JPH0480852A - Electronic computer network system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the data processing efficiency by composing various messages into a frame form of a 1st or 2nd protocol in response to the event produced by an operation control means which performs the operation control of data processing in its own device. CONSTITUTION:In an electronic computer network system, the communication is attained between the electronic computers by means of a Q protocol frame used for inquiries and an A protocol frame used for the answers to the inquiries and the information. Furthermore both frames have variable lengths and therefore the messages of any type of contents can be composed into a Q or A protocol frame in response to various events produced in an operation control system. Thus an integrated operation control system is automatically attained.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a computer network system in which a plurality of computers are connected, and in particular to a system for integrated operation and management of a plurality of computers. related to electronic computer network systems.

(Prior Art) In general, in each computer, the following ( Operational management of 1) to (5) has been carried out.

(1) Scheduling management: This is processing such as job selection and startup decisions.

(2) Resource status management: This is revision management, operation status, machine configuration monitoring, and display processing.

(3) Job execution result monitoring: This is a process of monitoring status responses such as normal termination and abnormal termination.

(4) Automatic running: This is management processing such as startup control.

(5) Operation management: This shows accounts, etc.

On the other hand, in a computer network system in which a plurality of computers 1 to 4 are connected via a communication path 5 as shown in FIG. In addition to management, integrated operational management of the entire network system is also required. However, at present, no clear processing form has been established for integrated operation management of the entire network system, and in reality, it is difficult to rely on human-based processing, that is, operator judgment and operation. There were so many.

For example, in the computer network system of FIG. 11, in an environment where a specific job can be started on the second computer 2 after a specific job is completed on the first computer I, the second computer The operator of the computer 2 must perform operations such as inquiring the first computer 1 about the job completion status, and after confirming normal completion, starting the job on the second computer 2.

Such operator operations impair the real-time nature of data processing and are a major cause of lowering the data processing efficiency of the entire computer network system.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) Conventionally, operation management could only be performed on each computer side, and integrated operation management of the entire computer network system depended on operations by an operator. For this reason, there is a drawback that it is difficult to perform efficient data processing.

This invention was made in view of the above points, and by making use of the operational management functions of individual computers, it is possible to perform integrated operational management of the entire computer network system, thereby achieving sufficient data processing efficiency. The purpose is to provide a high quality computer network system.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means and Effects for Solving the Problems) Each computer in the computer network system according to the present invention has an operation management means for managing data processing within its own device, and a means for making inquiries. communication means for transmitting and receiving variable-length first protocol frames and variable-length second protocol frames for replies or status notifications to and from other computers; and communication means for transmitting and receiving variable-length first protocol frames to and from other computers; means for assembling a message into a frame format of the first or second protocol, analyzing the content of the frame of the first or second protocol received from another computer, and transmitting the message content to the operation management means; It is characterized by comprising the following.

In this computer network system, communication between computers is realized by frames of a first protocol used for inquiries and frames of a second protocol used for replies and notifications to inquiries. In this case, since the frames of the first protocol and the frames of the second protocol each have variable lengths, the frame of the first or second protocol may be changed depending on the various events occurring by the operation management means, regardless of the content of the message. You can assemble it into a format and send it. Therefore, it becomes possible to perform integrated operational management of the entire network system while making full use of the functions of the operational management means inside the computer. Therefore, it becomes possible to eliminate judgments and operations by the operator as much as possible, and it is possible to improve integrated performance such as improving the throughput of the entire system.

(Example) Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a computer network system according to an embodiment of the present invention, and here, in the system shown in FIG. And only the configuration corresponding to the second two electronic computers 1 and 2 is shown as a representative.

The first computer 1 includes an internal processing unit 11 for performing various data processing such as job execution, an operation management system 12 for operationally managing data processing inside the computer, and other computers (here, A network operation management system 13 is provided for performing integrated operation management between the computer 2) and the computer 1. Similarly to the first computer 1, the second computer 2 also includes an internal processing unit 21 for performing various data processing such as job execution, and an operation management system 22 for operationally managing data processing inside the computer 2. , and a network operation management system 23 for performing integrated operation management between the computer 2, another computer (here, the first computer 1), and the computer 2.

