Graphic user interface for managing a server system

What is claimed is:

1. A method of organizing a graphical user inter-face application facility used for managing an operatively connected server system containing a number of major components and subcomponents, the graphical user inter-face being coupled to a server management framework facility containing graphical display apparatus, the method comprising the steps of: (a) generating for display by the graphical display apparatus, a single hierarchical tree structure representing one of a number of server systems being managed, the tree structure having a number of levels with a root node at a first level and a number of subordinate nodes at succeeding levels, the number of subordinate nodes representing each different major server component of the server system, the major components being logically partitioned into succeeding levels which define subcomponents;

(b) associating and displaying a label representative of the server system at the root node, a number of different labels representative of the different major components at corresponding subordinate nodes and additional labels representative of the different subcomponents at corresponding subordinate nodes at expanded levels of the tree structure until a leaf endpoint is reached, the labels and subordinate nodes being displayed so as to delineate physical and logical relationships of the major components and their respective subcomponents; and

(c) expanding the different levels of the tree structure in response to user selections for enabling a user to navigate through the plurality of levels of the server system for obtaining status and displaying labels representing the different subcomponents of the major components and their logical relationships to each other within the levels being accessed, each leaf endpoint defining a leaf element displaying an information dialog box window as the leaf element of each node and subordinate node, each information dialog box window containing a number of selectable entries which provide visual display of detailed information about the particular major component or subcomponent selected for access for providing rapid information retrieval with a minimum amount of information entities.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein each leaf endpoint defines a leaf element and wherein step (c) further includes displaying an information dialog box window as the leaf element of each node and subordinate node, each information dialog box window containing a number of selectable entries which provide visual display of detailed information about the particular major component or subcomponent selected for access.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein a number of the major components of the first level fall within the following categories: configuration, mass storage and environment.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein each of the labels includes an icon representation of one of the major components or subcomponents of the server system for providing maximum effective visualization of server system major components and subcomponents partitioning.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the method further includes the steps of:

(d) accessing the server system for a number of information items identifying server type and characteristics of the major components and subcomponents of the server system; and,

(e) building the hierarchical tree structure according to the information items defining the characteristics of the server system furnished by the server system.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein step (d) is initially performed when the server system is first selected and the application facility is launched.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the information items defining the characteristics of the server system include items designating the number of central processing units (CPUs), the number of memory subsystems, the number of physical slots, the number of drive bays, the number of power supplies, the number of serial ports, the number of parallel ports, the number of input/output devices including associated controllers and the number of environmental status indications contained within the server system.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the server system is housed in an enclosure and wherein the items defining the number of environmental status indications include enclosure door status and enclosure fan status indicators corresponding in number to a number of sensors contained within the enclosure.

9. The method of claim 5 wherein the accessing and building operations of steps (d) and (e) are repeated each time the graphical user interface application facility is initialized.

10. The method of claim 5 wherein the management framework facility includes a topological map for displaying where the server system is located and wherein the method further includes the step of integrating the graphical user interface application facility within the management framework facility to enable user selection of the server system for launching the graphical user interface application facility as a seamless operation.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the hierarchical tree structure is organized into multilevels enabling the tree structure to be extended to accommodate new types of server systems.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the tree structure is extended by adding a number of new subordinate nodes or deleting a number of existing subordinate nodes either at a particular level or at different succeeding levels.

13. The method of claim 2 wherein the method further includes the step of:

coloring the icons representing major components and their subcomponents in a predetermined manner for signaling occurrences of server system problem conditions at a high level of the tree structure for immediate user identification of each major component associated with a problem condition and user specific identification of any subcomponent of each major component associated with that problem condition through an expansion of the tree structure.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the icon coloration step includes:

allocating a first color for coloring each icon to denote an absence of a problem condition, a second color for coloring each icon to denote an initial problem condition and a third color for coloring each icon to denote a more serious problem condition.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the icon coloration step further includes:

selecting the color for each icon denoting the more serious problem condition upon occurrences of more than one problem condition pertaining to a particular major component.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein the icon coloration step further includes:

recoloring each icon displaying a problem condition to the first color upon removal of that problem condition from the server system.

