Method and system for remote device monitoring

• US 6,477,667 B1
• Filed: 10/07/1999
• Issued: 11/05/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 10/07/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: ASAP Software Express, Inc. (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Critical Devices, Inc. (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Bauer, Bradley W., Woldberg, Robert C., Levi, Andrew E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Baderman, Scott
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bonzo, Bryce P.
• Application Number:
  US09/415,191
• Time in Patent Office: 1,125 Days
• Field of Search: 714/48, 714/57
• US Class Current: 714/57
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/04 operating on the propulsion system, e.g. engine or drive motor
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/102 a signal being sent to a remote location, e.g. a radio signal being transmitted to a police station, a security company or the owner
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/33 of global position, e.g. by providing GPS coordinates
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/50 of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/552 involving long-term monitoring or reporting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2111 Location-sensitive, e.g. geographical location, GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/1418 Removal detected by failure in electrical connection between the appliance and a control centre, home control panel or a power supply
• 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: H04L 41/0681 Configuration of triggering conditions

Abstract

A user contracts for service with an operations center (12) in order to provide monitoring services for a plurality of devices (30). After contracting for service, the operations center provides an agent (81) for download by a user to one or more of the user'"'"'s devices (14, 16, 18, 20, 22) for which the user has contracted for service. The agent is installed on the devices associated with the user'"'"'s sites and a listener (362) at the operations center listens for alerts generated as a result of the agent monitoring health-indicative operating parameters on the device. After an alert is received by the operations center, a contact (32) is notified of the alert so that the problem causing the generation of the alert may be corrected.

Claims

1. A monitoring system comprising:

an agent unidirectionally coupled to a communications network and residing at a remote site, the agent operable to monitor a set of operating parameters and to generate an alert in response to an operating parameter exceeding a predetermined threshold and transmit the alert across the communications network;

wherein the agent is further operable to generate a registration trap when deployed at a device associated with the site;

a listener coupled to the communications network and operable to receive the alert; and

a responder operable to act in response to the alert.

2. The monitoring system according to claim 1 further comprising an operations center coupled to the communications network and operable to receive the alert from the listener and to notify the responder in response to the alert;

wherein the registration trap includes a hardware address associated with the device; and

wherein the agent is further operable to transmit the registration trap to the operations center.

3. The monitoring system according to claim 2, wherein the operations center further comprises:

a database operable to store a plurality of license information, a plurality of site information, a plurality of device information, a plurality of user information, a plurality of alert information and a plurality of inventory information; and

a web site operable to provide sign-up and login abilities.

4. The monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the operating parameters comprise:

an available hard disk storage space indicator; and

a hard disk media error indicator.

5. The monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the operating parameters comprise:

an available memory indicator; and

an available system resources indicator.

6. The monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the operating parameters comprise:

a processor utilization level indicator; and

a system error indicator.

7. The monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the unidirectional coupling of the agent provides only data transmission capabilities outbound from the agent to the communications network.

8. The monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the site includes a site identifier and a site administrator associated therewith.

9. The monitoring system according to claim 8, wherein the site includes a device, the device having a device identifier associated therewith.

10. The monitoring system according to claim 8, wherein the site includes a plurality of devices, each device having a device identifier associated therewith.

11. The monitoring system according to claim 10, wherein each device further has a respective device administrator associated therewith.

12. The monitoring system according to claim 11, wherein the responder and the device administrator are both human personnel.

13. The monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the communications network is the Internet.

14. The monitoring system according to claim 2 further comprising a predetermined communications channel used by the operations center to notify the responder.

15. The monitoring system according to claim 14, wherein the predetermined communications channel is selected from the group consisting of electronic mail, a pager, a facsimile and a phone call.

16. The monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the agent is a platform-specific software program.

17. The monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the agent is an operating system extension.

18. The monitoring system according to claim 1 further including a site family having a plurality of sites therein and operable to be administered by a site administrator, the site administrator being operable to administer each of the sites in the site family.

