Network management system and network management information collecting method

• US 7,966,392 B2
• Filed: 07/28/2006
• Issued: 06/21/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cyber Solutions, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Cyber Solutions, Inc.
• Inventors: Keeni, Glenn Mansfield
• Primary Examiner(s): EL CHANTI, HUSSEIN A
• Application Number:
  US11/997,191
• Publication Number:
  US 20100049781A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,789 Days
• Field of Search: 709223-225
• 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 41/046 comprising network management agents or mobile agents therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/06 using polling
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/30 Connection release

Abstract

This invention aims to provide a technique that, in wireless network environments, enables the Manager to collect network management information (MIB data in the case of SNMP based network management), which the Agent has stored during periods of disconnection, after connectivity to the mobile nodes has recovered. In a wireless network environment, the Agent (201) has a unit for storing the management information related to network devices with appropriate label information, while the Manager (101) has a unit for sending the Agent a request for a label-specified data, and getting the data which the Agent has stored in Management Information Store 207. The above unit enables the Manager (101) to seamlessly collect the information pertaining to the period of disconnection, which the Agent (201) has stored in Management Information Store 207, after detecting recovery of the connectivity.

Claims

1. A method for seamlessly collecting information from a mobile node in wireless network environment, in which a Manager gets the information related to network devices by polling Agents comprising:

seamlessly collecting the information, which the Agent has stored during the period of the disconnection between the Manager and the Agent, by sending the Agent a request for a label-specified data pertaining to the period of the disconnection when detecting recovery of the connectivity after the connectivity between the Manager and the Agent is lost, and judging the reboot status of the Agent when detecting discontinuous data in the information collected from the Agent; and

seamlessly collecting the information at a minimum time lag, when a time lag between the Manager and the Agent occurs, by continuing to resend requests for the label-specified data at pre-configured intervals Tn upon the Manager receiving a response of “

no data”

.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising in the Agent the steps of:

sampling the relevant probes for management information at pre-configured time intervals P′

, appending appropriate label information to the sampled management information, and storing the labeled sampled information in a Management Information Store M2;

looking up the Management Information Store M2 for the label-specified data when the Agent receives a request from the Manager to deliver the label-specified data, and returning the data to the Manager; and

returning the message “

no data”

to the Manager, upon the label-specified data not being found in the Management Information Store M2.

3. The method according to claim 1, the Manager further comprises the steps of:

sending the Agent a request for a label-specified data at pre-configured Polling-intervals P and receiving either “

requested data”

or “

no data”

from the Agent in response;

detecting “

Timeout”

upon the Manager not receiving any response from the Agent within a pre-configured Timeout-period T0;

storing “

requested data”

in a Network Information Store M1 upon the Manager receiving “

requested data”

;

resending the request for the label-specified data at pre-configured Next-intervals Tn, till the Manager receives the data or the number of resends exceeds N (N is an integer greater than or equal to

     0) which is configured in advance upon the Manager receiving a response of “

no data”

; and

continuing to send requests for the label-specified data at pre-configured Next-intervals Tn, till it receives the data or the number of resends exceeds N (N is an integer greater than or equal to

     0) which is configured in advance, upon the Manager detecting “

Timeout”

.

4. A Network Management System, comprising:

microprocessors programmed to perform as;

a Manager which gets the information related to network devices by polling Agents in wireless network environment by sending the Agent a request for a label-specified data at pre-configured Polling-intervals P and receiving the data pertaining the label-specified data from the Agent; and

an Agent which samples the relevant probes for management information at pre-configured time intervals P′

, appends appropriate label information to the sampled management information, and stores the labeled sampled information in a Management Information Store,

wherein the Manager comprises

seamlessly collecting the information, which the Agent has stored during the period of the disconnection between the Manager and the Agent, by sending the Agent a request for a label-specified data pertaining to the period of the disconnection when detecting recovery of the connectivity after the connectivity between the Manager and the Agent is lost, and judging the reboot status of the Agent when detecting discontinuous data in the information collected from the Agent; and

seamlessly collecting the information at a minimum time lag, when a time lag between the Manager and the Agent occurs, by continuing to resend requests for the label-specified data at pre-configured intervals Tn upon the Manager receiving a response of “

no data”

.

