System and Method for Dynamic Management of Network Device Data

• US 20140101301A1
• Filed: 10/04/2012
• Published: 04/10/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fortinet Inc.
• Original Assignee: Stateless Networks, Inc.
• Inventors: Wanser, Kelly, Antonopoulos, Andreas Markos
• Granted Patent: US 10,511,497 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/046 comprising network management agents or mobile agents therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0816 the condition being an adaptation, e.g. in response to network events
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/085 Retrieval of network configuration; Tracking network configuration history
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/04 Processing captured monitoring data, e.g. for logfile generation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0811 by checking connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/103 with adaptive polling, i.e. dynamically adapting the polling rate

Abstract

A method and apparatus of a device that dynamically changes how management data is managed in response to events detected in a network system is described. In an exemplary embodiment, the device receives an event notification from an agent associated with a managed node. The device further determines if the received event notification triggers a change in how the management data is managed on that manage node. If the event notification does trigger a change, the device determines a command for that manage node that represents that change if how the management data is managed on the managed node. In addition, the device sends the command to the managed, where the agent applies the command to the managed node and the applied command implements the change in how the management data is managed on the managed node.

Claims

1. A method of managing management data communicated between a managed node and a network management system, the method comprising:

receiving, on the network management system, an event notification from an agent associated with the managed node, wherein the agent is remote from the network management system;

determining if the event notification triggers a change in how the management data is managed on the managed node; and

if the event notification triggers a change in how the management data is managed on the managed node,

determining a command for the managed node that represents that change in how the management data is managed on the managed node, and

sending the command from the network management system to the agent associated with the managed node, wherein the agent applies the command to the managed node and the applied command implements the change in how the management data is managed on the managed node.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the management data is information that characterizes a functioning state of the managed node.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the management data is selected from the group consisting of processing statistics, status information, and data processed.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the event notification represents an event occurring on the managed node and the event is selected from the group consisting of a change in network connectivity of a link on the managed node, a detection of network congestion, a loss of a service on the managed node, a change in performance of a service on the managed node, and a change of utilization of a service on the managed node.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the how the management data is managed is selected from the group consisting of a type of management data collected, a frequency in which the management data is reported, and a window for how the management data is collected.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the change for the managed node is a change selected from the group consisting of a rate of collection of the management data by the agent, a window size of collected management data, a reporting frequency from the agent to the network management system, a type of data collected by the agent, and a rate of logging managed node information.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein a managed node is selected from the group consisting of a network access element and a server.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein a network access element is selected from the group consisting of a switch and a router.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the managed node is a virtual managed node.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an indication that the command was applied; and

receiving the management data based on the applied command.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the command, when applied, changes a setting of one or more management parameters of the managed node.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the agent proxies management data and the command between the managed node and the network management system.

27. The method of claim 1, wherein the agent is resident on the managed node.

13-22. -22. (canceled)

23. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having executable instructions to cause one or more processing units to perform a method to manage management data communicated between a managed node and a network management system, the method comprising:

receiving, on the network management system, an event notification from an agent associated with the managed node, wherein the agent is remote from the network management system;

determining if the event notification triggers a change in how the management data is managed on the managed node; and

if the event notification triggers a change in how the management data is managed on the managed node,

determining a command for the managed node that represents that change in how the management data is managed on the managed node, and

sending the command from the network management system to the agent associated with the managed node, wherein the agent applies the command to the managed node and the applied command implements the change in how the management data is managed on the managed node.

28. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 23, wherein the agent is resident on the managed node.

24. (canceled)

25. A system to manage to manage management data communicated between a managed node and a network management system, the system comprising:

an agent event module to receive an event notification from an agent associated with the managed node, wherein the agent event module includes memory to store the even notification and the agent is remote from the network management system;

an agent event trigger module, coupled to the agent event module, to determine if the event notification triggers a change in how the management data is managed on the managed node; and

if the event notification triggers a change in how the management data is managed on the managed node,

a management data command determination module, coupled to the agent event trigger module, to determine a command for the managed node that represents that change in how the management data is managed on the managed node, and

a send command module, coupled to the management data command determination module, to send the command to the agent associated with the managed node, wherein the agent applies the command to the managed node and the applied command implements the change in how the management data is managed on the managed node.

29. The system of claim 25, wherein the agent is resident on the managed node.

26. (canceled)