17. A graphical user interface navigational mechanism which operatively couples to a management facility operatively coupled to a graphical display system, the facility running on a hardware platform for managing a number of server systems containing a number of major components and subcomponents, each of which operate under the control of a network operating system, each server system comprising a plurality of components and at least one management information component for storing information describing a set of server specific variables and the hierarchy used in managing server components, the navigational mechanism comprising:

a tree structure mechanism for displaying a single hierarchical tree representing the server system being managed, the tree structure having a number of levels containing a root node at a first level and a number of subordinate nodes at succeeding levels, the number of subordinate nodes representing each different server major component of the server system, the major components being logically partitioned into succeeding levels defining subcomponents of each logically partitioned major component, the tree structure being operative to associate and display a label representative of the server system at the root node and a number of different labels representative of the different major components and their respective subcomponents at corresponding ones of the number of subordinate nodes at succeeding levels of the tree structure until a leaf endpoint is reached, the labels and subordinate nodes being displayed so as to delineate physical and logical relationships of the major components and their respective subcomponents; and,

a user interface mechanism operatively coupled to the tree structure mechanism, the user interface mechanism responsive to input selections to cause the tree structure mechanism to expand to the different levels of the tree structure for enabling the user to navigate through the plurality of levels of the server system being managed for ascertaining informational status and to display labels corresponding to the different subcomponents of the major components and their logical relationships to each other within the levels being accessed, each leaf endpoint of the tree structure mechanism defining a leaf element which includes components for generating an information dialog box window as the leaf element of each node and each subordinate node, each information dialog box window containing a number of selectable entries which provide visual display of detailed information about the particular major component or subcomponent

selected for access for providing rapid information retrieval with a minimum amount of information entities.

18. The graphical interface navigational mechanism of claim 17 wherein each leaf endpoint of the tree structure mechanism defines a leaf element and wherein the tree structure mechanism includes components for generating an information dialog box window as the leaf element of each node and each subordinate node, each information dialog box window containing a number of selectable entries which provide visual display of detailed information about the particular major component or subcomponent selected for access.

19. The graphical user interface navigational mechanism of claim 17 wherein a number of the major components of the first level fall within categories which include the following: configuration, mass storage and environment.

20. The graphical user interface navigational mechanism of claim 17 wherein the tree structure mechanism generates for each of the labels, an icon representation of a corresponding one of the major components and subcomponents of the server system for providing ease of visualization of server system major components and subcomponents partitioning.

21. A graphical user interface navigational mechanism which operatively couples to a management facility operatively coupled to a graphical display system, the facility running on a hardware platform for managing a number of server systems containing a number of major components and subcomponents, each of which operate under the control of a network operating system, each server system comprising a plurality of components and at least one management information component for storing information describing a set of server specific variables and the hierarchy used in managing server components, the navigational mechanism comprising:

a tree structure mechanism for displaying a single hierarchical tree representing the server system being managed, the tree structure having a number of levels containing a root node at a first level and a number of subordinate nodes at succeeding levels, the number of subordinate nodes representing each different server major component of the server system, the major components being logically partitioned into succeeding levels defining subcomponents of each logically partitioned major component, the tree structure being operative to associate and display a label representative of the server system at the root node and a number of different labels representative of the different major components and their respective subcomponents at corresponding ones of the number of subordinate nodes at succeeding levels of the tree structure until a leaf endpoint is reached, the labels and subordinate nodes being displayed so as to delineate physical and logical relationships of the major components and their respective subcomponents;

a user interface mechanism operatively coupled to the tree structure mechanism, the user interface mechanism responsive to input selections to cause the tree structure mechanism to exand to the different levels of the tree structure for enabling the user to navigate through the plurality of levels of the server system being managed for ascertaining informational status and to display labels corresponding to the different subcomponents of the major components and their logical relationships to each other within the levels being accessed for providing rapid information retrieval with a minimum amount of information entities; and

an access mechanism for accessing a number of information items from the server system, the information items including identifying server type and characteristics of the server system; and wherein the tree structure mechanism is operative to build the hierarchical tree structure according to those information items defining the characteristics of the server system furnished by the server system selected to be managed.

22. The graphical user interface navigational mechanism of claim 21 wherein the access mechanism initially accesses server information items when the server system is first selected and the graphical user interface navigational mechanism is launched.

