System and methods for processing and displaying aggregate status events for remote nodes

• US 7,603,458 B1
• Filed: 09/30/2003
• Issued: 10/13/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: EMC Corporation (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Bradley, Paul, Barta, David, Sexton, John C., Yehuda, Hanna
• Primary Examiner(s): Chankong; Dohm
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hussain; Tauqir
• Application Number:
  US10/674,322
• Time in Patent Office: 2,205 Days
• Field of Search: 709223-224
• US Class Current: 709/224
• 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 41/065 involving logical or physical relationship, e.g. grouping and hierarchies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0681 Configuration of triggering conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/142 using statistical or mathematical methods
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning

Abstract

A status monitoring and reporting mechanism which distinguishes more significant events and prominently displays events pertaining to nodes, interconnections, and other network entities which may present problems, and to suppresses benign messages which may not require immediate attention, provides an “at a glance” view of overall system health. By processing and displaying aggregate status events from a plurality of agent components to highlight the most severe and critical events from among a large volume of general status events allows an operator to quickly diagnose potential problems before detrimental results occur, and helps maintain a general efficient system health by isolating less efficient areas to allow for timely remedial action prior to failure. Various agents disseminated in a storage area network determine and report status events back to a central server. The server receives, aggregates, and processes the status events to display a status array indicative of overall system health.

Claims

1. A method for gathering and monitoring the simultaneous status of nodes in a storage area network (SAN), comprising:

receiving alert messages corresponding to status events in the storage area network, each status event having a corresponding event category and severity value, the storage area network having nodes that include manageable entities, the manageable entities responsive to a server in the storage area network, the nodes including storage entities, connectivity entities, and database entities;

aggregating the alert messages according to event category and severity value to generate a category specific severity ranking of the alert messages;

displaying a status array having a plurality of chart entries, each chart entry corresponding to alert messages of a particular event category and each chart entry having a node entry for each node having status attributable to the alert messages, the status array is an N by M matrix of the plurality of chart entries, the plurality of chart entries including;

i) a general alert chart entry displaying alert status of managed entities in the storage area network;

ii) a storage chart entry indicating alert status of managed storage entities in the storage area network;

iii) a host chart entry indicating alert status of managed host entities in the storage area network; and

iv) a connectivity chart entry indicating alert status of managed connectivity entities in the storage area network;

receiving a selection of at least one node in the N by M status array matrix of the plurality of chart entries;

displaying the status array including simultaneously listing, for each category type, nodes having status events of greatest severity

displaying, within at least one chart entry, node entries in relation to the selected at least one node in order to display the simultaneous status of nodes in the storage area network; and

displaying, within at least one chart entry, node entries having a status event associated with the event category for that chart entry, the node entries displayed in the chart entry according to the severity ranking and each node entry indicative of a severity scale of status for the corresponding effected node.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein displaying, within the at least one chart entry, comprises:

accumulating events of each of a plurality of severity levels, each severity level representing a range of severity values such that a given status event with a given severity value has a corresponding severity level when the given severity value of the given status event is within a range of severity values for the corresponding severity level, wherein the severity scale for a node entry is an enumeration of events received for each of the plurality of severity levels within the severity ranking, the severity ranking determined by the severity scale for each node entry;

displaying the enumeration of events received for each node entry within the at least one chart entry containing that node entry, the enumeration of events received being displayed in an order according to the severity ranking; and

wherein the alert messages are received from remote agents operating within a storage area network.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the enumeration is a histogram having a magnitude based on the severity scale and a quantity of events within each severity level within the severity ranking.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the histogram has a plurality of visually overlapping elongated bar segments, each elongated bar segment corresponding to a particular severity level.

5. The method of claim 1 further including discovering a topology of nodes in the SAN, wherein the alert messages correspond to status events for each of a plurality of selected nodes in a selection tree, the selection tree indicative of the nodes in the SAN.

