System and method for monitoring network devices

• US 20040267924A1
• Filed: 01/15/2004
• Published: 12/30/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Computer Associates Think Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Computer Associates Think Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Yang, Fang, Moon, Sung-Joon
• Granted Patent: US 7,421,495 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route

Abstract

A method and system for monitoring hardware information associated with a network device in an enterprise system are provided. In one embodiment, a method for monitoring hardware information associated with a network device in an enterprise system includes retrieving hardware information associated with a network element, the hardware information including information on one or more hardware characteristics. A display dynamically presents the information.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring hardware information associated with a network device in an enterprise system, comprising:

retrieving hardware information associated with a network element, the hardware information including information on one or more hardware characteristics; and

dynamically presenting the information through a display.

2. The method of claim 1, the network device associated with at least one Management Information Base (MIB) parameter.

3. The method of claim 1, the hardware information comprising chassis component information.

4. The method of claim 1, each hardware characteristic selected from the group consisting of:

memory usage;

chassis temperature;

Central Processing Unit (CPU) usage;

fan status;

module status; and

power supply status.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising changing a configuration of the flexible configuration file to retrieve hardware information associated with a different network device.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

polling the network device based on a polling configuration file;

receiving updated hardware information associated with the network device; and

dynamically displaying the updated hardware information.

7. The method of claim 6, the polling configuration file comprising a polling interval associated with each hardware characteristic retrieved.

8. The method of claim 1, the interactive display comprising a first and a second window, the first window comprising a hierarchical tree structure of hardware characteristics, the second window comprising a tabular display of information associated with a hardware characteristic selected in the hierarchical tree structure.

9. Software for monitoring hardware information associated with a network element in an enterprise system, the software operable to:

retrieve hardware information associated with a network element, the hardware information including information on one or more hardware characteristics; and

dynamically present the information through a display.

10. The software of claim 9, the network device associated with at least one MIB parameter.

11. The software of claim 9, the hardware information comprising chassis component information.

12. The software of claim 9, each hardware characteristic selected from the group consisting of:

memory usage;

chassis temperature;

CPU usage;

fan status;

module status; and

power supply status.

13. The software of claim 9, further operable to change a configuration of the flexible configuration file to retrieve hardware information associated with a different network device.

14. The software of claim 9, further operable to:

poll the network device based on a polling configuration file;

receive updated hardware information associated with the network device; and

dynamically display the updated hardware information.

15. The software of claim 14, the polling configuration file comprising a polling interval associated with each hardware characteristic retrieved.

16. The software of claim 9, the interactive display comprising a first and a second window, the first window comprising a hierarchical tree structure of hardware characteristics, the second window comprising a tabular display of information associated with a hardware characteristic selected in the hierarchical tree structure.

17. A system for monitoring information associated with a network element in an enterprise system, comprising:

memory operable to store information associated with a plurality of network devices in the enterprise network; and

one or more processors collectively operable to;

retrieve hardware information associated with a network element, the hardware information including information on one or more hardware characteristics; and

dynamically present the information through an interactive display based on a flexible configuration file.

18. The system of claim 17, the network device associated with at least one MIB parameter.

19. The system of claim 17, the hardware information comprising chassis component information.

20. The system of claim 17, each hardware characteristic selected from the group consisting of:

memory usage;

chassis temperature;

CPU usage;

fan status;

module status; and

power supply status.

21. The system of claim 17, the processors further operable to change a configuration of the flexible configuration file to retrieve hardware information associated with a different network device.

22. The system of claim 17, the processors further operable to:

poll the network device based on a polling configuration file;

receive updated hardware information associated with the network device; and

dynamically display the updated hardware information.

23. The system of claim 22, the polling configuration file comprising a polling interval associated with each hardware characteristic retrieved.

24. The system of claim 17, the interactive display comprising a first and a second window, the first window comprising a hierarchical tree structure of hardware characteristics, the second window comprising a tabular display of information associated with a hardware characteristic selected in the hierarchical tree structure.

25. A method for monitoring hardware information associated with a network device in an enterprise system, comprising:

retrieving hardware information associated with a network element, the hardware information including information on one or more hardware characteristics;

dynamically displaying the information through an interactive display based on a flexible configuration file;

polling the network device based on a polling configuration file;

receiving updated hardware information associated with the network device;

dynamically displaying the updated hardware information; and

changing a configuration of the flexible configuration file to retrieve hardware information associated with a different network device.