffic sensors, acoustic sensors, and motion sensors, among others.
  • the network appliance 150 may function to communicate with the server.
  • the communication may, for example, take the form of a ping, an HTTP GET, an HTTP POST, a SNMP message, an email message, or an FTP command, among others.
  • the network appliance may upload data, download configuration and/or accessibility settings, download program information, and indicate status.
  • the communication may also use various security protocols and methods.
  • the network appliance 150 may communicate with another network appliance acting as an intermediary between the server and the network appliance 150. As such, the information above may be exchanged between the network appliance 150 and the other network appliance acting as the intermediary.
  • the network appliance may deliver data on a schedule, as it is available, in response to a request, in response to an alarm, or in other manners. Further, the data may be formatted in various protocols including HTTP or FTP, among others.
  • the network appliance 150 may also communicate with other network appliances in a cluster.
  • the cluster of network appliances may use various means for communication including HTTP, SNMP, and FTP, among others.
  • the cluster may also establish relationships, a directory, and share resources, among others.
  • the network appliance may collect image data in response to an open door alarm or motion alarm.
  • the network appliance 150 may then upload the data to a server.
  • the server may then provide the image and the alarm data to a client machine.
  • a client machine may request temperature data from the server, the server may collect the data from the network appliance 150. The server may then forward the data to the client machine.
  • the client machine may alter configuration data.
  • the data may be stored on the server.
  • the network appliance 150 may retrieve the configuration data from the server and adapt.
  • a map configuration may be established and stored on the server.
  • the map configuration may be accessible by various user.
  • Figure 7 is a schematic block diagram of a user association for the map configuration.
  • a first user 172 may create a mapping of icons.
  • the icons may be associated with network appliances. These network appliances may be active or passive devices. Further, the icons may be arranged and/or superimposed on a background image.
  • the first user may establish a permission data.
  • the permission data may for example give a second user 176 access to the map data 174.
  • the second user may be given permission to view or edit the map configuration data, or both. Alternately, the first user may give viewing permission or exclude another user 178.
  • the map view may be "locked” or "unlocked”.
  • locked the icons and objects on the view are not movable, preventing accidental or intentional manipulation of the layout.
  • the privilege of "unlocking" of the map view can be restricted, allowing a map to be created and maintained by one user account, and safely shared with other, less privileged, users.
  • the icons may take various forms. These visual forms may be indicative of type, alarm status, parameter value, capabilities, and version, among others. For example, an icon may have a shape representative of it capabilities, a color representative of a sensor value, a right hand flag with a label, a top flag with a numerical value. In addition, the flags may change color in response to alarm conditions. However, various changes and uses of visual characteristics can be envisaged to represent various data associated with network appliances. Each icon may have some, all, or none of these features.
  • the icons may also link to other images, displays, and data.
  • the user through an action such as, for example, clicking on the icon may display another mapping, a data table, and an icon configuration, among others.
  • the user may manipulate the icon configuration and store the configuration on the server.
  • the icons may be arranged in a display in accordance with some characteristic. For example they may be arrange according to a sensor value, an alarm state, a physical location, or randomly, among others.
  • Figure 8 A is schematic block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a map. The icons may be arranged in a display area. For example, icons associated with a user may be viewed.
  • Figure 8B is a schematic block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a map. As shown, the icons may be arranged according to an alarm state as indicated by a shaded flag. Alternately, the icons may be arranged according to physical location as shown in Figure 8C. For example, the location may be a location within a room, geography, or server rack.
  • the icons may be superimposed on a map or image indicative of the location.
  • the map or image may change in response to events associated with the network appliances. For example an image representing a room may be replaced with a similar image indicating an open door. However, the image may be a picture, video image, plot, graph, blueprint, or map, among others.
  • the icons may be arranged according to network appliance type, as depicted in Figure 8D. The shape of the icon may for example represent the type or version. However, various pairings between visual characteristics and data may be envisaged. These map configurations and associated accessibility information may be stored on the server and accessed by the client.
  • the icons and object displayed on the map view may include both active network devices and passive devices.
