Automatic status polling failover or devices in a distributed network management hierarchy
First Claim
1. A distributed computing environment, comprising:
- a collection station of one or more collection stations of the distributed computing environment that is responsible for status polling a plurality of objects; and
a central control unit that automatically performs status polling of the plurality of objects when the collection station becomes temporarily inaccessible on the distributed computing environment and that releases polling of the plurality of objects back to the collection station if the collection station becomes accessible, wherein when the collection station and a second collection station of the one or more collection stations are both responsible for polling the plurality of objects, the plurality of objects are polled by both the central control unit and the second collection station while said collection station is inaccessible.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Automatic failover methodology provides a mechanism whereby a central control unit, such as a management station, will automatically takeover interface status polling of objects of a collection station that is temporarily unreachable. This methodology is applicable to any distributed computing environment, such as a data communications network, in which it is desirable to have a central control unit assume the interface status polling operation of a temporarily inaccessible collection station. The collection station may be inaccessible due to the network on which the central control unit and the collection station reside being down or due to the collection station being down for maintenance.
44 Citations
15 Claims
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1. A distributed computing environment, comprising:
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a collection station of one or more collection stations of the distributed computing environment that is responsible for status polling a plurality of objects; and
a central control unit that automatically performs status polling of the plurality of objects when the collection station becomes temporarily inaccessible on the distributed computing environment and that releases polling of the plurality of objects back to the collection station if the collection station becomes accessible, wherein when the collection station and a second collection station of the one or more collection stations are both responsible for polling the plurality of objects, the plurality of objects are polled by both the central control unit and the second collection station while said collection station is inaccessible. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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4. A distributed computing environment, comprising:
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a collection station of one or more collection stations of the distributed computing environment that is responsible for status polling a plurality of objects; and
a central control unit that automatically performs status polling of the plurality of objects when the collection station becomes temporarily inaccessible on the distributed computing environment and that releases polling of the plurality of objects back to the collection station if the collection station becomes accessible, wherein when the collection station becomes inaccessible, the network monitor program receives a topology of the collection station, wherein the topology of the collection station is a list of the plurality of objects managed by the collection station and nodes and routings thereof;
wherein when the collection station and a second collection station of the one or more collection stations are both responsible for polling the plurality of objects, the plurality of objects are polled by both the central control unit and the second collection station while said collection station is inaccessible;
wherein a network monitor program of the central control unit that monitors the one or more collections stations of the distributed computing environment performs status polling of the plurality of objects while said collection station is inaccessible. - View Dependent Claims (5)
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6. A method of automatic status polling failover of objects in a distributed computing environment, comprising:
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a) defining an initial configuration of a central control unit and one or more collection stations of the distributed computing environment in which a user of the distributed computing environment specifies a polling configuration of the central control unit and the one or more collection stations;
b) determining whether a collection station of one or more collection stations is inaccessible;
c) if the collection station is inaccessible, loading a topology of the collection station to a network monitor program of a central control unit that monitors the one or more collection stations, wherein the topology is a list of a plurality of objects managed by the collection station and nodes and routings thereof;
d) automatically performing status polling of a plurality of objects of the topology of the collection station by the central control unit while said collection station is inaccessible; and
e) monitoring the collection station and releasing the topology of the plurality of objects back to the collection station when the collection station is again accessible so that the collection station can resume status polling of the plurality of objects by the collection station. - View Dependent Claims (7)
determining the list of the plurality of objects.
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8. A method of automatic status polling failover of objects in a distributed computing environment, comprising:
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a) defining an initial configuration of a central control unit and one or more collection stations of the distributed computing environment in which a user of the distributed computing environment specifies a polling configuration of the central control unit and the one or more collection stations;
b) determining the list of the plurality of objects, wherein determining the list of the plurality of objects is performed by a filter;
c) determining whether a collection station of one or more collection stations is inaccessible;
d) if the collection station is inaccessible, loading a topology of the collection station to a network monitor program of a central control unit that monitors the one or more collection stations, wherein the topology is a list of a plurality of objects managed by the collection station and nodes and routings thereof;
e) automatically performing status polling of a plurality of objects of the topology of the collection station by the central control unit while said collection station is inaccessible; and
f) monitoring the collection station and releasing the topology of the plurality of objects back to the collection station when the collection station is again accessible so that the collection station can resume status polling of the plurality of objects by the collection station.
