Patent Publication Number: US-2007118907-A1

Title: Management equipment for mission critical system

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      The present invention is directed to a management equipment for mission critical system (MCS), and more particularly, to a management equipment for MCS that is capable of preventing various kinds of malignant codes from flowing into an MCS upon communication between the MCS and an external device coupled therewith via a network and also realizing high availability.  
      2. Description of Related Art MCS may induce fatal life damage or property loss when a trouble takes place therein. A variety of MCS&#39;s have been utilized over the general industry field of semiconductor production line, LCD production line, etc.  
       FIG. 1  is a schematic view showing a construction of a conventional MCS and virus infection paths. As depicted therein, the MCS  100  is connected to a production line network and communicates with external devices  200 . Each of the external devices  200  is disposed on a production line, in offices, or in the outside; and is coupled with the MCS  100  via the production line network or office network to communicate therewith.  
      In this configuration, there is a high possibility of infiltrating various kinds of malignant codes such as hacking, virus, warm, etc. into the MCS  100  via various paths. To preclude such problem, in prior art method, OS (Operating System) security patch is performed in the MCS  100 , or anti virus programs are installed and updated therein, as shown in  FIG. 2 , thereby preventing the infiltration of the malignant codes into the MCS  100 .  
      In such a case, however, high possibility has existed for low productivity and availability due to various reasons such as collision problem with other applications being operated in the MCS  100 , hard disc destruction problem of the MCS  100 , operation halt problem of the MCS  100  during the rebooting thereof, after performing the OS security patch or installing or updating the anti virus programs, etc.  
      To solve such problems, hardware firewall may be used, but it was difficult to prepare hardware firewall that is suitable for the use of the MCS  100  that takes into account availability as a matter of the highest priority, as in semiconductor production line, LCD production line, or the like. Moreover, the availability of hardware firewall itself affects availability of the whole system, which results in a possibility to raise a reverse effect that the hardware firewall obstructs availability improvement rather.  
      As shown in  FIG. 3 , in a state that a system A communicates with a system B, it is first assumed that availability of each of the systems A and B is 99%, and availability of the whole system is 98% owing to mutual effects of the both systems. Under the assumption, if a system C (e.g., hardware firewall) with availability of 99% is connected between the systems A and B and thus the availability of the whole system is about 97% because the system C affects availability of the whole system, the availability of the whole system after coupling with the system C is lower than that of the original whole system if availability lowering due to virus is 0.5%. As a result, a reverse effect is occurred rather, in light of availability.  
      In view of the foregoing, the inventors of the present invention tried to study a management equipment for MCS that is capable of stably protecting MCS from malignant codes of hacker attack, virus, warm, etc., while maintaining high availability.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention is invented under the intent as set forth above. Therefore, a primary objective of the present invention is to provide a management equipment for MCS that is capable of stably protecting MCS from various kinds of malignant codes, while maintaining high availability.  
      In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a management equipment for Mission Critical System (MCS), wherein the management equipment for MCS is prepared in front of MCS associated with productive facilities and has a same IP address as that of the MCS, to thereby prevent malignant codes from flowing into the MCS by limiting TCP/UDP ports that are available to connect to a network.  
      Accordingly, the present invention can stably protect MCS by preventing various kinds of malignant codes from coming into MCS using the management equipment for MCS where necessary, without any manipulation to limit network functions of MCS itself which is strictly limited to change the system itself or manipulate it. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      The above and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by describing in detail exemplary embodiments thereof with reference to the attached drawings in which:  
       FIG. 1  is a schematic view showing a construction of conventional MCS and virus infection paths;  
       FIG. 2  is a schematic view presenting a solution for anti virus of a conventional MCS;  
       FIG. 3  is a view of explaining high availability;  
       FIG. 4  is an exemplary schematic view showing a construction of MCS to which a management equipment for MCS in accordance with the present invention is applied; and  
       FIG. 5  is an exemplary block diagram illustrating an embodiment of the management equipment for MCS in accordance with the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
      An exemplary embodiment according to the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that a person skilled in the art can readily understand and carry out the invention.  