  • the ability to add and manipulate the passive devices along with the active network devices may allow the user to accurately represent the physical environment of his equipment rooms, for example.
  • Other exemplary implementations may allow the end-user to import graphical images in a variety of formats (GIF, BMP, JPG, etc) to use as icons customized for their specific equipment (both active and passive).
  • a mapping may be associated with a grouping of network appliances. This grouping may, for example, be related to physical location or topology.
  • environmental sensor readings may be displayed on the map views as part of the icon.
  • the map view may display a single sensor attribute at a time on each of the active devices supporting the given sensor. For example, when temperature is selected, each device that supports a temperature sensor has the most current reading of that sensor presented. In conjunction with the physical representation afforded by the map view, this may enable a presentation of the two-dimensional "field" associated with the given sensor.
  • the map view may also allow very rapid selection of different sensors readings via a context menu, allowing a user to quickly cycle between the values of different sensors without needing to open additional windows.
  • the view appropriately converts all sensor values to the unit of measurement most appropriate to the locale and preferences of the user, even when the data actually supplied by the different devices is natively in different units (degrees C from one device, degrees F from another).
  • the map may also use map colorization.
  • Map colorization refers to the ability to use color to represent sensor readings for an environment. This can be as simple as putting the sensor reading of the device on the icon or changing the color of the icon to represent a sensor threshold range. Also, the background of the map surrounding the icons may look like a contour plot to display sensor readings from around the room.
  • Another implementation of present invention may include support for a variety of enclosures, such as equipment racks and cabinets, that will allow presentation of multiple devices stacked vertically at the same location. Map Colorization of these enclosures will allow sensor reading to be presented with respect to vertical positioning, as well as horizontal. In addition, the vertical positions will enable the presentation on the standard Map View of sensors values for a given "slice" of the room (i.e. all temperature sensors at the top of the racks, the middle of the racks, or under the raised floor).
  • each rack could be displayed with the temperature delta between the temperature reading of the cool air flowing into the rack versus the exhaust temperature.
  • the map view may also auto-sort by alarm severity. For example, environmental sensor alarms may be sorted to be displayed at the top of the map, followed by network connectivity alarms, and lastly by devices that are not in alarm state.
  • the display string for each icon may be user configurable to vertically display a customizable user-friendly "name" for each device.
  • the devices that are red may have environmental sensor alarms, the devices that are yellow may have network connectivity alarms, and the gray devices may be in a normal state.
  • the colors may be user customizable. In the colorized mode, the display string may show the alarm status.
  • This ordering and representation allows the user to quickly determine which devices need attention, even in a group containing hundreds or thousands of devices, since the user can quickly look at the first devices listed and know which devices need attention. Also, the user can quickly conclude by the fact that the first device listed has no errors that none of the other devices currently do.
  • Network appliance configuration data may also be stored on the server.
  • This configuration data may include parameters, contact data, alarm settings, email lists, alert lists, algorithms, password and access data, and threshold data, among others.
  • the client may retrieve and manipulate the data.
  • the client machine may display configuration data for multiple network appliances. This configuration data may, for example, be displayed as a table.
  • the client machine may change some, all, or none of the data. Further, the client machine may change the value of a similar parameter associated with several network appliances to the same value.
  • Figure 9A and 9B are block diagrams depicting exemplary embodiments of tables for use in manipulating configuration data.
  • Configuration data may take various forms. These forms may include parameters, settings, notification lists, address, responsibility lists, algorithms, software, and communications protocols, among others.
  • the configurations may be changed by selecting a single cell and making a change as seen in the data column for network appliance #5. Alternately, all cells may be selected at once and changed to the same value as seen for parameter #1. However, fewer cells may be selected and changed as seen for parameter #2.
  • the system may provide a mass configuration mechanism for managing the settings for our HTTP configurable appliances.
  • the server may be modified via its software plug-in architecture to handle mass configuration of any HTTP configurable appliance.
  • HTTP Posts for configuration management of the appliances may allow configuration to be done more quickly, efficiently, and with better transactional integrity than SNMP -based configuration.
  • Each HTTP Post may be used to configure multiple parameters in parallel, preventing the possibility of the appliance's configuration being partially updated