23. The graphical user interface navigational mechanism of claim 21 wherein the information items defining the characteristics of the server system include items designating the number of central processing units (CPUs), the number of memory subsystems, the number of physical slots, the number of drive bays, the number of power supplies, the number of serial ports, the number of parallel ports, the number of input/output devices including associated controllers and the number of environmental sensors contained within the server system selected to be managed.

24. The graphical user interface navigational mechanism of claim 23 wherein each server system is housed within an enclosure and wherein the items defining the number of environmental sensors include enclosure door status and enclosure fan status indicators.

25. The graphical user interface navigational mechanism of claim 21 wherein the access mechanism and tree structure mechanism respectively access information items and build the tree structure each time the graphical user interface mechanism is initialized.

26. The graphical user interface navigational mechanism of claim 21 wherein the management framework facility includes a topological map for displaying where each server system is located and wherein the navigational mechanism is integrated within the management framework facility to enable selection of server systems for launching the graphical user interface navigational mechanism as a seamless operation.

27. The graphical user interface navigational mechanism of claim 17 wherein the hierarchical tree structure is organized into multilevels enabling the tree structure to be easily extended to accommodate new types of server systems.

28. The graphical user interface navigational mechanism of claim 27 wherein the tree structure is extended by adding or deleting a number of subordinate nodes either at a particular level or at different succeeding levels.

29. The graphical user interface navigational mechanism of claim 18 wherein the mechanism further includes:

an associative trap mechanism for processing trap signals received from the server system operatively coupled to the tree structure mechanism, the trap mechanism causing the tree structure mechanism to perform an icon coloration operation for signaling occurrences of server system problem conditions at a high level of the tree structure enabling immediate identification of each major component associated with a problem condition and specific identification of any subcomponent of the major component associated with that problem condition by expanding the tree structure down to a particular level.

30. The graphical user interface navigational mechanism of claim 29 wherein the trap mechanism causes the tree structure mechanism to generate a first color for coloring each icon to denote an absence of a problem condition, a second color for coloring each icon to denote an initial problem condition, and a third color for coloring each icon to denote a more serious problem condition.

31. The graphical user interface navigational mechanism of claim 29 wherein the trap mechanism causes the tree structure mechanism to generate the color for each icon denoting the more serious problem condition during occurrences of different types of problem conditions pertaining to a major component.

32. The graphical user interface navigational mechanism of claim 29 wherein the trap mechanism causes the tree structure mechanism to recolor each icon displaying a problem condition to the first color upon removal of that problem condition from the server system being monitored.

33. The graphical user interface navigational mechanism of claim 19 wherein first and second levels of the tree structure contain the root node and the subordinate nodes respectively, the tree structure mechanism in response to user selections generates a first screen display containing an icon depicting the type of server system being monitored, a second screen display containing icons depicting the major components of the server system, and a third screen display containing icons depicting the subcomponent of each major component of the server system.

Description Submit all comments and votes

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of Use

The present invention relates to network management and, more particularly, to graphical user interfaces for managing server systems operation and performance.

2. Prior Art

In recent years, attention has shifted from the connectivity and interoperability of heterogeneous networks to network management. That is, great attention is being given to keeping track of the elements such as concentrators, routers and bridges on a network, checking on the network's performance and diagnosing and correcting problems. Most recently, server systems have been added to the list of managed network elements.

Through remote management, network administrators no longer need to travel to the server system locations but can diagnose and troubleshoot problems using their own workstations at their own sites.

Network management systems have required administrators to become experienced in using certain graphical user interfaces and framework systems in communicating with network elements. These systems can collect substantial amounts of information which are required to be evaluated by the administrator. It has been noted that network management systems place a substantial burden on the network administrator. In order to properly evaluate such information, the administrator must understand the topology of the network and the different elements within the network. Also, the administrator must be able to evaluate volumes of information and alarm information in order to establish the cause of a problem

The addition of server systems adds substantial complexity to network management function in that the characteristics of such systems can vary from system to system and require that the network administrator be knowledgeable about the different components of each of the different types of server systems connected to the network.

