Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput – Computer network managing – Computer network monitoring
Reexamination Certificate
1998-10-30
2001-11-13
Wiley, David (Department: 2155)
Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput
Computer network managing
Computer network monitoring
C714S057000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06317788
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention pertains generally to network systems and, more particularly, to a method and system for using robot policies that emulate user actions to detect and correct network problems as seen from the user's standpoint.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
As computer networks have become more prevalent in corporate environments, network management software, which has the ability to solve a number of network problems automatically and remotely, has become crucial. One of the major goals of any efficient network administration setup is the specification and measurement of acceptable performance thresholds for each machine in the network without creating additional network traffic.
Network management software typically manages and automates administrative tasks across multiple machines in a network. Typical network management software allows administrators to run realtime diagnostics, provides realtime measurements, creates reports, logs events, filters events and generates alerts when performance criteria match prespecified conditions, installs applications and remotely configures multiple managed nodes.
One method of detecting problems is via a “policy”. A policy is a set of specifications that define thresholds and conditions which trigger automated network administration actions. Policies have been developed which monitor system performance parameters such as percent disk utilization, percent memory I/O activity, network traffic, etc. For example, Hewlett Packard's ManageX includes a set of Intelligence Policies (IPs), comprising scripts containing sets of rules and actions (known as alerts) which take action according to defined thresholds on system counters (including such items as percent free disk space, processor queue lengths, and page faults per second). These Intelligence Policies function as network watchdogs for the systems administrator, constantly measuring the actual performance of each machine on the network against these thresholds.
Performance data obtained from network system software is useful in monitoring parameters of the network system as a whole, and for generating reports. Performance data assists the administrator in pinpointing system problems such as full disks, faulty network cards, etc. However, the type of performance data obtained via network management software in the past has not included a crucial aspect of system performance—namely, performance data illustrative of the performance seen by a user as triggered by a user action. For example, performance data illustrative of the performance seen by a user when attempting to access a server's website may include the length of time it takes for the page to load into the user's browser. As another example, the user may receive a “404 Not Found” error that the website administrator may be unaware of. With the prior art, policies could be set up to monitor the number of “404” errors, but this information did not assist the administrator in determining which web site generates this error.
Accordingly, a need exists for a method for deploying policies that provide useful performance data pertaining to user actions as seen by a user.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A novel method for ascertaining performance data of a network or network component as seen by the user presented herein. A network management system deploys a “robot” policy (i.e., a policy that emulates a user action) to a computer in an enterprise network, where it is installed and periodically executed to obtain performance data pertaining to the user action. A matched condition is defined that, when matched, triggers a set of actions to be performed.
In an illustrative example, a robot policy that tests the availability of a web page on a web server from a managed node attempts to load a web page. The robot policy triggers an alert message to the managing console if the page is unavailable, has been moved, or any other error occurs. In this case, the predefined error messages received from the utility are the matched condition and the dispatch of the alert message to the managing console is the trigger.
In another illustrative example, a robot policy tests the response time as seen by the user to load a web page from a managed node. An alert message is sent to the managing console if the length of time exceeds a predefined threshold length of time. In this case, the predefined threshold length of time is the matched condition and the dispatch of a message to the managing console is the trigger.
Similar robot policies that execute other types of user action emulation utilities, such as testing the availability of an email address or amount of time it takes for an email message to arrive at its target destination, may be set up in accordance with the invention. Unlike prior art network management systems in which performance data in the form of CPU utilization, memory utilization, storage capacity statistics, and network card statistics, among other performance data, the present invention allows the automatic event notification and performance data of aspects of the network caused by user actions as seen from the perspective of the users themselves. This allows network administrators to be notified of precise user interface problems before they may actually be discovered by real users. In addition, the invention tells the network administrator exactly what the symptom of the problem is, and where it occurs, which assists the administrator in knowing where to look in determining the actual source of the problem. Accordingly, the invention provides an additional informational tool for efficiently pinpointing and correcting sources of network problems.
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Hewlett--Packard Company
Wiley David
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