  • a status column may display any errors that occur during the version query process and displays textual progress messages during the upgrade process. At any time, a user may click on a cell in this column and view a popup that displays the entire status message since they are frequently longer than can be conveniently displayed in a single column of a spreadsheet.
  • Another exemplary implementation of the system may include support for managing the configuration of an appliance that is only capable of communicating with the Server, but which cannot be communicated with by the Server.
  • the system may store and maintain a copy of the settings desired by the user for a given appliance. These settings may be determined in the same fashion as they are currently set with the Mass Configuration interfaces. Since the Server cannot initiate communications with the firewalled appliances, it will simply record the desired settings to be communicated later.
  • support may be added for configuring the appliance to issue periodic HTTP Posts to the present invention, querying for configuration updates.
  • the server may have the option of including (as the content of the reply to the Post) a single command block structured the same as the input for an HTTP GET or POST would be if issued directly to the Appliance.
  • the Appliance may process it as if the given HTTP GET or POST had been issued to the Appliance as normal.
  • the output of this request may be delivered to the server as the input to a second HTTP Post to the present invention.
  • the server may then process the input of the Post (which is the reply to the request he issued with the previous Post), and may either reply with the input for the next HTTP GET or POST (repeating the process), or with no input (if no further requests are pending).
  • Figure 10 is a block flow diagram of an exemplary method for manipulating configuration data, among other data.
  • the client machine may retrieve the data from the server, as seen in a block 192.
  • a user may manipulate the data as seen in a block 194.
  • the server may store the data.
  • the data may be transferred to the network appliance or an intermediary network appliance as seen in a block 198.
  • a client machine may request using an HTTP command data and/or applications associated with manipulating configuration data.
  • a user may manipulate the data in a Java enabled browser.
  • the client machine may then, using an HTTP command send the manipulated data to the server for storage.
  • a network appliance may ping the server.
  • the server may respond to the ping with the manipulated data.
  • various means and protocols may be envisaged for performing the method 190.
  • FIG 11 is a block flow diagram of an exemplary method for use by the system.
  • the server may store configuration data as seen in a block 212.
  • the network appliance or an intermediary may ping the server. This ping may take various forms and use various protocols. For example, the ping may take the form of an HTTP POST, HTTP GET, or FTP command, among others.
  • the sever may respond to the ping as seen in a block 216.
  • the server may transfer data using a security protocol such as SSL. If configuration data or an upgrade is available, the server may include the data with the response.
  • the network appliance may then respond to indicate the transfer was successful. Subsequently, the server may respond with more data or an indication that no more data is available.
  • the server determines that there is a pending configuration update, and issues a POST to set the new setting (in this case, enabling the temperature threshold for a low of 60 degrees and a high of 80 degrees):
  • the Appliance may process the output of its Post as if the command had been sent to it through its web server, modifying the settings and generating a reply.
  • the Appliance then issues another configuration request to the present invention, delivering the output:
  • VARIABLE 1 VALUE 1
  • VARIABLE 2 VALUE 2
  • the server may process the output, and determines if another request needs to be issued. If so, it replies to the Post with the next request (repeating steps 2-4 until all requests are done). If not, it simply replies with no output:
  • the Appliance sees that there are no further requests, and waiting until the next configured configuration update polling time before issuing another configuration request HTTP Post.
  • This mechanism may allow the full span of features accessible through the Appliance's web server (including those provided via add-ons) to be accessed without requiring custom coding or modification, since any HTTP GET or POST request can be wrappered as shown above.
  • this approach may allow appliances that have lost their configuration to be configured simply by pointing them at the system.
  • This Feature may use a set of HTTP GETs through this mechanism in order to validate an Appliance's configuration before applying any needed changes.
  • Network appliance data may be organized and associated by various means.
  • the data may be organized by location, responsible party, organization, network appliance type, version, alarm state, and status among others.
  • the network appliances may be organized into groups. Groups may be dynamic or static lists of appliances that represent a set of appliances. Each logical group may be implemented through SQL query (used to produce a list of appliances) or a specific list of appliances, and a list of users that have access to the group for security, among others.
  • SQL query used to produce a list of appliances
  • appliances are automatically assigned to the group (as well as removed from the group) based on their attributes matching the conditions dictated by the SQL query.
  • Groups may be used to display the hierarchy of a business organization, the responsible