In order to facilitate network management, one prior art system described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,261,044 provides a visual display of information relating to the network entities. The network entities are represented on the visual display by icons, each icon having a plurality of user selectable areas. In response to a user selection of a prescribed area of an icon, the network management system provides a visual display of detailed information regarding a particular aspect of the network entity which the icon represents with each user selectable area of the icon providing a different visual display of detailed information regarding the network entity.

While depictions or physical representations of network elements as icons facilitate network management, this approach is not easily adapted to changes in network elements. For example, when a new element is added to the network or the characteristics of an existing element is changed, it becomes necessary to generate a new physical representation of the element to show the particular set of monitoring points to be used in diagnosing problems. Further, above the prior art approach does not relieve the network administrator from having to acquire the requisite knowledge for managing new network elements.

Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a graphical user interface which facilitates server network management by less experienced personnel.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an information model as part of a graphical user interface which is readily understandable to the user and is easy to use in locating problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The above objects and advantages of the present invention are achieved in a preferred embodiment of a graphical user interface which provides a navigation model representative of the server system being managed. In the preferred embodiment, the graphic interface is used by a manager application integrated into a network/server management framework facility. The server navigation model utilizes a hierarchical tree structure which when displayed represents all of the classes or categories of components and their logical relationships to each other for the server system being managed. In the preferred embodiment, the different components are represented in the tree structure by labels in the form of icons along with textual identification for the icons. The icons are pictorial representations of the elements which they represent to facilitate ease of use and understanding of server partitioning.

The classes or categories of components were established by analyzing the different members of the server family to define all of the components utilized by the server systems and then grouping these components into classes or categories representing the logical partitioning of each server system. That is, in the preferred embodiment, the major component classes are defined as including configuration, mass storage and enclosure components. These component classes are represented by a first level of tree icons. Each of these classes of components are further broken down into their respective subcomponents. For example, the configuration class is represented by a second level of tree icons containing I/O devices, processors and memory as subcomponents. The mass storage class is represented by a second level of tree icons as containing a number of volume subcomponents. The enclosure class is represented by a second level of tree icons as containing temperature, voltage, door and fan subcomponents. In response to a user selection of a component within a major server class, the graphical user interface displays either a next level of icons or a dialog or information screen when the selected icon represents a base component (i.e. a component which can not be further partitioned). Because the icons are generic representations of the different components of a server system rather than depictions of specific components, they can be used with the variety of different devices which fall within a particular class or category of component.

The graphical interface utilizes an easy to understand method of changing the colors of tree icons for signaling traps such as alerts, fault conditions or events denoting the occurrences of preestablished conditions (e.g. voltage and temperature thresholds). More specifically, if at the time the manager application is launched a trap is pending, the very first level of the tree structure model when opened up signals the user of the pending alert. This results in the displaying in red, the major component icon associated with the trap. This provides the user with visual information pertaining to the trap which the user can then use to immediately locate the problem by selecting the red icon and displaying a

presentation screen containing the icon associated with the trap.

As indicated above, the graphic interface of the present invention can be used to manage a family of different types of server systems by generating the tree structure and associated icons on the basis of server class or type. In the preferred embodiment, the information defining the class or type server system and its characteristics is first obtained from the server system being managed. Entries used in generating the tree structure with its associated icons are derived from the information returned by the server system. This allows icons to be omitted or included from the tree representation of the server system as required for displaying its characteristics. This type of built in expandability enables use of the same navigational model in future designs.

The above objects and advantages of the present invention will be better understood from the following description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1a and 1b are different functional views of a network management workstation based system which incorporates the graphical interface of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows in greater detail, the components of the manager application of FIGS. 1a and 1b which incorporates the graphical interface of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a representation of the navigation model of the present invention

FIGS. 4a through 4d are used in describing the different types of operational flow of the graphic interface of the present invention.

FIGS. 5a through 5l are display screens utilized in connection with the graphical interface of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1a

FIG. 1a shows a block diagram of a network management workstation 10 which utilizes the graphic interface of the present invention. The major components of workstation 10 include a window based graphical user interface 10-2, a software framework facility 10-4 and a server (S) view manager application 10-6 which incorporates the graphic interface of the present invention.

As shown, the workstation 10 has associated therewith a video display device 10-8, a keyboard 10-10 and a mouse 10-12, each of which operatively couples to interface 10-2 in a standard manner. The user interface 10-2 controls the operation by the display device 12, keyboard 14 and mouse 16 and provides the user or operator with display screens generated by both framework facility 10-4 and S-view manager application 10-6 which is denoted by the dotted lines in FIG. 1a.

