System and method for recording and monitoring user interactions with a server

• US 9,286,026 B2
• Filed: 02/20/2012
• Issued: 03/15/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/08/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ATEN International Company Limited
• Original Assignee: ATEN International Company Limited
• Inventors: Liu, Yi-Li, Huang, Shih-yuan, Hsieh, Chih-tao
• Primary Examiner(s): Huq, Farzana
• Application Number:
  US13/400,560
• Publication Number:
  US 20130054794A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,485 Days
• Field of Search: 709/224, 709/201, 709/210, 709218-219, 345156-172
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/023 Arrangements for converting discrete items of information into a coded form, e.g. arrangements for interpreting keyboard generated codes as alphanumeric codes, operand codes or instruction codes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1438 using more than one graphics controller
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/24 Keyboard-Video-Mouse [KVM] switch
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0823 using certificates cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving certificates H04L9/3263
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/08 specially adapted for terminal emulation, e.g. Telnet
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/24 Negotiation of communication capabilities

Abstract

A system includes multiple KVM switches, multiple user consoles and a recording system connected via a network. Each KVM switch facilitates interactions between user consoles and selected servers connected its server ports. The KVM switch transmits keyboard, mouse and video data exchanged between user consoles and servers, and administrative data, to the recording system. The recording system records the keyboard, mouse, video and administrative data, and detects trigger events based on such data. Trigger events include predefined keywords, mouse operations, video images, user IDs and server IDs, or combinations thereof. When a trigger event is detected, the recording system automatically transmits monitoring information to an administrative console via the network. The monitoring information may include combined video data containing information about keyboard and mouse actions superimposed on desktop images. The administrative console may also request specific recorded data for review. The recording system may employ a master-slave configuration.

Claims

1. A system for recording and monitoring user interactions with a server, comprising:

at least one keyboard, video, mouse (KVM) switch connected to a network, the KVM switch including;

a network interface section for communicating data over the network;

a switching section coupled to the network interface section; and

a plurality of server ports coupled to the switching section each adapted for connecting to a server, wherein the switching section forwards data between the network interface section and selected ones of the server ports;

a recording system connected to the network;

wherein the KVM switch receives, via the network, keyboard data and mouse data from a user console connected to the network, forwards the keyboard data and mouse data to a selected server port, receives video data representative of desktop images from the selected server port, and processes the video data and transmits it via the network to the user console;

wherein the KVM switch further transmits the keyboard data and mouse data received from the user console and the video data received from the selected server port to the recording system via the network;

wherein the recording system records the keyboard data, mouse data and video data received from the KVM switch to generate a record of a login session between the user console and a server connected to the selected server port, detects predefined trigger events based on at least one of the received keyboard data, mouse data and video data, wherein the trigger events are detected by comparing the received keyboard data, mouse data and video data with pre-stored trigger events in an editable database, and wherein when a trigger event is detected, the recording system automatically transmits monitoring information to an administrative console which is different from the user console, via the network without passing through the KVM switch,

wherein the recording system includes a master recording server and one or more slave recording servers connected to each other, wherein the master recording server dynamically assigns one slave recording server to record data from the KVM switch by transmitting a session ID to the assigned slave recording server and the KVM switch, and

wherein the assigned slave recording server and the KVM switch use the session ID to authenticate each other via the network, and thereafter, without further participation of the master recording server, the KVM switch transmits the keyboard data, mouse data and video data to the assigned slave recording server and the assigned slave recording server records the keyboard data, mouse data and video data.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the trigger events include one or more of predefined keywords contained in the keyboard data, predefined mouse operations contained in the mouse data, and predefined images contained in the video data, or combinations thereof.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the KVM switch further transmits administrative data to the recording system, the administrative data including a user ID of the user and an ID of a server connected to the selected server port.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the trigger events include one or more of predefined keywords contained in the keyboard data, predefined mouse operations contained in the mouse data, predefined images contained in the video data, predefined user IDs contained in the administrative data, and predefined server IDs contained in the administrative data, or combinations thereof.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the recording system records the keyboard data, mouse data, and video data by generating video images representing the keyboard data and mouse data and combining the generated video images with the video data received from the KVM switch to generate combined video data which represents both the desktop image and the keyboard and mouse data.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the monitoring information includes the combined video data for display on a monitor of the administrative console.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the monitoring information includes a textual message for display on a monitor of the administrative console.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the assigned slave recording server further detects trigger events based on at least one of the received keyboard data, mouse data and video data, and wherein when a trigger event is detected, the slave recording server notifies the master recording server of the detection,

