초록 ▼

A system and method for monitoring and maintaining a communication network include the capability to determining connection and configuration parameters of network elements. The system and method also include the capability to monitor performance characteristics of network elements to recognize faul

A system and method for monitoring and maintaining a communication network include the capability to determining connection and configuration parameters of network elements. The system and method also include the capability to monitor performance characteristics of network elements to recognize faults within the communication network.

대표청구항 ▼

A system and method for monitoring and maintaining a communication network include the capability to determining connection and configuration parameters of network elements. The system and method also include the capability to monitor performance characteristics of network elements to recognize faul

A system and method for monitoring and maintaining a communication network include the capability to determining connection and configuration parameters of network elements. The system and method also include the capability to monitor performance characteristics of network elements to recognize faults within the communication network. ognize both said connection protocol packet and said network status evaluation registers and modify a content of said network status evaluation registers before returning a confirmation packet with said network status evaluation registers appended thereto; monitoring for a return of a connection confirmation packet with said registers appended; and upon return of said connection confirmation package, forwarding said registers to a network monitoring utility for processing of data stored in said registers, wherein said network monitoring utility is associated with said network library extensions utility. 7. The method of claim 1, wherein said one or more extended library functions includes a secure socket layer function, and said calling step further includes the steps of: encoding data being transmitted out to said network; and decoding data being received at said computer system from said network. 8. The method of claim 1, wherein said one or more extended library functions includes a reliability, availability and serviceability (RAS) tracking function, and said dynamically implementing step further includes the steps of activating RAS tracking for sent and received transmissions on said network during a pre-determined network process completed by one of said network library services, wherein said RAS tracking is only activated for said pre-determined network process. 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of enabling removal of an association previously made within said code sequence, wherein said removal is a user removal or a dynamic removal based on pre-defined criteria and occurrence of pre-set conditions, such as, time of the day, type of transmission being completed, and level of security required. 10. A method for extending network library services on a computer system comprising the steps of: opening a network extension library graphical user interface (GUI), which displays a list of a plurality of available network library extensions that may be selected by a user to apply to a network library function for controlling network activity; selecting at least one of the plurality of available network extension functions; and dynamically associating said at least one network extension function with said network library services, wherein subsequent network access operations are subject to the functionality associated with said at least one network library extension along with standard network library functions. 11. The method of claim 10, wherein said selecting step further includes the step of setting associated elements, including relative priority, for said particular network extension function. 12. The method of claim 10, wherein said associating step is completed by choosing an option to apply said user selections to said network library services and said user selections are linked to specific sections of network library services code and are implemented during network processing according to their relative positions within said code. 13. A system for extending network library services within a computer system comprising: a library extension utility having additional network library services as functional elements; a network control utility for managing a placement and removal of hooks associated with said functional elements within a code sequence of said network library services, wherein selected ones of said functional elements are activated by a user and said network control utility enables initiating of a call to execute a selected functional element when a hook associated with a user-selected functional element is encountered; and network function processing mechanism for executing said code sequence with said hooks so that the functional elements of said library extension utility are implemented whenever a hook is encountered in said code sequence to effectively extend the available network library services. 14. The system of claim 13, wherein said control utility includes means for placing said hooks within said code sequence based on a relative priority of said functional elements to said network library services. 15. A computer program product for enhancing network library services within a computer system, said program product comprising: a computer readable medium; and program instructions stored on said computer readable medium for: extending software implemented network library functions with a network utility comprised of a plurality of user-selectable network library extensions that each provide a functional operation on data being sent and received from said computer system to an external network, wherein functions related to select ones of said plurality of additional library extensions are added to existing network library services based on selection by a user, and wherein said selected library extensions are each associated with said network library services via a link that associates the library extension with a specific code sequence of said network library services;and when a network process is being completed via said network library services, dynamically implementing the user-selected ones of said network library extensions within a pre-set order of said code sequence for implementing standard network library services. 16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein said program instructions for said establishing step includes program instructions for initiating an installation of a network library extension utility into a processing environment of said computer system, wherein the installation places a series of software hooks at specific locations within said code sequence to initiate the selected ones of the library extensions; and wherein subsequent execution of said network library functions results in a system call to implement a related one of said extended services when a hook associated with one of the selected library extensions is found within the code sequence. 17. The computer program product of claim 16, further comprising program instructions for: displaying a graphical user interface for user selection of specific ones of said network library extension functions desired to be included in an execution path for network processes provided by said network library services; receiving said user selections; and automatically applying hooks linking each of said selected library extensions to said code sequence of said network library services, wherein only the user-selected library extensions are initiated during execution of said network library services. 18. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein said program instructions for said initiating step includes program instructions for automatically modifying said code sequence based on criteria related to functional elements within said network library extension utility. 19. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein said program instructions for said automatically applying step includes program instructions for placing said hooks within said code sequence based on a determination of a relative priority of each of said one or more functions to said network library services. 20. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein said one or more functions includes a network connection monitoring function and further including program instructions for: appending a set of network status evaluation registers to a connection protocol packet; issuing said connection protocol packet out to said network, wherein a remote network device receiving said connection protocol packet is configured with a connection protocol designed to enable said device to recognize both said connection protocol packet and said network status evaluation registers and modify a content of said network status evaluation registers before returning a confirmation packet with said network status evaluation registers appended thereto; monitoring for a return of a connection confirmation packet with said regist