Method and apparatus for diagnosing connectivity problems from a network management station
원문보기
IPC분류정보
국가/구분
United States(US) Patent
등록
국제특허분류(IPC7판)
G06F-015/173
G06F-015/16
출원번호
US-0396935
(2003-03-24)
등록번호
US-7457866
(2008-11-25)
발명자
/ 주소
Hackworth,Brian M.
Lam,Sahn
출원인 / 주소
NetApp, Inc.
대리인 / 주소
Perkins Coie LLP
인용정보
피인용 횟수 :
3인용 특허 :
6
초록▼
A network management station manages multiple devices on a network, which may include storage appliances, caching appliances, and other devices. The network management station includes software that assists a network administrator by diagnosing a connectivity problem relating to a device on the netw
A network management station manages multiple devices on a network, which may include storage appliances, caching appliances, and other devices. The network management station includes software that assists a network administrator by diagnosing a connectivity problem relating to a device on the network. To diagnose the connectivity problem, the software attempts to communicate with the device from the management station by separately using each of multiple communication protocols, including one or more device type-specific protocols. The software identifies possible causes for the connectivity problem based on the results of using the different protocols. The software generates a graphical user interface indicating the individual results of attempting to communicate with the device using the different protocols and the possible causes for the connectivity problem. Based on the information presented, the administrator can more effectively troubleshoot the connectivity problem.
대표청구항▼
What is claimed is: 1. A method comprising: generating a user interface to enable a user of a network management station to control management functions on a set of devices managed by the network management station via a network; in the network management station, detecting a connectivity problem r
What is claimed is: 1. A method comprising: generating a user interface to enable a user of a network management station to control management functions on a set of devices managed by the network management station via a network; in the network management station, detecting a connectivity problem related to accessing a device on the network; receiving, via the user interface, a command from the user of the network management station, the command for initiating a diagnostic process from the network management station in relation to the device; executing the diagnostic process from the management station in response to the command, wherein the diagnostic process includes applying a set of heuristics to diagnose the connectivity problem, including determining a device type to which the device belongs, from a plurality of device types that can be managed by the network management station; selecting a device type-specific protocol according to the device type to which the device belongs; and after determining the device type to which the device belongs, attempting to communicate with the device from the network management station by separately using each of a plurality of communication protocols, including said device type-specific protocol; and displaying to the user, via the user interface, results of the diagnostic process, including displaying information about the device and displaying individual results of attempts to communicate with the device with each of the plurality of communication protocols. 2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the device is a network appliance. 3. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the device is a network storage appliance. 4. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the device is a network caching appliance. 5. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein if the device is determined to be a network storage server, the device type-specific protocol comprises a communication protocol specific to a network storage server device type. 6. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein if the device is determined to be a network caching appliance, the device type-specific protocol comprises a communication protocol specific to a network caching appliance device type. 7. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the device type-specific protocol is a version of XML. 8. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the device type-specific protocol is a version of SOAP. 9. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the plurality of communication protocols comprises: SNMP, ICMP, HTTP, and at least one of: NDMP, RSH or SSH. 10. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein said detecting a connectivity problem is in response to user input, from a user of the network management station, specifying a device to be added to a set of devices managed by the network management station. 11. A method for a network management station to diagnose a connectivity problem on a network, the method comprising: generating a user interface to enable a user of the network management station to control management functions on a set of devices managed by the network management station via a network; attempting to establish connectivity from the network management station to a device on the network in response to first user input from a user of the network management station via the user interface; in response to a connectivity problem being detected by the network management station during said attempting to establish connectivity to the device, prompting the user to enable the user to initiate execution of a diagnostic process to diagnose the connectivity problem; in response to receiving second user input via the user interface, executing the diagnostic process from the network management station in relation to the device, wherein the diagnostic process includes applying a set of heuristics to diagnose the connectivity problem, including determining a device type to which the device belongs, from a plurality of device types that can be monitored by the network management station, the plurality of device types including a network storage appliance device type and a network caching appliance device type; and attempting to communicate with the device using each of a plurality of communication protocols, wherein if the device is determined to be a network storage appliance, the plurality of communication protocols comprises a communication protocol specific to the network storage appliance device type, and if the device is determined to be a network caching appliance, the plurality of communication protocols comprises a communication protocol specific to the network caching appliance device type, and displaying to the user, via the user interface, results of the diagnostic process, including displaying information about the device and displaying individual results of attempts to communicate with the device with each of the plurality of communication protocols. 