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9. A method of automatic status polling failover of objects in a distributed computing environment, comprising:
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a) defining an initial configuration of a central control unit and one or more collection stations of the distributed computing environment in which a user of the distributed computing environment specifies a polling configuration of the central control unit and the one or more collection stations;
b) determining whether a collection station of one or more collection stations is inaccessible, wherein determining whether the collection station of one or more collection stations is inaccessible comprises;
determining that the central control unit has received a collection station fail event that indicates that the collection station is inaccessible; and
determining that the collection station fail event is in the topology of the collection station;
c) if the collection station is inaccessible, loading a topology of the collection station to a network monitor program of a central control unit that monitors the one or more collection stations, wherein the topology is a list of a plurality of objects managed by the collection station and nodes and routings thereof;
d) automatically performing status polling of a plurality of objects of the topology of the collection station by the central control unit while said collection station is inaccessible; and
e) monitoring the collection station and releasing the topology of the plurality of objects back to the collection station when the collection station is again accessible so that the collection station can resume status polling of the plurality of objects by the collection station. - View Dependent Claims (10)
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11. A method of automatic status polling failover of objects in a distributed computing environment, comprising:
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a) defining an initial configuration of a central control unit and one or more collection stations of the distributed computing environment in which a user of the distributed computing environment specifies a polling configuration of the central control unit and the one or more collection stations;
b) determining whether a collection station of one or more collection stations is inaccessible;
c) if the collection station is inaccessible, loading a topology of the collection station to a network monitor program of a central control unit that monitors the one or more collection stations, wherein the topology is a list of a plurality of objects managed by the collection station and nodes and routines thereof, wherein loading the topology of the collection station comprises;
the network monitor program requesting a list of the plurality of objects managed by the collection station;
determining whether the user has specified a filter through which the list of the plurality of objects are to be filtered;
if the user has not specified the filter, calculating the plurality of routes of the plurality of objects and then providing the list of the plurality of objects and the routes of the plurality of objects to the network monitor program; and
if the user has specified the filter, filtering the list of the plurality of objects to produce a filtered list of the plurality of objects, calculating the plurality of routes of the filtered list and then providing the filtered list of the plurality of objects and the routes of the objects to the network monitor program;
d) automatically performing status polling of a plurality of objects of the topology of the collection station by the central control unit while said collection station is inaccessible; and
e) monitoring the collection station and releasing the topology of the plurality of objects back to the collection station when the collection station is again accessible so that the collection station can resume status polling of the plurality of objects by the collection station. - View Dependent Claims (12)
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13. A method of automatic status polling failover of objects in a distributed computing environment, comprising:
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a) defining an initial configuration of a central control unit and one or more collection stations of the distributed computing environment in which a user of the distributed computing environment specifies a polling configuration of the central control unit and the one or more collection stations;
b) determining whether a collection station of one or more collection stations is inaccessible;
c) if the collection station is inaccessible, loading a topology of the collection station to a network monitor program of a central control unit that monitors the one or more collection stations, wherein the topology is a list of a plurality of objects managed by the collection station and nodes and routines thereof;
d) automatically performing status polling of a plurality of objects of the topology of the collection station by the central control unit while said collection station is inaccessible;
e) monitoring the collection station and releasing the topology of the plurality of objects back to the collection station when the collection station is again accessible so that the collection station can resume status polling of the plurality of objects by the collection station;
f) determining whether a second collection station of the one or more collection stations is responsible for polling the plurality of objects; and
g) if the second collection station is responsible for polling the plurality of objects, performing status polling of the plurality of objects by both the central control unit and the second collection station.
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14. A method of automatic status polling failover of objects in a distributed computing environment, comprising:
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a) defining an initial configuration of a central control unit and one or more collection stations of the distributed computing environment in which a user of the distributed computing environment specifies a polling configuration of the central control unit and the one or more collection stations;
b) determining whether a collection station of one or more collection stations is inaccessible;
c) if the collection station is inaccessible, loading a topology of the collection station to a network monitor program of a central control unit that monitors the one or more collection stations, wherein the topology is a list of a plurality of objects managed by the collection station and nodes and routings thereof;
d) automatically performing status polling of a plurality of objects of the topology of the collection station by the central control unit while said collection station is inaccessible; and
e) monitoring the collection station and releasing the topology of the plurality of objects back to the collection station when the collection station is again accessible so that the collection station can resume status polling of the plurality of objects by the collection station, wherein releasing the topology of the plurality of objects back to the collection station occurs after the monitor network program receives a collection station normal event that indicates that the collection station is accessible on the distributed computing environment.
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15. A method of automatic status polling failover of objects in a distributed computing environment, comprising:
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a) defining an initial configuration of a central control unit and one or more collection stations of the distributed computing environment in which a user of the distributed computing environment specifies a polling configuration of the central control unit and the one or more collection stations;
b) determining whether a collection station of one or more collection stations is inaccessible;
c) if the collection station is inaccessible, loading a topology of the collection station to a network monitor program of a central control unit that monitors the one or more collection stations, wherein the topology is a list of a plurality of objects managed by the collection station and nodes and routings thereof;
d) automatically performing status polling of a plurality of objects of the topology of the collection station by the central control unit while said collection station is inaccessible;
e) monitoring the collection station and releasing the topology of the plurality of objects back to the collection station when the collection station is again accessible so that the collection station can resume status polling of the plurality of objects by the collection station;
f) unloading the topology of the collection station from the central control unit; and
g) sending a status message to the user to indicate that the central control unit is no longer status polling the plurality of objects of the collection station.
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Specification