Network communications system manager

• US 6,192,414 B1
• Filed: 01/27/1998
• Issued: 02/20/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 01/27/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Siemens Industry Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Moore Products Co. (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Horn, Michael S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Maung, Zarni
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tran, Philip B.
• Application Number:
  US09/013,833
• Time in Patent Office: 1,120 Days
• Field of Search: 709/239, 709/238, 709/224, 709/227, 370/400
• US Class Current: 709/239
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/5692 Selection among different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/00 Arrangements for maintenance, administration or management of data switching networks, e.g. of packet switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/00 Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/06 Generation of reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0811 by checking connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/32 Architecture of open systems interconnection [OSI] 7-layer type protocol stacks, e.g. the interfaces between the data link level and the physical level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/326 in the transport layer [OSI layer 4] H04L69/16 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A system for and a method of managing a communications network through the use of multiple network connections. The system prepares at least two transport service providers of a node for establishing a network connection with corresponding transport service providers of another node and associates the at least two transport service providers with each other and with a requesting application. The system monitors network connection condition and determines availability and suitability of each network connection. The system selectively transmits information via a selected network connection. The system seamlessly establishes the multiple connections and transmits the information over the selected network connection and is transparent to the application.

Claims

1. A method of managing a communications network having a plurality of nodes, each node capable of running at least one of a plurality of applications, and a plurality of transport service providers, each transport service provider linked to a network driver for establishing a network connection and an interface linked to the at least one application for enabling any of the plurality of applications to communicate with each of the plurality of transport service providers, the method comprising the steps of:

in each of a first and a second node, preparing at least two of the plurality of transport service providers for establishing a network connection through each of the at least two transport service providers and associating them with each other and an application in response to a request from the application to the interface for a single network connection;

establishing network connection between each of the at least two transport service providers in the first node and corresponding transport service providers in the second node;

monitoring and determining network connection condition; and

selectively transmitting information via a selected one network connection.

2. A method as set forth in claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

in the first node, monitoring request for connection received from the second node to connect one of the at least two transport service providers in the first node to a corresponding transport service provider in the second node;

executing the establishing step in response to a connection request;

after a first request for connection from the first node has been received, monitoring for a preselected period of time connection status of all of the at least two transport service providers to determine if each of the transport service providers has received a request for connection from the first node;

after the preselected period of time has elapsed, reporting the connection status of the at least two transport service providers to the log.

3. A method as set forth in claim 2, further comprising the steps of:

in the second node, monitoring requests for connection received from the first node to connect one of the at least two transport service providers in the second node to a corresponding transport service provider in the first node.

4. A method as set forth in claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

monitoring the at least two transport service providers for incoming information; and

fetching and transferring incoming information to the appropriate application.

5. A method as set forth in claim 1, wherein network connection condition comprises network connection availability, cost, speed and wait time.

6. A method as set forth in claim 1, wherein network connection selection is based upon one of a plurality of available redundancy schemes and network connection conditions.

7. A method of managing a client-server communications network having a plurality of nodes, each node capable of running at least one of a plurality of applications and a plurality of transport service providers, each transport service provider linked to a network driver for establishing a network connection and an interface enabling any of the plurality of applications to communicate with each of the plurality of transport service providers, the method comprising the steps of:

in each of a first and a second node, preparing at least two of the plurality of transport service providers for establishing a network connection through each of the at least two transport service providers and associating them with each other and an application in response to a request from the application to the interface for a single network connection;

monitoring requests for connection received by the first node from the second node to connect one of the at least two transport service providers in the first node to a corresponding transport service provider in the second node;

establishing network connection in response to a connection request from the second node between the requested transport service provider of the first node and the corresponding transport service provider of the second node each time the first node receives a request for connection;

after a first request for connection from the second node has been received, monitoring for a preselected period of time connection status of all of the at least two transport service providers to determine if each of the transport service providers has received a request for connection from the second node;

after the preselected period of time has elapsed, reporting the connection status of the at least two transport service providers to a log;

monitoring and determining network connection condition;

selectively transmitting information between the first node and the second node via a selected one network connection;

monitoring the at least two transport service providers for incoming information; and

fetching and transferring incoming information to the appropriate application.

8. A method as set forth in claim 7, further comprising the steps of:

monitoring requests for connection received by the second node from the first node to connect one of the at least two transport service providers in the second node to a corresponding transport service provider in the first node;

establishing network connection in response to a connection request from the first node between the requested transport service provider of the second node and the corresponding transport service provider of the first node each time the second node receives a request for connection;

after a first request for connection from the first node has been received, monitoring for a preselected period of time connection status of all of the at least two transport service providers to determine if each of the transport service providers has received a request for connection from the first node;

after the preselected period of time has elapsed, reporting the connection status of the at least two transport service providers to the log.

9. A method as set forth in claim 7, wherein network connection condition comprises network connection availability, cost, speed and wait time.

10. A method as set forth in claim 7, wherein network connection selection is based upon a redundancy scheme and network connection condition.

11. A method as set forth in claim 7, further comprising the steps of:

in additional nodes, preparing at least two of the plurality of transport service providers for establishing a network connection through each of the at least two transport service providers and associating them with each other and the application in response to a request from the application to the interface for a single network connection;

establishing network connection between each of the at least two transport service providers in the first node and corresponding transport service providers in at least one of the additional nodes.

12. A method of managing a client-server communications network having a plurality of nodes, each node capable of running a plurality of applications and a plurality of transport service providers, each transport service provider linked to a network driver for establishing a network connection, an interface enabling any of the plurality of applications to communicate with each of the plurality of transport service providers and a manager module having a server manager and a client manager, coupling the interface and at least two of the plurality of transport service providers, the method comprising the steps of:

in each of a first and a second node manager module, preparing at least two of the plurality of transport service providers for establishing a network connection through each of the at least two transport service providers and associating them with each other and an application in response to a request from the application to the interface for a single network connection;

in the server manager,

monitoring connection requests between the first node and the second node to connect one of the at least two transport service providers in the first node to a corresponding transport service provider in the second node;

establishing network connection through a requested transport service provider in response to a connection request each time the connection request is received;

after a first connection request has been received, monitoring for a preselected period of time connection status of all of the at least two transport service providers to determine if each of the transport service providers has received a request for connection;

after the preselected period of time has elapsed, reporting the determined connection status of the at least two transport service providers to a log;

in the client manager,

providing connection requests between the first node and the second node to connect the at least two transport service providers in the first node to corresponding transport service providers in the second node;

monitoring for a preselected period of time receipt of a connection signal indicating an established network connection between each of the at least two transport service providers;

after the preselected period of time has elapsed, reporting the indicated connection status of the at least two transport service providers to the log;

in the first and second node manager module,

monitoring and determining network connection condition;

selectively directing information to a selected one network connection for transmission between the first node and the second node;

monitoring established network connections for incoming information; and

fetching and transmitting incoming information to the appropriate application.

13. A method as set forth in claim 12, further comprising the steps of:

in several additional nodes, preparing at least two of the plurality of transport service providers for establishing a network connection through each of the at least two transport service providers and associating them with each other and the application in response to a request from the application to the interface for a single network connection;

in the server manager of each of the first, second and several additional nodes,

monitoring connection requests from all other nodes to connect one of the at least two transport service providers in a requested node to a corresponding transport service provider in a requesting node;

establishing network connection through a requested transport service provider in response to a connection request from the requesting node each time the requested node receives the connection request;

after a first connection request from the requesting node has been received, monitoring for a preselected period of time connection status of all of the at least two transport service providers to determine if each of the transport service providers has received a request for connection from the requesting node;

after the preselected period of time has elapsed, reporting the determined connection status of the at least two transport service providers to an requested node log;

in the client manager of one of the first, second and several additional nodes,

providing connection requests to at least one other node to connect the at least two transport service providers in the any one node to corresponding transport service providers in the at least one other node;

monitoring for a preselected period of time receipt of a connection signal from the at least one other node indicating an established network connection between each of the at least two transport service providers in the any one node and the corresponding transport service providers in the at least one other node;

after the preselected period of time has elapsed, reporting the connection status of at least two transport service providers to the any one node log.

14. A method as set forth in claim 12, wherein network connection condition comprises network connection availability, cost, speed and wait time.

15. A method as set forth in claim 12, wherein network connection selection is based upon a redundancy scheme and network connection condition.

16. A general purpose digital computer-based communications network system having a plurality of nodes, each node comprising an output device, an input device, a CPU, memory, and a plurality of network cards, the CPU operating under control of an operating system program which controls the output device, the input device, the memory and the plurality of network cards, the memory comprising:

an application program section for storing a plurality of applications;

a network communications software section having a set of instructions for controlling the general purpose digital computer to perform network connections between the plurality of nodes, the network communications software section comprising;

a plurality of communications protocol stacks for establishing a network connection to another node, each stack linked to one of the plurality of network cards;

an interface section enabling any of the plurality of applications to communicate with any one of the plurality of communication protocol stacks; and

a network manager section linked to at least two of the plurality of communications protocol stacks and the interface section, the network manager section comprising;

a stack connector section to prepare the at least two communications protocol stacks for establishing a network connection through each of the at least two communications protocol stacks and associating them with each other and a application in response to a request from the application to the interface section for a single network connection;

a connection manager section to establish network connection from each of the at least two communications protocol stacks of a first node to a corresponding communications protocol stack of a second node;

a health manager section to monitor and determine network connection condition; and

a transmission manager section to selectively transmit information via a selected one network connection.

17. A general purpose digital computer-based communications network system having a plurality of nodes, each node comprising an output device, an input device, a CPU, memory, and a plurality of network cards, the CPU operating under control of an operating system program which controls the output device, the input device, the memory and the plurality of network cards, the memory comprising:

an application program section for storing a plurality of applications;

a network communications software section having a set of instructions for controlling the general purpose digital computer to perform network connections between the plurality of nodes, the network communications software section comprising;

a plurality of communications protocol stacks for establishing a network connection to another node, each stack linked to one of the plurality of network cards;

an interface section enabling any of the plurality of applications to communicate with any one of the plurality of communication protocol stacks; and

a network manager section linked to at least two of the plurality of communications protocol stacks and the interface section, the network manager section comprising;

a stack connector section to prepare the at least two communications protocol stacks for establishing a network connection through each of the at least two communications protocol stacks and associating them with each other and an application in response to a request from the application to the interface section for a single network connection;

a server connection manager section to monitor requests for connection, received by a server node from a client node, to connect one of the at least two communications protocol stacks in the server node to a corresponding communications protocol stack in the client node;

a client connection manager section to request connections from the client node to the server node to connect all of the at least two communications protocol stacks in the client node to corresponding communications stacks in the server node;

a network connector section to establish network connection in response to a connection request from the client node between the requested communications protocol stack of the server node and the corresponding communications protocol stack of the client node, each time the server node receives a request for connection;

a status manager section to monitor for a preselected period of time connection status of all of the at least two communications protocol stacks, after a first request for connection from the client node has been received to determine if each of the at least two communications protocol stacks has received a request for connection from the client node;

a reporter section to report the connection status of the at least two communications protocol stacks to a log after the preselected period of time has elapsed;

a health manager section to monitor and determine network connection condition;

a transmission manager section to selectively transmit application program information between the server node and the client node via a selected one of the network connections;

a receive manager section to monitor the at least two communications protocol stacks for incoming application program information; and

a transfer manager section to fetch and transfer detected incoming application program information to the appropriate application program.