Enterprise management system

• US 7,873,719 B2
• Filed: 09/21/2005
• Issued: 01/18/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Hoover, Kelvin M., Bishop, David A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Srivastava; Vivek
• Assistant Examiner(s): Swearingen; Jeffrey R
• Application Number:
  US11/231,563
• Publication Number:
  US 20060041660A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,945 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0213 Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0253 using browsers or web-pages for accessing management information
• 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 41/069 using logs of notifications; Post-processing of notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0894 Policy-based network configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0895 Configuration of virtualised networks or elements, e.g. virtualised network function or OpenFlow elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0811 by checking connectivity

Abstract

A Managed Site (10), a logical network entity, is composed of a number of Sub Sites (20) in a one to many relationship. A Sub Site (20) is a logical component, which is composed of a number of Engines (30). Nodes (40) similarly relates to their Engine (30) in a many to one relationship. A Node (40) is a collection of Managed Elements (ME'"'"'s) (50) (while being an ME (50) itself), which represent network state information. The subsite (20) consists of the engine (30) connected to server nodes (40). One or more clients (110) are connected to the management engine (30) and access management engine (30) information relating to managed elements (50) including nodes (40). The connected manager engines may communicate with one another so that, for example, in the event of a failure, one of the manager engines remaining on line commences monitoring of manage elements assigned to the failed manager engine. Upon accessing the manager engine (30), the client interface displays relationships among managed elements (50) using meaningful connectors and tree-like structures. In addition to basic managed element state monitoring functionality, the manager engine (30) provides a variety of automated tasks ensuring the health of the network and optimal failure correction in the event of a problem. For example, the manager engine (30) performs root cause analysis utilizing an algorithm tracing through managed element (50) relationships and indicating the source of the failure.

Claims

1. A manager engine computer coupled to a plurality of managed nodes located in one of a plurality of managed sites comprising a network, the manager engine computer communicating with the plurality of managed nodes and storing data representative of network state information in a relational database, the network state information being organized as a series of relationships among managed elements of the network, the manager engine computer comprising:

at least one processor;

computing memory communicatively coupled to the processor, the computing memory having stored therein executable instructions for a database operable to store and retrieve data, said database comprising;

a. a managed element table, the managed element table comprising data about managed elements (ME) of the network, the data comprising information about at least one physical element of the network and at least one of a software application and a software subroutine of the network, the data comprising information about at least one base managed element, the base managed element being a pre-selected management object for building a management group, and the data comprising information about;

a derived managed element, where the derived managed element references a specific instance of the base managed element and provides at least one property related to how the base management element is used by an application;

an application managed element, where the application managed element comprises an application that can be executed and that references other managed elements;

a resource managed element, the resource managed element controlling a set of resources that provide the same service and comprising rules that allow a manager engine to determine if redundant resources are above or below a pre-selected level;

a reference managed element, the reference managed element allowing the user to access the management engine in order to determine a type of information that requires management; and

an external interface managed element, the external interface managed element adapted to identify external interfaces and adapted to calculate the location of at least one implicit state propagation point in the network;

b. a managed element relationship table, the managed element relationship table comprising data about possible relationships among the managed elements of the network; and

c. a managed element type table, the managed element type table comprising data representative of type information for the managed elements of the network;

d. policy information defining policies for operating the network; and

e. a message class table comprising data representative of a class of messages used in connection with the manager engine computer communicating with the plurality of managed nodes; and

a management software component communicatively coupled with said database, said management software component operating to retrieve and store data representative of the network system in said database, said management software component further operating to;

retrieve data from the database;

determine dependencies between managed elements of the database using the retrieved data from the database;

identify a source of a problem in the network using the retrieved data from the database;

retrieve policy information from the database, the policy information specifying policies for each of a plurality of managed elements; and

determine from the retrieved policy information that a change in the network violates a policy for operating the network.

2. The manager engine computer of claim 1, wherein the data representative of network characteristic information further comprises a security role table, the security role table comprising data representative of levels of security access for users of the network.

3. A computer system, comprising:

a hardware processor, and

a database operating to store and retrieve data, said database comprising;

a. a managed element table, the managed element table comprising data about managed elements of the network, the data comprising information about at least one physical element of the network and at least one of a software application and a software subroutine of the network, the data comprising information about;

at least one base managed element, the base managed element being a pre-selected management object for building a management group;

a derived managed element, where the derived managed element references a specific instance of the base managed element and provides at least one property related to how the base management element is used by an application;

an application managed element, where the application managed element comprises an application that can be executed and that references other managed elements;

a resource managed element, the resource managed element controlling a set of resources that provide the same service and comprising rules that allow a manager engine to determine if redundant resources are above or below a pre-selected level;

a reference managed element, the reference managed element allowing the user to access the management engine in order to determine a type of information that requires management; and

an external interface managed element, the external interface managed element adapted to identify external interfaces and adapted to calculate the location of at least one implicit state propagation point,

b. a managed element relationship table, the managed element relationship table comprising data about possible relationships among the managed elements of the network; and

c. a managed element type table, the managed element type table comprising data representative of type information for the managed elements of the network;

d. policy information defining policies for operating the network; and

e. a message class table comprising data representative of a class of messages used in connection with the manager engine computer communicating with the plurality of managed nodes; and

a management software component communicatively coupled with said database, said management software component operating to retrieve and store data representative of the network system in said database, said management software component further operating to;

retrieve data from the database;

determine dependencies between managed elements of the database using the retrieved data from the database;

identify a source of a problem in the network using the retrieved data from the database;

retrieve policy information from the database, the policy information specifying policies for each of a plurality of managed elements; and

determine from the retrieved policy information that a change in the network violates a policy for operating the network.

4. The computer system of claim 3, wherein the relational database further comprises a security role table, the security role table comprising data representative of levels of security access for users of the network.

5. A method of operating a manager engine computer, comprising:

operating a database adapted to store and retrieve data, the database comprising;

a managed element table, the managed element table comprising data about managed elements of the network, the data comprising information about at least one physical element of the network and at least one of a software application and a software subroutine of the network, the data comprising information about at least one base managed element, the base managed element being a pre-selected management object for building a management group, and the data comprising information about;

a derived managed element, where the derived managed element references a specific instance of the base managed element and provides at least one property related to how the base management element is used by an application;

an application managed element, where the application managed element comprises an application that can be executed and that references other managed elements;

a resource managed element, the resource managed element controlling a set of resources that provide the same service and comprising rules that allow a manager engine to determine if redundant resources are above or below a pre-selected level;

a reference managed element, the reference managed element allowing the user to access the management engine in order to determine a type of information that requires management; and

an external interface managed element, the external interface managed element adapted to identify external interfaces and adapted to calculate the location of at least one implicit state propagation point in the network;

a managed element relationship table, the managed element relationship table comprising data about possible relationships among the managed elements of the network;

a managed element type table, the managed element type table comprising data representative of type information for the managed elements of the network;

policy information defining policies for operating the network; and

a message class table comprising data representative of a class of messages used in connection with communicating with managed elements of the network;

retrieving data from the database, the data identifying managed elements and dependencies between managed elements;

identifying a source of a problem in the network from the retrieved data identifying dependencies between managed elements;

retrieving policy information from the database, the policy information specifying policies for each of a plurality of managed elements; and

determining from the retrieved policy information that a change in the network violates a policy for operating the network.