Next, taking as an example a case where job 2 on the second computer 2 starts execution after waiting for the end of job 1 on the first computer 1, the first and second computers 1, 2 The contents of the communication between them will be explained.

First, the network management system 23 of the second computer 2 sends job 1 (JO) to the first computer 1.
BI) has been completed (step 1), and in response, the network management system 13 of the first computer 1 sends an affirmative response to the second computer 2 indicating that job 1 has been completed. (Step 2). Then,
The network management system 13 of the first computer 1 sends job 2 (JOB2) to the second computer 2.
In response, the network management system 23 of the second computer 2 notifies the first computer 1 that execution of job 2 (JOB2) has started (step 3). Step 4).

Here, the message used for the inquiry in step 1 is expected to receive a response similar to that in step 2, so from now on,
The message is called a frame of the Q (question) protocol. Furthermore, the message used in the answer in step 2 and the message used in the notification in steps 3 and 4 are both referred to as frames of the A (answer) protocol.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the frame structure of the Q protocol and the A protocol communicated between the computer 1 and the computer 2.

This frame includes a frame type field fl indicating whether the frame is a Q protocol frame for inquiries or an A protocol frame for answers or status notifications, and the frame to which the frame is sent, that is, the computer of the communication partner. A destination node field f2 indicating the frame, a source node field f3 indicating the source node of the frame, that is, the computer itself that transmitted the frame, and an information field f4 indicating the contents of the inquiry, reply, or notification. There is.

The information field f4 has a hierarchical structure from the first to the nth operands, and an arbitrary number of operands are used depending on the content of the information to be transmitted.

Therefore, both the Q protocol frame and the A protocol frame are variable length frames.

Next, with reference to FIG. 3, a specific frame structure of the Q protocol or A protocol corresponding to steps 1 to 4 shown in FIG. 1 will be described.

FIG. 3(A) shows job 1 (J
A frame Fl of the Q protocol for a request for confirmation of termination of OBI) is shown. Frame F of this Q protocol
1 is sent from the computer 2 to the computer 1, so the destination field f2 is set to the address "a" indicating the computer 1, and the source field f3 is set to the address "a" indicating the computer 2. b'' is set in the information field f4.In addition, information requesting job completion confirmation and information indicating that the job to be confirmed is job 1 are set in the hierarchy as the first and second operands. It is set as follows.

Similarly, in FIGS. 3(B), (C) and (D),
Frames corresponding to steps 22, 3, and 4 in FIG. 1 are shown.

As can be seen from FIG. 3, both the Q protocol frame and the A protocol frame are variable length frames, and the data length of the frame is determined by the content of the inquiry and the content of the answer or notification.

FIG. 4 shows the relationship between the inquiry contents of the Q protocol frame and the reply contents of the A protocol frame. Here, the A protocol frame F12 corresponds to the Q protocol frame Fil for confirming the completion of the specified job, the A protocol frame F14 corresponds to the Q protocol frame F13 for confirming the completion status of the specified job, and the A protocol frame F14 corresponds to the Q protocol frame F1 for confirming the completion status of the specified job. A to Q protocol frame F15
Protocol frame FlB supports and usable I10
The A protocol frame F18 corresponds to the Q protocol frame F17 for confirmation, and the A protocol frame F20 corresponds to the Q protocol frame F19 for confirming the operating status.
is compatible.

As is clear from FIG. 4, the answer to a query with narrowed conditions becomes simple, and the number of operands used in the A protocol frame decreases. On the other hand, a query with simple conditions requires a long answer that satisfies all the conditions, and the number of operands used in the A protocol frame increases.

FIG. 5 shows some further examples of the relationship between the Q protocol frame and the A protocol frame used in the computer network system shown in FIG. 1. Here, the Q protocol frame and the A protocol frame are each shown in an informal format. Also,
In Figure 5, the solid lines extending from the Q protocol frame (Q) to the A protocol frame (A) indicate that there are multiple answers to one inquiry. It shows.