       FIG. 4  is an exemplary schematic view showing a construction of MCS to which a management equipment  300  for MCS according to the present invention is applied. As illustrated therein, the management equipment  300  for MCS of the present invention is exposed in front of MCS that is controlled by external devices  200 . The inventive management equipment  300  for MCS is installed ahead each of MCS&#39;s  100  associated with production facilities and has a same IP address as that of each MCS  100 , wherein malignant codes are prevented from flowing into each MCS  100  by limiting TCP/UDP ports that are likely to connect to a network.  
      That is to say, the inventive management equipment  300  for MCS performs an authentication process with respect to the MCS  100  and the external device  200  based on an authorized IP address used in an authorized network, and then identifies them so that a point-to-point application can be carried out smoothly between the MCS  100  and the external device  200 . For this, the inventive management equipment  300  for MCS searches whether or not IP address and MAC address of a source side and those of a destination side with respect to packet data are registered addresses, by referring inherent IP addresses and MAC addresses of registered MCS and external devices, and then performs the authentication process.  
      On the other hand, in case an abnormal communication is made between the MCS  100  and the external device  200 , the present invention realizes high availability by processing data to be directly transmitted from the external device  200  to the MCS  100 , without performing its data packet analysis, in order to maintain a normal communication state therebetween.  
      Now, a concrete construction and operational effects of the management equipment  300  for MCS of the invention will be described referring to  FIG. 5 .  FIG. 5  is an exemplary block diagram illustrating an embodiment of the management equipment for MCS according to the present invention. As shown therein, the inventive management equipment  300  for MCS comprises a connection limitation unit  310 , a switch  320 , a sensing unit  330  and a control unit  340 .  
      Specifically, the connection limitation unit  310  performs a communication of data that is transmitted and received between the MCS  100  and the external device  200  coupled therewith via a network using a specific port of the TCP/UDP ports. Namely, the connection limitation unit  310  transmits and receives data communicated between the MCS  100  and the external device  200  using a specific nonuse port that is not used up to now among, e.g., 65535 TCP/UDP ports, thereby protecting the system from a port attack by various kinds of malignant codes such as hacking, warm, virus, etc. The external device  200  may be one of a personal computer, central server, other MCS, and so on, and inevitably needs to use a limited specific port in order to access to the MCS  100 .  
      Further, according to the present invention, the connection limitation unit  310  analyses a header of a data packet being transmitted from the external device  200  to the MCS  100 , confirms whether or not the data packet is being transmitted to a destination that corresponds to an IP address of the MCS  100  via a set specific port and authenticates the data packet if the confirmation result is affirmative, and transmits the authenticated data packet to the MCS  100 . Upon failure of the authentication, the connection limitation unit  310  carries out an anti virus function that prevents various kinds of malignant codes such as hacking, warm attack, virus, etc, from flowing into the MCS  100  by cutting off inflow of authentication-failed data packet into the MCS  100 . For this, the connection limitation unit  310  searches whether or not IP address and MAC address of a source side and those of a destination side with respect to the packet data are registered addresses based on inherent IP addresses and MAC addresses of registered MCS and external devices, and then performs the authentication process.  
      In accordance with the invention, it may be implemented that the inventive search and authentication process can be performed with respect to the IP address and MAC address of the destination side merely or both of those of the source side and the destination side for more stable connection limitation by the external devices, according to a rule set for searching with respect to the registered addresses.  
      In the meantime, the switch  320  serves to switch a connection path to allow the data transmitted and received between the MCS  100  and the external device  200  coupled therewith via the network to go through or bypass the connection limitation unit  310 . That is, the switch  320  selectively changes a packet data transmission path to have the data transmitted and received between the MCS  100  and the external device  200  to go through or bypass the connection limitation unit  310 , according to a switching control signal determined by a communication state therebetween, thereby achieving high availability.  
