Method and apparatus for monitoring and controlling programs in a network

• US 6,658,465 B1
• Filed: 11/23/1999
• Issued: 12/02/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Touboul, Shlomo
• Primary Examiner(s): Follansbee, John
• Assistant Examiner(s): VO, TIM T
• Application Number:
  US09/447,529
• Time in Patent Office: 1,470 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223-226, 717/168-178
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/327 Alarm or error message display
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3495 for systems
• 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 41/069 using logs of notifications; Post-processing of notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/20 Network management software packages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/00 Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route

Abstract

A system for monitoring and controlling at least one program capable of being executed on any one of at least two workstations in a network. The network includes at least one agent module resident on each of the at least two workstations and a management console connected to each of the at least two workstations. The system includes modules for identifying an event occurring with respect to a program executing on one of the at least two workstations, modules for sending an alert to the management console which identifies the event, memory for storing a plurality of triggers, each of the triggers adapted to cause an action to be taken within the network, memory for storing at least one procedure, the at least one procedure comprising at least one of the plurality of triggers, and modules for sending at least one of the procedures from the management console to the agent module resident on the one of the at least two workstations in response to receipt of the alert. A method is also provided for monitoring and controlling programs capable of being executed on any of at least two workstations in a network.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving an alert by a management console in response to an event;

identifying at least one procedure stored in said management console in response to said event;

sending said at least one procedure including a plurality of stored triggers from said management console to an agent module resident on a workstation over a network, said plurality of stored triggers including at least one trigger chosen from a trigger library including at least one trigger selected from the group consisting of add a line to an AUTOEXEC batch file, install a driver, check a disk for bad sectors, send a SNMP trap, send an alert via modem, send an alert via email, send an alert via pager, run a program on a local workstation, generate a NMS alarm, copy files, set a last drive, set a number of disk buffers, stop a program by name, pause, stop a program executing during an alert generation, set a number of network control blocks, copy an alert to a database, copy an alert to a text file, and copy an alert to a printer file; and

automatically launching said at least one procedure within said workstation for processing said event by executing the plurality of triggers at scheduled times, each of said plurality of triggers adapted to cause a specific corrective action in response to the event.

2. A method comprising:

identifying an event occurring with respect to a program executing on a workstation;

sending an alert to a management console which identifies said event;

identifying at least one procedure stored in said management console;

identifying a plurality of stored triggers in said procedure, said plurality of stored triggers including at least one trigger chosen from a trigger library including at least one trigger selected from the group consisting of add a line to an AUTOEXEC batch file, install a driver, check a disk for bad sectors, send a SNMP trap, send an alert via modem, send an alert via email, send an alert via pager, run a program on a local workstation, generate a NMS alarm, copy files, set a last drive, set a number of disk buffers, stop a program by name, pause, stop a program executing during an alert generation, set a number of network control blocks, copy an alert to a database, copy an alert to a text file, and copy an alert to a printer file;

sending said plurality of stored triggers from said management console to an agent module resident on said workstation in response to said alert; and

automatically launching at scheduled times said plurality of stored triggers in at least two workstations in response to said event, each of said plurality of triggers adapted to cause a specific corrective action in response to the event.

3. An article of manufacture for use in a digital processing system for allowing an implementation in responsive to execution of a network program, the article of manufacture comprising a digital processing system usable medium having readable program code embodied in the medium, the program code comprising:

receiving an alert by a management console in response to an event;

identifying at least one procedure stored in said management console in response to said event;

sending said at least one procedure including a plurality of stored triggers from said management console to an agent module resident on a workstation in a network, said plurality of stored triggers including at least one trigger chosen from a trigger library including at least one trigger selected from the group consisting of add a line to an AUTOEXEC batch file, install a driver, check a disk for bad sectors, send a SNMP trap, send an alert via modem, send an alert via email, send an alert via pager, run a program on a local workstation, generate a NMS alarm, copy files, set a last drive, set a number of disk buffers, stop a program by name, pause, stop a program executing during an alert generation, set a number of network control blocks, copy an alert to a database, copy an alert to a text file, and copy an alert to a printer file; and

automatically launching said at least one procedure within said workstation for processing said event by executing the plurality of triggers at scheduled times, each of said plurality of triggers adapted to cause a specific corrective action in response to the event.

4. A system for monitoring and controlling at least one program being executed on any of at least two workstations in a network, said system comprising:

means for identifying an event occurring with respect to a program executing on one of said at least two workstations;

means for sending an alert to a management console which identifies said event;

means for storing at least one procedure, said at least one procedure including a plurality of stored triggers, said plurality of stored triggers including at least one trigger chosen from a trigger library including at least one trigger selected from the group consisting of add a line to an AUTOEXEC batch file, install a driver, check a disk for bad sectors, send a SNMP trap, send an alert via modem, send an alert via email, send an alert via pager, run a program on a local workstation, generate a NMS alarm, copy files, set a last drive, set a number of disk buffers, stop a program by name, pause, stop a program executing during an alert generation, set a number of network control blocks, copy an alert to a database, copy an alert to a text file, and copy an alert to a printer file;

means for sending said at least one procedure from said management console to an agent module resident on said one of said at least two workstations in response to receipt of said alert; and

means for automatically launching at scheduled times said plurality of stored triggers in said at least one procedure, each of said plurality of stored triggers adapted to cause a specific corrective action in response to the event.

5. The system according to claim 4, further comprising:

means in said management console for scheduling performance of selected ones of said at least one procedure at specific times; and

means in said management console for sending said selected ones of said at least one procedure from said management console to at least one of said at least one agent modules at said specific times.

6. The system according to claim 4, wherein one of said plurality of triggers comprises sending at least one keystroke job from said management console to said at least two workstations.