For example, in the first example (1) in Figure 5, the computer that received the Q protocol frame or the job waiting to be executed is
What to answer when you are in an unexpected situation, and job 1. The content to be answered when job 2 is in a state of waiting for execution is shown.

Furthermore, in the examples 7 and 8 (7, 8) in Figure 5, the answer to the inquiry about occupied time when the CPU is conditioned and the answer to the inquiry about occupied time when the CPU is not conditioned are It is shown. In this way, if 'CPU' is specified, it is only necessary to reply with the occupied time for the CPU, but if it is not specified, it is necessary to reply with the occupied time for all resources.

Next, referring to FIG. 6, the electronic computer 1 shown in FIG.
The configuration of the network operation management system 13 provided in the following will be explained. Here, FIG. 6(A) shows the configuration of the passive system of the network operation management system 13, and FIG. 6(B) shows the configuration of the active system of the network operation management system 13.

As shown in FIG. 6(A), the passive system of the network operation management system 13 includes receiving units 101, 108,
It includes operand analysis sections 102 and 107, a status processing section 103, an assembly section 104, a transmission section 105, and an action starting section 106.

In this passive system, the Q protocol frame is received by the receiving section 101 and then passed to the operand analyzing section 102, where the inquiry contents of the Q protocol frame are recognized. If the inquiry is a status inquiry, the status processing unit 103 makes the status inquiry to the operation management system 12.

The operation management system 12 returns the result (status) in response to the inquiry to the status processing unit 103, and the returned status is assembled into an A protocol frame format in the assembling unit 104, and then transmitted to the other party's computer by the transmitting unit 105. be done.

Further, if the operand analysis unit 102 recognizes that the inquiry content of the received Q protocol frame is an inquiry that requires some kind of action (response) in the operation management system 12, the action activation unit 10
6, the contents of the inquiry are sent to the operation management system 12.
transmitted to. When the operation management system 12 needs to notify the other party's computer of the result of an action, the operation management system 12 sends the result of the action back to the action starting unit 106. The action results returned to the action starting unit 106 are assembled into an A protocol frame format by the assembling unit 104, and then transmitted to the other party's computer by the transmitting unit 105.

Further, in this passive system, the A protocol frame is received by the receiving section 108, and the operand analyzing section 10 receives the A protocol frame.
After the reply or notification content of the A protocol frame is recognized in step 7, the recognized reply or notification content is transmitted to the operation management system 12 via the action activation unit 10B. When the operation management system 12 needs to notify the other party's computer of some kind of action result in response to the response or notification received, the operation management system 12 sends the action result back to the action activation unit 106. The action results returned to the action starting unit 106 are assembled into an A protocol frame format by the assembling unit 104, and then transmitted to the other party's computer by the transmitting unit 105.

On the other hand, the active system of the network operation management system 13 is
As shown in FIG. 6(B), the determination unit 100,
Assembly parts 111, 112, and transmitting part 113°11
It is equipped with 4.

In this active system, when an event occurs in the operation management system 12, it is necessary to determine whether the event requests an inquiry, an answer or notification, or whether it needs to be sent to the other party's computer. The determining unit 110 determines whether the item is temporary or not. When an event that requires an inquiry occurs, the content of the inquiry is sent to the assembly section 11.
After the data is assembled into a Q protocol frame format in step 1, it is transmitted to the other party's computer by the transmitter 113. Further, when an event requiring a response or notification occurs, the contents of the response or notification are assembled into an A protocol frame format by the assembling unit 112, and then transmitted to the other party's computer by the transmitting unit 114.

Here, only the network operation management system 13 of the first computer 1 has been described, and the network operation management system 23 of the second computer 2 is also configured in the same manner as the network operation management system 13. Also, the 6th
In the figure, in order to make the explanation clear, the network operation management system 13 is divided into a passive system and an active system, and the components for the Q protocol and the components for the A protocol are also explained separately, but in reality, , receiving sections 101, 108 can be configured with one module, and similarly, transmitting sections 105, 1
13.

