Method and apparatus for sending address in the message for an e-mail notification action to facilitate remote management of network devices

• US 20030120775A1
• Filed: 02/07/2003
• Published: 06/26/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/1998
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Compaq Computer Corporation (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Compaq Computer Corporation (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: York, Justin E.
• Application Number:
  US10/360,893
• Publication Number:
  US 20030120775A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0631 using root cause analysis; using analysis of correlation between notifications, alarms or events based on decision criteria, e.g. hierarchy, tree or time analysis
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/00 Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/18 Commands or executable codes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/224 providing notification on incoming messages, e.g. pushed notifications of received messages

Abstract

A method and apparatus for sending notifications to a user of a network management system concerning the status of a particular network device such as an SNMP manageable device. The. notification rules are preconfigured and assigned to a corresponding notification action such as an e-mail notification. The user may specify a variety of information to be included in the e-mail notification including the URL address of the network device. Once the notification actions are configured, the communications network is monitored by a management console and the state of each device is compared to the notification rules. When a notification rule is satisfied, the pre-configured e-mail notification is sent to the user. The URL for the device which sent the e-mail notification is placed in the body of the e-mail message so that the user, while reading the e-mail with an HTTP compliant URL-aware mail tool, may click on the URL to access the web-based management system for the device. Then the user can obtain current information concerning the device even though the user may be in a remote location.

Claims

1. A method for notifying a user of the status of at least one network device in a communications network, said method comprising the steps of:

monitoring the at least one network device to at least determine if a notification rule is satisfied; and

if a notification rule is satisfied,

creating an e-mail message corresponding to the notification rule, the e-mail message including an address pointing to the at least one network device; and

sending the e-mail message to the user.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said step of creating an e-mail message further comprises the step of pre-configuring the e-mail message to include one or more variables representing information available in the communications network.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein said step of creating an e-mal message further comprises the steps of:

parsing the pre-configured e-mail message; and

replacing the one or more variables with the actual values of the one or more variables.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one network device is manageable using the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP).

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the address pointing to the at least one network device is a Uniform Resource Locator (URL).

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the user opens the e-mail message using an HTTP compliant URL-aware mail tool and clicks on the URL in the e-mail message to access a graphical interface to the one at least one network device.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the e-mail message contains an address pointing to the at least one network device satisfying the notification rule.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the address pointing to the at least one network device is in the form of a Uniform Resource Locator (URL).

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the user opens the e-mail message using an HTTP compliant URL-aware mail tool and clicks on the URL in the e-mail message to access a graphical interface to the at least one network device.

10. A method for sending an e-mail notification to a user corresponding to the status of at least one network device in a communications network, said method comprising:

creating at least one notification rule;

configuring an e-mail notification action to correspond to the at least one notification rule;

placing at least one variable representing characteristics of the at least one network device into a body of the e-mail notification action;

monitoring the at least one network device; and

if the at least one notification rule is satisfied;

parsing the body of the configured e-mail notification action;

replacing the at least one variable in the body of the e-mail notification action with an actual value represented by the at least one variable to get the e-mal notification rule, wherein one of the at least one variables symbolizes an address of the at least one network device; and

sending the e-mail notification to the user.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the address of the at least one network device is a Uniform Resource Locator (URL).

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the at least one network device is manageable using the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP).

13. A network management system for notifying a user of the status of at least one network device connected in a communications network, said network management system comprising:

a management console connected to the communications network wherein the management console monitors the at least one device to determine if at least one notification rule is satisfied;

a first module within said management console for sending an e-mail message to the user when the at least one notification rule is satisfied;

a second module for ascertaining the address of the at least one network device satisfying the at least one notification rule; and

a third module for placing the address ascertained by said second module into the e-mail message to be sent by said first module.

14. The system of claim 13 further comprising a fourth module within said management console for pre-configuring an e-mail message to be sent to the user when the at least one notification rule is satisfied.

15. The system of claim 14 further comprising a fifth module within said management console for parsing the pre-configured e-mail message and replacing the at least one variable with an actual value of the variable.

16. The system of claim 13 wherein the at least one network device supports the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP).

17. The system of claim 13 further comprising a fourth module for providing a remote user with a graphical interface to the network management system.

18. The system of claim 13 wherein said first module is an HTTP compliant URL-aware mail tool.