Extending a network management protocol to network nodes without IP address allocations

• US 20030210699A1
• Filed: 05/08/2002
• Published: 11/13/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: ADC DSL Systems, Inc. (TE Connectivity Limited)
• Original Assignee: ADC DSL Systems, Inc. (TE Connectivity Limited)
• Inventors: Phillips, Melvin Richard, Holt, Jefferson Logan Sr.
• Application Number:
  US10/142,010
• Publication Number:
  US 20030210699A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/400
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0213 Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/161 Implementation details of TCP/IP or UDP/IP stack architecture; Specification of modified or new header fields
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A system and method for extending a simple network management protocol (SNMP), or other IP network management messaging protocol to one or more non-IP addressed nodes includes a gateway agent addressable by an IP address, at least one non-IP addressed agent to receive and respond to network management messages; and a process for routing network management messages to and from one or more one non-IP addressed agents based on a unique identifier contained in the message.

Claims

1. An SNMP protocol embodied in a machine readable media, comprising:

a community field for including an identifier for routing an SNMP message to a non-IP addressed node.

2. The SNMP protocol of claim 1, wherein the identifier comprises a MAC number.

3. The SNMP protocol of claim 2, further comprising a delimiter to mark the location of the identifier.

4. A system for extending SNMP protocol to one or more non-IP addressed nodes, comprising:

an SNMP gateway agent addressable by an IP address;

at least one non-IP addressed agent to receive SNMP messages; and

a process for routing SNMP messages to one or more non-IP addressed agents based on a unique identifier contained in the SNMP message.

5. A method for extending an SNMP protocol to one or more non-IP addressed nodes, comprising:

receiving an SNMP message comprising a community field at an IP-addressed gateway agent;

examining the SNMP message at the IP-addressed gateway agent to determine if the community field includes information for routing the message to a non-IP addressed node; and

routing the message to the non-IP addressed node, if any, specified in the community field.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the information for routing comprises a MAC address.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the community field comprises a delimiter.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the delimiter comprises a non-alphanumeric character.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the non-alphanumeric character comprises a colon.

10. A network system comprising:

an SNMP master;

an SNMP gateway agent; and

one or more non-IP addressed agents to receive SNMP messages from the SNMP master routed through the SNMP gateway agent.

11. The network system of claim 10, wherein the SNMP messages are routed to the non-IP addressed agents by a unique identifier in a predetermined SNMP message field.

12. The network system of claim 11, wherein the predetermined field of one or more SNMP messages comprises community field.

13. The network system of claim 11, wherein the community field comprises a MAC address.

14. A data structure embodied in a machine readable media, comprising:

a network management message;

an IP address for routing to a first recipient of the message; and

a field for a non-IP identifier associated with an ultimate recipient of the message;

wherein the network management message is routed by the first recipient to an ultimate recipient when a non-IP identifier associated with an ultimate recipient of the message is determined to be present.

15. A method for routing SNMP messages to non-IP addressed nodes of a network, the network comprising an SNMP master and at least one SNMP agent, the method comprising:

receiving a SNMP request by a first SNMP agent;

parsing the request to determine whether routing is required to a non-IP addressed agent;

handling the request by the first SNMP agent if no routing is required;

routing the request to the non-IP addressed agent if parsing the request determines that routing is required; and

generating a response to send to the SNMP master.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the response is sent to the SNMP master through the first SNMP agent.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the response is encapsulated within a link-level protocol used by the first SNMP agent, and routed back to the SNMP Master by an internet protocol address.

18. A method for routing network management messages to non-IP addressed nodes of a network, the network comprising a network management message master and at least one IP-addressed network management message gateway agent, the method comprising:

receiving a network management message request by the IP-addressed gateway agent;

parsing the request to determine whether routing is required to a non-IP addressed agent;

handling the request by the IP-addressed gateway agent if no routing is required;

routing the request to the non-IP addressed agent if parsing the request determines that routing is required; and

generating a response to send to the network management message master.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the response is sent to the network management message master through the IP-addressed gateway agent.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the response is encapsulated within a link-level protocol used by IP-addressed gateway agent, and routed back to network management message master by an IP.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the link-level protocol is an Ethernet protocol.

22. A data structure embodied in a machine readable media, comprising:

a SNMP message;

an IP address for a first recipient of the SNMP message; and

a field parsable by the first recipient for a non-IP identifier associated with an ultimate recipient of the SNMP message;

wherein the SNMP message is routable by the first recipient to the ultimate recipient when the non-IP identifier is determined to be present.

23. A data structure embodied in a machine readable media, comprising:

a SNMP message;

an IP address for a first recipient of the SNMP message; and

a field for a non-IP identifier that uniquely identifies an ultimate recipient of the SNMP message;

wherein the SNMP message may is routable by the first recipient to the ultimate recipient when the non-IP identifier is determined to be present.

24. A data structure embodied in a machine readable media, comprising:

a SNMP trap message;

an IP address for a recipient of the SNMP message; and

a field for a non-IP identifier that uniquely identifies the sender of the SNMP trap message;

wherein the origin of the SNMP trap message is determinable by the recipient by parsing the non-IP identifier.

25. An SNMP protocol embodied in a machine readable media, comprising:

a first name/value field comprising a unique identifier for a non-IP addressed node.

26. The SNMP protocol of claim 25, wherein the identifier comprises a MAC number.

27. A method for routing a trap message from a non-IP addressed node of a network to a network management message master, the method comprising:

sending a trap message by the non-IP-addressed node to the network management message master comprising a non-IP addressed node identifier; and

parsing the trap message at the network management message master to determine from which non-IP addressed node the message originated.

28. The method of claim 27 wherein the non-IP addressed node identifier is included in a first name/value field of the trap message.

29. The method of claim 28 wherein the non-IP addressed node identifier comprises a MAC address.

30. A system for extending a network management message protocol to one or more non-IP addressed nodes, comprising:

a network management message gateway agent addressable by an IP address;

at least one non-IP addressed agent to receive network management messages; and

a process for routing network management messages to one or more non-IP addressed agents based on a unique identifier contained in the network management message.

31. A method for extending an IP network management message protocol to one or more non-IP addressed nodes, comprising:

receiving at an IP-addressed gateway agent an IP network management message comprising a predetermined non-IP address identifier field;

examining the IP network management message at the IP-addressed gateway agent to determine if the non-IP address identifier field includes information for routing the message to a non-IP addressed node; and

routing the message to the non-IP addressed node, if any, specified in the non-IP address identifier field.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the information for routing comprises a MAC address.