6. The method of claim 1 further including filtering the status events to compute a subset of elected events, wherein the received events correspond to elected events determined in response to predetermined filtering logic at the agents processing the elected events.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein each chart entry has a magnitude axis, the magnitude axis indicative of a relative range of the quantity of status events within each of the severity levels corresponding to a plurality of node entries reflected in the chart entry.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein each chart entry has a manageable entity axis, the manageable entity axis arranged, for each node, according to increasing severity scale denoting the severity ranking for each node included in the chart entry, and further comprising computing the severity scale for each node according to a predetermined severity metric.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the severity level corresponds to a threshold value, the threshold value identifying triggering of an event having the corresponding severity level.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein each event in an event category has a set of threshold values, the threshold values indicative of a quantitative metric triggering the particular event and severity.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising processing and propagating the threshold values to remote agents, the remote agents operable to analyze nodes and determine when a particular metric satisfying a triggering threshold is attained and generate the corresponding event.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the nodes further comprise manageable entities, the manageable entities responsive to the server in a SAN and further including storage entities, connectivity entities, and database entities.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising selectively suppressing events of a particular category and severity.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the chart entries in the status array are further subdivided into chart entries directed to manageable entity health, manageable entity performance, and storage system capacity.

15. The method of claim 1 comprising:

receiving a selection of at least one node in a hierarchical arrangement of nodes; and

wherein receiving, aggregating, displaying a status array, and displaying, within at least one chart entry, node entries are performed in relation to the selected at least one node in order to display the simultaneous status of nodes in a storage area network.

16. The method of claim 1 further comprising

receiving a user input corresponding to selection of at least one node entry from among the node entries displayed in the status array;

displaying an expanded menu of status options for the selected entry; and

receiving a response to the menus of status options and displaying an expanded status report corresponding to the expanded menu.

28. The method of claim 1, wherein the severity scale for each node entry is an aggregate value representative of a number of alert messages received at each node entry for a given sampling interval, wherein each node entry is weighted with respect to a corresponding severity level for each alert message, each severity level representing a range of severity values such that a given status event with a given severity value has a corresponding severity level when the given severity value of the given status event is within a range of severity values for the corresponding severity level.

33. The method of claim 4, wherein displaying the enumeration of events includes displaying a histogram bar, for each node entry, that has a length proportional to a total number of status events corresponding to a node of the node entry.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein displaying the enumeration of events includes displaying each elongated bar segment indicating a quantity of status events corresponding to a corresponding severity level.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein each histogram bar has a maximum range that adjusts depending on a length of each histogram bar.

36. The method of claim 7, wherein the magnitude axis of each chart entry has a maximum range that adjusts depending on a maximum value of the severity levels.

17. A network monitoring device for gathering and monitoring the simultaneous status of nodes in a storage area network (SAN), comprising:

a server having a correlator operable to receive alert messages corresponding to status events in the storage area network, each status event having a corresponding event category and severity value, the storage area network having nodes that include manageable entities, the manageable entities responsive to a server in the storage area network, the nodes including storage entities, connectivity entities, and database entities;

an aggregator operable to aggregate the alert messages according to event category and severity value to generate a category specific severity ranking of the alert messages; and

an operator console operable to display a status array having a plurality of chart entries, each chart entry corresponding to alert messages of a particular event category and each chart entry having a node entry for each node having status attributable to the alert messages, the status array is an N by M matrix of the plurality of chart entries, the plurality of chart entries including;

i) a general alert chart entry displaying alert status of managed entities in the storage area network;

ii) a storage chart entry indicating alert status of managed storage entities in the storage area network;

iii) a host chart entry indicating alert status of managed host entities in the storage area network; and

iv) a connectivity chart entry indicating alert status of managed connectivity entities in the storage area network;

the console further operable to receive a selection of at least one node in the N by M status array matrix of the plurality of chart entries, display the status array including simultaneously listing, for each category type, nodes having status events of greatest severity, and display, within at least one chart entry, node entries in relation to the selection of at least one node in order to display the simultaneous status of nodes in the storage area network; and

the console further operable to display, within at least one chart entry, node entries having a status event associated with the event category for that chart entry, the node entries displayed in the chart entry according to the severity ranking and each node entry indicative of a severity scale of status for the corresponding effected node.

18. The network monitoring device of claim 17 wherein the accumulator is further operable to:

accumulate events of each of a plurality of severity levels, each severity level representing a range of severity values such that a given status event with a given severity value has a corresponding severity level when the given severity value of the given status event is within a range of severity values for the corresponding severity level, wherein the severity scale for a node entry is an enumeration of events received for each of the plurality of severity levels within the severity ranking, the severity ranking determined by the severity scale for each node entry;

display, within the at least one chart entry, the enumeration of events received for each node entry within the at least one chart entry containing that node entry, the enumeration of events received being displayed in an order according to the severity ranking;

wherein the enumeration is a histogram having a magnitude based on the severity scale and a quantity of events within each severity level within the severity ranking; and

wherein the histogram has a plurality of visually overlapping elongated bar segments, each elongated bar segment corresponding to a particular severity level.

19. The network monitoring device of claim 17 wherein each chart entry has a magnitude axis, the magnitude axis indicative of a relative range of the quantity of status events within each of the severity levels corresponding to a plurality of node entries reflected in the chart entry.

20. The network monitoring device of claim 17 wherein each chart entry has a manageable entity axis, the manageable entity axis arranged, for each node, according to increasing severity scale denoting the severity ranking for each node included in the chart entry, and further comprising computing the severity scale for each node according to a predetermined severity metric.

21. The network monitoring device of claim 17 wherein the severity level corresponds to a threshold value, the threshold value identifying triggering of an event having the corresponding severity level.

22. The network monitoring device of claim 17 wherein each event in an event category has a set of threshold values, the threshold values indicative of a quantitative metric triggering the particular event and severity;

and

wherein the server is further operable to processing and propagating the threshold values to remote agents, the remote agents operable to analyze nodes and determine when a particular metric satisfying a triggering threshold is attained and generate the corresponding event.

23. The network monitoring device of claim 17 wherein the server is operable to selectively suppress events of a particular category and severity.

24. The network monitoring device of claim 17 wherein the chart entries in the status array are further subdivided into chart entries directed to manageable entity health, manageable entity performance, and storage system capacity.

25. The network monitoring device of claim 17 wherein the server is further operable to receive a selection of at least one node in a hierarchical arrangement of nodes, and display, within at least one chart entry, node entries in relation to the selected at least one node in order to display the simultaneous status of nodes in a storage area network.

26. The network monitoring device of claim 17 wherein the server is further operable to:

receive a user input corresponding to selection of at least one node entry from among the node entries displayed in the status array;

display an expanded menu of status options for the selected entry; and

display an expanded status report corresponding to the expanded menu and a response to the menu of status options.

29. The network monitoring device of claim 17, wherein the severity scale for each node entry is an aggregate value representative of a number of alert messages received at each node entry for a given sampling interval, wherein each node entry is weighted with respect to a corresponding severity level for each alert message, each severity level representing a range of severity values such that a given status event with a given severity value has a corresponding severity level

when the given severity value of the given status event is within a range of severity values for the corresponding severity level.

27. A computer program product having a computer readable medium operable to store computer program logic embodied in computer program code encoded thereon for gathering and monitoring the simultaneous status of nodes in a storage area network (SAN), comprising:

computer program code for receiving alert messages corresponding to status events in the storage area network, each status event having a corresponding event category and severity value, the storage area network having nodes that include manageable entities, the manageable entities responsive to a server in the storage area network, the nodes including storage entities, connectivity entities, and database entities;

computer program code for aggregating the alert messages according to event category and severity value to generate a category specific severity ranking of the alert messages;

computer program code for displaying a status array having a plurality of chart entries, each chart entry corresponding to alert messages of a particular event category and each chart entry having a node entry for each node having status attributable to the alert messages, the status array is an N by M matrix of the plurality of chart entries, the plurality of chart entries including;

i) a general alert chart entry displaying alert status of managed entities in the storage area network;

ii) a storage chart entry indicating alert status of managed storage entities in the storage area network;

iii) a host chart entry indicating alert status of managed host entities in the storage area network; and

iv) a connectivity chart entry indicating alert status of managed connectivity entities in the storage area network;

computer program code for receiving a selection of at least one node in the N by M status array matrix of the plurality of chart entries;

computer program code for displaying the status array including simultaneously listing, for each category type, nodes having status events of greatest severity;

computer program code for displaying, within at least one chart entry, node entries in relation to the selected at least one node in order to display the simultaneous status of nodes in the storage area network; and

computer program code for displaying, within at least one chart entry, node entries having a status event associated with the event category for that chart entry, the node entries displayed in the chart entry according to the severity ranking and each node entry indicative of a severity scale of status for the corresponding effected node.

