Method, system, and program for managing devices in a network

• US 20040167975A1
• Filed: 02/20/2003
• Published: 08/26/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 02/20/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hwang, Hai-Yann, Wang, Xin, Zhou, Cindy, Schaefer, Thorsten, Bonilla, Sergio P., Jancke, Karsten
• Granted Patent: US 7,386,609 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0213 Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]

Abstract

Provided are a method, system, and program for managing devices in a network. A command of a first type to perform device management operations with respect to at least one device in the network is received, wherein the received command is capable of being directed to at least one of a plurality of devices in the network. A determination is made from a first mapping of a network address of the device to which the received command is directed. A determination is made from a second mapping of at least one command of a second type associated with the received command of the first type, wherein the mapping indicates a mapping of at least one parameter included in the received command of the first type to at least one parameter in the associated command of the second type. The determined command of the second type is generated to include as parameters the at least one parameter from the command of the first type indicated in the second mapping and the generated command of the second type is transmitted to the determined network address.

Claims

1. An article of manufacture for managing devices in a network, wherein the article of manufacture causes operations to be performed, the operations comprising:

receiving a command of a first type to perform device management operations with respect to at least one device in the network, wherein the received command is capable of being directed to at least one of a plurality of devices in the network;

determining from a first mapping a network address of the device to which the received command is directed;

determining from a second mapping at least one command of a second type associated with the received command of the first type, wherein the mapping indicates a mapping of at least one parameter included in the received command of the first type to at least one parameter in the associated command of the second type;

generating the determined command of the second type to include as parameters the at least one parameter from the command of the first type indicated in the second mapping; and

transmitting the generated command of the second type to the determined network address.

2. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein the first type of command comprises a device independent command and wherein the second type of command comprises a device dependent command.

3. The article of manufacture of claim 2, wherein the device independent command comprises a command that is part of an object oriented management schema for managing non-homogeneous devices in a network environment.

4. The article of manufacture of claim 3, wherein the management schema comprises the Common Information Model (CIM).

5. The article of manufacture of claim 2, further comprising:

determining whether a post-processing operation is associated with the determined device specific command;

performing the post-processing operation on output returned in response to executing the generated device specific command to generate transformed output if such post-processing operation is associated; and

returning the transformed output to an initiator of the received device specific command.

6. The article of manufacture of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving output related to the transmitted device specific command, wherein the transmitted device specific command comprises a previously executed command;

determining whether the second mapping indicates an additional device specific command associated with the received device independent command that follows the previously executed command; and

generating the additional device specific command to the determined network address if the second mapping indicates the additional device specific command.

7. The article of manufacture of claim 6, further comprising:

transmitting the generated additional device specific command to the determined network address if the second mapping indicates the additional device specific command; and

returning the output to an initiator of the received device independent command if the second mapping does not indicate one additional device specific command following the previously executed command whose execution generated the received output.

8. The article of manufacture of claim 6, further comprising:

processing the output related to the previously executed command to determine whether to execute an additional device specific command, wherein the steps of determining whether the second mapping indicates the additional device specific command and generating the additional device specific command are only performed if the determination is made to execute the additional device specific command in response to processing the output.

9. The article of manufacture of claim 6, wherein generating the additional device specific command further comprises:

determining from the second mapping a mapping of the received output to at least one parameter of the additional device specific command, wherein at least one parameter included in the generated additional device specific command includes the received output that maps to the at least one parameter of the previously executed command.

10. The article of manufacture of claim 7, wherein the output includes output parameters, and wherein the second mapping is capable of indicating that at least one of the output parameters maps to at least one of the parameters of the additional device specific command.

11. The article of manufacture of claim 9, wherein the second mapping further indicates data not included in the received output that maps to at least one parameter of the generated additional device specific command.

12. The article of manufacture of claim 11, wherein the data not included in the received output that is capable of mapping to the at least one parameter of the generated additional device specific command comprises at least one parameter of the received device independent command.

13. The article of manufacture of claim 9, further comprising:

determining whether a post-processing operation is associated with the previously executed command; and

performing the post-processing operation on output returned in response to executing the previously executed command to generate transformed output if such post-processing operation is associated, wherein at least one parameter in the generated additional device specific command that includes output includes transformed output.

14. The article of manufacture of claim 2, wherein the second mapping is capable of mapping one device independent command to different device specific commands, wherein a value of the parameters in the received device independent command determines the at least one associated device dependent command.

15. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein determining from the first mapping the network address comprises determining a plurality of network addresses to which the received command is directed, and wherein transmitting the generated command of the second type comprises transmitting the generated command to the determined plurality of network addresses.

16. A system for managing devices in a network, comprising:

at least one network device;

a program executed to perform operations comprising;

(i) receiving a command of a first type to perform device management operations with respect to at least one device in the network, wherein the received command is capable of being directed to at least one of a plurality of devices in the network;

(ii) determining from a first mapping a network address of the device to which the received command is directed;

(iii) determining from a second mapping at least one command of a second type associated with the received command of the first type, wherein the mapping indicates a mapping of at least one parameter included in the received command of the first type to at least one parameter in the associated command of the second type;

(iv) generating the determined command of the second type to include as parameters the at least one parameter from the command of the first type indicated in the second mapping; and

(v) transmitting the generated command of the second type to the determined network address.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the first type of command comprises a device independent command and wherein the second type of command comprises a device dependent command.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the device independent command comprises a command that is part of an object oriented management schema for managing non-homogeneous devices in a network environment.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the management schema comprises the Common Information Model (CIM).

