Patent ID: 6219705
Filing Date: 2001-04-17
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
A system for collecting and maintaining historical top communicator information on a communication device for retrieval by a source, comprising;an SNMP stack for receiving a retrieval request from said source;a first storage area for storing specific host information concerning each host;a second storage area for storing specific user-defined top communicator information which has not been excluded from said first storage area, said top communicator information identifies a plurality of hosts involved in most network traffic by indicating an amount of network traffic that passes through each host, an originator of said network traffic, and an intended receiver of said network traffic;a third storage area for storing historical information retrieved from said second storage area according to a sampling period;wherein said SNMP stack specifies the implementation of SNMP protocol within said communication device to retrieve said top communication information from said communication device and to store said top communication information historically from said second storage area to said third storage area.