30. The computer program product of claim 27, wherein the severity scale for each node entry is an aggregate value representative of a number of alert messages received at each node entry for a given sampling interval, wherein each node entry is weighted with respect to a corresponding severity level for each alert message, each severity level representing a range of severity values such that a given status event with a given severity value has a corresponding severity level when the given severity value of the given status event is within a range of severity values for the corresponding severity level.

31. A method for gathering and monitoring the simultaneous status of nodes in a storage area network (SAN), comprising:

discovering a topology of nodes in the SAN, wherein the nodes comprise manageable entities, the manageable entities responsive to a server in the SAN and further including storage entities, connectivity entities, and database entities;

propagating threshold values to remote agents, wherein responsive to the threshold values, the remote agents operable to analyze nodes and determine when a particular metric satisfying a triggering threshold is attained, and to generate a corresponding status event as an alert message;

receiving alert messages, from the remote agents, corresponding to status events in the storage area network, each status event having a corresponding event category and severity value;

storing status events in an event repository;

aggregating the alert messages according to event category and severity value to generate a category specific severity ranking of the alert messages;

displaying a status array having a plurality of chart entries, each chart entry corresponding to alert messages of a particular event category and each chart entry having a node entry for each node having status attributable to the alert messages, the status array is an N by M matrix of the plurality of chart entries, the plurality of chart entries including;

i) a general alert chart entry displaying alert status of managed entities in the storage area network;

ii) a storage chart entry indicating alert status of managed storage entities in the storage area network;

iii) a host chart entry indicating alert status of managed host entities in the storage area network; and

iv) a connectivity chart entry indicating alert status of managed connectivity entities in the storage area network;

displaying the status array including simultaneously listing, for each category type, nodes having status events of greatest severity;

displaying, within at least one chart entry, node entries in relation to the selected at least one node in order to display the simultaneous status of nodes in the storage area network; and

displaying, within at least one chart entry, node entries having a status event associated with the event category for that chart entry, the node entries displayed in the chart entry according to the severity ranking and each node entry indicative of a severity scale of status for the corresponding effected node, wherein the severity scale for a node entry is an enumeration of events received for each of a plurality of severity levels with the severity ranking.

32. The method of claim 31 wherein the chart entries in the status array are further subdivided into chart entries directed to manageable entity health, manageable entity performance, and storage system capacity;

and

in response to a user request, the remote agents selectively suppressing events of a particular category and severity.

37. The method of claim 31, further comprising:

accumulating events of each of a plurality of severity levels, each severity level representing a range of severity values such that a given status event with a given severity value has a corresponding severity level when the given severity value of the given status event is within a range of severity values for the corresponding severity level, wherein the severity scale for a node entry is an enumeration of events received for each of the plurality of severity levels within the severity ranking, the severity ranking determined by the severity scale for each node entry;

propagating threshold values to remote agents, wherein responsive to the threshold values, the remote agents operable to analyze nodes and determine when a particular metric satisfying a triggering threshold is attained, and to generate a corresponding status event as an alert message; and

in response to a user request, the remote agents selectively suppressing events of a particular category and severity.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the enumeration is a histogram having a magnitude based on the severity scale and a quantity of events within each severity level within the severity ranking;

and

wherein each chart entry has a manageable entity histogram bar, the manageable entity histogram bar arranged, for each node, according to increasing severity scale denoting the severity ranking for each node included in the chart entry, and further comprising computing the severity scale for each node according to a predetermined severity metric.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein each event in an event category has a set of threshold values, the threshold values indicative of a quantitative metric triggering the particular event and severity;

and

further comprising processing and propagating the threshold values to remote agents, the remote agents operable to analyze nodes and determine when a particular metric satisfying a triggering threshold is attained and generate the corresponding event.