Field availability monitoring

• US 6,665,822 B1
• Filed: 06/09/2000
• Issued: 12/16/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 06/09/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Conway, Adam Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Beausoliel, Robert
• Assistant Examiner(s): PUENTE, EMERSON C
• Application Number:
  US09/591,154
• Time in Patent Office: 1,285 Days
• Field of Search: 370/245, 714/4, 714/43, 714/47
• US Class Current: 714/47.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0727 in a storage system, e.g. in a DASD or network based storage system drivers for digital recording or reproducing units G06F3/06; circuits for error detection or correction within digital recording or reproducing units G11B20/18; for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS], H04L67/1097
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0748 in a remote unit communicating with a single-box computer node experiencing an error/fault remote testing G06F11/2294
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0784 Routing of error reports, e.g. with a specific transmission path or data flow
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/079 Root cause analysis, i.e. error or fault diagnosis in a hardware test environment G06F11/22; in a software test environment G06F11/36

Abstract

An networking system is disclosed in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention to include a field availability monitoring system (FAMS) for receiving problems associated with one or more field replaceable units (FRUs), qualifying the problem and transmitting the problem for tracking thereof so as to improve the quality of components used in the FRUs.

Claims

1. A networking system comprising:

a field availability monitoring system (FAMS) for receiving problems associated with one or more field replaceable units (FRUs), said FRUs included within a networking equipment, qualifying the problem and transmitting the problem for tracking thereof so as to improve the quality of components used in the FRUs, said networking system further comprising a mail server coupled between the networking equipment and the FAMS for receiving and storing the transmitted problems from the networking equipment.

2. A networking system as recited in claim 1 wherein one of the one or more FRUs is a fan.

3. A networking system as recited in claim 1 wherein one of the one or more FRUs is a router.

4. A networking system as recited in claim 1 wherein one of the one or more FRUs is a switch.

5. A networking system as recited in claim 1 wherein the networking equipment includes a server for storing a system manager for reporting the problems associated with the one or more FRUs, the reported problems, to the FAMS.

6. A networking system as recited in claim 5 further including a router for transmitting the reported problems in the form of an email message.

7. A networking system as recited in claim 6 wherein the FAMS includes a database and further wherein the reported problems of the email message are converted to fields recognizable by the database for identifying information, such as the problems, regarding the FRUs.

8. A networking system as recited in claim 1 wherein the FAMS further for qualifying the reported problems and if qualified, for preparing a reliability report and transmitting the reliability report for display on a web browser.

9. A networking system as recited in claim 1 wherein the FAMS further for qualifying the reported problems and if qualified, for preparing a reliability report and transmitting the reliability report for analysis thereof.

10. A networking system as recited in claim 1 further including an alarm card for receiving the problems associated with the FRUs and transmitting the same to a software manager.

11. A networking system as recited in claim 1 further including a router coupled to the networking equipment for transmitting the problems in the form of an email message.