Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput – Computer network managing – Computer network monitoring
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-24
2003-01-07
Le, N. (Department: 2858)
Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput
Computer network managing
Computer network monitoring
C709S217000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06505248
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to methods and systems for monitoring and reporting performance characteristics of a remote server within a network and, more particularly, to methods and systems for monitoring and dynamically reporting a status of system activity for a remote server within a distributed computing network.
B. Description of the Related Art
In the past, computers were massive stand-alone machines, incapable of communicating with each other. They were used simply as fast calculating machines in limited applications. However, the computers of today are typically much smaller and orders of magnitude faster than those of yesterday. Moreover, the computers of today are typically networked together so that they may efficiently communicate, share information, and become useful in a larger variety of applications.
In the context of such a networked computing environment, the idea of distributed computing and client/server relationships arose. In general, distributed computing is based on a distributed computing network that processes, stores, and handles diverse operations by different computers or nodes within the network. In one type of distributed computing environment, one of the computers may be considered a client while another computer in the network may be considered a server to that client. For example, a person (commonly referred to as a user) may use one computer merely as an access vehicle to the information and computing resources of the network while another computer operates as a server to provide such information or computing resources to the first computer. In this situation, the first computer is considered a client because it is provided with the information or computing resources by a server, e.g., the second computer.
Servers are often classified by their function. A “file server” is a type of server in the network that is dedicated to managing information within files stored on a memory storage device, such as a hard disk drive. A “compute server” is another type of server capable of running particular software programs for another computer (i.e., a client) instead of running the programs on the other computer directly. In some network installations, a server may perform both file server and compute server functions depending upon the network's performance needs, hardware, and the costs involved.
Thus, it is known that using servers in computer networks is often more efficient and economical by allowing fewer but more powerful (and more expensive) computers to operate as servers and more numerous but less powerful (and less expensive) computers or terminals to operate. as access vehicles or user nodes. In this manner, the computing resources of the network can be better and more efficiently utilized with servers.
However, the use of servers is not without problems. Their use often leads to large numbers of users depending upon the servers being constantly available for file access and software execution. If a server becomes undesirably busy or overloaded or otherwise encounters performance problems, a system administrator responsible for the server's network often quickly becomes the center of attention of users demanding correction of the situation. A busy or overloaded server or otherwise encounters problems can also critically disrupt the operations of a business. This can result in lost business, lost worker productivity, and a great deal of aggravation by the end user. Thus, timely maintenance and rapid diagnostic analysis of servers within a distributed computing network has become increasingly important to both users and system administrators to avoid costly and frustrating server down-time.
To address this problem and successfully maintain and diagnose operations with servers in a networked environment, users typically depend upon a system administrator to analyze historical server data, more specifically referred to as system activity information, on each server in the network. Server data is generally defined as any data related to the performance of the system. For example, system activity information (a type of server data) may include, but is not limited to, information on CPU utilization, disk buffer activity, input/output (I/O) activity, system calls, and memory swapping activities. An analysis of such information on a particular server collected over a period of time may provide an indication of performance for that server. Thus, users typically rely upon the system administrator to perform such an analysis.
While such an analytical process may eventually produce results indicating the status of a server, gathering such data on a network's servers (e.g., server data) is usually undesirably long. In response to end user complaints, a dedicated system administrator must be engaged to analyze the potential problem on one or more servers. This normally includes having the system administrator accessing each of the servers, collecting data files on the network's servers, and assembling these files in a central repository. If the network is very large and geographically spread out, this task can be time consuming, frustrating to the user, and costly to the network owner. Once this vast amount of data is assembled together, the data must then be read and further analyzed in an attempt to give an indication of performance for a server. Accordingly, the time it takes to gather and analyze the appropriate information by the system administrator can be undesirably long leading to increased response time to user's performance requests on servers. This response time can be worse if the system administrator becomes inundated with numerous performance requests at the same time.
In addition to the undesirable response time usually associated with such a process, there are several other problems with such a reactive server maintenance and diagnostic analysis process. First, the process typically requires specialized training to gather the data, initiate any analysis, and interpret the results. System administrators must understand the nuances of many different operating systems, become fluent in networking protocols and have a firm understanding of the interaction with the server's hardware. Furthermore, the process may not allow a user to independently conduct and quickly view the testing results. It usually requires intervention by a designated system administrator or someone specially trained to maintain the network. If the designated person is busy or otherwise unavailable, the user is unfortunately left without an understanding of what is happening on the network and, in particular, what is occurring on the server.
Accordingly, there is a need for a system within a distributed computing environment that efficiently allows monitoring and dynamic reporting of server status to a system administrator. Additionally, there is need for such a system for use by a user without the time associated with training technicians to gather and analyze server data and without the time associated with training users to interpret the data.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Methods and systems consistent with the present invention overcome the shortcomings of existing status reporting techniques by automatically collecting and downloading server data from each remote server in a network to a managing server so that a status output can be dynamically generated in response to a request.
Methods and systems consistent with the invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, describe a method for monitoring and dynamically reporting a status of a remote server. The method begins by downloading server data from the remote server to a managing server. The server data, such as system activity information associated with the remote server, indicates the status of the remote server and is typically collected on the remote server. The server data may be downloaded by periodically compiling system activity information associated with the remote server into a parameter file and downloading the parameter fi
Casper Bradley J.
Dunn Jeffrey H.
Hirsch Susan B.
Markee Bryon D.
Simone David C.
Benson Walter
GTE Data Services Incorporated
Le N.
Suchyta Leonard Charles
Weixel James K.
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