Monitoring system and monitoring method

• US 7,890,620 B2
• Filed: 08/02/2005
• Issued: 02/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Masuda, Mineyoshi, Morimura, Tomohiro, Kobayashi, Norihiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Vaughn, Jr.; William C
• Assistant Examiner(s): Gupta; Muktesh G
• Application Number:
  US11/194,614
• Publication Number:
  US 20060277295A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,023 Days
• Field of Search: 709/224, 714/47, 370/252
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3447 Performance evaluation by modeling
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3495 for systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/815 Virtual
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/86 Event-based monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/885 Monitoring specific for caches
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/042 comprising distributed management centres cooperatively managing the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/046 comprising network management agents or mobile agents therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/12 Network monitoring probes

Abstract

The monitoring technology capable of reducing total monitoring cost without degrading the monitoring capability in accordance with the configuration of the large-scale service system and quickly comprehending the state of the service system after the configuration change. A monitoring system in which information processing apparatuses constituting the service system are objects to be monitored has a monitoring manager program and a plurality of monitoring agent programs, and objects to be monitored having the same performance characteristics are sorted into the same groups. In each of the groups, parties where monitoring is carried out at a short monitoring interval and parties where the monitoring is carried out at a long monitoring interval are provided. The performance of objects to be monitored in the party of the long monitoring interval is estimated from the performance of the objects to be monitored in the party of the short monitoring interval.

Claims

1. A monitoring system comprising:

a plurality of information processing apparatuses each having a respective monitoring agent of a plurality of monitoring agents, the respective monitoring agent for each information processing apparatus being implemented for monitoring performance of said information processing apparatus at a predetermined monitoring interval; and

a monitoring apparatus implementing a monitoring manager for controlling said plurality of monitoring agents,

wherein said monitoring manager divides said plurality of monitoring agents into groups of monitoring agents for a single service system, each group corresponding to a respective application and including the respective monitoring agent of each information processing apparatus in which the respective application for the group operates in operation of the single service system, and wherein said monitoring manager further divides said information processing apparatuses that operate the respective application for each group into a plurality of parties,

wherein said monitoring manager obtains performance information for each group from the monitoring agents of the group and analyzes the performance information to calculate a respective degree of correlation for each set of two groups of the groups of monitoring agents,

wherein said monitoring manager, for each set of two groups for which the degree of correlation is greater than or equal to a first threshold, transmits event information received from either group of the two groups to the other group of the two groups, and, for each set of two groups for which the degree of correlation is greater than or equal to a second threshold, combines the set of two groups into a single group,

said monitoring manager sets each monitoring agent of a first set of a first group of monitoring agents that includes the respective monitoring agents of the information processing apparatuses belonging to a first party of the plurality of parties to monitor the information processing apparatus having the monitoring agent at a first monitoring interval that is shorter than a second monitoring interval,

said monitoring manager sets each monitoring agent of a second set of the first group of monitoring agents that includes the respective monitoring agents of the information processing apparatuses belonging to a second party of the plurality of parties to monitor the information processing apparatus having the monitoring agent at the second monitoring interval,

said first and second monitoring intervals are stored in a storage device,

each monitoring agent of the first set of monitoring agent monitors the information processing apparatus having the monitoring agent at the first monitoring interval, and

each monitoring agent of the second set of monitoring agents monitors the information processing apparatus having the monitoring agent at the second monitoring interval.

2. The monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein said monitoring manager exchanges the monitoring agents included in each of the parties between the parties.

3. The monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein said monitoring agents notify an event to said monitoring manager when information acquired by monitoring objects to be monitored satisfies a predetermined condition, and

said monitoring manager analyzes contents of the event and calculates a number of the monitoring agents included in said respective parties and the monitoring interval at which the monitoring agents in the respective parties monitor the objects to be monitored, and a function to instruct said monitoring agents to change the monitoring interval as a result of the calculation.

4. The monitoring system according to claim 3,

wherein said monitoring agents acquire information by monitoring the objects to be monitored at a first interval, determine whether information acquired at a second interval satisfies a predetermined condition, and notify an event to said monitoring manager when it satisfies the condition, and

said monitoring manager analyzes contents of the event and calculates the number of the monitoring agents included in said respective parties and said first interval and said second interval of the monitoring agents in the respective parties, and instructs said monitoring agents to change the monitoring interval as a result of the calculation.

5. The monitoring system according to claim 3, wherein said monitoring manager receives an event in which configuration of a first object to be monitored is changed and shortens the monitoring interval as calculated after receiving the event.

