Network Diagnostic Systems and Methods for Collecting Data From Network Nodes

• US 20100077075A1
• Filed: 01/28/2009
• Published: 03/25/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/29/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Virtual Instruments Corp.
• Original Assignee: Virtual Instruments Corp.
• Inventors: Negrete, Ricardo A., Nitikman, Jay Steven, Nagao, Andrea Mayumi, Cuni, Genti
• Application Number:
  US12/361,250
• Publication Number:
  US 20100077075A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• 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: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic

Abstract

A system may comprise a network diagnostic device. The network diagnostic device may be configured to instantiate objects of data collection classes. The data collection classes may be configured to collect data from nodes of a network. The data collection classes may, for instance, inherit an interface object from an ancestor data collection class, and the interface object may be configured to use a protocol to collect data from nodes of a network. The network diagnostic device may be configured to automatically detect a node type associated with a node of a network. The network diagnostic device may also be configured to instantiate a node-specific data collection object associated with the detected node type. The node-specific data collection object may be configured to collect data from nodes of the detected node type at intervals less than or equal to fifteen seconds.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a network diagnostic device configured to instantiate objects of any of a plurality of data collection classes, the plurality of data collection classes inheriting an interface object from an ancestor data collection class, the interface object configured to use a first protocol to collect data from nodes of a network, the first plurality of a data collection classes comprising;

a first node-specific data collection class configured to use the inherited interface object to collect data from nodes of a first node type; and

a second node-specific data collection class configured to use the inherited interface object to collect data from nodes of a second node type.

2. The system as in claim 1, wherein the first node-specific data collection class comprises a first switch-specific data collection class configured to use the inherited interface object to collect data from switches of a first switch type;

and

wherein the second node-specific data collection class comprises a second switch-specific data collection class configured to use the inherited interface object to collect data from switches of a second switch type.

3. The system as in claim 1, wherein the first node-specific data collection class comprises a first switch-specific data collection class configured to use the inherited interface object to collect data from switches of a first switch type;

and

wherein the second node-specific data collection class comprises a first storage-device-specific data collection class configured to use the inherited interface object to collect data from storage devices of a first storage device type.

4. The system as in claim 1, wherein the first node-specific data collection class comprises a first storage-device-specific data collection class configured to use the inherited interface object to collect data from storage devices of a first storage device type;

and

wherein the second node-specific data collection class comprises a second storage-device-specific data collection class configured to use the inherited interface object to collect data from storage devices of a second storage device type.

5. The system as in claim 1, wherein the first protocol is SNMP.

6. The system as in claim 1, wherein the first node-specific data collection class is configured to use the inherited interface object to collect performance data and/or configuration data from nodes of the first node type;

and wherein the second node-specific data collection class is configured to use the inherited interface object to collect performance data and/or configuration data from nodes of the second node type.

7. The system as in claim 1, wherein the first node-specific data collection class is configured to use the inherited interface object to periodically collect performance data and/or configuration data at intervals less than or equal to fifteen seconds;

and wherein the second node-specific data collection class is configured to use the inherited interface object to periodically collect performance data and/or configuration data at intervals less than or equal to fifteen seconds.

8. A system comprising:

a network diagnostic device configured to automatically detect a node type associated with a node of a network and to instantiate a node-specific data collection object associated with the node type, the node-specific data collection object configured to collect data from nodes of the node type.

9. The system as in claim 8, wherein the network diagnostic device is configured to automatically detect the node type associated with the node by:

establishing a connection with the node;

receiving a plurality of characters from the node; and

using the received plurality of characters to identify a node type associated with the node.

10. The system as in claim 9, wherein the received plurality of characters are configured to be displayed on a screen as at least part of a prompt.

11. The system as in claim 9, wherein the received plurality of characters are configured to be displayed on a screen as at least part of a TELNET login prompt.

12. The system as in claim 8, wherein the node-specific data collection object is configured to collect performance data and/or configuration data from nodes of the node type.

13. The system as in claim 8, wherein the node-specific data collection object is configured to periodically collect performance data and/or configuration data at intervals less than or equal to fifteen seconds.

14. The system as in claim 8, wherein the node is a switch;

and wherein the node type is a switch type.

15. A system comprising:

a network diagnostic device configured to automatically detect a node type associated with a node of a network and to instantiate a node-specific data collection object associated with the node type, the node-specific data collection object configured to collect data from nodes of the node type at intervals less than or equal to fifteen seconds.