Platform independent distributed management system for manipulating managed objects in a network

• US 6,282,568 B1
• Filed: 12/04/1998
• Issued: 08/28/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 12/04/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sun Microsystems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Luo, Ping, Sondur, Raghavendra
• Primary Examiner(s): Etienne, Ario
• Assistant Examiner(s): Jean, Frantz B.
• Application Number:
  US09/205,868
• Time in Patent Office: 998 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/223, 714/38, 370/254, 395/500, 395/712
• 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 41/0233 Object-oriented techniques, for representation of network management data, e.g. common object request broker architecture [CORBA]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/048 mobile agents
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/40 using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities

Abstract

The client portion of a distributed client-server network management system uses an interface designed with, and written in, a platform independent language, such as Java. This allows management application programs to be written in the platform independent language and insures their portability. The inventive interface caches most of the management information at the server so that only a small client program is necessary. This program can run on a system with minimal resources, thereby allowing a network manager to manage a network from virtually any location on the network. For example, the client management application could be written as a Java applet which could then be run on any Java-enabled browser. The inventive distributed management system can also connect with, and use, the services and structure of existing distributed network management systems.

Claims

1. A network management system for use in a distributed system having a client node with a management application program running therein and a server node having a management information server running therein, the management system comprising:

a platform-independent interface in the client node, the platform-independent interface having remote objects with interfaces which are accessible to the management application program;

a platform-independent adapter in the server node having object implementations for the remote objects and storage for storing data received from the management information server, the object implementations running entirely in the server and manipulating data in the storage so that the object implementations and data are not transmitted to the interface in the client node; and

an object transport mechanism connecting the interface to the adapter.

2. A network management system according to claim 1 wherein the management information server has a platform-dependent interface and the adapter comprises a mechanism which connects to the platform-dependent interface.

3. A network management system according to claim 1 wherein the interface is written in the Java language.

4. A network management system according to claim 1 wherein the interface comprises at least one handle object which represents a managed resource.

5. A network management system according to claim 4 wherein the interface comprises a first container object for holding handle objects and wherein the first container object includes a rule for determining which handle objects are held therein.

6. A network management system according to claim 4 wherein the interface comprises a second container object for holding handle objects and wherein the second container object comprises a method by which a user can determine which handle objects are held in the second container.

7. A network management system according to claim 4 wherein the adapter comprises an event dispatcher object for receiving notifications from the management information server and a register method for each handle object to register with the event dispatcher object with an ID to receive the notifications.

8. A network management system according to claim 7 wherein the event dispatcher object registers with the management information server using the ID.

9. A network management system according to claim 7 wherein the event dispatcher comprises a mechanism which responds to a notification from the management information server by using the ID to locate a handle object and to forward the notification to the located handle object.

10. A network management system according to claim 9 wherein the located handle object comprises a mechanism for forwarding notifications to the management application program.

11. A method for use in a distributed network management system having a client node with a management application program running therein and a server node having a management information server running therein, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) creating a platform-independent interface in the client node, the platform-independent interface having remote objects with interfaces which are accessible to the management application program;

(b) creating a platform-independent adapter in the server node having object implementations for the remote objects and storage for storing data received from the management information server, the object implementations running entirely in the server and manipulating data in the storage so that the object implementations and data are not transmitted to the interface in the client node; and

(c) using an object transport mechanism to connect the interface to the adapter.

12. A method according to claim 11 wherein the management information server has a platform-dependent interface and wherein step (b) comprises the step of:

(b1) using an interface mechanism to connect to the platform-dependent interface.

13. A method according to claim 11 wherein the interface is written in the Java language.

14. A method according to claim 11 wherein step (a) comprises the step of:

(a1) instantiating at least one handle object which represents a managed resource.

15. A method according to claim 14 wherein step (a) comprises the step of:

(a2) instantiating a first container object for holding handle objects and wherein the first container object includes a rule for determining which handle objects are held therein.

16. A method according to claim 14 wherein step (a) comprises the step of:

(a3) instantiating a second container object for holding handle objects and wherein the second container object comprises a method by which a user can determine which handle objects are held in the second container.

17. A method according to claim 14 wherein step (b) comprises the steps of:

(b2) instantiating an event dispatcher object for receiving notifications from the management information server; and

(b3) registering each handle object with the event dispatcher object with an ID to receive the notifications.

18. A method according to claim 17 further comprising the step of:

(d) registering the event dispatcher object with the management information server using the ID.

19. A method according to claim 17 further comprising the steps of:

(e) responding to a notification from the management information server by using the ID to locate a handle object; and

(f) forwarding the notification to the located handle object.

20. A method according to claim 19 wherein step (f) comprises the step of:

(f1) using the located handle object to forward notifications to the management application program.

21. A computer program product for use in a distributed network management system having a client node with a management application program running therein and a server node having a management information server running therein, the computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code thereon including:

(a) class code for creating a platform-independent interface in the client node, the platform-independent interface having remote objects with interfaces which are accessible to the management application program;

(b) class code for creating a platform-independent adapter in the server node having object implementations for the remote objects and storage for storing data received from the management information server, the object implementations running entirely in the server and manipulating data in the storage so that the object implementations and data are not transmitted to the interface in the dient node; and

(c) program code for creating an object transport mechanism to connect the interface to the adapter.