Network management apparatus and method

• US 8,595,339 B2
• Filed: 11/04/2005
• Issued: 11/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/05/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Son, Kyoung-ho
• Primary Examiner(s): BEHARRY, NOEL R
• Application Number:
  US11/266,571
• Publication Number:
  US 20060101138A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,944 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/00 Arrangements for maintenance, administration or management of data switching networks, e.g. of packet switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/40 using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities

Abstract

A network management apparatus and method are provided to easily manage devices that are dynamically added to a network and yet maintain an existing network management structure. The network management apparatus includes a device connection management unit which determines whether to extend a predetermined management information base (MIB) according to an object identifier (OID) of a device connected to a network, and a virtual MIB connection unit which creates an object ‘virtual’ in the predetermined MIB according to the determination results provided by the device connection management unit, creates a virtual object for the device under the object ‘virtual’, assigns a serial number to the virtual object for the device according to a time in which the device has been connected to the network, and redefines the OID of the device according to the serial number.

Claims

1. A network management apparatus comprising:

a hardware processor;

a device connection management unit, under control of the processor, which receives an object identifier (OID) of a device connected to a network, the OID of the device having an OID root value, and determines whether to extend a predetermined management information base (MIB) according to whether the OID root value of the received OID is the same as a predetermined value; and

a virtual MIB connection unit which, if the device connection management unit determines that the predetermined MIB is to be extended, creates an object in the predetermined MIB, creates a virtual object for the device under the object in the predetermined MIB, assigns a serial number to the virtual object for the device according to a time in which the device has been connected to the network, replaces the OID root value of the received OID of the device with the serial number and redefines the OID of the device according to the serial number, to thereby extend the predetermined MIB.

2. The network management apparatus of claim 1, wherein the device connection management unit determines whether to extend the predetermined MIB according to an Internet Protocol (IP) address included in the OID of the device.

3. The network management apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:

an MIB extraction unit which extracts an MIB of the device according to the determination results provided by the device connection management unit;

an MIB interpretation unit which determines whether the MIB of the device is valid; and

an MIB information management unit which manages the MIB extended by the virtual MIB connection unit.

4. A network management apparatus comprising:

a hardware processor;

a management information base (MIB) management unit, under control of the processor, which creates an MIB for a device to be managed and defines an object identifier (OID) for the MIB; and

a control unit which transmits the OID to a network manager device for managing a network if the control unit determines that the device to be managed has been connected to the network,

wherein the management information base (MIB) management unit sets an OID root value of the object identifier (OID) to be the same as a predefined value set in the network manager device if the network manager device can extend a predetermined management information base (MIB) according to the OID root value, and

wherein the control unit adds an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the device to the OID root value and transmits the OID having the added IP address of the device to the network manager if the network manager cannot extend the predetermined MIB according to the OID root value.

5. A network management method comprising:

receiving an object identifier (OID) for a management information base (MIB) of a device connected to a network, the OID having an OID root value;

determining whether to extend a predetermined management information base (MIB) according to whether the OID root value of the received OID is the same as a predetermined value;

if it is determined that the predetermined MIB is to be extended, creating an object in the predetermined MIB, creating a virtual object for the device under the object in the predetermined MIB, and assigning a serial number to the virtual object for the device according to a time in which the device has been connected to a network; and

replacing the OID root value of the received OID of the device with the serial number and redefining the OID of the device according to the serial number.

6. The network management method of claim 5, wherein the determining comprises determining whether to extend the predetermined MIB according to an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the device included in the OID of the device.

7. The network management method of claim 5, further comprising:

extracting an MIB of the device according to the result of the determining; and

determining whether the MIB of the device is valid.

8. A network management method comprising:

creating a management information base (MIB) for a device to be managed and defining an object identifier (OID) for the MIB; and

transmitting the OID to a network manager device for managing a network if it is determined that the device to be managed has been connected to the network,

wherein the defining of the object identifier (OID) includes setting an OID root value of the OID to be the same as a predefined value set in the network manager device if the network manager device can extend a predetermined management information base (MIB) according to the OID root value, and

wherein the transmitting the OID includes adding an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the device to the OID root value, and transmitting the OID having the added IP address of the device to the network manager if the network manager cannot extend the predetermined MIB according to the OID root value.