Network management apparatus, network management method, and program

Abstract

While in a state in which first specification information including a plurality of pieces of second attribute information defining the characteristics of first network equipment to be managed is registered in a specification information storage unit, one aspect of the present invention receives, from among a plurality of pieces of second attribute information defining the characteristics of second network equipment, input of unique attribute information differing from first attribute information and succession relationship information representing a succession relationship between the first attribute information and the second attribute information, acquires the first specification information from the specification information storage unit on the basis of the input succession relationship information, and generates second specification information regarding the first network equipment on the basis of the first attribute information included in the acquired first specification information and the input unique attribute information.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] One aspect of the present invention relates to a network management apparatus, a network management method, and a program used, for example, to manage a plurality of networks or apparatuses using the same.

Background Art

[0002] Generally, when managing different types of networks and their apparatuses, it is necessary to construct and manage a data model for each network or apparatus to be managed. Therefore, a lot of operations are required for the development and subsequent management of the network management system.

[0003] Therefore, for example, in Patent Document 1, when constructing or operating a network management system, the characteristics of various networks or apparatuses using the same are defined using a plurality of attributes according to a predetermined model format, and the specification information and entity information represented by the above plurality of attributes are collectively registered in a database within the system, thereby proposing a technique for managing a network.

[0004] If the network management technique described in Patent Document 1 is applied, it becomes applicable to any network without changing the information used for network management according to each individual network as a data model. That is, even if there are multiple types of networks, it is not necessary to define a data model for each type of network or apparatus, and thereby it becomes possible to reduce the operations required for the development and subsequent management of the network management system.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0005]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0006] In the system, for example, when adding a new network or a device using it as a new management target after the start of system operation, regardless of the type of the network or the device to be added, all specification information must be newly created. That is, for each newly added network or device, it is necessary to define without omission all the attributes that make up the specification information. For this reason, a lot of operations are still required for the creation work of the specification information, and the reduction thereof has been an issue.

[0007] This invention has been made paying attention to the above circumstances, and aims to provide a technology that reduces the amount of work for defining attributes when adding and registering specification information of network facilities, and enables reduction of operations related to the addition and registration of specification information.

Means for Solving the Problem

[0008] In one aspect of the network management apparatus or method according to this invention for solving the above problem, in a state where first specification information including a plurality of first attribute information defining characteristics of a first network facility to be managed is registered in a specification information storage unit, among a plurality of second attribute information defining characteristics of a second network facility, an input of unique attribute information different from the first attribute information and inheritance relationship information representing an inheritance relationship between the first attribute information and the second attribute information is received, the first specification information is acquired from the specification information storage unit based on the input inheritance relationship information, and second specification information related to the first network facility is generated based on the first attribute information included in the acquired first specification information and the input unique attribute information.

[0009] According to one aspect of the present invention, in the network management device, based on the input unique attribute information of the second network facility and the inheritance relationship information representing the inheritance relationship between the first attribute information and the second attribute information, second specification information that comprehensively includes all the characteristics of the second network facility and that includes the second attribute information without omission is generated. Therefore, for example, when an operator who performs network management adds and registers specification information regarding a new second network facility, it suffices to define only the unique attribute information of the second network facility and the inheritance relationship information representing the inheritance relationship between the first attribute information and the second attribute information, and it becomes unnecessary to define all the attribute information that defines the characteristics of the second network facility. As a result, the operation of the network administrator required when adding and registering specification information regarding network facilities is reduced.

[0010] Also, when adding and registering the second network facility to be registered, even if only the unique attribute information and the inheritance relationship information are input, it is possible to generate complete specification information regarding the second network facility.

[0011] That is, according to one embodiment, it is possible to reduce the operation required for external definition work by the network administrator and to register complete specification information.

Effect of the Invention

[0012] According to one aspect of the present invention, it is possible to provide a technique for reducing the amount of work for defining attributes when adding and registering specification information of network facilities and for reducing the operation related to adding and registering specification information.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0013]

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DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0014] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0015] [One Embodiment] (Configuration Example) (1) System FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a network management system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0016] The network management system according to one embodiment includes a network management device NM as a core component. Information data can be transmitted between this network management device NM, an operator terminal OT used by a network administrator, and a plurality of user terminals UT1 to UTn used by other administrators or users via a network NW.