114 can also be composed of one module, and the assembly section 1
04, 111, and 112 can also be configured with one module.

Next, referring to the flowcharts of FIGS. 7 to 9,
The operation of the network operation management system 13.23 corresponding to steps 1 to 4 explained in FIG. 1 will be explained.

First, referring to Figure 7, follow steps 1 and 2 in Figure 1.
The following describes operations corresponding to the job completion confirmation request and response processing to the request.

When a request for confirmation of completion of job 1 is generated in the operation management system 22 of the computer 2 (step 201), the determination unit 110 provided in the network operation management system 23 of the computer 2 responds to the Q protocol inquiry. (Step 2)
02). And the network operation management system 2
In the assembling unit 111 of step 3, the inquiry message is assembled into a Q protocol frame format (step 203).
) Thereafter, the Q protocol frame of the job completion confirmation request shown in FIG. 3(A) is transmitted to the computer 1 via the transmitter 113 (step 204).

In the network operation management system 13 of the computer 1, a Q protocol frame requesting job completion confirmation is received by the receiving unit 101 (step 205), and an operand indicates that the received frame is an inquiry for confirmation of completion of job 1. Recognized by the analysis unit 102 (Step 2
06). Thereafter, the status processing unit 103 inquires of the operation management system 12 about the status of job 1 (step 207). In response to this inquiry, the operation management system 12 notifies the status processing unit 103 that job 1 has already been completed (step 20g), and thereby the status processing unit 10
3 passes information on the positive response to the assembling unit 104 (step 209). This acknowledgment information is assembled into an A protocol frame format in the assembly section 104 (step 21
0), then the acknowledgment A shown in Figure 3(B).
The protocol frame is sent to the computer 2 via the transmitter 105.
(step 211).

In the network operation management system 23 of the computer 2, the A protocol frame of the acknowledgment is received by the receiving unit 108 (step 212), and the operand indicates that the received frame is a response indicating that job 1 has been completed. Recognized by the analysis unit 107 (step 213
). After that, the action starting unit 106 notifies the operation management system 22 whether job 1 is finished (
step 214). In response to this notification, the operation management system 22 takes necessary actions (step 215).

Next, with reference to FIG. 8, the job 2 startup request processing in step 3 will be described.

When a request to execute job 2 is generated in the operation management system 12 of the computer I (step 301), the determination unit 110 provided in the network operation management system 13 of the computer I determines whether the request is A protocol, that is, one corresponding to the notification. It is determined that (step 302
). Then, the assembling unit 112 of the network operation management system 13 assembles the notification message indicating the execution request for job 2 into a frame format of the A protocol (step 303), and then the message shown in FIG. 3(C). The A protocol frame of the job start request is transmitted to the computer 2 via the transmitter 114 (step 304).

In the network operation management system 23 of the computer 2, the A protocol frame of the job start request is received by the receiving unit 10.
8 (step 305), and the operand analysis unit 107 recognizes that the received frame is a notification indicating that job 2 is requested to be started (step 305).
Step 306). Thereafter, the action starting unit 106 requests the operation management system 22 to start job 2 (step 307). For this request,
The operation management system 22 sends job 2 to the data processing unit 21.
(Step 308).

Next, with reference to FIG. 9, the process of notifying the start of execution of job 2 in step 4 will be described.

When a request to notify the start of execution of job 2 is generated in the operation management system 22 of computer 2 (step 401)
, network operation management system 23 for computer 2
The determination unit 110 provided in
Step 402). Then, in the assembling unit 112 of the network operation management system 23, a notification message indicating the start of execution of job 2 is assembled into a frame format of protocol A (step 403), and then, as shown in FIG.
The A protocol frame of the job execution start notification shown in is transmitted to the computer I via the transmitter 114 (step 404).

In the network operation management system 13 of the computer 1, the A protocol frame of the job execution start notification is sent to the receiving unit 1.
08 (step 405), and the operand analysis unit 107 recognizes that the received frame is a notification indicating the start of execution of job 2 (step 406). Thereafter, the action starting unit 106 notifies the operation management system 12 that execution of job 2 has started (step 407). In response to this notification, the operation management system 12 causes the data processing unit 11 to take any necessary action (step 40).
8).

