KR19990061256A - Network management system that automatically sets addresses for communities and network administrators - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a network management system that sets up a network manager's address when a network is changed or when a community is changed.

The present invention comprises a network manager for managing equipment on a network, a computer system with an SNMP agent, a router with the SNMP agent, and a switch with the SNMP agent. The switches are connected to each other via a network.

The present invention can be performed by sending a single set command from the network manager when the network manager is connected to the network for the first time, when the network manager's address is changed, or when the community is changed. Can be used as is.

Description

Network management system that automatically sets addresses for communities and network administrators

The present invention relates to a network management system (NMS) that manages network equipment and computer systems such as switches, routers, hubs, and the like through a network. The present invention relates to a network management system that can be set at a time by a central network administrator without setting each device for each network.

NMS uses a standard protocol called Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) to manage resources on the network, such as computer systems or network devices such as switches, routers, and hubs.

In this SNMP, each device on the network includes an SNMP agent that conforms to the SNMP protocol to communicate with the network manager. When the network manager sends a Get packet to each device to obtain the necessary information, the corresponding device sends the information to the network manager. The network administrator can also send a Set packet to change the value of the information managed by each device to the desired value. And the devices on the network send a packet called Trap to send the urgent situation to the network administrator. Each device on the network maintains a kind of password called a community to ensure that it is from its network administrator when it gets a Get or Set packet. Therefore, it responds to the network administrator's request only when this community matches.

Usually one network administrator manages tens or hundreds of devices. However, if the network manager's address is changed or if an additional network manager is added on the network, the network manager's address stored manually by all devices on the network must be manually changed to send the trap packet correctly to the new network manager. Will be. In addition, the first time you add a network administrator to a network without a network administrator, you must manually set the network administrator's address for every tens or hundreds of devices on the network.

Similarly, when you want to change the community for the devices on the network, it takes a lot of time and money because it has to be done manually. The first step in setting up and initializing a network administrator is to change the community, even though it takes a lot of time and money to do it manually on every device.

Therefore, in order to solve the above problems, when the network administrator is added to the network for the first time, the network administrator's address and community are not manually inputted in the respective devices. For the compatibility of the protocol, the existing SNMP protocol is not modified at all, but rather the address of the community and network administrator can be easily applied to the existing network management system by solving the above problem. An object of the present invention is to provide a network management system that is automatically set up.

1 is a conventional network connection diagram

2 is a network connection diagram according to the present invention

One preferred embodiment of the network management system for automatically setting the address of the community and the network administrator according to the present invention for achieving the above object,

A network administrator for managing the devices on the network;

A computer system having an SNMP agent;

A router with the SNMP agent; And

And a switch having the SNMP agent, wherein the network manager, computer system, router, and switch are connected to each other via a network.

In the present invention, it is preferable that a specific natural string is assigned for each piece of SNMP managed information.

It is desirable to assign one OID to each network administrator's address and network's community.

Preferably, the SNMP agent stores the value of the network manager's address and network information of the network in a disk or a memory.

When the network manager sends an OID corresponding to the two pieces of information and a new network manager's address value or a new community value to the set packet, the SNMP agent updates the network manager's address or community value stored in the disk or memory. It is desirable to modify it to a value,

When the network manager is connected to the network for the first time, it is preferable that the network manager sends a packet to all devices on the network when the network manager's address changes or the community changes.

Preferably, the packet is an SNMP SET packet.

When sending the packet to all devices on the network, it is preferable to use the broadcast address provided by TCP / IP or IPX / SPX.

Preferably, the SNMP agent checks whether the community of the SNMP SET packet received by the SNMP agent is the same as its community.

If the result is not the same, it is preferable that no processing is performed by discarding the packet.

If the OID of the SNMP SET packet received by the SNMP agent is the same as the OID assigned to the address of the network manager, the SNMP agent may change the address of the network manager managed by the SNMP agent to the address of the new network manager in the received packet.

If the OID of the SNMP SET packet received by the SNMP agent is the same as the OID assigned to the community, the SNMP agent may change the community managed by the SNMP agent to a new community in the received packet.

The configuration of the field to which the present invention is applied consists of the devices on the network including the network manager managing the devices on the network and the new SNMP agent implementing the added functions.

In SNMP, a specific natural string is assigned to each piece of managed information. This is called OID.

Similarly, in the present invention, one OID is assigned to each network administrator's address and the network's community. In the present invention, when a network manager sends an OID corresponding to a network manager's address or network community, and a new network manager's address value or a new community value in a set packet, the network manager previously stored in the disk or memory. This function has the function of modifying the value of the address or the community of to this new value.

When the network administrator first connected to the network, or when the network administrator's address changed. Or when the community changes, the network administrator sends a packet like this to all devices on the network.

1. When the network administrator's address changes

Type of packet: SNMP SET PACKET

OID: OID assigned to the network administrator's address earlier

Value: address of new network administrator

2. When the community has changed

Type of packet: SNMP SET PACKET

OID: OID assigned to the community earlier

Value: the value of the new community

When sending to any device on the network, use an address provided by Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) / IP (Internet Protocol). For these packets, the new SNMP agent works as follows:

1. Make sure the community of SNMP SET packets you received is the same as your community.

If not equal then discard the packet (ie, do nothing).

2. If the OID of the received SNMP SET packet is the same as the OID assigned to the network administrator's address, change the network administrator's address to the new network administrator's address in the received packet.

3. If the OID of the received SNMP SET packet is the same as the OID assigned to the community, change the community that you managed to the new community in the received packet.

The present invention operating as described above may be performed by sending one set command from the network manager when the network manager is first connected to the network, when the network manager's address is changed, or when the community is changed. It provides excellent compatibility by allowing the standard protocol SNMP to be used as it is.

Claims (12)

A network administrator for managing the devices on the network; A computer system having an SNMP agent; A router with the SNMP agent; And And a network manager, a computer system, a router, and a switch connected to each other via a network. The network management system of claim 1, wherein the SNMP is assigned a specific natural number string for each information to be managed. The network management system according to claim 1, which assigns one OID to each of an address of a network administrator and a community of a network. The network management system of claim 3, wherein the SNMP agent stores values of the network manager's address and community information of the network in a disk or a memory. The address of claim 4, wherein the SNMP agent transmits an OID corresponding to the two pieces of information and an address or new community value of the new network manager to the set packet. 6. Or modify the value of the community to a new value. The network management system of claim 1, wherein when the network manager is connected to the network for the first time, the network manager sends a SET packet to all the devices on the network when the network manager's address changes or the community changes. 7. The network management system of claim 6 wherein the packet is an SNMP SET packet. 8. The network management system of claim 7, wherein a broadcast address provided in TCP / IP or IPX / SPX is used when sending the packet to all devices on the network. The network management system according to claim 8, wherein the SNMP agent checks whether the community of the received SNMP SET packet is the same as its own community. 10. The network management system according to claim 9, wherein if the confirmation result is not the same, no processing is performed by discarding the packet. 10. The method of claim 8, wherein the SNMP agent sends a new network manager's address in the received packet of the network manager's address if the OID of the received SNMP SET packet is the same as the OID assigned to the network manager's address. To change, network management system. The network management system according to claim 8, wherein the SNMP agent changes the community managed by the SNMP agent to a new community in the received packet if the OID of the received SNMP SET packet is the same as the OID assigned to the community.