Method and apparatus for drilling to measurement data from commonly displayed heterogeneous measurement sources

• US 20040039542A1
• Filed: 08/22/2002
• Published: 02/26/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 08/22/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Viavi Solutions, Inc. (Lumentum Holdings Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Agilent Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Rarnard, David L., Kroboth, Robert H.
• Granted Patent: US 6,826,507 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/127
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/02 Capturing of monitoring data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/06 Generation of reports

Abstract

A network monitoring and/or troubleshooting system to collect heterogeneous scalar measurement data over a network from a plurality of devices connected to the network and normalize the collected heterogeneous scalar measurement data based on a mathematical transform of collected scalar measurement data into a common mathematical space. When the transformed scalar measurement data is displayed in graphical representations, underlying data of the graphical representation can be drilled into, with context, to display additional heterogeneous scalar measurement data, scalar measurement data from data collectors, and measurement data stored in network devices generating the heterogeneous scalar measurement data.

Claims

1. A method for drilling into displayed heterogeneous measurement data, comprising:

transforming collected heterogeneous scalar measurement data from heterogeneous network devices by using a mathematical transform to transform a heterogeneous scalar measurement data, from at least one of the network devices, into a homogeneous mathematical transform space so that the heterogeneous scalar measurement data is normalized;

displaying the transformed heterogeneous scalar measurement data; and

drilling into the displayed transformed heterogeneous scalar measurement data to display additional measurement data from which the displayed transformed heterogeneous scalar measurement data is based.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the collected heterogeneous scalar measurement data is intervalizing.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the transforming further comprises:

deriving a measurement from the collected heterogeneous scalar measurement data; and

scaling the derived measurement or the collected heterogeneous scalar measurement data.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the transforming normalizes the collected heterogeneous scalar measurement data, the scaled derived measurement, the scaled collected heterogeneous scalar measurement data, or the derived measurement.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the collected heterogeneous scalar measurement data is formatted according to an SNMP protocol.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the drilling further comprises displaying non-normalized heterogeneous scalar measurement data.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the drilling further comprises drilling to a data collector and displaying scalar measurement data stored in the data collector, with the stored scaled measurement data being a basis for the collected heterogeneous scalar measurement data.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the drilling further comprises drilling to the one network device and displaying measurement data stored in the one network device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the drilling further comprises:

drilling to the one network device with context;

launching a user interface in the one network device; and

launching applications or operations in the one network device to control the network operation.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the drilling further comprises drilling to another network device or another network and displaying measurement data stored in the other network device or other network.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the drilling further comprises:

drilling to another network device or another network with context;

cross-launching a user interface in the other network device or other network; and

launching applications or operations in the other network device or other network to control the other network operation.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the drilling includes drilling into the displayed transformed heterogeneous scalar measurement data with context.

13. An apparatus to drill into displayed heterogeneous scalar measurement data, comprising:

a transforming unit to transform collected heterogeneous scalar measurement data from heterogeneous network devices by using a mathematical transform to transform a heterogeneous scalar measurement data, from at least one of the network devices, into a homogeneous mathematical transform space so that the heterogeneous scalar measurement data is normalized;

a displaying unit to display the transformed heterogeneous scalar measurement data; and

a drilling unit to drill into the displayed transformed heterogeneous scalar measurement data for display, by the display unit, of additional measurement data from which the displayed transformed heterogeneous scalar measurement data is based.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein at least one of the collected heterogeneous scalar measurement data is formatted according to an SNMP protocol.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising displaying drilled non-normalized heterogeneous scalar measurement data.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the drilling unit drills to a data collector for display of scalar measurement data stored in the data collector, with the stored scaled measurement data being a basis for the collected heterogeneous scalar measurement data.

17. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the drilling unit drills to the one network device for display of measurement data stored in the one network device.

18. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the drilling unit drills to the one network device and causes a launching of a user interface in the one network device and a launching of applications or operations to control the network operation.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the drilling unit drills to another network device or another network, with context, to display measurement data stored in the other network device or other network.

20. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the drilling unit drills to another network device or another network, with context, and causes a cross-launching of a user interface in the other network device or other network and a launching of applications or operations to control the other network operation.

21. A medium that provides instructions for displaying heterogeneous scalar measurement data, which, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

transforming collected heterogeneous scalar measurement data from heterogeneous network devices by using a mathematical transform to transform a heterogeneous scalar measurement data, from one of the network devices, into a homogeneous mathematical transform space so that the heterogeneous scalar measurement data is normalized;

displaying the transformed heterogeneous scalar measurement data; and

drilling into the displayed transformed heterogeneous scalar measurement data to display additional measurement data from which the displayed transformed heterogeneous scalar measurement data is based.

22. The medium of claim 21, wherein the instructions further cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

deriving a measurement from the collected heterogeneous scalar measurement data; and

scaling the derived measurement or the collected heterogeneous scalar measurement data.

23. The medium of claim 21, wherein the drilling further comprises drilling to a data collector and displaying scalar measurement data stored in the data collector, with the stored scaled measurement data being a basis for the collected heterogeneous scalar measurement data.

24. The medium of claim 21, wherein the drilling further comprises drilling to the one network device and displaying measurement data stored in the one network device.

25. The medium of claim 21, wherein the drilling further comprises:

drilling to the one network device with context;

launching a user interface in the one network device; and

launching applications or operations to control the network operation.