Methods and systems for monitoring objects

• US 7,885,940 B2
• Filed: 06/30/2005
• Issued: 02/08/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: McCloghrie, Keith, Hegde, Prashant P., Wallis, Ian, Anand Bs, Chethan
• Primary Examiner(s): Vaughn, Jr.; William C
• Assistant Examiner(s): Anwari; Maceeh
• Application Number:
  US11/173,737
• Publication Number:
  US 20070005641A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,049 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1, 709/223, 719/316
• US Class Current: 707/687
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0213 Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/085 Retrieval of network configuration; Tracking network configuration history
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/103 with adaptive polling, i.e. dynamically adapting the polling rate

Abstract

A method and system for monitoring objects in a plurality of management information bases (MIBs) is provided. The objects required for functioning of an application are identified from the MIBs. The application identifies these objects. The identified OIDs are grouped in a group depending on grouping rules provided by the application. A rate for detecting changes in the group is provided. The changes in the group are detected at the provided rate. A notification is generated on detecting a change in the group. The notification is sent to the application. The notification reports a change in the identified OIDs in the group.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring objects in a Management Information Base (MIB) of a network device, the method comprising:

identifying one or more Object Identifiers (OIDs) corresponding to the objects in the MIB for monitoring, wherein the objects represent configuration or state information about the network device;

determining grouping rules for grouping the identified OIDs in a group;

determining a rate for detection of changes in the group, wherein the rate of detection indicates a periodic monitoring time at which an application in a Network Management Station (NMS) desires the network device to periodically monitor at regular intervals for changes in the objects that correspond to the identified OIDs in the group, wherein one or more changes in the objects occur in between a first occurrence of the periodic monitoring time and a second occurrence of the periodic monitoring time;

sending a monitoring request, the grouping rules, and the rate of detection, from the application to the network device, wherein the network device periodically monitors for changes to the identified OIDs in the group in response to the monitoring request; and

receiving a notification from the network device, the notification indicating the one or more changes to the identified OIDs in the group, the one or more changes occurring in between the first and second occurrences of the periodic monitoring time, wherein the notification is provided from the network device at the rate of detection and at the second occurrence of the periodic monitoring time.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising overriding the rate of detection using an agent in the network device when the number of the identified OIDs in the group is greater than a predetermined value.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the rate of detection is overridden to a lower rate.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein an agent of the network device comprising the MIB detects a change in the identified OIDs of the MIB.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein a group control parameter is used for the detection of the one or more changes.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the group control parameter comprises an enable value, a disable value, or an enable with notification value.

14. The method according to claim 13, further comprising selecting a value for the group control parameter using the application.

5. A method for monitoring objects in a Management Information Bases (MIB) of a network device, the method comprising:

receiving identification of one or more Object Identifiers (OID) corresponding to the objects in the MIB for monitoring, wherein the objects represent configuration or state information about the network device;

receiving grouping rules for grouping the identified OIDs in a group;

receiving a rate for detection of changes in the group, wherein the rate of detection indicates a periodic monitoring time at which an application in a Network Management Station (NMS) desires the network device to periodically monitor at regular intervals for changes in the objects that correspond to the identified OIDs in the group, wherein one or more changes in the objects occur in between a first occurrence of the periodic monitoring time and a second occurrence of the periodic monitoring time;

receiving a monitoring request and the rate of detection from the application, wherein the network device periodically monitors for changes to the identified OIDs in the group in response to the monitoring request;

grouping the identified OIDs in a group based on the grouping rules; and

providing a notification to the application, the notification indicating the one or more changes to the identified OIDs in the group, the one or more changes occurring in between the first and second occurrences of the periodic monitoring time, wherein the notification is provided from the network device at the rate of detection and at the second occurrence of the periodic monitoring time.

15. The method according to claim 5, wherein a group control parameter is used for the detection of the one or more changes.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the group control parameter comprises an enable value, a disable value, or an enable with notification value.

17. The method according to claim 16, further comprising selecting a value for the group control parameter using the application.

