System for management of equipment deployed behind firewalls
First Claim
1. An element management system for enabling a network management server to provide a variable value to a management information base of a managed device independent of whether the managed device is coupled to a private network and served by a network address translation firewall, the system comprising:
- a network interface system enabling the exchange of IP frames between each of the network management server and a public network interface of the network address translation firewall; and
an SNMP message manager;
receiving periodic heart beat frames on a heart beat channel, each heart beat frame being initiated by the managed device and translated by the network address translating firewall, the heart beat channel comprising a translated source socket and a destination socket of the heart beat frame;
storing identification of the heart beat channel in association with identification of the managed device in a registration table;
uniquely associating an assigned UDP port of the element management system with the managed device;
providing the unique association of the assigned UDP port and the managed device to the network management server;
receiving an SNMP Set from the network management server embodied as an IP frame addressed to the assigned UDP port; and
sending the SNMP Set to the managed device using the heartbeat channel;
wherein the SNMP message manager further provides for;
receiving an SNMP Get from the network management server embodied as an IP frame addressed to the assigned UDP port;
assigning a unique sequence number to the SNMP Get and recording the unique sequence number in a message table;
i) in association with identification of the managed device associated with the assigned UDP port to which the SNMP Get was addressed; and
ii) in association with the source socket of the network management server from which the SNMP Get was sent; and
sending the SNMP Get in combination with the unique sequence number to the managed device using the heartbeat channel;
receiving an SNMP Response in combination with the sequence number;
obtaining the source socket of the network management server corresponding to the sequence number in the message table; and
sending the SNMP Response to the source socket of the network management server.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An element management system enables a network management server to provide a variable value to a management information base of a managed device independent of whether the managed device is served by a network address translation firewall. The element management system comprises an SNMP message manager which receives periodic heart beat frames from the managed device and stored identification of a heart beat channel in association with identification of the managed device in a registration table. The heart beat channel comprises the source socket and destination socket of the heart beat frame. The SNMP message manager further uniquely associates an assigned UDP port number with the managed device and provides the unique association of the assigned UDP port and the managed device to the network management server. The SNMP message manager further receives an SNMP Set from the network management server embodied as an IP frame addressed to the assigned UDP port number, looks up the managed device associated with the assigned UDP port number, and sends the SNMP Set to the managed device using the heartbeat channel.
20 Citations
15 Claims
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1. An element management system for enabling a network management server to provide a variable value to a management information base of a managed device independent of whether the managed device is coupled to a private network and served by a network address translation firewall, the system comprising:
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a network interface system enabling the exchange of IP frames between each of the network management server and a public network interface of the network address translation firewall; and an SNMP message manager; receiving periodic heart beat frames on a heart beat channel, each heart beat frame being initiated by the managed device and translated by the network address translating firewall, the heart beat channel comprising a translated source socket and a destination socket of the heart beat frame; storing identification of the heart beat channel in association with identification of the managed device in a registration table; uniquely associating an assigned UDP port of the element management system with the managed device; providing the unique association of the assigned UDP port and the managed device to the network management server; receiving an SNMP Set from the network management server embodied as an IP frame addressed to the assigned UDP port; and sending the SNMP Set to the managed device using the heartbeat channel; wherein the SNMP message manager further provides for; receiving an SNMP Get from the network management server embodied as an IP frame addressed to the assigned UDP port; assigning a unique sequence number to the SNMP Get and recording the unique sequence number in a message table;
i) in association with identification of the managed device associated with the assigned UDP port to which the SNMP Get was addressed; and
ii) in association with the source socket of the network management server from which the SNMP Get was sent; andsending the SNMP Get in combination with the unique sequence number to the managed device using the heartbeat channel; receiving an SNMP Response in combination with the sequence number; obtaining the source socket of the network management server corresponding to the sequence number in the message table; and sending the SNMP Response to the source socket of the network management server. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. An element management system for enabling a network management server to provide a variable value to a management information base of a managed device independent of whether the managed device is coupled to a private network and served by a network address translation firewall, the system comprising:
