Local object instance discovery for metric collection on network elements

• US 10,102,286 B2
• Filed: 05/27/2015
• Issued: 10/16/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Level 3 Communications LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Level 3 Communications LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Yermakov, Sergey, Caputo, II, Pete Joseph
• Primary Examiner(s): Meky, Moustafa M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Waugh, Thorne E
• Application Number:
  US14/722,875
• Publication Number:
  US 20160352595A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,238 Days
• Field of Search: 709203-238
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0213 Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0233 Object-oriented techniques, for representation of network management data, e.g. common object request broker architecture [CORBA]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0853 by actively collecting configuration information or by backing up configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/065 related to network devices

Abstract

In an embodiment, a computer-implemented method collects metrics on a network element. The method includes receiving, on the network element, a specification of the objects on the network element to monitor. The network element queries an object data structure representing management information of the network element to identify instances of each of the specified objects. For respective instances identified, the network element queries the object data structure for metric values associated with the respective instance. Finally, data representing the instance and the associated metric value is transmitted from the network element to a network information server over a network.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for collecting metrics on a network element, comprising:

(a) receiving, on the network element, a specification of the objects on the network element to monitor;

(b) querying, on the network element, an object data structure representing management information of the network element to identify new instances of each of the specified objects;

(c) for respective instances identified in (b), querying, on the network element, the object data structure for metric values associated with the respective new instance; and

(d) transmitting, from the network element to a network information server over a network, data representing the instance and the associated metric value.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting (d) comprises transmitting, from the network element to a plurality of network information servers over the network, the data representing the instance and the associated metric value.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving (a) comprises receiving the specification from the network information server that looks up the network element in an inventory database with network topology information and transmits the specification in a plurality of network elements selected according to the inventory database.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting (d) occurs periodically.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting (d) is scheduled according to business rules.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the transmitting (d) is scheduled according to business rules such that metric values associated with one of the objects are transmitted more frequently than metric values associated with another of the objects.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the object data structure is hierarchical.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the specification of objects is a plurality of Object Identifiers (OIDs) formatted according to the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), wherein the data structure is a Management Information Base (MIB) for the network element, and wherein the querying (b) and (c) occurs using SNMP.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

(e) before the receiving (a), storing, on the network element, objects to monitor based on the received specification, wherein the network element performs the querying (b), the querying (c), and the transmitting (d) periodically based on the stored objects to monitor.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by at least one computing device, causes the at least one computing device to perform a method for collecting metrics on a network element, the method comprising:

(a) receiving, on the network element, a specification of the objects on the network element to monitor;

(b) querying, on the network element, an object data structure representing management information of the network element to identify new instances of each of the specified objects;

(c) for respective instances identified in (b), querying, on the network element, the object data structure for metric values associated with the respective new instance; and

(d) transmitting, from the network element to a network information server over a network, data representing the instance and the associated metric value.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the transmitting (d) comprises transmitting, from the network element to a plurality of network information servers over the network, the data representing the instance and the associated metric value.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the receiving (a) comprises receiving the specification from the network information server that looks up the network element in an inventory database with network topology information and transmits the specification in a plurality of network elements selected according to the inventory database.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the transmitting (d) occurs periodically.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the transmitting (d) is scheduled according to business rules.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the object data structure is hierarchical.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the specification of objects is a plurality of Object Identifiers (OIDs) formatted according to the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), wherein the data structure is a Management Information Base (MIB) for the network element, and wherein the querying (b) and (c) occurs using SNMP.

17. A network element device that collecting metrics, comprising:

a processor;

a memory, coupled to the processor, that stores an object data structure representing management information of the network element;

a client configuration module executed by the processor to receive a specification of the objects on the network element to monitor;

a discovery module executed by the processor to query, on the network element, the object data structure to identify new instances of each of the specified objects;

a collection module that, for respective instances identified by the discovery module, queries, on the network element, the object data structure for metric values associated with the respective new instance; and

a scheduling module that transmits, from the network element to a network information server over a network, data representing the instance and the associated metric value.

18. The device of claim 17, wherein the scheduling module transmits, from the network element to a plurality of network information servers over the network, the data representing the instance and the associated metric value.

19. The device of claim 17, wherein the transmission occurs periodically.

20. The device of claim 17, wherein the scheduling module schedules the transmission according to business rules.

21. The device of claim 17, wherein the object data structure is hierarchical.

22. The device of claim 21, wherein the specification of objects is a plurality of Object Identifiers (OIDs) formatted according to the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), wherein the data structure is a Management Information Base (MIB) for the network element, and wherein the discovery and collection modules use SNMP.