      Specifically, in case of the normal communication state, the switch  320  sets the packet data transmission path so that the data transmitted and received between the MCS  100  and the external device  200  is allowed to pass through the connection limitation unit  310 . Through this arrangement, the packet data transmitted and received between the MCS  100  and the external device  200  is analyzed in the connection limitation unit  310 , and thus no malignant code is transferred to the MCS  100 .  
      However, in case of the abnormal communication state, indicating that a CPU use rate of the management equipment  300  for MCS is above a reference value and thus an overload is taken thereto, a power is not supplied to the management equipment  300  for MCS due to a power malfunctioning, or the management equipment  300  for MCS is abnormally operated, the switch  320  sets the packet data transmission path so that the data transmitted and received between the MCS  100  and the external device  200  is permitted to bypass the connection limitation unit  310 . By this configuration, the packet data transmitted and received between the MCS  100  and the external device  200  is no longer analyzed, thereby accomplishing high availability more efficiently.  
      The sensor  330  is configured to sense the communication state between the MCS  100  and the external device  200 . In other words, the sensor  330  senses the communication state between the MCS  100  and the external device  200  at a real time in order to detect the abnormal communication state that the CPU use rate of the management equipment  300  for MCS is above the reference value and thus an overload is taken thereto, a power is not supplied to the management equipment  300  for MCS due to a power malfunctioning, or the management equipment  300  for MCS is abnormally operated. Since this communication state sensing process is already known in various manners in the art before filing the invention, details thereof are omitted here for the sake of brevity.  
      The controller  340  provide the switch  320  with the switching control signal to get the data transmitted and received between the MCS  100  and the external device  200  to bypass the connection limitation unit  310  if the communication state between the MCS  100  and the external device  200  is sensed as the abnormal state by the sensor  330 . That is, the controller  340  generates a switching control signal to allow the data transmitted and received between the MCS  100  and the external device  200  to pass through the connection limitation unit  310  if it is judged that the communication state between the MCS  100  and the external device  200  is normal; and a switching control signal to have the data transmitted and received between the MCS  100  and the external device  200  to bypass the connection limitation unit  310  if it is judged that the communication state between the MCS  100  and the external device  200  is abnormal. The switching control signal so generated is then provided to the switch  320 . Accordingly, the invention can prevent various kinds of malignant codes from infiltrating into the MCS  100 , and also maintain high availability under a minimum influence of the communication state between the MCS  100  and the external device  200 .  
      In short, the management equipment  300  for MCS according to the invention senses the communication state between the MCS  100  and the external device  200  through the sensor  330  and then provides the switch  320  with the switching control signal depending upon the sensed communication state, to allow the data transmitted and received between the MCS  100  and the external device  200  to pass through or bypass the connection limitation unit  310 , wherein in response to the switch control signal, the switch  320  is switched accordingly. In case of the normal communication state, the packet data transmitted and received between the MCS  100  and the external device  200  is delivered to the connection limitation unit  310  and then analyzed therein to thereby prevent various kinds of malignant codes from penetrating into the MCS  100 . And, in case of the abnormal communication state, the transmission and reception of the packet data between the MCS  100  and the external device  200  is made without passing through the connection limitation unit  310 , thereby maintaining high availability under a minimum influence of the communication state between the MCS  100  and the external device  200 .  
      As a result, the management equipment for MCS according to the invention has an advantage in that, in case where a communication state between the MCS and an external device is normal, packet data transmitted and received between the MCS and the external device is delivered to a connection limitation unit and then analyzed therein to thereby prevent various kinds of malignant codes from penetrating into the MCS; and upon an abnormal communication state, the transmission and reception of the packet data between the MCS and the external device is made without passing through the connection limitation unit to thereby prevent various kinds of malignant codes from penetrating into the MCS under a minimum influence of the communication state between the MCS and the external device while maintaining high availability.  
      As described above, the present invention can achieve the object of the invention through the use of the efficient management equipment for MCS, as set forth above.  
      While the present invention has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims.