System and method for automating network management tasks

• US 10,454,782 B2
• Filed: 02/11/2015
• Issued: 10/22/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Netbrain Technologies Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Netbrain Technologies Incorporated
• Inventors: Gao, Lingping, Liao, Guangdong
• Primary Examiner(s): Burgess, Glenton B
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ngankam, Patrick F
• Application Number:
  US14/619,957
• Publication Number:
  US 20150156077A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,714 Days
• Field of Search: 709223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0213 Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/052 using standardised network management architectures, e.g. telecommunication management network [TMN] or unified network management architecture [UNMA]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0677 Localisation of faults
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0681 Configuration of triggering conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0686 Additional information in the notification, e.g. enhancement of specific meta-data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/069 using logs of notifications; Post-processing of notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0853 by actively collecting configuration information or by backing up configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/045 for graphical visualisation of monitoring data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0811 by checking connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring

Abstract

A system and method for automating network management includes providing a GUI for receiving a network command to be executed on the network. The results from the execution of the network command are received by a parser including a variable for storing the retrieved information. An analysis routine is received, through the GUI, that analyzes the network based on the information in the variable. The method may include generating a network management application and may include instructions for recursively updating the variable.

Claims

1. A method, implemented by a processor device, for providing network management automation, the method comprising:

providing a graphical user interface (GUI) for automating network management tasks associated with a computer network;

receiving, through the GUI, a network command to be executed on the computer network;

executing the received network command on the computer network;

obtaining, by the processor device, a result from the computer network based on the execution of the received network command, wherein the obtained result comprises information associated with one or more network parameters;

defining, through the GUI, a parser for retrieving the information associated with the one or more network parameters in the obtained result, the parser comprising a defined pattern including a variable for storing the information associated with the one or more network parameters in the obtained result;

defining, through the GUI, an analysis routine for analyzing the computer network based on the variable;

generating, by the processor device, an executable network management application comprising the received network command, the defined parser and the defined analysis routine, the executable network management application including instructions for updating the variable recursively; and

saving the generated executable network management application so as to be executed at some point in the future or shared,

wherein the analysis routine further includes location information indicating where to display the variable with respect to a graphical indicator representing a corresponding network component in a topology network map of the computer network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the network command includes at least one of a command-line interface (CLI) command, a configuration command, or a simple network management protocol (SNMP) command.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

defining, through the GUI, a frequency value for updating the variable recursively; and

generating, by the processor device, the executable network management application to include the defined frequency value for updating the variable recursively.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the parser includes at least one of:

a keyword parser;

a paragraph parser;

a table parser;

or

a filter parser.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the analysis routine includes a condition to be evaluated based on the variable and an alert to be displayed when the condition is satisfied.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the condition includes a threshold to be compared with the variable.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the condition includes whether the variable increases, decreases, or flaps with time.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the alert includes at least one of a textual alert or a change of display of one or more graphical indicators.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein the analysis routine further includes location information indicating where to display the alert with respect to the graphical indicator in the topology map of the computer network.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the network command comprises “

show process CPU”

.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more network parameters comprise CPU utilization for a certain period.

10. A system for providing network management automation, the system comprising:

a memory device storing computer codes for automating network management tasks associated with a computer network; and

a processor device operatively coupled to the memory device, wherein the computer codes stored on the memory device, when executed by the processor device, cause the processor device to perform operations comprising;

providing a graphical user interface (GUI);

receiving, through the GUI, a network command to be executed on the computer network;

executing the received network command on the computer network;

obtaining a result from the computer network based on the execution of the received network command, wherein the obtained result comprises information associated with one or more network parameters;

defining, through the GUI, a parser for retrieving the information associated with the one or more network parameters in the obtained result, the parser comprising a defined pattern including a variable for storing the information associated with the one or more network parameters in the obtained result;

defining, through the GUI, an analysis routine for analyzing the computer network based on the variable;

generating an executable network management application comprising the received network command, the defined parser and the defined analysis routine, the executable network management application including instructions for updating the variable recursively; and

saving the generated executable network management application so as to be executed at some point in the future or shared,

wherein the analysis routine further includes location information indicating where to display the variable with respect to a graphical indicator representing a corresponding network component in a topology network map of the computer network.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the network command includes at least one of a command-line interface (CLI) command, a configuration command, or a simple network management protocol (SNMP) command.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise:

defining, through the GUI, a frequency value for updating the variable recursively; and

generating the executable network management application to include the defined frequency value for updating the variable recursively.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the analysis routine includes a condition to be evaluated based on the variable and an alert to be displayed when the condition is satisfied.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the condition includes a threshold to be compared with the variable.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the alert includes at least one of a textual alert or a change of display of one or more graphical indicators.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the analysis routine further includes location information indicating where to display the alert with respect to the graphical indicator in the topology map of the computer network.

19. The system of claim 10, wherein the network command comprises “

show process CPU”

.

20. The system of claim 10, wherein the one or more network parameters comprise CPU utilization for a certain period.