12. A network management station comprising: a processor; a web server coupled with the processor, to communicate with a web browser to generate a user interface enabling a user of the network management station to control management functions on a set of devices managed by the network management station via a network, and to receive, via the user interface, a command from the user of the network management station, the command for initiating a diagnostic process from the network management station in relation to a device on the network; and a monitor unit coupled with the processor, the monitor unit to monitor the set of, the monitor unit further to detect a connectivity problem associated with the device, and to execute a diagnostic process in response to a command received from a user of the management station via the user interface, wherein the diagnostic process includes applying a set of heuristics to diagnose the connectivity problem, including determining a device type to which the device belongs, from a plurality of device types that can be managed by the network management station; selecting a device type-specific protocol according to the device type to which the device belongs; and after determining the device type to which the device belongs, attempting to communicate with the device by separately using each of a plurality of communication protocols, including said device type-specific protocol; wherein the web server is configured to cause the web browser to display to the user, via the user interface, results of the diagnostic process, including displaying information about the device and displaying individual results of attempts to communicate with the device with each of the plurality of communication protocols. 13. A network management station as recited in claim 12, wherein the device is a network appliance. 14. A network management station as recited in claim 13, wherein the device is a storage server. 15. A network management station as recited in claim 13, wherein the device is a caching appliance. 16. A network management station as recited in claim 12, wherein the monitor unit is configured to determine whether the device is a network file server, wherein if the device is determined to be a network file server, the device type-specific protocol comprises a communication protocol specific to a network file server device type. 17. A network management station as recited in claim 12, wherein the monitor unit is configured to determine whether the device is a network caching appliance, wherein if the device is determined to be a network caching appliance, the device type-specific protocol comprises a communication protocol specific to a network caching appliance device type. 18. A network management station as recited in claim 12, wherein the plurality of communication protocols comprises: SNMP, ICMP, HTTP, and at least one of: NDMP, RSH or SSH. 19. A network management station as recited in claim 18, wherein the plurality of protocols further comprises a version of SOAP. 20. A network management station as recited in claim 18, wherein the plurality of protocols further comprises a version of XML. 21. A network management station as recited in claim 12, wherein said attempting to establish connectivity to a device on the network is in response to user input, from a user of the network management station, specifying a device to be added to a set of devices managed by the network management station. 22. A network management station as recited in claim 12, wherein said executing the diagnostic process to diagnose the connectivity problem is in response to user input from a user of the network management station. 23. A network management station comprising: a processor; a communication device to enable the network management station to communicate over a network with a plurality of devices managed by the network management station; and a memory storing management software which, when executed by the processor, causes the network management station to perform a process which includes generating a user interface to enable a user of the network management station to control management functions on the plurality of devices; attempting to establish connectivity to a device on the network, detecting a connectivity problem during said attempting to establish connectivity to the device, receiving, via the user interface, a command from the user of the network management station, the command for initiating a diagnostic process from the network management station in relation to the device; executing the diagnostic process in response to the command to diagnose the connectivity problem, the diagnostic process including applying a set of heuristics to diagnose the connectivity problem, including determining a device type to which the device belongs, from a plurality of device types that can be managed by the network management station; selecting a device type-specific protocol according to the device type to which the device belongs; and after determining the device type to which the device belongs, attempting to communicate with the device by separately using each of a plurality of communication protocols, including said device type-specific protocol, and displaying to the user, via the user interface, results of the diagnostic process, including displaying information about the device and displaying individual results of attempts to communicate with the device with each of the plurality of communication protocols. 24. A network management station as recited in claim 23, wherein the device is a network appliance. 25. A network management station as recited in claim 24, wherein the device is a storage server. 26. A network management station as recited in claim 24, wherein the device is a caching appliance. 