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a network interface system enabling the exchange of IP frames between each of the network management server and a public network interface of the network address translation firewall; and an SNMP message manager; receiving periodic heart beat frames on a heart beat channel, each heart beat frame being initiated by the managed device and translated by the network address translating firewall, the heart beat channel comprising a translated source socket and a destination socket of the heart beat frame; storing identification of the heart beat channel in association with identification of the managed device in a registration table; uniquely associating an assigned UDP port of the element management system with the managed device; providing the unique association of the assigned UDP port and the managed device to the network management server; receiving an SNMP Set from the network management server embodied as an IP frame addressed to the assigned UDP port; and sending the SNMP Set to the managed device using the heartbeat channel; further comprising; a TCP/IP gateway for enabling a first client to establish a session to an object server of the managed device, the TCP/IP gateway; uniquely associating a client port with a relay port; identifying the relay port to the element management system; establishing a relay connection with the managed device upon initiation of the connection by the managed device through the network address translation firewall; establishing a first client connection with the first client upon initiation of the connection from the first client on a first socket that comprises the client port; relaying data packets between the first client connection and the managed device through the relay connection; and wherein, the element management system further provides for receiving identification of the relay port from the TCP/IP gateway and providing the relay port to the managed device using the heart beat channel; and wherein; the element managements system provides the relay port to the managed device using the heart beat channel by; embodying the identification of the relay port within an SNMP Set; sending the SNMP Get to the device SNMP gateway using the heartbeat channel; and the message handling module of the device SNMP gateway further provides for; receiving the SNMP Set; sending the SNMP Set to the SNMP object; the SNMP object further provides for; writing the identification of the relay port to the management information base; and the object server obtains identification of the relay port from the management information base and establishes the relay connection the TCP/IP gateway using the relay port.
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4. An element management system for enabling a network management server to provide a variable value to a management information base of a managed device independent of whether the managed device is coupled to a private network and served by a network address translation firewall, the system comprising:
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a network interface system enabling the exchange of IP frames between each of the network management server and a public network interface of the network address translation firewall; and an SNMP message manager; receiving periodic heart beat frames on a heart beat channel, each heart beat frame being initiated by the managed device and translated by the network address translating firewall, the heart beat channel comprising a translated source socket and a destination socket of the heart beet frame; storing identification of the heart beat channel in association with identification of the managed device in a registration table; uniquely associating an assigned UDP port of the element management system with the managed device; providing the unique association of the assigned UDP port and the managed device to the network management server; receiving an SNMP Set from the network management server embodied as an IP frame addressed to the assigned UDP port; and sending the SNMP Set to the managed device using the heartbeat channel; further comprising a TCP/IP gateway for enabling a first client to establish a session to an object server of the managed device, the TCP/IP gateway; uniquely associating a client port with a relay port; identifying the relay port to the element management system; establishing a relay connection with the managed device upon initiation of the connection by the managed device through the network address translation firewall; establishing a first client connection with the first client upon initiation of the connection from the first client on a first socket that comprises the client port; relaying data packets between the first client connection and the managed device through the relay connection; and wherein, the element management system further provides for receiving identification of the relay port from the TCP/IP gateway and providing the relay port to the managed device using the heart beat channel; wherein relaying data packets between the first client connection and the managed device comprises; with respect to data packets being sent from the first client to the object server; receiving a data packet on a client socket from the client; looking up;
i) a session ID number that is uniquely associated with the client; and
ii) the relay connection that is uniquely associated with the client port of the client socket in a relay table;building packaged frame comprising the session number and an encrypted representation of the data packet; sending the packaged frame on the relay connection; and with respect to data packets being sent form the object server to the first client; receiving a packaged frame on the relay connection; recovering a session ID and the data packet from the packaged frame; and sending the data packet on the client socket that is uniquely associated with the session ID recovered from the packaged frame; and with respect to additional TCP/IP connections established by the first client; establishing a new TCP/IP connection upon initiation by the first client using a second client socket comprising the client port; assigning a unique session ID to the second client socket and associating the session ID to the second client socket in the relay table; sending a new session message and the session ID to the managed device using the relay connection that is associated with the client port; with respect to additional TCP/IP connections established by the server object; receiving a new session message and a session ID from the managed device on the relay connection; establishing a new TCP/IP connection to the first client using a second client socket comprising the client port; and associating the session ID with the second client socket in the relay table.
