Abstract:
Disclosed is a system for dynamically updating remote service objects to manage a network device having various characteristics by Java RMI (Remote Method Invocation), and a method thereof. The system includes a network device manager for authenticating a transmission message communicated between a network device and a management device and transferring and initializing objects for management of the network device, and a management agent. The management method includes a remote object transmission step, a remote object authentication step, a remote object installation step, and a network device management step.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION  
       [0001]     This application claims priority to and the benefit of Korea Patent Application No. 2003-97549 filed on Dec. 26, 2003 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     (a) Field of the Invention  
         [0003]     The present invention relates to a system for dynamically updating remote service objects for control and management of various network devices, a method thereof, and a computer-readable recording medium storing a program for realizing the method. More specifically, the present invention relates to a network device management method that, based on a Java RMI (Remote Method Invocation) API (Application Program Interface), enables a management device to install a management service necessary for integral management of various network devices, and the network device to register its inherent management function in the management device, thereby collecting general management information to be managed by the management device and providing the management device with a management and control service characterized to the devices provided by the network device.  
         [0004]     (b) Description of the Related Art  
         [0005]     In general, a network device management system comprises a management server and a network device.  
         [0006]     The conventional network device management server accumulates data by polling information stored in the network devices belonging to it, and processes the accumulated data for analysis to determine performance and problems of the network. Communication between the network management server and the network device is achieved according to a protocol such as SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) or CMIP (Common Management Information Protocol).  
         [0007]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a conventional network device management system.  
         [0008]     Generally, the network device management system comprises a network management device  10  and a management agent  20 .  
         [0009]     The network management device  10  provides an interface for a network manager to monitor the situation of the network, and has a database for some functions regarding management data analysis, problem management, etc.  
         [0010]     The management agent  20 , which is provided in an object to be managed, for example, network equipment such as host, router, bridge, or hub, transmits management information at the request of the management system or requests the management system for an action, and automatically reports a problem situation to the management system upon occurrence of a problem.  
         [0011]     Here, MIB (Management Information Base)  21  is a database including information about the factors to be managed in a management model based on TCP/IP. The information under management is called management objects  30 ,  31 , and  32 . The MIB  21  comprises a hierarchical tree of the management objects.  
         [0012]     SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) is a protocol for monitoring and control of operations between the network management device  10  and a network device. According to SNMP, the management agent  20  collects information about the management objects under management by a “get” message, and sets information of the network device by a “set” message.  
         [0013]     By a “trap” message, the management agent  20  directly reports a problem situation to the network management device  10 , rather than by the polling of the network management device  10 .  
         [0014]     On the other hand, the MIB  21  managed by the management agent  20  is a formal description for objects managed according to SNMP, and the format of the MIB  21  is defined as a part of SNMP. Among the MIBs, MIB-I is the definition of the initial MIB, and MIB-II is the definition of the current MIB. The equipment each define its necessary operation management MIB and manages necessary management information.  
         [0015]     Generally, some knowledge of the network management technology is required so as to implement a management system based on a network management protocol, and the system of defining information to be managed and describing the definitions of the information is considerably complicated. In addition, it is impossible to dynamically upgrade a module for providing a new management service, because management systems mostly use the SNMPv1 or SNMPv2 system. The SNMPv3 suggests an extendible structure for solving this problem, but it is too complex to implement.  
         [0016]     As described above, the conventional management system based on the network management protocol has a difficulty in adding a new management function and hardly enables a developer who is not an expert on the network management protocol to develop an agent for providing network device management information and a management server for processing and managing the network device management information.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0017]     It is an advantage of the present invention to provide a network management system that transfers remote objects to manage a network device having different characteristics at a remote location between a management device and a network device through an authentication process and provides a new management service using the remote objects, a method thereof, and a computer-readable recording medium storing a program for implementation of the method.  
         [0018]     In one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a network device management method including: (a) a network device requesting a management device to transmit a management device implementation object, and receiving the requested management device implementation object; (b) the network device authenticating and decoding the received management device implementation object; (c) a management agent of the network device storing and registering the management device implementation object; and (d) the management device calling an implementation object of the network device through an interface object, and outputting a corresponding result value.  
         [0019]     In another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a network device management method including: (a) a management device requesting a network device to transmit a network device interface object, and receiving the network device interface object; (b) the management device authenticating and decoding the received network device interface object; (c) a network device manager of the management device storing and registering the network device interface object; and (d) the network device manager calling an implementation object of the network device through the interface object, and outputting a corresponding result value.  
         [0020]     In another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a network device dynamically updating a service object for network management of a management device, the network device including: a management agent for requesting a network device manager of the management device to transmit a management device implementation object, receiving an encoded implementation object, and authenticating and decoding the received implementation object.  
         [0021]     In still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a management device dynamically updating a service object to control and manage a network device, the management device including: a network device manager for requesting a remote management agent to transmit a network device interface object, receiving the encoded object, authenticating and decoding the received object, and installing the authenticated and decoded object in the management device.  
         [0022]     As described above, for the enabled management device to integrally manage the management function of various network devices and to update a new management function, the present invention divides an object implementing the management function into an interface object and an implementation object, installs the interface object and the implementation object in the management device and the network device, respectively, and performs RMI communication between the management device and the network device, thereby managing the network device in a safe and easy way. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0023]     The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate an embodiment of the invention, and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention:  
         [0024]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a conventional network device management system;  
         [0025]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram of a network device management system according to an embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0026]      FIG. 3  is a schematic flow chart showing a process for dynamically updating a management service according to an embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0027]      FIG. 4  is a schematic flow chart showing a method for dynamically updating a management device implementation object in a network device according to an embodiment of the present invention; and  
         [0028]      FIG. 5  is a flow chart showing a method for dynamically updating a network device interface object in a management device according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0029]     In the following detailed description, only the preferred embodiment of the invention has been shown and described, simply by way of illustration of the best mode contemplated by the inventor(s) of carrying out the invention. As will be realized, the invention is capable of modification in various obvious respects, all without departing from the invention. Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature, and not restrictive. To clarify the present invention, parts which are not described in the specification are omitted, and parts for which similar descriptions are provided have the same reference numerals. A connection between one part to another includes a direct connection between them, or an electrical connection via a third device.  
         [0030]     Hereafter, a network device management method according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.  
         [0031]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram of a network device management system according to an embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0032]     Referring to  FIG. 2 , the network device management system according to the present invention comprises a management device  100  having a network device manager  110 , a management agent  210 , and a network device  200 .  
         [0033]     The network device manager  110  comprises a network device registration processor  111 , a network device interface object  113 , and a management device interface object  112 . The management agent  210  comprises a network device initialization processor  211 , a network device implementation object  212 , and a management device implementation object  213 .  
         [0034]     The management device  100  and the network management device  200 , each equipped with a virtual machine  120 , are operated on the Java virtual machines  120 .  
         [0035]     Hereinafter, the operation of the embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail.  
         [0036]     The network device registration processor  111  requests the network device initialization processor  211  to transmit a network device interface object, receives the network device interface object, and authenticates and decodes the received interface object with a given public key and a received message authentication code.  
         [0037]     Subsequent to the message authentication, the network device registration processor  111  stores the network device interface object  113  and reports the addition of a new management service to the network device manager  110 . The network device manager  110  uses the received interface object  113  to generate a user interface for management of the updated network device  200 .  
         [0038]     The network device interface object  113  is an interface for providing device information that is an object to be installed at the release time of the device by the manufacturer, and is based on inherent functions and hardware characteristics of the device.  
         [0039]     The management device interface object  112  is an interface for providing a management service that can be managed with an application program interface (API) supported by Java, rather than using hardware commonly managed by the network devices  200  in the management device  100 .  
         [0040]     The network device initialization processor  211  of the management agent  210  requests the network device registration processor  110  to transmit a management device implementation object, receives the requested implementation object, and authenticates and decodes the received implementation object with a given public key and a received message authentication code.  
