System and method for collecting connectivity data of an area network

• US 6,502,130 B1
• Filed: 05/27/1999
• Issued: 12/31/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Lord, Tracy L., Keeler, Charles E. Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Najjar, Saleh
• Application Number:
  US09/321,059
• Time in Patent Office: 1,314 Days
• Field of Search: 709/220, 709/223, 709/224, 709/245
• 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 61/00 Network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/35 involving non-standard use of addresses for implementing network functionalities, e.g. coding subscription information within the address or functional addressing, i.e. assigning an address to a function
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/45 Network directories; Name-to-address mapping

Abstract

A system and method which collects dynamic connectivity data from an area network interconnecting multiple computing devices. The connectivity data identifying the address of equipment connected to the network is combined with static network information such as the user'"'"'s identity stored in the system data bases to relate the connectivity data to the respective users and their respective privileges. The system permits the identification of users on the network for purposes of billing or for diagnosis purposes using standard database search capabilities.

Claims

1. A method for determining connectivity data from a plurality of diverse network terminals connected to an area network comprising:

issuing from a terminal connected to said network a series of inquiries requesting port identification data unique to each of said diverse terminals;

obtaining from a local data base the user identity of each of said terminals from said data obtained from said series of inquiries; and

storing in a data warehouse said user identity information from said local data base correlated with said port information derived from said inquiries.

2. The method for determining connectivity data according to claim 1 wherein said diverse network terminals operate with different network protocols.

3. The method according to claim 2 wherein said plurality of diverse network elements includes at least one router which provides information concerning terminals served by said router in response to a Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) command.

4. The method according to claim 1 wherein said port identification data includes dynamic data from an SNA network connected to said network identifying the address of terminals which are authorized users of said SNA network.

5. The method according to claim 1 wherein said information stored in said warehouse includes the location of each of said plurality of terminals and a respective segment number of any of said terminals connected to a hub of said network.

6. The method according to claim 1 wherein said series of inquiries are issued as base values of a Simple Management Protocol (SNMP) which results in MAC addresses for each of said terminals.

7. A method for collecting data identifying individual user connections to a network and combining said data with the identity of said users in a data warehouse comprising:

collecting said user identity from a data base associated with said network;

issuing a request over said network for connectivity information contained in each network hub identifying the port location of each connected terminal;

correlating port location information received from said hubs with information obtained from said data base; and

storing said information in said data warehouse.

8. The method for collecting data according to claim 7 further comprising issuing a command to each router of said network for the address of users having traffic through said routers.

9. The method for collecting data according to claim 8 wherein said hubs provide information in response to a request which identifies the location, segment number and hub serial number.

10. A method for collecting data for identifying port usage of individual users of a local area network comprising:

issuing commands to each hub of said network which connects to each user terminal to provide the identity of each terminal connected to a port of a respective hub;

collecting said identity of said terminals connected to each of said hubs;

issuing commands to a static data base to obtain data identifying each of said users; and

correlating said terminal identity data to each terminal user data and storing said correlated data in a data warehouse.

11. The method for collecting data for identifying port usage according to claim 10 further comprising:

issuing commands to each router in said network to obtain addresses for each of said terminals serviced by said router; and

combining said addresses in said data warehouse with the identity of each of said users.

12. The method for collecting data for identifying port usage according to claim 10 further comprising:

issuing a command to a controller of a SNA network for the identity of any user authorized to use said SNA network; and

storing in said data warehouse an indication of which users are authorized to use said SNA network.

13. A computer medium containing a program for collecting the identity of each user connected to a port of said network, said program comprising:

instructions for generating commands to collect port connection data of devices connected to said network;

instructions for generating commands to collect data identifying each user of said devices from a static database; and

instructions for merging said collected port data with said user data obtained from said static database in a data warehouse, whereby user connection information is available for each network user.

14. The computer medium according to claim 13 further comprising:

a set of instructions for collecting the identity of network terminals which are connected to a SNA network; and

a set of instructions for identifying in said data warehouse the identity of users of said network terminals connected to said network who are connected to said SNA network.

15. The computer medium according to claim 13 wherein said instructions for generating commands to collect port connection data recover said port connection data from each hub of said network.

16. A method for merging dynamic network connectivity data with static data relating to users of the network comprising:

periodically collecting dynamic network connectivity data including physical address data of equipment connected to each port of said network using SNMP collection components;

determining from a static data base information for each user having a physical address;

merging said dynamic network connectivity data with said information from said static data base; and

storing data merged from said connectivity data with information from said static data base in a data storage warehouse whereby information about each port connection to said network is available.

17. The method according to claim 16 wherein said merged data in said data storage warehouse includes each users name and network address.

18. The method according to claim 16 wherein said data storage includes for each user the port to which a user is connected.

19. The method according to claim 17 wherein said merged data includes the date on which the connectivity data was collected.

20. The method according to claim 16 wherein said connectivity data is collected from collection components executed on a plurality of computers of said network which retrieve connectivity data from different network components.

21. The method according to claim 16 wherein said collection components run on a plurality of computers connected to said network.