As explained above, in the computer network system of this embodiment, communication between computers is realized by Q protocol frames used for inquiries and A protocol frames used for answers and notifications to inquiries. has been done. Furthermore, since Q protocol frames and A protocol frames have variable lengths, messages of any content can be assembled into Q or A protocol frame formats and sent, depending on various events occurring in the operation management system. can do. Therefore, for a Q protocol frame that has only been lightly conditioned, by using multiple operands, all the information that matches the conditions can be
It can be answered in the form of a protocol frame. Also, when inquiring about the Q protocol frame, the conditions can be narrowed down by using multiple operands.

Therefore, for any event that occurs in the operation management system inside a computer, inquiries, notifications, or answers to inquiries regarding the event can be transmitted to other computers using the Q protocol or A protocol frame. I can do it. As a result, it becomes possible to automatically perform integrated operational management of the computer network system, and it becomes possible to eliminate as much as possible the judgment and operations required by an operator, which were conventionally required.

In this embodiment, the case where the computer 1 and the computer 2 are equivalent in terms of use has been explained as an example. For example, as shown in FIG. It can also be used as a surveillance monitor.

That is, in FIG. 10, information on the operation and management of the computers 2 to 4 is collected in a computer 1 serving as a supervisory monitor, and centrally managed by the computer 1. The computer 1 can send appropriate instructions to each of the computers 2 to 4 while monitoring the operations of the computers 2 to 4.

In this case, the computers 2 to 4 will be informed of the status of the other computers by the computer 1, but the communication between the computer 1 and each computer 2 to 4 will be the same as in the previous example. By providing a network operation management system in each of the computers 1 to 4, this can be efficiently realized using only the frames of the Q protocol and the A protocol.

In this way, communication between computers can be realized using only the Q protocol and A protocol frames, so this invention
It can be easily applied to multi-vendor environments with significantly different architectures.

In addition, among the functions of integrated operation management, we have only explained job management in the simple case of job completion confirmation request and job start request, but this is not limited to other functions for network integrated operation management. All processes can be managed in the same way.

Furthermore, although we have explained both responses to inquiries and status notifications using the A protocol, these can be handled using different protocols (for example, the former is the A protocol, and the latter is the S protocol (5end).
) Protocol) In other words, they can be distinguished as different types of messages.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, by using the operation management functions of individual computers, the entire computer network system can be managed in an integrated manner, and data processing efficiency can be sufficiently improved. A computer network system with high performance can be realized.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a computer network system according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the basic configuration of frames transmitted between computers making up the network system shown in FIG. , FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the specific structure of the frame shown in FIG. 2, and FIGS. 4 and 5 are diagrams each explaining the relationship between an inquiry frame and a frame for answering the inquiry. FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a network operation management system installed in the computer that constitutes the network system shown in FIG. 1, and FIGS. 7 to 9 respectively show the network operation shown in FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a network system to which the computer network system shown in FIG. 1 can be applied. FIG. 11 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the management system. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a configuration. 1-4...Electronic computer, 5...Communication channel, 1121.
...Data processing unit, 12.22...Operation management system, 1323...Network operation management system. Applicant's representative Patent attorney Takehiko Suzue Figure V 1 ↑ Calculation, 1 ugly 1 It x loss 2 (A) Den 5t ↑ Hyakuko 1 ttitW*82 Figure 31'TX horizontal 1 t Te 1 ↑ Calculation confusion 2 Figure 11

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a computer network system in which a plurality of computers are connected, each computer in the network system has an operation management means for managing data processing within its own device, and an operation management means for managing data processing within its own device, and a computer network system for making inquiries. communication means for transmitting and receiving a variable-length first protocol frame and a variable-length second protocol frame for reply or status notification to and from other computers; means for assembling various messages into a frame format of the first or second protocol, analyzing the content of the frame of the first or second protocol received from another computer, and transmitting the message content to the operation management means; An electronic computer network system comprising: