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1

SYSTEM

FOR

NETWORK

RESOURCE

MANAGEMENT

TECHNICAL

FIELD

OF

THE

INVENTION

The

present

invention

relates

generally

to

management

of

network

resources,

and

more

particularly

to

management

and

control

of

netWork

resources

by

a

remote

client

using

existing

netWork

protocols

and

languages.

MICROFICHE

APPENDIX

ATTACHED

Amicro?che

appendix

is

attached

to

this

detailed

descrip

tion.

BACKGROUND

OF

THE

INVENTION

NetWork

computing

has

become

increasingly

popular.

For

example,

a

number

of

neW

devices

have

been

introduced

for

use

on

a

variety

of

netWorks

from

local

area

netWorks

to

the

Internet

and

World

Wide

Web.

The

increasing

complexity

of

netWork

communications

raises

the

issue

of

improved

net

Work

resource

management.

For

the

purposes

of

this

speci?cation,

any

device

or

system

associated

With

the

netWork

is

a

“resource”

of

the

netWork.

Typical

netWork

operations

are

limited

to

the

transmission

of

electronic

mail

and

the

retrieval

of

data.

A

variety

of

standard

netWork

protocols

and

languages

have

been

intro

duced

to

communicate

over

the

netWorks.

For

example,

in

an

ethernet

based

system,

a

protocol

called

Transmission

Control

Protocol/Internet

Protocol

(TCP/IP)

is

used

to

trans

fer

information

over

the

netWork.

Some

TCP/IP-compatible

?le

transfer

protocols

have

been

devised

to

transfer

information,

such

as

File

Transfer

Protocol

(FTP)

and

Hypertext

Transfer

Protocol

(HTTP).

These

protocols

alloW

programmers

to

create

broWsers

Which

accept

prede?ned

languages,

such

as

Hypertext

Markup

Language

(HTML),

hoWever,

these

protocols

and

languages

Were

not

designed

for

netWork

resource

management.

One

effort

to

de?ne

a

language

for

netWork

resource

management

resulted

in

the

Simple

NetWork

Management

Protocol

(SNMP),

hoWever,

SNMP

requires

special

knoWl

edge

to

use

effectively

and

lacks

certain

device

management

features.

A

system

using

SNMP

requires

a

special

program

executing

at

the

client

to

perform system

management.

This

program

increases

the

cost

and

complexity

of

performing

system

management.

With

the

proliferation

of

devices

and

users

on

the

netWork

there

are

increasing

demands

for

improved

netWork

management

of

resources.

There

is

a

need

in

the

art

for a

system

for

netWork

resource

management

Which

is

cost

effective

and

requires

little

or

no

specialiZed

knowledge

to

use.

The

system

should

commu

nicate

using

existing

netWork

commands

and

the

system

should

operate

With

existing

client

broWsers

to

eliminate

the

need

for

additional

netWork

resource

management

softWare

at

the

client.

The

system

should

provide

a

homogeneous

interface

to

perform

netWork

resource

management

using

existing

client-based

netWork

access

softWare.

The

system

should

also

be

con?gurable

to

support

nonstandard

netWork

resource

management

operations

using

existing

netWork

protocols

and

languages.

SUMMARY

OF

THE

INVENTION

The

present

invention

provides

an

improved

system

for

netWork

resource

management.

The

present

system

provides

netWork

management

functions

using

existing

netWork

user

softWare. In

one

embodiment,

clients

perform

platform

independent

netWork

management

using

existing

broWser

5

15

25

35

45

55

65

2

softWare.

This

embodiment

enables

a

client

to

perform

netWork

management

Without

the

requirement

of

learning

a

specialiZed

netWork

management

protocol

or

language.

In

one

embodiment,

a

client

directly

manages

a

netWork

resource

using

any

TCP/IP

netWork

by

selecting

specialiZed

options

using

existing

broWser

softWare.

For

instance,

in

an

HTML

environment

a

netWork

resource

is

managed

using an

existing

broWser,

such

as

NETSCAPE

NAVIGATOR,

MICROSOFT

INTERNET

EXPLORER,

NCSA

MOSAIC,

or

any

HTTP-compatible

broWser.

According

to

one

embodiment,

the

netWork

resource

is

programmed

With

a

netWork

module

having

an

options

database

Which

provides

one

or

more

options

to

a

client

as

it

accesses

the

netWork

resource.

The

options

are tailored

to

the

netWork

resource

device

being

controlled.

The

client

selects

options

to

request

performance

of

operations

by

the

netWork

resource.

In

one

embodiment,

the

netWork

module

is

programmed

With

one

or

more

native

netWork

resource

instructions.

These

instruc

tions

are

stored

in

a

native

resource

instruction

library.

Options

selected

by

the

client

are

transmitted

as

messages

over

the

netWork

to

the

netWork

resource

and

are

interpreted

by

an

instruction

module

by

comparing

each

message

to

the

one

or

more

instructions

in

the

native

resource

instruction

library.

The

netWork

module

processes

each

received

mes

sage

to

decide

the

appropriate

operation.

In

one

embodiment,

the

options

presented

to

the

client

are

updated

and

other

fault/status

information

is

available

to

the

client

to

enhance

the

resource

management

by

the

client.

One

environment

in

Which

the

present

invention

is

dem

onstrated

is

in

a

rack

modem

system.

Device

speci?c

opera

tions

are

demonstrated

to

illustrate

the

operation

and

Hex

ibility

of

one

embodiment

of

the

present

invention.

In

one

embodiment,

an

ethernet

interface

is

added

to

the

rack

modem

system

controller

to

provide

netWork

based

man

agement

and

control

of

the

rack

modem

system.

The

ether

net

interface

enables

users

to

manage

the

system

using

existing

broWser

or

Web

page

protocols

and

languages.

This

enables

a

user

to

manage

and

control

the

system

using

existing

softWare

and

Without

having

to

learn

a

specialiZed

management

protocol

or

language.

This

system

enables

management

using

any

TCP/IP

platform,

including,

but

not

limited

to,

UNIX,

WindoWs

3.1,

WindoWs

95,

DOS,

Solaris,

or

Apple

platforms.

Additional

applications

and

embodiments

are

described.

For

example,

if

the

netWork

resource

is

a

modem,

then

the

client

Will

receive

options

for

con?guration

of

the

modem

and

fault/status

reporting.

If

the

netWork

resource

is

a

router,

then

options

may

include

routing

commands

for

program

ming

the

routing

of packets

passing

through

the

router.

Therefore

the

options

presented

to

a

client

are

program

mable

and

are

not

limited

to

a

prede?ned

set

of

operations.

A

variety

of

option

presentation

methods

are

described.

One

embodiment

provides

?exibility

in

presentation

of

options

to

the

client,

since

existing

netWork

protocols

and

languages

support

a

variety

of

presentation

methods, such

as

a

checkbox

list

and

image

mapping.

Existing

protocols

and

languages

also

provide

more

advanced

graphical

user

inter

faces

(GUIs).

For

example,

Java

applets

and

HTML

exten

sions

may

be

incorporated

to

create

a

GUI

for

platform

independent

broWser

based

management.

Any

client

having

a

compatible

broWser

is

enabled

to

perform

netWork

resource

management

Without

having

to

learn

a

specialiZed

language

or

purchase

additional

softWare.

The

broWsers,

protocols,

and

languages

described

herein

are

intended

to

demonstrate

the

present

netWork

resource

management

system,

and

are

not

intended

in a

limiting

or

exclusive

sense.

BRIEF

DESCRIPTION

OF

THE

DRAWINGS

FIG.

1

is

a

block

diagram

of

a

prior

art

system

for

netWork

resource

management

using

the

Simple

NetWork

Manage

ment

Protocol

(SNMP);

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 ... 16 17

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