The workstation 10 connects to a plurality of server systems 1 through N through a communications network 20. As described herein, workstation 10 framework facility 10-4 during the execution of the S-view manager application 10-6 converts requests for reading and writing data from the application 10-6 into the appropriate management application protocols within the TCP/IP protocol suite for communicating with each of the server systems 1-N.

In the present embodiment, the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is used. SNMP is a well known asynchronous request/response protocol used in systems management applications which provides the following four operations: (1) get which is used to retrieve specific management information; (2) get-next which is used to retrieve via traversal, management information; (3) set which is used to manipulate management information; and, (4) trap which is used to report extraordinary events. For more information regarding the SNMP protocol, reference may be made to the Internet standard RFC1157 published by the Internet Activities Board of to the text entitled "The Simple Book An Introduction to Management of TCP/IP based Internet" by Marshall T. Rose, published by Prentice Hall, copyright 1991.

As illustrated in FIG. 1a, each of the server systems includes an SNP agent software component which operatively couples to network 20 and exchanges network management information with workstation 10. It will also be noted that the agent component operatively couples to a number of management information bases (MIBs) which describe various "objects" in a tree structure. For example, one MIB may contain objects pertaining to the characteristics of the network while another MIB may contain objects pertaining to components of the managed server system. For an example of such agent software, reference may be made to the copending patent application of Daniel G. Peters, Charles F. Corbett and Dennis R. Flynn entitled "An Extendible and Portable Network Based System Management Architecture, Ser. No. 60/017,072 filed on Apr. 30, 1996.

FIG. 1b

FIG. 1b illustrates in greater detail, the workstation 10 from a software/hardware architecture view point. As shown, workstation 10 includes a hardware platform such as a multiprocessor computer system based on the Intel.RTM. Pentium.RTM. chip set. The hardware platform runs under the control of a network operating system, such as Microsoft.RTM. Windows.RTM. NT operating system. The framework facility 10-4 is a network management application which runs on top of the network operating system. In the present embodiment, the framework facility corresponds to HP OpenView for Windows, a network management software manufactured by Hewlett-Packard Company.

As indicated in FIG. 1b, the network management software provides a number of services and resources through a set of custom controls which provide SNMP communications services, Paradox database services for trap handling enabling the forwarding of trap events stored in the event (alarm) log storage 10-40 and graphical user interface services for enabling the S-view manager application 10-6 to interoperate with HP OpenView for Windows. The set of custom controls provide application programmable interfaces (APIs) which are linked into the S-view manager application 10-6 and can be invoked through the use of procedure calls. For example, SNMP communications is provided by another custom control (SNMP control) which is also an API. The SNMP control responds to requests from application 10-6 by issuing requests to the servers and making the data received therefrom available to application 10-6. Another API control (XOV) enables application 10-6 to request information from framework 10-4 such as that pertaining to the identity of a selected server and to a limited extent, send data to firaework 10-4. During operation, application 10-6 requests and receives data from a particular server as the user performs interactions or if periodic updating if in effect. Each data request may be for one data item or several data items and such items may be all numbers, all strings or combinations of numbers and strings.

The S-view manager application 10-6 is integrated into the HP OpenView for Windows framework facility so that it is indistinguishable from the core facilities of the framework. This means that a user is able to launch the S-view manager application 10-6 through the framework's topology map(s). This is achieved by performing an object to server mapping process wherein each of the servers 1 through N are registered or defined as objects being managed by the framework and each server object is in turn defined as having associated therewith, a particular server icon, the S-view manager application and a set of defined traps. Thus, when a particular server object is selected, HP OpenView for Windows passes information to the S-view manager 10-6 for processing. For the purpose of the present invention, it is assumed that the object to server mapping process can be considered to carried out in a conventional manner. For example, information about this process is contained in development kit documentation provided by Hewlett-Packard Company.

In the present embodiment, the S-view manager application 10-6 is a Windows application developed using Microsoft.RTM. Visual Basic.RTM. 4.0 and includes a collection of procedures or modules (i.e. functions or subroutines). The manager application 10-6 utilizes separate supporting modules provided by the Visual Basic application. These modules utilize custom controls components or functions packaged as separate dynamic-link libraries (DLL) or executable files (.exe) contained in a support library storage 10-60. Additionally, the S-view manager application 10-6 uses other support modules such as those available in MicroHelp OLETools 5.0 and FarPoint Technologies ButtonMaker to complement the functionality of Visual Basic 4.0. The MicroHelp modules are used to implement the tree controls of FIG. 1b and include a MhTree custom control module and associated DLL. As described in greater detail herein, the tree controls are used to generate for display to the user, server component class information in hierarchical form, according to the teachings of the present invention. For further information regarding such custom controls, reference may be made to the manual entitled MicroHelp OLETools published by MicroHelp, Inc., Copyright, 1995. The ButtonMaker software is used to implement the picture button of FIG. 1b utilized by manager application 10-6.

FIG. 2

FIG. 2 shows in greater detail, the major components included in S-view manager application. As shown, manager application 10-6 includes tree manager controls component 10-60, an action table component 10-62, a plurality of action routines 10-64 associated with table component 10-62, dialog box procedure controls 10-66 which are associated with a plurality of sets of dialog box routines 10-68, an associative mechanism 10-70 which operatively couples to action table component 10-62 and tree controls component 10-60. The application 10-6 receives the inputs indicated representative of events such as the launching of the application, user input selections and traps provided by the framework 10-4 or input user interface 10-2. The application 10-6 also includes procedures which form or support the application's main message loop organized for calling procedures within itself or procedures associated with the other major components of FIG. 2 to process these events.

As shown in FIG. 2, the tree manager controls component 10-60 includes a tree structure mechanism 10-600 which is programmed to implement the tree method of the present invention. In response to user mouse selections, the mechanism 10-600 manipulates the displayed tree structure by opening it up to a next level or collapsing it. Also, the mechanism 10-600 provides as output, numerical values indicating which node was selected by the user. These values are used by the main control procedures of block 10-80 which in turn initiates the required sequence of procedures/operations.

As discussed above, the component 10-60 is constructed from the MHTree custom control which is custom populated to reflect the type and quantity of components in the server system being monitored according to the present invention as described herein. The tree structure mechanism 10-600 has associated therewith, a loaded picture array 10-602 which is used for storing a copy of all possible icon bitmaps as either .BMP file names or the actual icon bitmaps. These icons (bitmaps) are originally stored as individual files in a subdirectory when the application 10-6 is set up.

Two indexing schemes are utilized by the application 10-6. One is a palette array wherein each icon is given an arbitrary index starting at zero and such indexing is accomplished by loading the icons into a loaded picture array included in the tree structure mechanism 10-600. The case of a simple example, the loaded picture array could contain the following type of information:

LoadedPicture(0)=gray closed door icon;

LoadedPicture(1)=green closed door;

LoadedPicture(2)=yellow closed door;

LoadedPicture(3)=red closed door;

LoadedPicture(4)=yellow open door;

LoadedPicture(5)=red open door;

LoadedPicture(6)=gray thermometer;

LoadedPicture(7)=green thermometer;

LoadedPicture(8)=gray voltmeter; etc.

The second indexing scheme is used in a color zone array. In this case, the icons are grouped by color in an array(array iaIconMapG) and uniquely numbered so that they can be easily accessed by the tree structure mechanism 10-600. In the case of this example, indices having numerical values 1 to 10 are assigned to the gray colored set of icons, values 11 to 20 are assigned to the corresponding green colored set of icons, values 21 to 30 are assigned to the corresponding yellow colored set of icons and values 31 to 40 are assigned to the corresponding set of red colored icons.

Because all of the sets of icons are in the same order, it is easy to locate an icon having a particular colored icon by adding the same constant value to an initial numerical value. For example, starting with the value 5 for the gray colored disk drive icon, the same constant defining zone size is added to locate the red colored disk icon (e.g. 5+30) which has the value 35. Thus, the integers 5, 15, 25 and 35 are used to designate the gray colored disk drive icon, the green colored disk drive icon, yellow colored disk drive icon and red colored disk drive icon respectively. A possible set of indices for this example is shown in table 1 below.

