Network management

• US 20090019141A1
• Filed: 12/07/2005
• Published: 01/15/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Butcher, Thomas C., Marl, Brett, Tebbs, Matthew, Hinds, Joshua, Acker, Kristin, Bush, Steven M., Ferrari, Justin, Gery, Ron
• Granted Patent: US 7,925,729 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2807 Exchanging configuration information on appliance services in a home automation network arrangements for maintenance or administration involving network analysis for automatically determining the actual topology of a network H04L41/12; hardware or software tools for network management using graphical user interfaces H04L41/22; address allocation H04L61/50
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0233 Object-oriented techniques, for representation of network management data, e.g. common object request broker architecture [CORBA]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/046 comprising network management agents or mobile agents therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0853 by actively collecting configuration information or by backing up configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/20 Network management software packages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/26 using dedicated tools for LAN [Local Area Network] management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0811 by checking connectivity

Abstract

A tool for managing a computer network includes a gateway service module that identifies a gateway for a network and a network information service module. The network information service module identifies devices in the network, determines at least one property for each of the identified devices, and creates a network information data structure for storing device properties. A communication agent service module transmits at least one determined device property to other agent service modules associated with the network, receives at least one device property from another agent service module associated with the network, and provides the received at least one property device to the network information service module. A method of monitoring a computer network is also provided. The method includes identifying devices in a network, determining at least one property for each of the identified devices, receiving at least one determined device property from another device the network, and creating a network information data structure for storing the determined device properties.

Claims

1. A network tool for use by a member of a physical network, comprising:

a detection module for detecting each device that is a member of a physical network; and

a naming module that consistently generates a unique name for each detected member device.

2. The network tool recited in claim 1, wherein the naming module consistently generates a unique name for a detected member device based upon a physical network address associated with the detected member device.

3. The network tool recited in claim 1, further comprising a trusted device member module that

provides an identification service that identifies member devices belonging to a group of member devices forming a virtual network, and

provides a trusted communication service that establishes trusted communication with each of the identified member devices.

4. The network tool recited in claim 1, further comprising a user interface module that creates a user interface displaying a representation of each member device detected by the detection module.

5. A tool for managing a network, comprising:

a gateway service module that identifies a gateway for a network,

a network information service module that

identifies devices in the network,

determines at least one property for each of the identified devices, and

creates a network information data structure for storing device properties; and

a communication agent service module that

transmits at least one determined device property to other agent service modules associated with the network,

receives at least one device property from another agent service module associated with the network, and

provides the received at least one property device to the network information service module.

6. The tool recited in claim 5, further comprising a user interface service module that provides a user interface displaying at least a portion of the device properties stored in the network information data structure.

7. The tool recited in claim 5, further comprising a network management application module that coordinates interaction between the gateway service module, the network information service module, and the communication agent service module.

8. A method of monitoring a network, comprising:

identifying devices in a network;

determining at least one property for each of the identified devices;

receiving at least one determined device property from another device the network; and

creating a network information data structure for storing the determined device properties.

9. The method recited in claim 8, further comprising transmitting at least one determined device property to another device in the network.

10. The method recited in claim 8, further comprising:

generating a consistent unique identifier for each computer appliance device in the network; and

storing the generated unique identifier for each computer appliance device with the determined device properties for the computer appliance device in the network information data structure.

11. The method recited in claim 8, further comprising:

detecting a changes of a determined device property; and

transmitting the device property change to the remote device in the network.

12. A method of administering a network, comprising:

identifying devices in a network;

determining at least one property for each of the identified devices;

creating a network information data structure for storing the device properties;

receiving a designated device property; and

transmitting the designated device property to a remote device in the network.

13. A user interface for a network, comprising:

a plurality of member icons, each member icon corresponding to a member device identified as a member of a physical network; and

topographical indicators representing a network relationship between the each device identified as a member of the network of member.

14. The user interface recited in claim 13, further comprising connectivity indicators indicating which member devices currently are connected to the physical network.

15. The user interface recited in claim 14, wherein the connectivity indicators are positive indicators associated with the member icons corresponding to member devices that currently are connected to the physical network.

16. The user interface recited in claim 14, wherein the connectivity indicators are negative indicators associated with the member icons corresponding to member devices that currently are not connected to the physical network.

17. The user interface recited in claim 14, further comprising control objects for controlling one or more of the member devices.

18. The user interface recited in claim 14, further comprising a resource icon representing a resource maintained by a member device.

19. The user interface recited in claim 14, further comprising a resource icon representing a resource maintained by a member device belonging to a group of member devices forming a virtual network.