  • IT person for said group or to represent a physical location in a building.
  • Other exemplary implementations may allow matching on a wide variety of attributes, including cu ⁇ ent sensor readings, alert states, and custom, user-defined appliance attributes.
  • the client machine may retrieve data associate with network appliance and display them in a tree.
  • Figure 12 is a schematic of an exemplary tree.
  • the tree may associate appliances in various groups and give access to individual appliances on various levels of the tree structure.
  • a user may manipulate groups, appliances associated with the groups, user access and permissions associated with the network appliance and groups, and the tree visual characteristics, among others.
  • the groups may also be represented in a table.
  • the table may display various data associated with the network appliances. Further the table may be updated as data changes on the server. This update may for example, occur following a ping and/or query to the server. Alternately, the update may be provided by the server.
  • Figures 13 A, 13B and 13C are block diagrams depicting an exemplary table associated with an exemplary group. In this exemplary embodiment and appliance may have an on/off status. This status may change as seen with network appliance #1. Further the other visual indications may be used to indicate status, such as, for example, shading. In addition, visual and/or acoustic indicators may be used to indicate alarms or valuations relative to thresholds. For example network appliance 2 may have an alarm associated with value #1 and shade that cell.
  • the cells may be colorized to indicate alarm state.
  • a user may also manipulate the values, parameters, and other characteristics displayed in a table. For example, a user may display the model or version. Further, the order of the network appliances may be varied in association with an alarm, a data value, or grouping.
  • a table may also be used to display historical data of events, alerts and alarms, among others.
  • the data may include a data, time, available images, and other data.
  • Data associated with network appliances may also be displayed as a graph as seen in Figure 14.
  • the graph may display the same type of data for several network appliances, various data from various sensors for the same appliance, or various combinations, among others.
  • the graph may be composed of historical data or may be updated as new data is available. Further, the graph may replay data, changing the graph to represent a next value in a series of values according to an accelerated schedule.
  • a schema may be implemented to only store the changes in the environment. For example, if the system collected data from an Appliance every 10 minutes, and the temperature of the room was constant for over an hour creating a data point for each collection interval may increase the size of the stored data. Instead, only the changes may be recorded so the environment can be played-back to the user in as efficient a manner as possible.
  • the graphs may be depicted based on a time range and a set of particular sensor readings. Allowing more than one appliance to be graphed at a time allows users to physically view the patters of environmental changes as well as compare one area of a location against another.
  • the graphs themselves may be organized by day, week, month, or for the entire time range provided. These graphs may then be saved as in a graphic format, such as, a JPEG, GIF, or BMP file, among others, for email and/or reports, or can be exported as comma-delimited text to another utility of the users choosing.
  • the graphs may also include markers indicating any alerts associated with the displayed sensor on the selected appliances. These markers may appear on the line graph at the point in time where the alarm was reported or on an axis, among others. Different markers may be used for alarms reporting e ⁇ ors versus alarms reporting the return-to-normal of a previously out-of- bounds sensor reading For example, a solid bullet may be used for errors, and an open bullet for return-to-normal alarms. This feature allows a concise and comprehensive view of the history of a given sensor on a set of appliances, both including the recorded data and highlighting the important events associated with that history.
  • the graph view may implement zooming in on a particular set of data points. This provides the user with a more detailed graph of a smaller time range. Just like the other graphs, a zoomed-in graph can then be saved to a graphic format for email or exported as a comma delimited file for use in another application.
  • the time and sensor units scales may be appropriately recomputed based on the selected range.
  • the legend associated with the graph may be reduced to just include those appliances that have sensor data contained within the zoom window, allowing the zoom view to be effectively used to pull detailed information out of a graph containing more lines of data than could typically viewed effectively.
  • Figure 15 shows a display for image data.
  • the display area 230 may show an image.
  • the image may be associated with an event such as, for example, a door sensor, an alarm, or a specified time, among others.
  • the image 136 may be displayed with event data 232 and/or appliance data 234. However, more than one image may be displayed.
  • a series of images may be displayed from a single appliance. Alternately an array of images from several network appliances.
  • the event may be a recent event or a stored historical event. Further, the images and data may be stored in a manner which associates the image with the event and/or the data.

