KR20030030600A - Protocol Gateway System support interoperability in different network Management Architecture - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method of interworking different types of network management systems. More specifically, CORBA, CMIP, SNMP, HTTP-based network managers access CMIP, SNMP-based management agents regardless of the network management system The present invention relates to a gateway system for interworking with a network management system capable of supporting it.

To this end, the present invention implements a MPG (Management Protocol Gateway) supporting a network manager using CMIP, SNMP, CORBA, HTTP, which is a network management system communication protocol.

The components of the MPG include the Object Manager 101 which collects managed objects to create a Containment Tree 102 and executes commands, the Protocol Dispatcher 106 and Protocol Generator 103 that support the conversion of mutual protocols, the manager and the manager. There is a Connection Information Repository 104 for storing connection information between agents, an Object Information Repository 105 for storing information of a management object, and an Event Handler 107 for processing an event message received from the management agent.

By using MPG, integrated network management is possible regardless of management system.

Description

Protocol gateway system that supports interoperability between different network management systems {Protocol Gateway System support interoperability in different network Management Architecture}

The present invention relates to a network management integration method, and to a gateway system supporting interoperability between network management systems.

Network management uses the Common Management Information Protocol (CMIP) or Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) as a protocol for exchanging commands and responses between managers and management agents, depending on the size and characteristics of the network.

In order to integrate and operate network management systems that are independently established according to the protocol used, communication between the manager and the management agent using different protocols is required.

As a standard for establishing an integrated network management system of CMIP and SNMP-based management agents, an administrator using CORBA system is used, and a web-based manager using HTTP is developed and used for location transparency and interface convenience of the network manager.

As a method for integrating and operating managers and management agents who have other network management systems while maintaining the existing network management system, communication is performed using the CORBA (Common Object Request Broker Architecture) Gateway, and interoperability and location transparency between the manager and management agents are maintained. Guarantee and enable integrated network management.

However, depending on which protocol the administrator uses, CMIP and SNMP should be used for each CORBA Gateway, and administrators must use CORBA IDL to send commands to the CORBA Gateway.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention correlates CMIP, SNMP, CORBA, HTTP-based managers to CMIP, SNMP-based management agents and protocol types to support interworking between network management systems while maintaining existing network management systems. It is an object of the present invention to provide a gateway system having an interconversion function of a network management protocol and a management system for communication with each other without communication.

1 is a diagram illustrating an internal configuration of a gateway system for communication between a manager and a management agent, and a connection diagram between a manager and a management agent.

Figure 2 is a process of receiving an administrator's request and delivering a command to the management agent.

3 is a process for receiving and processing an Event message from a management agent

In the present invention, MPG (Management) having a function of distinguishing protocol types of messages exchanged between an administrator and a management agent and analyzing the contents to generate and deliver a PDU (Protocol Data Unit) appropriate to the management system to perform the above object. Protocol Gateway).

MPG has the following components to support CMIP, SNMP, CORBA, HTTP-based network managers to access management agents built on CMIP and SNMP regardless of management system.

The Object Manager 101 generates a Containment Tree generated by collecting a management object from a management agent and stores and references the location information of the corresponding object in the Object Information Repository 105. Searches for a managed object by referring to the containment tree created when a command is requested to execute a managed object from a manager, and then combines the location of the managed agent with the managed object with the location information of the manager who requested the managed object to the Connection Information Repository (104). Save it. The Containment Tree 102 has a tree-type information structure composed of management objects collected from management agents. Each management agent has its own containment tree. The Protocol Data Unit Generator 103 generates a PDU to transmit the processing result of the command execution from the Object Manager. C.I.R 104 is a place for storing information for maintaining a connection between each manager and a management agent. The C.I.R 104 has a unique ID per connection and stores information on Port, IP, and protocol types. O.I.R.105 stores attribute values, roles, and addresses of associated management agents of management objects registered in the Containment Tree. The Protocol Dispatcher 106 analyzes the PDU received from the Protocol Stack, converts the PDU into a command system applicable to the Object Manager, and delivers it to the Object Manager. The event handler 107 receives and processes an event message generated from a management agent through a PDU dispatcher and processes the event message. The Multi Protocol Stack 108 distinguishes which protocol the received message is based on and separates the message into commands and data.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a process of an administrator performing an operation by accessing a management agent through a management protocol gateway.

In the Multi Protocol Stack, a message is received from an administrator, and the protocol types are extracted to extract the components of the message. (201) The Protocol Dispatcher converts the analyzed content of the message into commands and data (202). The command is sent to the Object Manager to search the managed object requested by the administrator from the Containment Tree (203) and to refer to the location information of the managed object retrieved from the OIR 105 (205). After configuring the connection information with reference, the connection information is stored in the CIR (206). The command and data are converted through the PDU Generator according to the protocol type used by the management agent and then transmitted to the management agent. If the Object Manager retrieves an object that meets the request from the Object Information Repository (105) and if the object does not exist, it notifies the manager through the PDU Generator that the command execution failed (204).

3 is a flowchart illustrating a processing method when an event message is received from a management agent. Types of event messages are event messages and the result of the administrator's request. After receiving the message, the Porotocol Dispatcher determines whether it is an event message agent (301) and decides whether to send it to the event handler. (302) After analyzing the event message in the event handler (303), it delivers it to the Object Manager. After applying to the tree (304) and the manager and the object connection information with reference to the CIR (305) and sends a message to the manager.

As the present invention, the previous administrator can perform network management by accessing a management agent using a different protocol and management system while maintaining the current network management system. Administrators such as CMIP, SNMP, CORBA, and HTTP can access the management agents built on CMIP and SNMP regardless of the protocol and management system, so that the network management system can be used as it is. Can be reduced.

In addition to using the existing CMIP and SNMP-based managers as well as supporting the HTTP-based managers including CORBA and integrating each protocol conversion function separated by each protocol, the size of the gateway system can be reduced and the efficiency can be improved.

Claims (5)

In the gateway system for interworking with different network management systems, analyzing the message received from the administrator to determine the type of protocol and analyzing the message. Command and data generation step and request for applying the analyzed message to the management object. Generating connection information between the manager and the management agent by combining the messages, generating a containment tree generated by collecting the management objects from the management agent, and applying an event message received from the management agent to the containment tree. Method of delivering a message between the protocol-based manager and the management agent, characterized in that. The method of claim 1, wherein the first step is to determine the types of protocols and generate a data structure according to each protocol. The protocol conversion method according to claim 1, which converts a request message into a command for requesting an Object Manager. The connection information structure according to claim 1, which has a data structure including information such as IP and port between a manager's location and a management agent having a management object. The method of claim 1, wherein the content tree is managed based on information collected from the management agents to handle the management objects required for the manager's request.