27. A network management station as recited in claim 23, wherein determining a device type to which the device belongs comprises determining whether the device is a network file server, wherein if the device is determined to be a network file server, the device type-specific protocol comprises a communication protocol specific to a network file server device type. 28. A network management station as recited in claim 23, wherein determining a device type to which the device belongs comprises determining whether the device is a network caching appliance, wherein if the device is determined to be a network caching appliance, the device type-specific protocol comprises a communication protocol specific to a network caching appliance device type. 29. A network management station as recited in claim 23, wherein the plurality of communication protocols comprises: SNMP, ICMP, HTTP, and at least one of: NDMP, RSH or SSH. 30. A network management station as recited in claim 29, wherein the plurality of protocols further comprises a version of SOAP. 31. A network management station as recited in claim 29, wherein the plurality of protocols further comprises a version of XML. 32. A network management station as recited in claim 23, wherein said attempting to establish connectivity to a device on the network is in response to user input, from a user of the network management station, specifying a device to be added to a set of devices managed by the network management station. 33. A network management station as recited in claim 23, wherein said process is executed in response to user input from a user of the network management station. 34. A network management station comprising: means for generating a user interface to enable a user of the network management station to control management functions on a set of devices managed by the network management station via a network; means for detecting a connectivity problem related to accessing a device on the network; means for receiving, via the user interface, a command from the user of the network management station, the command for initiating a diagnostic process from the network management station in relation to the device; means for executing the diagnostic process in response to the command to diagnose the connectivity problem, the diagnostic process including applying a set of heuristics, including determining a device type to which the device belongs, from a plurality of device types that can be managed by the network management station; selecting a device type-specific protocol according to the device type to which the device belongs; and attempting to communicate with the device from the network management station after determining the device type to which the device belongs, by separately using each of a plurality of communication protocols, including said device type-specific protocol; and means for displaying to the user, via the user interface, results of the diagnostic process, including displaying information about the device and displaying individual results of attempts to communicate with the device with each of the plurality of communication protocols. 35. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the plurality of device types that can be managed by the network management station comprise a storage server device type and a network caching appliance device type, wherein if the device is determined to be a network storage server, the device type-specific protocol comprises a communication protocol specific to a network storage server device type, and wherein if the device is determined to be a network caching appliance, the device type-specific protocol comprises a communication protocol specific to a network caching appliance device type. 36. A network management station as recited in claim 12, wherein the plurality of device types that can be managed by the network management station comprise a storage server device type and a network caching appliance device type, wherein if the device is determined to be a network storage server, the device type-specific protocol comprises a communication protocol specific to a network storage server device type, and wherein if the device is determined to be a network caching appliance, the device type-specific protocol comprises a communication protocol specific to a network caching appliance device type. 37. A network management station as recited in claim 23, wherein the plurality of device types that can be managed by the network management station comprise a storage server device type and a network caching appliance device type, wherein if the device is determined to be a network storage server, the device type-specific protocol comprises a communication protocol specific to a network storage server device type, and wherein if the device is determined to be a network caching appliance, the device type-specific protocol comprises a communication protocol specific to a network caching appliance device type. 38. A method comprising: generating a user interface to enable a user of a network management station to control management functions on a set of devices managed by the network management station via a network; in the network management station, detecting a connectivity problem related to accessing a device which is a network storage server or a network caching device on the network; receiving, via the user interface, a command from the user of the network management station, the command for initiating a diagnostic process from the network management station in relation to the device; executing the diagnostic process from the management station in response to the command, wherein the diagnostic process includes applying a set of heuristics to diagnose the connectivity problem, including: determining a device type to which the device belongs, that can be managed by the network management station, wherein the device type is one of: network storage server or network caching device; selecting a device type specific protocol according to the device type to which the device belongs; and after determining the device type to which the device belongs, attempting to communicate with the device from the network management station by using each of a plurality of communication protocols; including said device type specific protocol; and displaying to the user, via the user interface, results of the diagnostic process, including displaying information about the device and displaying individual results of attempts to communicate with the device with each of the plurality of communication protocols. 39. A method as recited in claim 38, wherein if the device is determined to be a network storage device, the device type-specific protocol comprises a communication protocol specific to a network storage device type. 40. A method as recited in claim 38, wherein if the device is determined to be a network caching device, the device type-specific protocol comprises a communication protocol specific to a network caching device type. 41. A method as recited in claim 38, wherein the device type-specific protocol is a version of XML. 42. A method as recited in claim 38, wherein the device type-specific protocol is a version of SOAP. 43. A method as recited in claim 38, wherein the plurality of communication protocols comprises: SNMP, ICMP, HTTP, and at least one of: NDMP, RSH or SSH.
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이 특허에 인용된 특허 (6)
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