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the program is executed to further perform:

determining whether a post-processing operation is associated with the determined device specific command;

performing the post-processing operation on output returned in response to executing the generated device specific command to generate transformed output if such post-processing operation is associated; and

returning the transformed output to an initiator of the received device specific command.

21. The system of claim 17, wherein the program is executed to further perform:

receiving output related to the transmitted device specific command, wherein the transmitted device specific command comprises a previously executed command;

determining whether the second mapping indicates an additional device specific command associated with the received device independent command that follows the previously executed command; and

generating the additional device specific command to the determined network address if the second mapping indicates the additional device specific command.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the program is executed to further perform:

transmitting the generated additional device specific command to the determined network address if the second mapping indicates the additional device specific command; and

returning the output to an initiator of the received device independent command if the second mapping does not indicate one additional device specific command following the previously executed command whose execution generated the received output.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein the program is executed to further perform:

processing the output related to the previously executed command to determine whether to execute an additional device specific command, wherein the steps of determining whether the second mapping indicates the additional device specific command and generating the additional device specific command are only performed if the determination is made to execute the additional device specific command in response to processing the output.

24. The system of claim 21, wherein generating the additional device specific command further comprises:

determining from the second mapping a mapping of the received output to at least one parameter of the additional device specific command, wherein at least one parameter included in the generated additional device specific command includes the received output that maps to the at least one parameter of the previously executed command.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the output includes output parameters, and wherein the second mapping is capable of indicating that at least one of the output parameters maps to at least one of the parameters of the additional device specific command.

26. The system of claim 24, wherein the second mapping further indicates data not included in the received output that maps to at least one parameter of the generated additional device specific command.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the data not included in the received output that is capable of mapping to the at least one parameter of the generated additional device specific command comprises at least one parameter of the received device independent command.

28. The system of claim 24, wherein the program is executed to further perform:

determining whether a post-processing operation is associated with the previously executed command; and

performing the post-processing operation on output returned in response to executing the previously executed command to generate transformed output if such post-processing operation is associated, wherein at least one parameter in the generated additional device specific command that includes output includes transformed output.

29. The system of claim 17, wherein the second mapping is capable of mapping one device independent command to different device specific commands, wherein a value of the parameters in the received device independent command determines the at least one associated device dependent command.

30. The system of claim 16, wherein determining from the first mapping the network address comprises determining a plurality of network addresses to which the received command is directed, and wherein transmitting the generated command of the second type comprises transmitting the generated command to the determined plurality of network addresses.

31. The system of claim 16, further comprising:

a system capable of communicating with the network device over the network, wherein the program is implemented within the additional system.

32. The method of claim 16, wherein the program is implemented within the network device to which the received command is directed.

33. A method for managing devices in a network, comprising:

receiving a command of a first type to perform device management operations with respect to at least one device in the network, wherein the received command is capable of being directed to at least one of a plurality of devices in the network;

determining from a first mapping a network address of the device to which the received command is directed;

determining from a second mapping at least one command of a second type associated with the received command of the first type, wherein the mapping indicates a mapping of at least one parameter included in the received command of the first type to at least one parameter in the associated command of the second type;

generating the determined command of the second type to include as parameters the at least one parameter from the command of the first type indicated in the second mapping; and

transmitting the generated command of the second type to the determined network address.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the first type of command comprises a device independent command and wherein the second type of command comprises a device dependent command.

35. The method of claim 34, further comprising:

receiving output related to the transmitted device specific command, wherein the transmitted device specific command comprises a previously executed command;

determining whether the second mapping indicates an additional device specific command associated with the received device independent command that follows the previously executed command; and

generating the additional device specific command to the determined network address if the second mapping indicates the additional device specific command.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein generating the additional device specific command further comprises:

determining from the second mapping a mapping of the received output to at least one parameter of the additional device specific command, wherein at least one parameter included in the generated additional device specific command includes the received output that maps to the at least one parameter of the previously executed command.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein the output includes output parameters, and wherein the second mapping is capable of indicating that at least one of the output parameters maps to at least one of the parameters of the additional device specific command.

38. The method of claim 36, wherein the second mapping further indicates data not included in the received output that maps to at least one parameter of the generated additional device specific command.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein the data not included in the received output that is capable of mapping to the at least one parameter of the generated additional device specific command comprises at least one parameter of the received device independent command.

40. The method of claim 36, further comprising:

determining whether a post-processing operation is associated with the previously executed command; and

performing the post-processing operation on output returned in response to executing the previously executed command to generate transformed output if such post-processing operation is associated, wherein at least one parameter in the generated additional device specific command that includes output includes transformed output.

41. The method of claim 34, wherein the second mapping is capable of mapping one device independent command to different device specific commands, wherein a value of the parameters in the received device independent command determines the at least one associated device dependent command.