wherein in response to the notification, the master recording server transmits a second session ID to the assigned slave recording server and the administrative console, and

wherein the assigned slave recording server uses the second session ID to authenticate the administrative console via the network, and thereafter, without further participation of the master recording server, the assigned slave recording server transmits the monitoring information to the administrative console.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the recording system, in response to a review request from the administrative console, transmits requested recorded keyboard data, mouse data and/or video data to the administrative console via the network.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the KVM switch further transmits snapshot video data obtained from a plurality of server ports to the recording system, the snapshot video data containing video frames representing output video images of the server ports at a plurality of time points, and wherein the recording system records the snapshot video data.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the KVM switch scans the plurality of server ports which have been pre-specified to generate the snapshot video data.

12. A method implemented in a recording system for recording and monitoring user interactions with a server, comprising:

receiving, from a KVM switch over a network, keyboard data, mouse data and video data representative of interactions of a user console with a selected server connected to the KVM switch;

a master recording server of the recording system dynamically assigning one slave recording server of the recording system which is connected to the master recording server to record data from the KVM switch by transmitting a session ID to the assigned slave recording server and the KVM switch, and

the assigned slave recording server using the session ID to authenticate the KVM switch via the network; and

recording the keyboard data, mouse data and video data received from the KVM switch to generate a record of a login session between the user console and the selected server;

detecting trigger events based on at least one of the received keyboard data, mouse data and video data, wherein the trigger events are detected by comparing the received keyboard data, mouse data and video data with pre-stored trigger events in an editable database;

when a trigger event is detected, automatically transmitting monitoring information to an administrative console which is different from the user console, via the network without passing through the KVM switch,

wherein the receiving step, the recording step, and the detecting step are performed by the assigned slave recording server without further participation of the master recording server.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the trigger events include one or more of predefined keywords contained in the keyboard data, predefined mouse operations contained in the mouse data, and predefined images contained in the video data, or combinations thereof.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the receiving step further receives administrative data including a user ID of a user of the user console and an ID of the selected server.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the trigger events include one or more of predefined keywords contained in the keyboard data, predefined mouse operations contained in the mouse data, predefined images contained in the video data, predefined user IDs contained in the administrative data, and predefined server IDs contained in the administrative data, or combinations thereof.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the recording step records the keyboard data, mouse data, and video data by generating video images representing the keyboard data and mouse data and combining the generated video images with the video data received from the KVM switch to generate combined video data which represents both the desktop image and the keyboard and mouse data.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the monitoring information includes the combined video data for display on a monitor of the administrative console.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the monitoring information includes a textual message for display on a monitor of the administrative console.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein the automatically transmitting step comprises:

when a trigger event is detected, the slave recording server notifying the master recording server of the detection;

in response to the notification, the master recording server transmitting a second session ID to the assigned slave recording server and the administrative console;

the assigned slave recording server using the second session ID to authenticate the administrative console via the network; and

the assigned slave recording server transmitting the monitoring information to the administrative console without further participation of the master recording server.

20. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

in response to a review request from the administrative console, transmitting requested recorded keyboard data, mouse data and/or video data to the administrative console via the network.

21. The method of claim 12, wherein the receiving step further includes snapshot video data from the KVM switch, the snapshot video data containing video frames representing output video images of a plurality of server ports of the KVM switch at a plurality of time points, and

wherein the recording step further includes recording the snapshot video data.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

transmitting an instruction to the KVM switch to specify the plurality of server ports for which the snapshots video data are to be obtained.