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  • Computer Security & Cryptography (AREA)
  • Databases & Information Systems (AREA)
  • Computer And Data Communications (AREA)

Abstract

L'invention concerne un système (10) de contrôle à distance d'un espace et d'un équipement. Ce système comprend des installations de réseau (16), un serveur (14) et un client (12). Dans ce système (10), le serveur (14) reçoit les données provenant d'une installation de réseau (16). Le serveur (14) peut ensuite fournir une application et des données au client (12), permettant de lire et de manipuler les données. Le client (12) peut afficher les données sous forme de mappage représentant des icônes associées aux installations de réseau (16). Le client (12) peut modifier la disposition des données et les réglages de configuration des installations de réseau (16) et sauvegarder les configurations du mappage et du graphe.
PCT/US2002/009179 2001-03-27 2002-03-27 Procedes destines a l'affichage de la topologie d'un reseau physique et de l'etat d'un environnement par emplacement, organisation ou partie responsable WO2002099683A1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (4)

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US27905901P 2001-03-27 2001-03-27
US60/279,059 2001-03-27
US31126801P 2001-08-09 2001-08-09
US60/311,268 2001-08-09

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PCT/US2002/009179 WO2002099683A1 (fr) 2001-03-27 2002-03-27 Procedes destines a l'affichage de la topologie d'un reseau physique et de l'etat d'un environnement par emplacement, organisation ou partie responsable
PCT/US2002/009178 WO2002093403A1 (fr) 2001-03-27 2002-03-27 Procede et systeme de reexecution de donnees historiques

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WO2005031536A2 (fr) 2003-09-23 2005-04-07 American Power Conversion Corporation Approvisionnement d'interface utilisateur
US8271626B2 (en) 2001-01-26 2012-09-18 American Power Conversion Corporation Methods for displaying physical network topology and environmental status by location, organization, or responsible party
CN103401928A (zh) * 2013-08-05 2013-11-20 苏州鼎富软件科技有限公司 远程电脑监视方法
EP3082299A1 (fr) * 2015-04-16 2016-10-19 Xiaomi Inc. Procédé et appareil de détection de l'état de canal de réseau et dispositif électronique
US9952103B2 (en) 2011-12-22 2018-04-24 Schneider Electric It Corporation Analysis of effect of transient events on temperature in a data center
US11076507B2 (en) 2007-05-15 2021-07-27 Schneider Electric It Corporation Methods and systems for managing facility power and cooling

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CN106886396B (zh) * 2015-12-16 2020-07-07 北京奇虎科技有限公司 表情管理方法及装置

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Cited By (12)

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Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US8271626B2 (en) 2001-01-26 2012-09-18 American Power Conversion Corporation Methods for displaying physical network topology and environmental status by location, organization, or responsible party
US8966044B2 (en) 2001-01-26 2015-02-24 Schneider Electric It Corporation Methods for displaying physical network topology and environmental status by location, organization, or responsible party
WO2005031536A2 (fr) 2003-09-23 2005-04-07 American Power Conversion Corporation Approvisionnement d'interface utilisateur
EP1668529A2 (fr) * 2003-09-23 2006-06-14 American Power Conversion Corporation Approvisionnement d'interface utilisateur
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US11076507B2 (en) 2007-05-15 2021-07-27 Schneider Electric It Corporation Methods and systems for managing facility power and cooling
US11503744B2 (en) 2007-05-15 2022-11-15 Schneider Electric It Corporation Methods and systems for managing facility power and cooling
US9952103B2 (en) 2011-12-22 2018-04-24 Schneider Electric It Corporation Analysis of effect of transient events on temperature in a data center
CN103401928A (zh) * 2013-08-05 2013-11-20 苏州鼎富软件科技有限公司 远程电脑监视方法
CN103401928B (zh) * 2013-08-05 2016-07-06 国家电网公司 远程电脑监视方法
EP3082299A1 (fr) * 2015-04-16 2016-10-19 Xiaomi Inc. Procédé et appareil de détection de l'état de canal de réseau et dispositif électronique
US9674284B2 (en) 2015-04-16 2017-06-06 Xiaomi Inc. Method and device for detecting state of networking channel

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