5. The System according to claim 4, the Agent further comprises:

sampling the relevant probes for management information at pre-configured time intervals P′

, appending appropriate label information to the sampled management information, and storing the labeled sampled information in a Management Information Store M2;

looking up the Management Information Store M2 for the label-specified data when the Agent receives a request from the Manager to deliver the label-specified data, and returning the data to the Manager; and

returning the message “

no data”

to the Manager, upon the label-specified data not being found in the Management Information Store M2.

6. The System according to claim 4, the Manager further comprises:

sending the Agent a request for a label-specified data at pre-configured Polling-intervals P and receiving either “

requested data”

or “

no data”

from the Agent in response;

detecting “

Timeout”

upon the Manager not receiving any response from the Agent within a pre-configured Timeout-period T0;

storing “

requested data”

in a Network Information Store M1 upon the Manager receiving “

requested data”

;

resending the request for the label-specified data at pre-configured Next-intervals Tn, till the Manager receives the data or the number of resends exceeds N (N is an integer greater than or equal to

     0) which is configured in advance upon the Manager receiving a response of “

no data”

; and

continuing to send requests for the label-specified data at pre-configured Next-intervals Tn, till it receives the data or the number of resends exceeds N (N is an integer greater than or equal to

     0) which is configured in advance, upon the Manager detecting “

Timeout”

.

7. A SNMP Network Management System, comprising:

microprocessors programmed to perform as;

a SNMP Manager which gets the information related to network devices by polling SNMP Agents in wireless network environment by sending the SNMP Agent a request for a label-specified data at pre-configured Polling-intervals P and receiving the data pertaining the label-specified data from the SNMP Agent; and

a SNMP Agent which samples the relevant probes for management information at pre-configured time intervals P′

, appends appropriate label information to the sampled management information, and stores the labeled sampled information in a Management Information Store,

wherein the SNMP Manager comprises

seamlessly collecting the information, which the SNMP Agent has stored during the period of the disconnection between the SNMP Manager and the SNMP Agent, by sending the SNMP Agent a request for a label-specified data pertaining to the period of the disconnection when detecting recovery of the connectivity after the connectivity between the SNMP Manager and the SNMP Agent is lost, and judging the reboot status of the SNMP Agent when detecting discontinuous data in the information collected from the SNMP Agent; and

seamlessly collecting the information at a minimum time lag, when a time lag between the SNMP Manager and the SNMP Agent occurs, by continuing to resend requests for the label-specified data at pre-configured intervals Tn upon the SNMP Manager receiving a response of “

no data”

.

8. The System according to claim 7, the SNMP Agent further comprises:

sampling the relevant probes for management information at pre-configured time intervals P′

, appending appropriate label information to the sampled management information, and storing the labeled sampled information in a Management Information Store M2;

looking up the Management Information Store M2 for the label-specified data when the SNMP Agent receives a request from the SNMP Manager to deliver the label-specified data, and returning the data to the SNMP Manager; and

returning the message “

no data”

to the SNMP Manager, upon the label-specified data not being found in the Management Information Store M2.

9. The System according to claim 7, the SNMP Manager further comprises:

sending the SNMP Agent a request for a label-specified data at pre-configured Polling-intervals P and receiving either “

requested data”

or “

no data”

from the SNMP Agent in response;

detecting “

Timeout”

upon the SNMP Manager not receiving any response from the SNMP Agent within a pre-configured Timeout-period T0;

storing “

requested data”

in a Network Information Store M1 upon the Manager receiving “

requested data”

;

resending the request for the label-specified data at pre-configured Next-intervals Tn, till the SNMP Manager receives the data or the number of resends exceeds N (N is an integer greater than or equal to

     0) which is configured in advance upon the SNMP Manager receiving a response of “

no data”

; and

continuing to send requests for the label-specified data at pre-configured Next-intervals Tn, till it receives the data or the number of resends exceeds N (N is an integer greater than or equal to

     0) which is configured in advance, upon the SNMP Manager detecting “

Timeout”

.