NETWORK MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ACCELERATED EVENT CHANNEL

• US 20090077212A1
• Filed: 09/14/2007
• Published: 03/19/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/14/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Stewart, Kristian, APPLETON, CHRIS
• Granted Patent: US 8,176,160 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/069 using logs of notifications; Post-processing of notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0272 Virtual private networks

Abstract

This invention relates to a network management system accelerated event channel. This invention also relates to a method and computer program product for controlling an accelerated event channel in a network management system. The network management system comprising: a probe for intercepting a system event from a monitored system and creating an event item or modifying an event item associated with the system event; a collection database server collecting, in database of event items, a new event item or modification to an existing event item; a client; a notifying means for notifying a client of the new event item or event item modification; a channel table for storing an association between a channel and a client id; and wherein the probe associates the event item with a channel and the notifying means uses the channel table to find the client association.

Claims

1. A method of managing a network comprising:

intercepting a system event from a monitored system and creating an event item or modifying an event item associated with the system event;

collecting, in database of event items, a new event item or modification to an existing event item;

notifying a client of the new event item or event item modification;

wherein if the new or modified event item contains a channel reference then;

a) identifying the channel reference in the intercepted new event item or modified event item;

b) identifying a client reference associated with the channel reference; and

c) directly notifying the referenced client of a new event item or modified event item.

2. A method of managing a network according to claim 1 wherein the collecting step collects a batch of new event items or modifications to an existing event items;

the notification step notifies the client of the batch of new event items or event item modifications; and

further comprising

directly notifying the client of a new event item or modified event item independently of the periodic batch notification if the new or modified event item satisfies a priority condition.

3. A method according to claim 1 wherein the collecting step is performed in a first database server;

the client comprises a second database server replicating the new event items and/or event item modifications.

4. A method according to claim 1 wherein the collecting step is performed in a first database;

the client comprises a gateway that receives the notifications;

pulls event item data from the first database server and then pushes the event item data to a second client.

5. A method according to claim 1 wherein the collecting step is performed in a collecting layer of two or more database servers, each having at least one or more probes intercepting events;

the client is an aggregation layer comprising an aggregation database server that replicates in a central location all the new event items and/or event modification items from the two or more collecting database servers; and

further comprising notifying a second client of the aggregated new priority event items or modified priority event.

6. A method according to claim 5 wherein the second client is a display layer of two or more database servers where each display layer object server replicates a subset of the aggregated new event items and/or event modification items from aggregation database server;

and each display layer database server capable of directly notifying at least one display client of a new event item or modified event items.

7. A network management system comprising:

a probe for intercepting a system event from a monitored system and creating an event item or modifying an event item associated with the system event;

a collection database server collecting, in database of event items, a new event item or modification to an existing event item;

a client;

a notifying means for notifying a client of the new event item or event item modification;

a channel table for storing an association between a channel and a client id; and

wherein the probe associates the event item with a channel and the notifying means uses the channel table to find the client association.

8. A network management system according to claim 7 wherein the channel table further stores an association between a channel and specific fields of the event item and if the new or modified event item satisfies the priority condition then further comprising directly notifying the associated client of the event data of the specified fields.

9. A network management system according to claim 7 wherein the collection database server collects a batch of new event items or modifications to an existing event items;

the notifying means periodically notifies the client of the batch of new event items or event item modification; and

further comprising;

an acceleration mechanism for directly notifying the client of a new event item or modified event item independently of the periodic batch notification if the new or modified event item satisfies a priority condition.

10. A network management system according to claim 7 wherein the client comprises an aggregation database server replicating the new event items and/or event item modifications.

11. A network management system according to claim 7 wherein the client comprises a gateway that receives the notifications;

pulls event item data from the collection database server and then pushes the event item data to a second client.

12. A network management system according to claim 7 further comprising a collecting layer of two or more collection database servers, each having one or more associated probes;

the client is an aggregation layer comprising an aggregation database server that replicates in a central location all the new event items and/or event modification items from the two or more collecting database servers; and

further comprising notifying a second client of the aggregated new priority event items or modified priority event items.

13. A network management system according to claim 12 wherein the second client is a display layer of two or more database servers where each display layer object server replicates a subset of the aggregated new event items and/or event modification items from aggregation database server;

and each display layer database server capable of notifying at least one display client of a new event item or modified event items.

14. A computer program product according to claim 13 wherein the collecting step collects a batch of new event items or modifications to an existing event items;

the notification step notifies the client of the batch of new event items or event item modification; and

further comprising

directly notifying the client of a new event item or modified event item independently of the periodic batch notification if the new or modified event item satisfies a priority condition.

15. A computer program product according to claim 13 wherein wherein the collecting step is performed in a first database server;

the client comprises a second database server replicating the new event items and/or event item modifications.

16. A computer program product according to claim 15 wherein the collecting step is performed in a first database;

the client comprises a gateway that receives the notifications;

pulls event item data from the first database server and then pushes the event item data to a second client.

17. A computer program product according to claim 13 wherein the collecting step is performed in a collecting layer of two or more database servers, each having at least one or more probes intercepting events;

the client is an aggregation layer comprising an aggregation database server that replicates in a central location all the new event items and/or event modification items from the two or more collecting database servers; and

further comprising notifying a second client of the aggregated new priority event items or modified priority event.

18. A computer program product according to claim 17 wherein the second client is a display layer of two or more database servers where each display layer object server replicates a subset of the aggregated new event items and/or event modification items from aggregation database server;

and each display layer database server capable of directly notifying at least one display client of a new event item or modified event items.

13-1. A computer program product comprising computer readable recording medium having computer readable code stored thereon for a network management system, said computer readable code which when loaded onto a computer system and executed performs the following steps:

intercepting a system event from a monitored system and creating event items or modifying event items associated with the system events;

collecting, in database of event items, a new event item or modification to an existing event items;

notifying a client of the new event items or event item modification;

wherein if the new or modified event item contains a channel reference then;

a) identifying the channel reference in the intercepted new event item or modified event item;

b) identifying a client reference associated with the channel reference; and

c) directly notifying the referenced client of a new event item or modified event item.