[0017] The network NW includes a plurality of types of networks such as an IP (Internet Protocol) network that constitutes the Internet, Ethernet (registered trademark) that constitutes a LAN (Local Area Network), and other transmission networks. However, any network can be used as long as it can transmit the above information data.

[0018] Note that since the user terminals UT1 to UTn are not directly related to the implementation of the present invention, detailed description thereof will be omitted.

[0019] (2) Device (2-1) Operator Terminal OT FIGS. 2 and 3 are block diagrams showing an example of the hardware configuration and software configuration of the operator terminal OT.

[0020] The operator terminal OT includes a control unit 1A that uses a hardware processor such as a central processing unit (CPU). A storage unit having a program storage unit 2A and a data storage unit 3A, a communication interface (hereinafter referred to as an interface as I / F) unit 4A, and an input / output I / F unit 5A are connected to the control unit 1A via a bus 6A.

[0021] An input / output I / F unit 5A is connected to an input device 51 and an output device 52. The input device 51 includes, for example, a keyboard, a mouse, and operation buttons. The input device 51 is used for a network administrator to input specification information and entity information related to a network to be managed or devices used in this network (hereinafter also collectively referred to as network facilities).

[0022] The specification information is represented as a combination of a plurality of attribute information that defines the characteristics of network facilities, associated with identification information such as the name of the above specification information. The entity information defines, for example, resources actually available for the above network facilities in association with a plurality of attributes of the above specification information, and is represented as a combination of this plurality of attribute information and identification information such as the name of the entity information.

[0023] The output device 52 includes, for example, a display, and displays display data necessary for the input processing of the above specification information and entity information.

[0024] The communication I / F unit 4A transmits information data to and from a network management device NM using a communication protocol defined by a network NW under the control of the control unit 1A.

[0025] The program storage unit 2A is configured by combining, for example, a non-volatile memory such as an SSD (Solid State Drive) that can be written to and read from at any time as a storage medium and a non-volatile memory such as a ROM (Read Only Memory). In addition to middleware such as an OS (Operating System), it stores an application program necessary to input and transmit a registration request for each of the above information required for network management in one embodiment. Hereinafter, the OS and each application program are collectively referred to as a program.

[0026] The data storage unit 3A is, for example, a combination of a non-volatile memory such as an SSD that can be written to and read from at any time as a storage medium, and a volatile memory such as a RAM (Random Access Memory). In its storage area, as the main storage unit necessary for implementing one embodiment of this invention, it includes a specification information storage unit 31A and an entity information storage unit 32A.

[0027] The specification information storage unit 31A stores the input specification information until the transmission of the registration request is completed. The entity information storage unit 32A stores the input entity information until the transmission of the registration request is completed.

[0028] The control unit 1A includes, as the processing functions necessary for implementing one embodiment, a specification information input reception processing unit 11A, an entity information input reception processing unit 12A, a specification registration request transmission processing unit 13A, and an entity registration request transmission processing unit 14A. These processing units 11A to 14A are all realized by causing the hardware processor of the control unit 1A to execute the application program stored in the program storage unit 2A.

[0029] In addition to being pre-stored in the program storage unit 2A in advance, the above application program may be downloaded from the network management device NM or other application servers, etc. when necessary and stored in the program storage unit 2A.

[0030] The specification information input reception processing unit 11A receives the specification information input by the network administrator in the input device 51 via the input / output I / F unit 5A, and stores the received specification information in the specification information storage unit 31A.

[0031] The specification information includes the specification information containing all the attribute information input when registering a new network or its device, and the differential specification information input when additionally registering a similar network or device whose part of the attribute information is common with the registered network or device. An example thereof will be described in the operation example.

[0032] The entity information input reception processing unit 12A receives, via the input / output I / F unit 5A, entity information including a plurality of pieces of attribute information that defines resources actually used for network facilities, which is input by a network administrator in the input device 51, and stores the received entity information in the entity information storage unit 32A.

[0033] The specification registration request transmission processing unit 13A reads out the specification information from the specification information storage unit 31A in response to the input of a transmission instruction, generates a specification registration request including the read specification information, and transmits the generated specification registration request from the communication I / F unit 4A to the network management device NM.

[0034] The entity registration request transmission processing unit 14A reads out the entity information from the entity information storage unit 31B in response to the input of a transmission instruction, generates a registration request for the read entity information, and transmits the generated entity registration request from the communication I / F unit 4A to the network management device NM.