         [0041]     Subsequent to the authentication, the management device implementation object  213  is stored and registered on a remote method invocation (RMI) registry. The management device implementation object  213  is a service implementation object for providing device information which is an object to be installed at the release time of the device by the manufacturer, and is based on inherent functions and hardware characteristics of the device.  
         [0042]     The management device implementation object  213  is an implementation object for providing a management service that can be managed with an API supported by Java, rather than using hardware commonly managed by the network devices  200  in the management device  100 .  
         [0043]     Hereinafter, the method for dynamically updating a network device management service using the construction of the system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described.  
         [0044]      FIG. 3  is a schematic flow chart showing a process for dynamically updating a management service according to an embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0045]     The network device  200  and the management device  100  request a remote object and receive the interface object  113  and the implementation object  213 , respectively, in step S 100 .  
         [0046]     The network device  200  or the management device  100  authenticates the effectiveness of the received remote object, and if the object is effective, decodes the remote object, in step S 110 .  
         [0047]     After the completion of the authentication and decoding step, the network device manager  110  or the management agent  210  stores and installs the remote object, in step S 120 .  
         [0048]     The network device manager  110  uses the received interface object and a given interface object to call the implementation object  212  of the network device and the received implementation object, outputs a corresponding result value, and manages the network device, in step S 130 .  
         [0049]     Hereinafter, the method for dynamically updating remote service objects for the network device and the management device, respectively, will be described in detail.  
         [0050]      FIG. 4  is a schematic flow chart showing a method for dynamically updating a management device implementation object in the network device according to an embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0051]     The network device  200  requests the management device  100  to transmit a remote object, in step S 101 .  
         [0052]     Upon receiving the request message for the remote object, the management device  100  encodes the management device implementation object, in step S 102 , and uses a given public key to generate an authentication code for a message to be transmitted, in step S 103 .  
         [0053]     The generated message authentication code and the encoded management device implementation object are transmitted to the network device  200 , in step S 104 .  
         [0054]     The network device  200  authenticates the effectiveness of the received message, and if the message is effective, decodes the management device implementation object, in step S 121 . Then, the network device  200  registers the management device implementation object on the RMI registry of the network device  200 , in step S 121 .  
         [0055]     The network device manager  110  uses the management device interface object in the management device  100  to call the management device implementation object registered on the network device  200 , and requests management of the network device, in step S 131 .  
         [0056]     In response to this, the network device  200  returns the result value for the call of the management device implementation object, in step S 132 .  
         [0057]      FIG. 5  is a flow chart showing a method for dynamically updating a network device interface object in the management device according to an embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0058]     The management device  100  requests the network device  200  to transmit a management object, in step S 201 .  
         [0059]     Upon receiving the request message for the management object, the network device  200  encodes a network device interface object, in step S 202 , and uses a given public key to generate an authentication code for a message to be transmitted, in step S 203 .  
         [0060]     The generated message authentication code and the encoded network device interface object are transmitted to the management device  100 , in step S 204 .  
         [0061]     The management device  100  authenticates the effectiveness of the received message, and if the message is effective, decodes the network device interface object, in step S 210 . Then, the management device  100  reports the decoded interface object to the network device manager  110 , in step S 221 .  
         [0062]     The network device manager  110  uses the network device interface object in the management device  100  to call the network device implementation object registered on the network device  200 , and requests management of the network device, in step S 231 .  
         [0063]     In response to this, the network device  200  returns the result value for the call of the network device implementation object, in step S 232 .  
         [0064]     The above-described method of the present invention can be implemented into a program and stored in a computer-readable recording medium (e.g., CD-ROM, RAM, ROM, floppy disk, hard disk, magneto-optical disc, etc.).  
         [0065]     While this invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.  
         [0066]     The above-stated construction of the present invention enables a system manager or a service provider to transmit an object of a new management function to the network device for installation at a remote location, SO the present invention easily applies new management functions to the network device to facilitate the management of newly developed network devices in an integral manner, and guarantees its implementation without a complicated network management protocol, thereby enabling any developer not skilled in network device management to easily develop the management system.