Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput – Computer network managing – Computer network monitoring
Reexamination Certificate
1999-02-25
2002-12-31
Winder, Patrice (Department: 2155)
Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput
Computer network managing
Computer network monitoring
Reexamination Certificate
active
06502132
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a network monitoring system in which a monitoring device monitors and controls statuses of a plurality of monitored devices, and relates to the monitoring device and the plurality of monitored devices used in such a system.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1
is a schematic block diagram showing a network configuration in which a monitoring device monitors statuses of a plurality of monitored devices.
In the figure, a plurality of transmission devices #
1
through #
4
subjected to status monitoring are connected to a monitoring device via transmission lines. The monitoring device collects status information from each of the transmission devices.
FIG. 2
is a block diagram showing a related-art configuration of the monitoring device used in the network.
FIG. 3
is a block diagram of a related-art configuration of the transmission device.
In
FIG. 2
, the monitoring device includes a communication unit
1
, a transmission/receipt-control unit
2
, a status-control unit
3
a,
a polling unit
4
a,
a status-control memory
5
a,
a polling table
7
a,
and a GUI unit
8
a.
The communication unit
1
is used for communicating with transmission devices. The transmission/receipt-control unit
2
is used for checking responses received from the transmission devices when the transmission devices send these responses in response to commands directed to the transmission devices, and, also, attends to processing of a series of transmitted frames.
The status-control memory
5
a
stores summary statuses of all the transmission devices provided in the network as well as summary statuses of groups of transmission devices organized by a predetermined group unit. Further, the status-control memory
5
a
is used for storing an update condition of the summary statuses.
FIG. 4
is an illustrative drawing showing a data structure used by the status-control memory
5
a.
As shown in the figure, the summary status is stored with respect to each of the transmission devices #
1
, #
2
, and so on as well as with respect to each group #
1
, #
2
, and so on. Here, a given group is comprised of a plurality of transmission devices assembled as one unit according to areas where they are installed, functions they perform, etc. Identifications (IDs) of transmission devices which belong to a given group are also stored along with the summary status.
The summary status is comprised of 8 bits in this example. Starting from the most significant bit toward the least significant bit, each bit of the summary status represents such items as presence/absence of a device alarm, a presence/absence of a transmission-line alarm, presence/absence of a path alarm, presence/absence of switching, and presence/absence of testing, and the three remaining bits are reserved. The device alarm indicates whether there is abnormality regarding the pertinent transmission device. The transmission-line alarm and the path alarm indicate whether there is abnormality regarding transmission-lines and paths, respectively, used by the pertinent transmission device. The switching indicates whether there is a switch over to a backup system when the transmission device has a dual structure comprised of a system in operation and a backup system. The testing indicates whether the pertinent transmission device is under testing. The three reserved bits may be used for checking other alarm statuses in addition to the alarms described above. Here, a summary status means that this status is obtained as a sign for representing presence/absence of an alarm regarding a pertinent transmission device by taking a logic sum or the like of a plurality of alarms even when a plurality of different sections (e.g., packages) of the transmission device have their own alarms.
The polling table
7
a
is a memory used for controlling a polling order and transmission-device IDs of the transmission devices subjected to polling.
FIG. 5
is an illustrative drawing showing an exemplary configuration of the polling table
7
a.
The polling table
7
a
includes, as its items, a polling interval at which polling is conducted, a number of transmission devices subjected to polling, and IDs of the transmission devices which are stored in an order of polling. The polling unit
4
a
sends a polling command to each transmission device at such a polling interval as specified in the table in the polling order specified in the table.
The status-control unit
3
a
stores in the status-control memory
5
a
the summary statuses obtained from information sent from the transmission devices. The polling unit
4
a
controls the polling operation according to the contents of the polling table
7
a
so as to conduct successive polling with respect to the transmission devices provided in the network. The GUI unit
8
a
provides a graphical user interface such as a display screen for the purpose of providing an operator with a means of controlling and monitoring.
In
FIG. 3
, the transmission device includes a communication unit
11
, a control unit
12
a,
a status-control unit
13
a,
an inter-package-communication unit
14
, a status-control memory
15
, and package-control units
16
. The communication unit
11
is used for communicating with the monitoring device. The package-control units
16
are provided with respect to respective packages constituting the transmission device, and attend to control of these packages. The inter-package-communication unit
14
communicates with the package-control units
16
, and collects a status of each package. The control unit
12
a
analyzes a control command sent from the monitoring device, and requests the package-control units
16
to conduct processing corresponding to the control command. Further, the control unit
12
a
transmits a response to the monitoring device via the communication unit
11
. The status-control memory
15
stores the device's own statuses (e.g., a detailed status of each package and the like) as well as the summary status summarizing the device's own statuses for the control purposes. The status-control unit
13
a
stores and controls in the status-control memory
15
the status information obtained from the inter-package-communication unit
14
. Further, the status-control unit
13
a
obtains the summary status, and stores it in the status-control memory
15
.
In the following, an outline will be provided regarding the operations of the related-art monitoring network.
The related-art monitoring device keeps record of status changes in such items as alarms, switching, testing, and the like with respect to each transmission device as well as with respect to each section thereof which may experience such a change when such items are reported from the transmission devices. The monitoring device further keeps record of summary statuses by summarizing statuses of the individual transmission devices in the monitoring device, and displays the summary statuses. In this configuration, the monitoring device has a summary-status collecting command (i.e., a command for requesting a transmission device to send its summary status) as one of its commands, and uses this command as a polling command to perform polling with respect to each transmission device, thereby obtaining a summary status at constant intervals sent back as a response to the polling. This is done in order to avoid inconsistency between the statuses stored in the monitoring device and the actual statuses of the transmission device. To achieve this end, the monitoring device compares the summary statuses obtained as polling responses with the summary statuses stored inside the monitoring device, and recollects detailed statuses (i.e., alarms, switching, testing, etc.) from a transmission device if inconsistency is found by the comparison regarding this transmission device. The monitoring device further summarizes the recollected detailed statuses so as to insure consistency with the transmission device.
In what follows, an operation procedure w
Fukagawa Takashi
Kumano Satoshi
Fujitsu Limited
Katten Muchin Zavis & Rosenman
Winder Patrice
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