The iaIconG array is one of the plurality of arrays included in action table 10-62. Action table 10-62 includes a plurality of arrays which hold specific information values for each node of the tree structure so that a node is associated with both a row in the tree structure and an entry in each of the plurality of arrays. The plurality of arrays and descriptions of the values stored are shown in table II below.

The icon and condition code values together are used to uniquely identify the icon. The icon code associated with the node is the index in the color zone array iaIconMapG for the gray icon, as for example iaIconMapG(5) for gray disk drive. The value (iaIconMapG(5)=12) in table I is used as the icon index into the loaded picture array 10-602 in FIG. 2.

TABLE I ______________________________________ CROSS REF. TO LOADED PICTURE ARRAY ARRAY DESIGNATED ICON ______________________________________ iaIconMapG(1) = 0 gray closed door iaIconMapG(2) = 44 gray processor (CPU) iaIconMapG(3) = 27 gray CD-ROM iaIconMapG(4) = 6 gray thermometer iaIconMapG(5) = 12 gray disk drive iaIconMapG(6) = 8 gray voltmeter iaIconMapG(7) = 30 gray tape drive iaIconMapG(8) = 34 gray memory board iaIconMapG(9) = 68 gray fan iaIconMapG(10) = 70 gray enclosure parent icon iaIconMapG(11) = 1 green closed door iaIconMapG(12) = 45 green processor (CPU) iaIconMapG(13) = 28 green CD-ROM iaIconMapG(14) =

7 green thermometer iaIconMapG(15) = 13 green disk drive iaIconMapG(16) = 9 green voltmeter iaIconMapG(17) = 31 green tape drive iaIconMapG(18) = 35 green memory board iaIconMapG(19) = 69 green fan iaIconMapG(20) = 71 green enclosure parent icon iaIconMapG(21) = 2 yellow closed door iaIconMapG(22) = 18 yellow processor (CPU) iaIconMapG(31) = 3 red closed door iaIconMapG(32) = 19 red processor (CPU) etc. ______________________________________

TABLE II ______________________________________ iaActionG array = stores a value indicating what action to take when the node is doubled clicked on iaLevelG array = stores a value indicating the level of indentation, to define child, grandchild nodes iaUnitG array = stores a value defining a unit number associated with a tree subcomponent, such as "1" for processor #1 (CPU#1) iaParentG array = stores a tree index value of the parent of the subcomponent, such as the value "0" for the root iaCondG array = stores a value designating a condition or color code, the higher the value the worse the condition iaIconG array = stores a color zone array index value to identify the gray colored icon shown iaPopularG array = stores a flag value to indicate that the dialog box for this node has been seen saKey array = stores a unique string of values for each parent node or a blank value for nodes without children nodes saTreeCap array = stores a string label value for the node, such as "processor #1 saTreeOidG array = stores a value identifying which icon to change to red when a trap is received for that node ______________________________________

The iaActionG array values contained in table 10-62 are used to invoke the appropriate action routine which in turn invokes other routines within the routines 10-64. The action table 10-62 is accessed by associative mechanism 10-70 during the processing of traps or alarms.

Associative mechanism 10-70 provides a means for associating a node in action table 10-62 with a trap event and corresponding colored icon. The mechanism 10-70 contains information which is used to relate the trap to a particular node. There are several different ways of carrying out the required association which depends upon the kind of trap. For example, in the case of traps relating to a particular component class (e.g. temperature), it is only necessary to decode the trap number and then relate that number with a particular node associated with that icon component. For other types of traps, information such as device OID information included as part of the trap, is used to search through the tree OID array of action table 10-62 to identify the node associated with the trap. Mechanism 10-70 also contains other variables for indicating how to relate certain traps with specific nodes. For example, a vector (faOffendLimG, faOffendValG, iaHaveTrapG) is maintained which has entries for each of the 39 possible traps. The trap data which is saved includes the voltage or temperature value that triggered the trap. For storage volume traps, the trap value corresponding to the percentage of storage consumed is saved along with other storage related data (iaLVolOverG). For memory yellow and red error traps, separate vectors (iaMemYTrapsG, iaMemRTrapsG) are used to store data for as many memory related traps that were logged by the framework

The main control procedures block 10-80 contains a state variable value I(iStateG) which represents the state