System and method for optimized event monitoring in a management environment

• US 9,544,214 B2
• Filed: 08/02/2011
• Issued: 01/10/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/02/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Chakravarthy, Sridhar, Ganesan, Vaideeswaran
• Primary Examiner(s): Phung, Luat
• Assistant Examiner(s): Waqas, Saad A
• Application Number:
  US13/196,629
• Publication Number:
  US 20130036216A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,988 Days
• Field of Search: 709/224
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0709 in a distributed system consisting of a plurality of standalone computer nodes, e.g. clusters, client-server systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0751 Error or fault detection not based on redundancy power supply failures G06F1/30; network fault management H04L41/06
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3006 where the computing system is distributed, e.g. networked systems, clusters, multiprocessor systems multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46; allocation of resources G06F9/50
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3072 where the reporting involves data filtering, e.g. pattern matching, time or event triggered, adaptive or policy-based reporting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3093 Configuration details thereof, e.g. installation, enabling, spatial arrangement of the probes
• 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: H04L 41/069 using logs of notifications; Post-processing of notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route

Abstract

In accordance with the present disclosure, a system and method for optimizing event monitoring in a management environment is disclosed. The system may include a management system, an agent system, an intermediate management module and an event generation engine. The intermediate management module may create a device object in the management system corresponding to the agent system. The event generation engine may convert a transmission from the agent system into a pre-determined event structure and inject the event structure into the device object. The intermediate management module may then generate an alert in response to the injection of the event structure.

Claims

1. A method for optimizing event monitoring in a management environment, comprising:

discovering an agent system using an intermediate management module, wherein the agent system comprises a device that is monitored, wherein the intermediate management module polls each system connected to the intermediate management module to discover the agent system, and wherein the agent system comprises one or more pre-defined condition triggers, and wherein each agent system communicates to the intermediate management module through a separate communications channel, wherein the communications channel comprises a network;

generating by the intermediate management module in a management system a device object corresponding to the agent system, wherein the intermediate management module operates independently from the management system and the agent system;

sending by the intermediate management module the device object and a command to the management system via the separate communications channel;

storing the device object in a storage medium located in the management system;

converting an agent system transmission into an event with a pre-determined structure using an event generation engine, wherein the agent system transmission comprises an SNMP trap, wherein the pre-determined structure comprises an SCOM event structure, and wherein the converting comprises;

receiving an agent system alert from the agent system at the event generation engine;

parsing the agent system alert by the event generation engine, wherein the parsing comprises identifying the agent system and a cause of the agent system alert; and

populating the pre-determined data structure based, at least in part, on information parsed from the alert;

injecting the event into the device object over the separate communications channel, wherein injecting the event comprises using an InsertCustomMonitoringEvent command from an SCOM software development kit (SDK) over the separate communications channel;

creating, using the intermediate management module, an alert in response to the event in the device object, wherein the alert comprises an SCOM alert, wherein at least one of the pre-defined condition triggers in the agent system corresponds to the SCOM alert; and

transmitting the alert to the management system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the device object comprises a unique identifier of the agent system.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the event generation engine is comprised of an offload engine and an event generator.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the event generation engine includes a cache which stores at least one previously generated event and the time at which the at least one previously generated event was generated.

5. A system for optimized event monitoring in a management environment, comprising:

a management system;

an agent system, wherein the agent system comprises a device that is monitored;

an intermediate management module, wherein the intermediate management module creates a device object in the management system corresponding to the agent system, wherein the intermediate management module polls each systems connected to the intermediate management module to discover the agent system, wherein the intermediate management module operates independently from the management system and the agent system;

a communications channel, wherein each agent system communicates to the intermediate management module via a separate communications channel, wherein the communications channel comprises a network, wherein the intermediate management module sends the device object and a command to the management system via the separate communications channel;

one or more pre-defined condition triggers of the agent system;

a command, wherein the intermediate management module sends the command and the device object to the management system;

a storage medium located in the management system, wherein the device object is stored in the storage medium;

an event generation engine, wherein the event generation engine converts an agent system transmission into an event with a pre-determined event structure, wherein the agent system transmission comprises an SNMP trap, wherein the pre-determined event structure comprises an SCOM event structure, wherein the event generation engine injects the event into the device object using the InsertCustomMonitoringEvent command from an SCOM software development kit (SDK) over the separate communications channel, wherein the agent system transmission comprises an agent system alert from the agent system, wherein the agent system alert comprises information including, but not limited to, the agent system and a cause of the agent system alert, and wherein the pre-determined event structure comprises the information; and

wherein the intermediate management module generates an SCOM alert in response to the injection of the event in the device object, wherein at least one of the pre-defined condition triggers in the agent system corresponds to the SCOM alert, and wherein the alert is transmitted to the management system.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the device object comprises a unique identifier of the agent system.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the event generation engine is comprised of an offload engine and an event generator.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein the event generation engine include a cache which stores at least one previously generated event and the time at which the at least one previously generated event was generated.

9. A method for optimizing event monitoring in a management environment, comprising:

discovering an agent system using an intermediate management module, wherein the agent system comprises a device that is monitored, wherein the intermediate management module polls each system connected to the intermediate management module to discover the agent system;

generating by the intermediate management module in a management system a device object corresponding to the agent system, wherein the intermediate management module operates independently from the management system and the agent system, and wherein the agent system comprises one or more pre-defined condition triggers;

sending by the intermediate management module the device object and a command to the management system via a separate communications channel, wherein the communications channel comprises a network;

storing the device object in a storage medium located in the management system;

receiving at an event generation engine an SNMP trap from the agent system;

converting the SNMP trap into an event with an SCOM event structure using the event generation engine, wherein the converting comprises;

receiving an agent system alert from the agent system at the event generation engine;

parsing the agent system alert by the event generation engine, wherein the parsing comprises identifying the agent system and a cause of the agent system alert; and

populating the pre-determined data structure based, at least in part, on information parsed from the alert;

injecting the event into the device object using a InsertCustomMonitoringEvent command from an SCOM software development kit (SDK) over the separate communications channel;

creating, using the intermediate management module, a SCOM alert in response to the event in the device object, wherein at least one of the pre-defined condition triggers in the agent system corresponds to the SCOM alert; and

transmitting the alert to the management system.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the event generation engine include a cache which stores at least one previously generated event and the time at which the at least one previously generated event was generated.