6. An apparatus for monitoring objects in a Management Information Base (MIB) of a network device, the apparatus comprising:

a network management station (NMS) configured with applications comprising;

an identifying module for identifying one or more Object Identifiers (OIDs) corresponding to the objects in the MIB for monitoring, wherein the objects represent configuration or state information about the network device;

a grouping module for determining grouping rules to group the identified OIDs in a group; and

a rate module for determining a rate for detection of changes in the group, wherein the rate of detection indicates a periodic monitoring time at which an application in the NMS desires the network device to periodically monitor at regular intervals for changes in the objects that correspond to the identified OIDs in the group, wherein one or more changes in the objects occur in between a first occurrence of the periodic monitoring time and a second occurrence of the periodic monitoring time; and

an agent in the network device, the agent being coupled to the MIB, the agent being configured for monitoring the group at the rate of detection in response to a monitoring request received from the NMS to determine if any of the identified OIDs have changed, and to provide a notification to the application, the notification indicating the one or more changes in the identified OIDs, the one or more changes occurring in between the first and second occurrences of the periodic monitoring time, wherein the notification is provided from the network device at the rate of detection and at the second occurrence of the periodic monitoring time.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the agent is configured to override the rate of detection when the number of the identified OIDs in the group is greater than a predetermined value.

18. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the determination of changes in the group comprises use of a group control parameter.

19. The apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the group control parameter comprises an enable value, a disable value, or an enable with notification value.

20. The apparatus according to claim 19, wherein the network management station is configured to select a value for the group control parameter.

8. An apparatus for monitoring objects in a Management Information Base (MIB) of a network device, the apparatus comprising:

means for identifying one or more Object Identifiers (OIDs) corresponding to the objects in the MIB for monitoring, wherein the objects represent configuration or state information about the network device;

means for determining grouping rules for grouping the identified OIDs in a group;

means for determining a rate of detection of changes in the group, wherein the rate of detection indicates a periodic monitoring time at which an application in a Network Management Station (NMS) desires the network device to periodically monitor at regular intervals for changes in the objects that correspond to the identified OIDs in the group, wherein one or more changes in the objects occur in between a first occurrence of the periodic monitoring time and a second occurrence of the periodic monitoring time;

means for sending a monitoring request, the grouping rules, and the rate of detection, from the application to the network device, wherein the network device periodically monitors for changes to the identified OIDs in the group in response to the monitoring request; and

means for receiving a notification from the network device, the notification indicating the one or more changes to the identified OIDs in the group, the one or more changes occurring in between the first and second occurrences of the periodic monitoring time, wherein the notification is provided from the network device at the rate of detection and at the second occurrence of the periodic monitoring time.

9. The apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising means for overriding the rate of detection when the number of the identified OIDs in the group is greater than a predetermined value.

10. An apparatus for monitoring objects in a Management Information Base (MIB) of a network device, the apparatus comprising:

a processing system including a computer processor coupled to a display and a user input device; and

logic encoded in one or more non-transitory tangible media for execution by the computer processor, and when executed operable to;

identify one or more Object Identifiers (OIDs) corresponding to the objects in the MIB for monitoring, wherein the objects represent configuration or state information about the network device;

determine grouping rules for grouping the identified OIDs in a group;

determine a rate for detection of changes in the group, wherein the rate of detection indicates a periodic monitoring time at which an application in a Network Management Station (NMS) desires the network device to periodically monitor at regular intervals for changes in the objects that correspond to the identified OIDs in the group, wherein one or more changes in the objects occur in between a first occurrence of the periodic monitoring time and a second occurrence of the periodic monitoring time;

send a monitoring request, the grouping rules, and the rate of detection, from the application to the network device, wherein the network device periodically monitors for changes to the identified OIDs in the group in response to the monitoring; and

receive a notification from the network device, the notification indicating the one or more changes to the identified OIDs in the group, the one or more changes occurring in between the first and second occurrences of the periodic monitoring time, wherein the notification is provided from the network device at the rate of detection and at the second occurrence of the periodic monitoring time.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including instructions executable by a computer processor, the storage medium comprising:

one or more instructions for identifying one or more Object Identifiers (OIDs) corresponding to objects for monitoring in a Management Information Base (MIB) of a network device, wherein the objects represent configuration or state information about the network device;

one or more instructions for determining grouping rules for grouping the identified OIDs in a group;

one or more instructions for determining a rate of detection of changes in the group, wherein the rate of detection indicates a periodic monitoring time at which an application in a Network Management Station (NMS) desires the network device to periodically monitor at regular intervals for changes in the objects that correspond to the identified OIDs in the group, wherein one or more changes in the objects occur in between a first occurrence of the periodic monitoring time and a second occurrence of the periodic monitoring time;

one or more instructions for sending a monitoring request, the grouping rules, and the rate of detection, from the application to the network device, wherein the network device periodically monitors for changes to the identified OIDs in the group in response to the monitoring request; and

one or more instructions for receiving a notification from the network device, the notification indicating the one or more changes to the identified OIDs in the group, the one or more changes occurring in between the first and second occurrences of the periodic monitoring time, wherein the notification is provided from the network device at the rate of detection and at the second occurrence of the periodic monitoring time.