7. The system according to claim 4, further comprising means, in said management console, for providing remote access to said at least two workstations to enable said management console to take and release control of said at least two workstations.

8. The system according to claim 4, wherein one of said plurality of triggers comprises starting programs on said at least two workstations and another of said plurality of triggers comprises stopping executing programs on said at least two workstations.

9. The system according to claim 4, further comprising means for providing mapping integration with a network management system.

10. The system according to claim 4, further comprising an application control means in said management console for launching and executing capture of said at least two workstations in a background operation of said at least two workstations wherein said capture is accomplished without affecting any program executing in a foreground operation of said at least two workstations.

11. A system for monitoring and controlling at least one program in a network, said network comprising at least two workstations and a management console connected to each of said at least two workstations, said system comprising:

at least one generic agent means resident on said workstations for transmitting alerts indicating occurrence of an event with a program executing on the workstation;

a monitor means resident on said management console for logging alerts transmitted by any of said at least one generic agent;

at least one procedure resident on said management console, said procedure including a plurality of stored triggers, said plurality of stored triggers including at least one trigger chosen from a trigger library including at least one trigger selected from the group consisting of add a line to an AUTOEXEC batch file, install a driver, check a disk for bad sectors, send a SNMP trap, send an alert via modem, send an alert via email, send an alert via pager, run a program on a local workstation, generate a NMS alarm, copy files, set a last drive, set a number of disk buffers, stop a program by name, pause, stop a program executing during an alert generation, set a number of network control blocks, copy an alert to a database, copy an alert to a text file, and copy an alert to a printer file;

a manager coupled to said at least one generic agent for monitoring and controlling operations of said at least one generic agent, said manager further configured to send at least one procedure to said at least one generic agent in response to an alert; and

said one of said at least two workstations configured to automatically launch at schedule times said plurality of stored triggers in said at least one procedure, each of said plurality of triggers adapted to cause a specific corrective action in response to the event.

12. The system according to claim 11, wherein said plurality of triggers comprise a plurality of predefined triggers and user defined triggers.

13. The system according to claim 11, further comprising means in one of said at least two workstations for sending a heartbeat to said manager means from said at least one generic agent means at a predetermined frequency signifying that said at least one generic agent means is active.

14. The system according to claim 11, further comprising:

means in said manager means for scheduling performance of selected ones of said at least one procedure at desired times; and

means in said manager means for sending said selected ones of said at least one procedure from said monitor means to at least one of said at least one generic agent means at said desired times.

15. The system according to claim 11, wherein one of said plurality of triggers comprises sending at least one keystroke job from said manager means to said at least two workstations.

16. The system according to claim 11, further comprising means, in said manager means, for providing remote access to said at least two workstations to enable said manager means take and release control of said at least two workstations.

17. The system according to claim 11, wherein one of said plurality of triggers comprises starting programs on said at least two workstations and another of said plurality of triggers comprises stopping executing programs on said at least two workstations.

18. The system according to claim 11, further comprising means in said manager means for providing mapping integration with a network management system.

19. The system according to claim 11, further comprising receiver and transmitter means for connecting said at least one generic agent means with said network using one of a plurality of network communication protocols.

20. The system according to claim 11, wherein said monitor means comprises means in said manager means for maintaining statistical views for displaying information concerning alert statistics.

21. The system according to claim 11, further comprising an application control means in said manager means for launching and executing capture of said at least two workstations in a background operation of said at least two workstations wherein said capture is accomplished without affecting any program executing in a foreground operation of said at least two workstations.

22. The system according to claim 13, wherein said predetermined frequency is determined by a configurable parameter which ranges from 1 to 80 seconds, with a default of 40 seconds.

23. The method according to claim 21, further comprising providing mapping integration with a network management system.

24. A method for monitoring and controlling at least one program capable of being executed on any of at least two workstations in a network, said network comprising at least one agent module resident on each of said at least two workstations and a management console connected to each of said at least two workstations, said method comprising:

storing in said management console at least one procedure, said at least one procedure comprising a plurality of stored triggers, said plurality of stored triggers including at least one trigger chosen from a trigger library including at least one trigger selected from the group consisting of add a line to an AUTOEXEC batch file, install a driver, check a disk for bad sectors, send a SNMP trap, send an alert via modem, send an alert via email, send an alert via pager, run a program on a local workstation, generate a NMS alarm, copy files, set a last drive, set a number of disk buffers, stop a program by name, pause, stop a program executing during an alert generation, set a number of network control blocks, copy an alert to a database, copy an alert to a text file, and copy an alert to a printer file;

identifying an event occurring on one of said at least two workstations;

sending an alert to said management console which identifies said event;

sending at least one of said procedures from said management console to said agent module resident on said one of said at least two workstations in response to receipt of said alert; and

automatically launching at scheduled times, in said one of said at least two workstations, said plurality of stored triggers in said at least one procedure, each of said plurality of triggers adapted to cause a specific corrective action in response to the event.

25. The method according to claim 24, further comprising:

scheduling in said management console performance of selected ones of said at least one procedure at desired times; and

sending said selected ones of said at least one procedure from said management console to at least one of said at least one agent modules at said desired times.

26. The method according to claim 24, wherein one of said plurality of triggers in said management console comprises sending at least one keystroke job from said management console to said at least two workstations.

27. The method according to claim 24, further comprising providing remote access by said management console to said at least two workstations to enable said management console to take and release control of said at least two workstations.

28. The method according to claim 24, wherein one of said plurality of triggers in said management console comprises starting programs on said at least two workstations and another of said plurality of triggers comprises stopping executing programs on said at least two workstations.