Graphical user interface for computer management system and an associated management information base

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A method for managing from a management console, a plurality of file servers networked thereto, each said file server having at least one manageable device associated therewith, comprising the steps of:

displaying, at said management console, a list of said networked file servers;

selecting, from a list of said networked file servers, a file server to be managed;

displaying a plurality of subsystems for said selected file server;

selecting, from said plurality of displayed subsystems, a subsystem to be viewed;

selectively viewing management information which describes said selected subsystem; and

modifying the operation of said selected file server based upon said viewed management information

wherein said subsystems for each said file server include a first subsystem which contains management information for a first manageable device associated with said file server and a second subsystem which contains management information for said file server.

2. A method for managing a plurality of file servers according to claim 1 and further comprising the steps of:

receiving, at said management console, an alert notification;

accessing an alert log from said management console;

viewing, in said alert log, details of an alert causing said alert notification;

wherein the selection of said file server subsystem management information to be viewed is based upon said viewed alert details.

3. A method for managing a plurality of file servers according to claim 2 wherein said subsystems for each said file server include a fourth subsystem which contains environmental information for said file server acquired by said second manageable device.

4. A method for managing a plurality of file servers according to claim 1 wherein said subsystems for each said file server include a third subsystem which contains management information for said first manageable device acquired by a second manageable device associated with said file server.

5. For a management information base (MIB) containing management information for a file server having at least one manageable device associated therewith and from which management information is acquired therefrom, said file server further including a server manager for collecting management information for a first one of said at least one manageable device and said MIB information including said management information collected by said server manager, a management system comprising:

means for arranging a first portion of said MIB information into a first subsystem containing management information describing a first manageable device associated with said file server;

means for arranging a second portion of said MIB information into a second subsystem containing management information for said file server;

means for arranging a third portion of said MIB information into a third subsystem which contains management information acquired by said server manager for said first one of said at least one manageable devices; and

means for selectively accessing said MIB information for each of said first, second and third subsystems.

6. A management system according to claim 1 wherein said management system further comprises means for arranging a fourth portion of said MIB information into a fourth subsystem which contains management information acquired by said server manager for said first one of said at least one manageable devices and management information for said file server.

7. A management system according to claim 5 wherein said at least one manageable device associated with said file server further comprises a system board associated therewith and wherein said means for arranging a first portion of said MIB information into a first subsystem which contains management information describing a first manageable device associated with said file server further comprises means for arranging said first portion of said MIB information into a system board subsystem which contains said management information from said first portion which describes said system board.

8. A management system according to claim 7 wherein said at least one manageable device associated with said file server further comprises an expansion board associated therewith and wherein said means for arranging a first portion of said MIB information into a first subsystem which contains management information describing a first manageable device associated with said file server further comprises means for arranging said first portion of said MIB information into an expansion boards subsystem which contains said management information from said first portion which describes said expansion board.

9. A management system according to claim 7 wherein said at least one manageable device associated with said file server further comprises a disk storage system associated therewith and wherein said means for arranging a first portion of said MIB information into a first subsystem which corresponds to a first manageable device associated with said file server further comprises means for arranging said first portion of said MIB information into a disk storage subsystem which contains said management information from said first portion which describes said disk storage system.

10. A management system according to claim 7 wherein said means for arranging a second portion of said MIB information into a second subsystem which contains management information for said file server further comprises means for arranging said second portion of said MIB information into a configuration subsystem which contains said management information from said second portion which describes the configuration of said file server.

11. A management system according to claim 10 wherein said means for arranging a second portion of said MIB information into a second subsystem which contains management information describing said file server further comprises means for arranging said second portion of said MIB information into a security configuration subsystem which contains said management information describing the security configuration of said file server.

12. A management system according to claim 7 wherein said file server further comprises a server manager associated therewith for collecting management information for said system board, said MIB information including said management information collected by said server manager, and wherein said means for arranging said MIB information for said at least one manageable device associated with said file server into at least one subsystem further comprises:

means for arranging a third portion of said MIB information into a third subsystem which contains management information acquired by said server manager for said first one of said at least one manageable devices;

wherein at least part of said second portion of said MIB information arranged in said second subsystem which contains management information for said file server is acquired by said server manager.

13. A management system according to claim 12 wherein said means for arranging a second portion of said MIB information into a second subsystem which contains management information describing said file server and at least partially acquired by said server manager further comprises means for arranging said second portion of said MIB information into an environment subsystem which contains said management information related to internal temperature and voltage of said file server, said management information related to internal temperature and voltage being acquired by said server manager.

14. A management system according to claim 12 wherein said means for arranging a second portion of said MIB information into a second subsystem which contains management information describing said file server and at least partially acquired by said server manager further comprises means for arranging said second portion of said MIB information into an input/output (I/O) ports subsystem which contains said management information related to I/O ports of said file server, said management information related to said I/O ports being partially acquired by said server manager.

15. For a management information base (MIB) containing management information for a file server having at least one manageable device associated therewith from which said management information is acquired therefrom, said manageable devices associated therewith including a system board, an expansion board, a disk storage system and a server manager, said server manager configured to collect management information from said system board, a management system comprising:

means for arranging a first portion of said MIB information containing management information describing said system board into a first, manageable device specific, subsystem;

means for arranging a second portion of said MIB information containing management information describing said expansion board into a second, manageable device specific, subsystem;

means for arranging a third portion of said MIB information containing management information describing said disk storage system into a third, manageable device specific, subsystem;

means for arranging a fourth portion of said MIB information containing management information describing configuration of said file server into a fourth, non-manageable device specific, subsystem;

means for arranging a fifth portion of said MIB information containing management information describing security configuration for said file server into a fifth, non-manageable device specific, subsystem;

means for arranging a sixth portion of said MIB information containing management information describing said server manager into a sixth, manageable device specific, subsystem;

means for arranging a seventh portion of said MIB information containing management information describing input/output (I/O) ports of said file server into a seventh, non-manageable device specific, subsystem;

means for arranging an eighth portion of said MIB information containing management information describing internal environmental conditions of said file server into an eighth, non-manageable device specific, subsystem; and

means for selectively accessing said MIB information for each of said first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth subsystems.

16. A management system according to claim 15 wherein said eighth subsystem containing said non-manageable device specific management information describing internal environmental conditions of said file server is comprised of information collected by said server manager from said system board.

17. A management system according to claim 16 wherein said seventh subsystem containing said non-manageable device specific MIB information describing said I/O ports is comprised of information acquired from said manageable devices and information collected by said server manager from said system board.

18. A management system according to claim 17 wherein said fourth subsystem containing said non-manageable device specific information describing configuration of said file server is comprised of a combination of information available from said remaining subsystems and information uniquely provided to said fourth subsystem.

19. For a management information base (MIB) containing management information describing a plurality of networked file servers, each having a plurality of manageable devices associated therewith and described by said management information contained in said MIB, a management system comprising:

means for selectively accessing said MIB information describing each of said plurality of file servers; and

means for selectively accessing said MIB information describing each of said plurality of manageable devices associated with said selected file server;

wherein said plurality of manageable devices associated with each of said file servers further comprises a system board and a server manager for acquiring management information related to the operation of said system board; and

wherein said means for selectively accessing said MIB information describing each of said plurality of manageable devices associated with said selected file server further comprises means for selectively accessing MIB information describing said system board associated with said selected file server and means for selectively accessing said MIB information acquired by said server manager for said system board.

20. A management system according to claim 19 wherein each of said system boards further comprises at least one processor and/or coprocessor and wherein said means for selectively accessing said MIB information describing said system board associated with said selected file server further comprises means for selectively accessing said MIB information describing each of said processors and/or coprocessors of said selected system board.

21. A management system according to claim 19 wherein said plurality of manageable devices associated with each of said file servers further comprises an expansion board and wherein said means for selectively accessing said MIB information describing each of said plurality of manageable devices associated with said selected file server further comprises means for selectively accessing said MIB information describing said expansion board associated with said selected file server.

22. A management system according to claim 19 wherein said plurality of manageable devices associated with each of said file servers further comprises a disk storage system and wherein said means for selectively accessing said MIB information describing each of said plurality of manageable devices associated with said selected file server further comprises means for selectively accessing said MIB information describing said disk storage system associated with said selected file server.

23. A management system according to claim 22 wherein each of said disk storage systems further comprise at least one hard disk drive, internal intelligent disk array and/or external intelligent disk array and wherein said means for selectively accessing said MIB information describing said disk storage system associated with said selected file server further comprises means for selectively accessing said MIB information describing each of said hard disk drive, internal intelligent disk array and/or external intelligent disk arrays of said selected disk storage system.

24. A management system according to claim 23 wherein said means for selectively accessing said MIB information describing each of said hard disk drive, internal intelligent disk array and/or external intelligent disk arrays for said selected disk storage system further comprises:

means for accessing a physical drive map for each of said internal intelligent disk arrays; and

means for accessing a physical drive map for each of said external intelligent disk arrays.

25. A management system according to claim 24 wherein said means for accessing a physical drive map for each of said internal intelligent disk arrays further comprises:

means for determining, from said physical drive map for said selected internal intelligent disk array, statuses of logical drives mapped to said selected internal intelligent disk array; and

means for accessing, from said physical drive map for said selected internal intelligent disk array, information related to said statuses of said logical drives mapped to said selected internal intelligent disk array.

26. A management system according to claim 25 wherein said means for accessing a physical drive map for each of said external intelligent disk arrays further comprises:

means for determining, from said physical drive map for said selected external intelligent disk array, statuses of logical drives mapped to said selected internal intelligent disk array; and

means for accessing, from said physical drive map, information related to said statuses of said logical drives mapped to said selected external intelligent disk array.

27. A management system according to claim 19 wherein said server manager monitors said system board to acquire management information therefrom in the form of objects, performs object management on said acquired management information and generates alerts based on said performed object management and wherein said means for selectively accessing said MIB information describing said server manager subsystem for said selected file server further comprises means for selectively accessing management information regarding innate monitoring status, object space and alert status for said server manager.

28. A management system according to claim 27 wherein said file server further comprises a plurality of input/output (I/O) ports for coupling peripheral devices thereto and wherein said means for selectively accessing said MIB information describing each of said plurality of manageable devices associated with said selected file server further comprises means for selectively accessing said MIB information describing said I/O ports for said selected file server.

29. A management system according to claim 28 wherein said means for selectively accessing said MIB information describing said I/O ports for said selected file server further comprises means for accessing management information acquired by said server manager which describes said I/O ports.

30. A management system according to claim 27 wherein said means for selectively accessing said MIB information for each of said plurality of manageable devices associated with said selected file server further comprises means for selectively accessing said MIB information which describes environmental conditions for said selected file server.

31. A management system according to claim 30 wherein said means for selectively accessing said MIB information which describes environmental conditions for said selected file server further comprises means for accessing management information acquired by said server manager which describes environmental conditions for said file server.

32. A management system according to claim 31 wherein said means for accessing management information acquired by said server manager which describes said environment subsystem for said file server further comprises means for accessing a graphical analysis of the internal temperature and voltage of said selected file server.

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facisimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to a computer management system and, more particularly, to a computer management system having plural instrumentation agents for querying manageable devices to collect object data, an associated enterprise management information base (or "MIB") for storing object data in accordance with a specified MIB architecture and a graphical user interface (or "GUI") for managing the manageable devices using the enterprise MIB.

2. Description of Related Art

The Internet community has defined an organizational framework of data and provides a naming authority allowing any company or group to define information within the framework in a way that allows any or all of this data to coexist. Under the control of the International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee (or "CCITT") and the International Organization for Standardization (or "ISO"), the organizational framework has been constructed as a tree. The root of the tree is managed by CCITT and ISO. Extending from the root of the tree are a series of branches defined by CCITT and ISO. However, while the branch is initially defined by the managing authority, authority for the branch may then be given to another organization for defining the child branches for that branch. FIG. 1 illustrates the structure of the organizational framework defined by the Internet community and is included here so that the relationship of the enterprise MIB subject of the present application and the remainder of the Internet community will be clear.

Every piece of information within the organizational framework is configured in a formal grammar and referred to by its full name so that it can be unambiguously specified, thereby making information transfers within an interoperable network system possible. A series of dotted decimal notations, each separated by periods, specifies all of the branches needed to reach a particular item. For example, all items originating in a private enterprise would be headed by the notation "1.3.6.1.4.1". From a specific private enterprise, an item would be identified using the name 1.3.6.1.4.1.XXX.YY where "XXX" is an identifier assigned to that enterprise by the ISO and "YY" is an identifier assigned to that particular item by enterprise "XXX" under the authority of the ISO.

Simple Network Management Protocol (or "SNMP") is a protocol widely used within the Internet community for interoperable network management The SNMP protocol defines a set of commands that a management application may use to retrieve or change the value of items that a management agent is making available. The Internet community also maintains a series of documents which describe the communication protocols used by the community. These documents are called "Request for Comments" and are commonly referred to as "RFCs". Each RFC is assigned a number to identify the document. For example, RFC 1212 defines the formal grammar for a SNMP MIB.

A MIB is a data base that describes a set of items that management applications and agents use to report and control managed devices. A description of a MIB starts with a line that states the name of the MIB being defined. Typically, the name of the MIB is followed by an import statement which allows the MIB writer to specify information from other well known MIBs that are referred to in the MIB being defined. Within a MIB is a structure for organizing managed items. To form the structure, the MIB defines a group or groups for organizing related pieces of information. A group is defined by stating a name for the group and showing how the group fits into the tree. Typically, all group definitions are placed immediately following the IMPORTS statement. Groups may contain information in the form of items or "objects", sub-groups, or a combination of the two. Similarly, each sub-group is configured like a group.

Within a group or sub-group, data may be organized in one of two basic methods. A scalar item is a single piece of information that is within a group. For example, the total memory in a server is a scalar item. A table is a structure for organizing data that requires more information to uniquely identify a single data item within a group of similar items. An example of an item that is best organized in a table is an EISA board ID. It is necessary for someone requesting an EISA board ID to specify the EISA board to which they are referring.

Each item, either scalar or part of a table, defined in a MIB includes a description which explains the item. Typically, the description includes SYNTAX, ACCESS, STATUS and DESCRIPTION clauses. The SYNTAX clause specifies the type of information which the item contains. Information types typically specified by the SYNTAX clause include INTEGER, OCTET STRING, Counter and DisplayString. INTEGER specifies that the value of the item should be interpreted as a number. OCTET STRING specifies that the value of the item should be interpreted as a string of octets, each having a value between 0 and 255. Counter specifies that the item is an INTEGER that has an implied range of zero to FFFFFFFF. DisplayString specifies that the item is an OCTET STRING where each octet is restricted to a printable ASCII character.

The ACCESS clause specifies the ways the item may be used and shows the actions which the agent may support for the item. ACCESS may be read-only, read-write or not-accessible. Read-only means that the value of the item may be retrieved by a management application but may not be altered. Read-write means that the item may be read and/or altered by a management application. Not-accessible is given as the access for organizational constructs that do not represent data items. Not-accessible is used only for table features and should not be used for a scaler item. The STATUS clause specifies whether the item is required for an agent that supports the defined group. A STATUS of mandatory means that the item will always be present if the defined group is supported by the agent. A STATUS of optional means that a particular implementation has the option of supporting the item. The DESCRIPTION clause contains a double quote delimited text description of the item. Finally, the item definition ends by specifying how the item fits into the MIB tree. The group the item belongs to is given, followed by the unique branch number within the group for the item.

To organize a table requires the use of two additional operators, the SEQUENCE operator and the SEQUENCE OF operator. The SEQUENCE operator allows the definition of a new type that consists of several standard types in a specific order. The SEQUENCE OF operator allows the definition of a list of zero or more of the same type of elements. A table is formed by defining a SEQUENCE, typically called a table entry. A table is defined as a SEQUENCE OF the table entry type. As there is no data that is uniquely referred to by the name of the table or entry, the STATUS of the table and the table entry is not-accessible. The INDEX clause specifies the items that can be used to uniquely identify an element in the table.

A MIB may also contain trap definitions. A trap is a notification sent by the SNMP agent to a management console. The trap is sent to inform the management console about an event that has occurred on the managed system. The trap definition begins with the name of the trap, followed by the term TRAP-TYPE. An ENTERPRISE clause follows to indicate the MIB in which the trap is defined. An optional VARIABLES clause may also be included to specify additional information that will be sent in the trap. Typically, the additional information contained in the VARIABLES clause will be items defined in the MIB identified in the ENTERPRISE clause. A DESCRIPTION clause which explains the significance of the trap and the conditions that would cause it to be sent follows. Finally, the trap is given a number to identify it. The number will be unique within the scope of the ENTERPRISE. Both the enterprise name and the trap number are used by the management station to uniquely determine the identity of a received trap.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one aspect, the present invention is of a management system for a file server having at least one manageable device associated therewith from which management information is acquired therefrom and arranged in a management information base (or "MIB"). The management system includes means for arranging the MIB information into at least one subsystem and means for selectively accessing the MIB information for each of the subsystems. In one aspect, each subsystem contains management information describing a manageable device associated with the file server. In further aspects thereof, the file server includes a server manager for collecting management information for the manageable devices and, in this aspect, the management information may be further arranged into a third subsystem which contains management information acquired by the server manager and a fourth subsystem which contains management information acquired by the server manager and management information for the file server itself.

In further aspects thereof, the manageable devices may include a system board, an expansion board and a disk storage system. In these aspects, the management information is arranged into a system board subsystem which contains management information which describes the system board, an expansion board subsystem which contains management information describing the expansion board, a disk storage subsystem which contains management information describing the disk storage system, a configuration subsystem which contains management information which describes the configuration of the file server, a security configuration subsystem which contains management information which describes the security configuration of the file server, an environment subsystem which contains management information which describes the internal temperature and voltage of the file server and an input/output (or "I/O") subsystem which contains management information which related to I/O ports of the file server.

In another embodiment, the present invention is of a management system for a file server having a system board, an expansion board, a disk storage system and a server manager for collecting management information from the system board. The management system includes means for arranging MIB information for the file server into a first manageable device specific subsystem containing management information describing the system board, a second, manageable device specific, subsystem containing management information describing the expansion board, a third, manageable device specific, subsystem containing management information describing the disk storage system, a fourth, non-manageable device specific, subsystem containing management information describing the configuration of the file server, a fifth, non-manageable device specific, subsystem containing management information describing the security configuration for the file server, a sixth, manageable device specific, subsystem containing management information describing the server manager, a seventh, non-manageable device specific, subsystem containing management information describing I/O ports of the file server, an eighth, non-manageable device specific, subsystem containing management information describing internal environmental conditions of the file server, and means for selectively accessing the management information for each of the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth subsystems. In various aspects thereof, the management information contained in the eighth subsystem is collected from the system board by the server manager, the management information contained in the seventh subsystem is acquired from the manageable devices and information collected from the system board by the server manager, and the management information contained in the fourth subsystem is comprised of a combination of information available from the remaining subsystems and information uniquely provided to the fourth subsystem.

In yet another embodiment, the present invention is of a management system for a plurality of networked file servers, each having a plurality of manageable devices associated therewith and described by management information contained in a MIB. The management system includes means for selectively accessing the MIB information describing each of the file servers and means for selectively accessing the MIB information describing each of the manageable devices associated with a selected file server. In various aspects thereof, each file server may include a system board, a processor and/or coprocessor, an expansion board and a disk storage system, either a hard disk drive, internal intelligent disk array and/or external intelligent disk array. For each of these aspects of the invention, the means for selectively accessing MIB information includes means for selectively accessing the MIB information describing the system board, the processors and/or coprocessors, the expansion board and the disk storage system, either the hard disk drive, internal intelligent disk array and/or external intelligent disk arrays, associated with the selected file server. In a further aspect thereof, the selective access means may further include means for selectively accessing a physical drive map for each of the internal and external intelligent disk arrays and for determining statuses of logical drives mapped to the internal and external intelligent disk arrays.

In still another embodiment, the present invention is of a method for managing plural networked file servers from a management console. A list of the networked file servers is first displayed at the management console. From the list of networked file servers, a file server to be managed is selected and a plurality of subsystems for the selected file server are displayed. From the plurality of displayed subsystems, a subsystem is selected for viewing and management information describing the selected subsystem is selectively viewed. The operation of the selected file server is then modified based upon the viewed management information. In one aspect thereof, an alert notification is received. An alert log is then accessed and details of an alert causing the alert notification. The file server subsystem management information to be viewed is then selected based upon the viewed alert details.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

The present invention may be better understood, and its numerous objects, features and advantages will become apparent to those skilled in the art by reference to the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a tree illustrating the organizational framework defined by CCITT and ISO for an interoperable network of data;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a computer management system and an associated MIB;

FIG. 3 is an expanded block diagram of the computer management system of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4A is a tree illustrating the organization of an enterprise MIB used in conjunction with the computer management system and associated MIB of FIGS. 2 and 3;

FIG. 4B is an inheritance tree illustrating a MIB revision group commonly configured for each subMIB of the enterprise MIB of FIG. 4A;

FIG. 4C is an inheritance tree illustrating a trap history group similarly configured for plural subMIBs of the enterprise MIB of FIG. 4A;

FIG. 5A is an inheritance tree illustrating a first subMIB of the enterprise MIB of FIG. 4A;

FIG. 5B is an inheritance tree illustrating a processor child group of a component group of the subMIB of FIG. 5A;

FIGS. 5C-1 through 5C-8 is an inheritance tree illustrating an EISA non-volatile memory child group of the component group of the subMIB of FIG. 5A;

FIG. 5D is an inheritance tree illustrating a ROM child group of the component group of the subMIB of FIG. 5A;

FIG. 5E is an inheritance tree illustrating a serial port child group of the component group of the subMIB of FIG. 5A;

FIG. 5F is an inheritance tree illustrating a parallel port child group of the component group of the subMIB of FIG. 5A;

FIG. 5G is an inheritance tree illustrating a floppy disk child group of the component group of the subMIB of FIG. 5A;

FIG. 5H is an inheritance tree illustrating a fixed disk child group of the component group of the subMIB of FIG. 5A;

FIG. 6A is an inheritance tree illustrating a second subMIB of the enterprise MIB of FIG. 4A;

FIG. 6B is an inheritance tree illustrating a system board child group of a component group of the subMIB of FIG. 6A;

FIG. 7A is an inheritance tree illustrating a third subMIB of the enterprise MIB of FIG. 4A;

FIGS. 7B-1 through 7B-2 is an inheritance tree illustrating an interface child group of a component group of the subMIB of FIG. 7A;

FIGS. 7C-1 through 7C-2 is an inheritance tree illustrating a controller child group of the component group of the subMIB of FIG. 7A;

FIG. 7D is an inheritance tree illustrating a logical drive child group of the component group of the subMIB of FIG. 7A;

FIG. 7E is an inheritance tree illustrating a spare drive child group of the component group of the subMIB of FIG. 7A;

FIG. 7F is an inheritance tree illustrating a physical drive child group of the component group of the subMIB of FIG. 7A;

FIG. 8A is an inheritance tree illustrating a fourth subMIB of the enterprise MIB of FIG. 4A;