6. The monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein said monitoring manager receives a trouble as a trouble event when a trouble occurs in a first object to be monitored, and the monitoring manager automatically shifts a monitoring interval of said monitoring agents included in the second set from the second monitoring interval belonging to the same group into the first monitoring interval after said trouble event is received and when the monitoring agent corresponding to said trouble event is included in the first set.

7. The monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein said monitoring manager sets a load amount on objects to be monitored which are monitored by said monitoring agents, and

the load amount on the objects to be monitored which are monitored by the respective monitoring agents for each information processing apparatus included in each party is set in the party.

8. The monitoring system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a configuration information storage device which stores configuration information of objects to be monitored,

wherein said monitoring manager acquires the configuration information of each object to be monitored from said configuration information storage device, evaluates said configuration information in accordance with a predetermined evaluation condition, and combines the monitoring agents monitoring the objects to be monitored whose evaluation results match with one another or fall within a predetermined range into one group.

9. The monitoring system according to claim 8, wherein groups are created using a condition for evaluating identity of specification information of the objects to be monitored as said performance evaluation condition.

10. The monitoring system according to claim 8, wherein groups are created using a condition for evaluating identity of applications of the objects to be monitored as the performance evaluation condition.

11. The monitoring system according to claim 8, wherein said configuration information storage device stores correlation information defining a correlation for each set of two groups of the groups of monitoring agents and stores the respective degree of correlation calculated for each set of two groups of the groups of monitoring agents representing correlativity among the groups correlated by said correlation for each of said correlations.

12. The monitoring system according to claim 11,

wherein said monitoring agent have performance information storage devices which respectively store the performance information for each group obtained from the monitoring agents of the group, and

said monitoring manager calculates correlativity of performance information of the objects to be monitored included in the groups correlated by said correlation in accordance with a predetermined schedule, and stores a calculated correlativity result as obtained in said degree of correlation.

13. The monitoring system according to claim 12, wherein, when the calculated correlativity result satisfies a predetermined condition, said correlated groups are combined to one group.

14. A monitoring method in a monitoring system which comprises a plurality of information processing apparatuses and a monitoring apparatus, comprising:

storing each monitoring agent of a plurality of monitoring agents in a corresponding information processing apparatus of the plurality of information processing apparatuses, the corresponding monitoring agent being stored in each information processing apparatus being implemented for monitoring said corresponding information processing apparatus as an object to be monitored at a predetermined monitoring interval;

implementing a monitoring manager in the monitoring apparatus for controlling said plurality of monitoring agents;

dividing by the monitoring manager the plurality of monitoring agents into groups of monitoring agents for a single service system, each group corresponding to a respective application and including the corresponding monitoring agent of each information processing apparatus in which the respective application for the group operates in operation of the single service system;

further dividing by the monitoring manager th monitoring agents of each group into a plurality of parties;

obtaining, by the monitoring manager, performance information for each group from the monitoring agents of the group;

analyzing, by the monitoring manager, the performance information to calculate a respective degree of correlation for each set of two groups of the groups of monitoring agents;

for each set of two groups for which the degree of correlation is greater than or equal to a first threshold, transmitting, by the monitoring manager, event information received from either group of the two groups to the other group of the two groups;

for each set of two groups for which the degree of correlation is greater than or equal to a second threshold, combining, by the monitoring manager, the set of two groups into a single group;

setting by the monitoring manager each monitoring agent of a first set of a first group of monitoring agents that includes the monitoring agents belonging to a first party of the plurality of parties to monitor the corresponding information processing apparatus for the monitoring agent at a first monitoring interval that is shorter than a second monitoring interval; and

setting by the monitoring manager each monitoring agent of a second set of the first group of monitoring agents that includes the monitoring agents belonging to a second party of the plurality of parties to monitor the corresponding information processing apparatus for the monitoring agent at a first monitoring interval that is shorter than a second monitoring interval.

15. The monitoring method according to claim 14,

wherein each monitoring agents of the first set of monitoring agents monitors the corresponding information processing apparatus at the first interval to acquire information, determines whether information acquired at the second interval satisfies a predetermined condition, and notifies an event to said monitoring manager program when it the predetermined condition is satisfied, and

said monitoring manager analyzes contents of the event, calculates a number of the monitoring agents included in said respective parties and said first interval and said second interval of the monitoring agents in the respective parties, and instructs said monitoring agents to change the monitoring interval as a result of the calculation.

16. The monitoring method according to claim 14, wherein configuration information of each of said information processing apparatuses is acquired from a configuration information storage device, said configuration information is evaluated in accordance with a predetermined evaluation condition, and the monitoring agents corresponding to the information processing apparatuses whose evaluation results match with each other or fall within a predetermined range are combined into one group.

17. The monitoring method according to claim 16, wherein groups are created using a condition for evaluating identity of specification information of the information processing apparatuses as said performance evaluation condition.