System and method for managing fibre channel switching devices

• US 6,772,207 B1
• Filed: 01/28/1999
• Issued: 08/03/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/28/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Valdevit, Ezio, Dorn, Wendy Y., Ramsay, Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): Najjar, Saleh
• Application Number:
  US09/239,463
• Time in Patent Office: 2,014 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223, 709/224, 709/300, 709/316, 709/315, 370/254, 340/825.06, 714/39, 714/47, 714/45
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0253 using browsers or web-pages for accessing management information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 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]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A system for remotely managing a device over a network comprises a data sampling engine, for receiving new data from the device, the new data corresponding to a component module of the device; a model object, coupled to the data sampling engine, for comparing the new data from the device with old data; and a view object, coupled to the model object, for updating the graphical representation of the device corresponding to the component module of the device. In a preferred embodiment, the device is a fiber channel switch. A method for managing a network device comprises the steps of: receiving new device data from the data sampling engine, the new device data corresponding to information regarding a particular module of the device; comparing the new device data with a set of old device data, the old device data corresponding to information which was received prior to receiving the new device data and which regards the particular module of the device; and transmitting a notification signal to the view object.

Claims

1. A method for remotely managing a device over a network, the network including a data sampling engine, a view object, and a display the method comprising:

receiving new device data from the data sampling engine, the new device data corresponding to information regarding a particular module of the device;

comparing the new device data with a set of old device data, the old device data corresponding to information which was received prior to receiving the new device data and which regards the particular module of the device;

transmitting a notification signal to the view object based on the comparison determining a difference between the new device data and the old device data; and

repainting only a portion of the display which graphically represents information corresponding to the particular module of the device.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the device comprises a Fibre Channel switch.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the network further includes a sink object coupled to the data sampling engine, and the step of receiving new device data further comprises the substeps of:

receiving device data from the device at a specified interval;

opening an HTTP stream to the source object from the sink object;

transmitting data to the sink object.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the method is incorporated in two Java objects.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the view object comprises a plurality of view object sub-components, each view object sub-component corresponding to a particular module of the device.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the network further comprises a model object coupled to the view object, the method further comprising the step of:

storing the new device data in the model object.

7. The method or claim 6 further comprising the steps of:

retrieving the stored new device data from the model object; and

repainting only a portion of the display which graphically corresponds to the new device data.

8. An apparatus for remotely managing a device over a network system comprising:

a data sampling engine, for receiving new data from the device, the new data corresponding to a component of the device;

a model object, coupled to the data sampling engine, for comparing the new data from the device with old data; and

a view object, coupled to the model object, for updating only display parameters of the device corresponding to the component of the device.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 further comprising:

a sink object, coupled to the data sampling engine and the model object, for retrieving the new data from the data sampling engine.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 further comprising:

display, coupled to the view object, for displaying the view parameters of the device.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the device is a Fibre Channel switch.

12. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the data sampling engine further comprises:

a data receiving/transmitting module; and

a SyncFlag object.

13. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the model object further comprises:

a SwitchModel module for automatically updating switch general information display;

a PortOverviewModel module for updating all port information display;

a FanModel module for updating fans'"'"' status display; and

a ThermoModel module for updating thermometer status display.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the PortOverviewModel module further comprises:

a PortLED model module for LED color changing concerning a specific port status;

a PortLoop model module for indicating whether a G-port board is a loop-capable board;

a PortDetail model module for displaying port general information, error statistics, interrupt statistics and frame statistics; and

a PortAlert model module for poping up warning messages when port or switch status changes.

15. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the view object comprises a plurality of view object sub-components, each view object sub-component representing a module of the device.

16. A system for remotely managing a device over a network system having a display, comprising:

a data sampling engine for receiving new data from the device at a specified time interval, the new data corresponding to information regarding a component module of the device;

a model object for receiving the new data from the data sampling engine in response to a request from a user, the model object comparing the new data with a set of old data in order to determine whether a change has occurred in the component module of the device; and

a view object for painting only a portion of the display corresponding to a graphical representation of the component module of the device.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the device comprises a fibre channel switch.

18. The system of claim 16 wherein the device comprises a plurality of component modules.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the model object comprises a plurality of model objects and a plurality of view objects, each of the plurality of model objects corresponding to a particular component module, and each of the plurality of view objects corresponding to a particular component module.

20. A computer storage medium containing a device management system which causes generation of a model object and a view object, the device management system comprising:

a sink object for retrieving new data from the device, the new data corresponding to a component module of the device;

a model object, coupled to the sink object, for comparing the new data from the device with old data; and

a view object, coupled to the model object, for updating only display parameters of the device corresponding to the component of the device.

21. A computer storage medium whose contents cause a computer to remotely manage a device having a data sampling engine, a view object, and a display by:

receiving new device data from the data sampling engine, the new device data corresponding to a module of the device;

comparing the new device data with stored device data;

transmitting a notification signal to the view object based on the comparison determining a difference between the new device data and the stored device data; and

repainting only a portion of the display corresponding to a graphical representation of the module of the device.

22. A method for remotely managing a device over a network, the network including a data sample engine and a view object, the method comprising:

receiving new device data from the data sampling engine, the new device data corresponding to information regarding a particular module of the device;

determining whether received new device data is different from a set of old device data, the old device data corresponding to information which was received prior to receiving the new device data and which regards the particular module of the device;

transmitting a notification signal to the view object in response to the result of determining the difference between received new device data and the set of old device data; and

repainting only a portion of a graphical representation of information corresponding to the particular module of the device in response to the notification signal.

23. A system for remotely managing a device over a network system, the system comprising:

a model object for receiving new data from the device in response to a request from a user, the new data corresponding to information regarding a component module of the device, the model object comparing the new data with a set of old data in order to determine whether a change has occurred in the component module of the device, the model object transmitting a notification signal in response to comparing the new data with the set of old data and determining a difference; and

a view object configured to instruct repainting only a portion of a graphical representation of information corresponding to the particular module of the device in response to receiving the notification signal.