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5. An element management system for enabling a network management server to provide a variable value to a management information base of a managed device independent of whether the managed device is coupled to a private network and served by a network address translation firewall, the system comprising:
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an SNMP message manager communicatively coupled to each of the network management server and a public network interface of the network address translation firewall; and a device SNMP gateway communicatively coupled to a private network interface of the network address translation firewall and communicatively coupled to an SNMP object; the SNMP object comprising systems for receiving art SNMP Set sent by the SNMP gateway to a predefined SNMP port number and writing a variable value within the SNMP set to the management information base; the SNMP message manager; receiving periodic heart beat frames on a heart beat channel, each heart beat frame being initiated by the managed device and translated by the network address translating firewall, the heart beat channel comprising a translated source socket and a destination socket of the heart beat frame; storing identification of the heart bet channel in association with identification of the managed device In a registration table; uniquely associating an assigned UDP port of the element management system with the managed device; providing the unique association of the assigned UDP port and the managed device to the network management server; receiving an SNMP Set from the network management server embodied as an IP frame addressed to the assigned UDP port; and sending the SNMP Set to the managed device using the heartbeat channel; and the device SNMP gateway comprising; a heart beat module periodically sending a heart beat IP frame to a socket associated with the SNMP message manager to maintain the heart beat channel through the network address translation firewall; and a message handling module; receiving the SNMP Set; sending the SNMP Set to the SNMP object as a UDP/IP message addressed to the predefined SNMP port number. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method of operating an element management system for enabling a network management server to provide a variable value to a management information base of a managed device independent of whether the managed device is coupled to a private network and served by a network address translation firewall, the system comprising:
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receiving periodic heart beat frames on a heart beat channel, each heart beat frame being initiated by the managed device and translated by the network address translating firewall, the heart beat channel comprising a translated source socket and a destination socket of the heart beat frame; storing identification of the heart beat channel in association with identification of the managed device in a registration table; uniquely associating an assigned UDP port of the element management system with the managed device; providing the unique association of the assigned UDP port and the managed device to the network management server; receiving an SNMP Set from the network management server embodied as an IP frame addressed to the assigned UDP port; and sending the SNMP Set to the managed device using the heartbeat channel; receiving an SNMP Get from the network management server embodied as an IP frame addressed to the assigned UDP port; assigning a unique sequence number to the SNMP Get and recording the unique sequence number in a message table;
i) in association with identification of the managed device associated with the assigned UDP port to which the SNMP Get was addressed; and
ii) in association with the source socket of the network management server from which the SNMP Get was sent; andsending the SNMP Get in combination with the unique sequence number to the managed device using the heartbeat channel; receiving an SNMP Response in combination with the sequence number; obtaining the source socket corresponding to the sequence number in the message table; and sending the SNMP Response to the source socket of the network management server. - View Dependent Claims (13, 15)
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14. A method of operating an element management system for enabling a network management server to provide a variable value to a management information base of a managed device independent of whether the managed device is coupled to a private network and served by a network address translation firewall, the system comprising:
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receiving periodic heart beat frames on a heart beat channel, each heart beat frame being initiated by the managed device and translated by the network address translating firewall, the heart beat channel comprising a translated source socket and a destination socket of the heart beat frame; storing identification of the heart beat channel in association with identification of the managed device in a registration table; uniquely associating an assigned UDP port of the element management system with the managed device; providing the unique association of the assigned UDP port and the managed device to the network management server; receiving an SNMP Set from the network management server embodied as an IP frame addressed to the assigned UDP port; and sending the SNMP Set to the managed device using the heartbeat channel; relaying a TCP/IP session between a client and an object server of the managed device, by; associating a client port with a relay port; identifying the relay port to the element management system; establishing a relay connection with the managed device upon initiation of the connection by the managed device through the network address translation firewall; establishing a first client connection with the client upon initiation of the connection by the client on a socket that comprises the client port; relaying data packets between the first client connection and the managed device through the relay connection; and wherein, the element management system further provides for receiving identification of the relay port form the TCP/IP gateway and providing the relay port to the managed device using the heart beat channel; and wherein providing the relay port to the managed device using the heart beat channel comprises; embodying the identification of the relay port within an SNMP Set; sending the SNMP Get to the device SNMP gateway using the heartbeat channel.
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Specification