System and method for maintaining tables in an SNMP agent

• US 6,032,183 A
• Filed: 08/05/1997
• Issued: 02/29/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 04/05/1993
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Ordanic, Zvonimir, McKenzie, William Frank Jr., Temoshenko, Leo, Chen, David De-Hui
• Primary Examiner(s): Burgess, Glenton B.
• Assistant Examiner(s): HO, CHUONG T
• Application Number:
  US08/906,596
• Time in Patent Office: 938 Days
• Field of Search: 395/200.53, 395/800, 395/500, 395/700, 395/650, 395/601, 395/614, 395/619, 395/616, 370/85.6, 370/254, 709/223, 709/100, 709/200, 712/10, 710/200, 713/1, 707/200, 707/201, 707/202, 707/203, 707/1, 707/103, 714/20
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0213 Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/046 comprising network management agents or mobile agents therefor
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability

Abstract

A new system and method allows a Manager in a Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) environment to gather updates from its Agents. The system and method comprise the unique provision of an index which is used in each of the Agent'"'"'s tables for indicating the various revisions thereof. The index lexicographically increases with each revision to the table. The Manager maintains a record of the index of the data which it has received from its Agents, requesting only that data having a lexicographically larger indexing. Further, the index is used in related tables so that the tables will be kept in "sync" in that the Manager will know whether it has the latest updates so that an accurate picture may be portrayed.

Claims

1. For use in an Agent in a network having a plurality of nodes and a Manager, said network conforming to the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), a method of maintaining a table comprising individual records defining one or more individual managed objects, said method comprising the steps of:

building an initial table of individual records representing an initial status of said one or more individual managed objects, each of said records having a unique index;

in response to a change in one of said individual managed objects, adding sequentially to said initial table at least one further individual record defining the changed object, each said further additional record having an index lexicographically larger than the index of any of said individual records already in said table.

2. For use in an SNMP-compliant network having a plurality of nodes and a Manager, an Agent for maintaining a table comprising individual records defining one or more individual managed objects, said Agent comprising:

table creation logic for building an initial table of individual records representing an initial status of said one or more individual managed objects, each of said records having a unique index;

table update logic responsive to a change in a managed object to add sequentially to said initial table at least one further individual record defining the changed object, each said further additional record having an index lexicographically larger than the index of said individual records already in said table; and

polling logic for receiving periodic polling requests from said Manager for said at least one further individual record of said individual managed object and for forwarding said further individual records to said Manager.

3. The Agent defined in claim 2 further comprising table logic for maintaining a plurality of tables including a node characteristics table and a transmission group characteristics table.