19. The monitoring system according to claim 18, wherein the sites in the site family include a parent site and at least one child site, each of the parent site and the child sites being selected from the sites in the site family, and wherein the site administrator responsible for administering the site family is the site administrator of the parent site.

20. A method for remote monitoring comprising the steps of:

deploying a monitoring agent at a site;

generating, by the monitoring agent, a registration trap at the device;

monitoring the site for a change in a set of predetermined status indicators associated with the site;

generating an alert in response to a change in any of the status indicators;

unidirectionally communicating the alert over a communications link to an operations center; and

notifying a technical respondent in response to the alert.

21. The method for remote monitoring according to claim 20 further comprising the steps of:

contracting with the operations center to monitor at least one site of an organization;

deploying the monitoring agent at the at least one site, each site including at least one device;

monitoring the at least one device at each site for any changes in the set of predetermined status indicators, wherein the status indicators comprise an available hard disk storage space indicator, a hard disk media error indicator, an available memory indicator, an available system resources indicator, a processor utilization level indicator, and a system error indicator;

generating the alert such that the alert is related to the changed status indicator; and

notifying a technical respondent associated with the site causing the alert.

22. The method for remote monitoring according to claim 20, wherein the registration trap includes a hardware address associated with the device and deploying the monitoring agent comprises:

transmitting the monitoring agent from an operations center to the site, wherein the monitoring agent provides only unidirectional communications capabilities and the unidirectional communications capabilities allow only outbound transmission of information from the site;

installing the monitoring agent on a device at the site; and

transmitting the registration trap to the operations center.

23. The method for remote monitoring according to claim 20 further comprising:

receiving the alert by a listener at the operations center;

validating a device identifier and license identifier associated with the alert at the operations center;

querying a database based on the alert;

adding the alert to an event table; and

dispatching the alert to a notifier.

24. The method for remote monitoring according to claim 20, wherein the unidirectionally communicating the alert step only allows transmission from the site to the operations center.

25. The method for remote monitoring according to claim 21, wherein the contracting step comprises:

providing, by a user associated with the organization, to the operations center of site information, the site information identifying a technical administrator, a site administrator, and at least one device administrator;

requesting, by the user, at least one license from the operations center;

allocating the at least one license to the organization.

26. The method for remote monitoring according to claim 25, wherein the requesting the at least one license step comprises:

requesting at least one server license; and

wherein the allocating the at least one license step comprises;

creating a site identifier for each site associated with the organization;

creating a user identifier for each site associated with the organization;

associating the user identifier with the site administrator;

sending a device registration notification to the site administrator associated with each device for which a respective one of the at least one device licenses has been requested;

sending the device information of the device to the operations center; and

generating a device identifier associated with the device, the device identifier being generated as a function of the device information.

27. The method for remote monitoring according to claim 26, wherein the requesting the at least one license step further comprises requesting at least one server license.

28. The method for remote monitoring according to claim 20 further comprising:

providing a web site at the operations center;

logging into the web site, by a device administrator, using a user identifier associated with the device administrator;

verifying the user identifier at the operations center; and

providing a plurality of options to the device administrator.

29. The method for remote monitoring according to claim 28, wherein providing the plurality of options step comprises:

viewing a device alert log;

performing device administration;

viewing a device inventory;

performing user administration;

utilizing a technical support service; and

utilizing a technical knowledgebase.

30. The method for remote monitoring according to claim 20 further comprising:

providing a web site at the operations center;

logging into the web site, by a site administrator, using a user identifier associated with the site administrator;

verifying the user identifier at the operations center; and

providing a plurality of options to the site administrator.

31. The method for remote monitoring according to claim 28, wherein providing the plurality of options step comprises:

viewing a site alert log which includes a plurality of alerts associated with the site and a plurality of alerts associated with the device associated with the site;

performing site administration;

performing device administration;

viewing a device inventory;

performing user administration;

utilizing a technical support service; and

utilizing a technical knowledgebase.