[0035] Note that an example of the above specification information and entity information will be described in the operation example.

[0036] (2-2) Network Management Device NM FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 are block diagrams showing an example of the hardware configuration and software configuration of the network management device NM.

[0037] The network management device NM is composed of, for example, a server computer installed on the web or in the cloud. Note that the network management device NM may be a personal computer or the like used by an administrator.

[0038] The network management device NM includes a control unit 1B that uses a hardware processor such as a CPU. A storage unit having a program storage unit 2B and a data storage unit 3B, and a communication I / F unit 4B are connected to the control unit 1B via a bus 5B.

[0039] Under the control of the control unit 1B, the communication I / F unit 4B uses the communication protocol defined by the network NW to transmit and receive information data with the operator terminal OT and the user terminals UT1 to UTn respectively.

[0040] The program storage unit 2B is configured by combining, for example, a non-volatile memory such as an HDD or an SSD that can be written to and read from at any time as a storage medium and a non-volatile memory such as a ROM. In addition to middleware such as an OS, it stores programs necessary to execute various control processes according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0041] The data storage unit 3B is, for example, a combination of a non-volatile memory such as an HDD or an SSD that can be written to and read from at any time as a storage medium and a volatile memory such as a RAM. In its storage area, as a storage unit necessary to implement an embodiment, it includes a specification information database (hereinafter referred to as a database as DB) 31B and an entity information DB 32B.

[0042] The specification information DB 31B stores specification information that defines the characteristics of the network equipment to be managed, which is sent from the operator terminal OT by a specification registration request. The entity information DB 32B stores entity information that defines the actual resources of the network equipment, which is sent from the operator terminal OT by an entity registration request.

[0043] The control unit 1B includes, as a processing function according to an embodiment of the present invention, a specification registration request receiving processing unit 11B, a specification information registration processing unit 12B, an entity registration request receiving processing unit 13B, and an entity information registration processing unit 14B. These processing units 11B to 14B are all realized by causing the hardware processor of the control unit 1B to execute an application program stored in the program storage unit 2B.

[0044] Note that part or all of the processing units 11B to 14B may be realized using hardware such as LSI (Large Scale Integration) or ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit).

[0045] The specification registration request receiving processing unit 11B receives the specification registration request transmitted from the operator terminal OT via the communication I / F unit 4B, and passes the received specification registration request to the specification information registration processing unit 12B.

[0046] The specification information registration processing unit 12B registers the specification information included in the specification registration request passed from the specification registration request receiving processing unit 11B in the specification information DB 31B. In the registration process of this specification information, there are a process of registering the specification information included in the received specification registration request as it is, and a process of generating and registering complete specification information including all necessary attribute information based on this differential specification information and the specification information of the network facility that is the inheritance source already registered in the specification information DB 31B when differential specification information is received. An example thereof will be described in the operation example.

[0047] The entity registration request receiving processing unit 13B receives the entity registration request transmitted from the operator terminal OT via the communication I / F unit 4B, and passes the received entity registration request to the entity information registration processing unit 14B.

[0048] The entity information registration processing unit 14B determines whether the entity information represented by the entity registration request passed from the entity registration request receiving processing unit 13B satisfies the registration requirements based on the specification information of the corresponding network equipment registered in the specification information DB 31B, and if the registration requirements are satisfied, registers the entity information in the entity information DB 32B.

[0049] In the determination process of whether the entity information can be registered, when the specification information stored in the specification information DB 31B is differential specification information, based on this differential specification information and the specification information of the network equipment that is the inheritance source, complete specification information including all necessary attribute information without omission is generated, and based on the generated complete specification information, the process of determining whether the entity information can be registered, and when the specification information stored in the specification information DB 31B is complete specification information, the process of determining whether the entity information can be registered using this complete specification information as it is, but an example thereof will be described in the operation example.

[0050] (Outline of operation) The characteristics of the network equipment are externally defined according to a predefined model format. Note that since the method of externally defining the characteristics of this network equipment is described in detail in Patent Document 1, the description here is omitted.

[0051] When the network administrator externally defines the characteristics of the network equipment to be managed, if the network equipment is of an unregistered type, all the attribute information representing the characteristics of this network equipment is defined, and the specification information associating this attribute information with the name of the network equipment to be managed is input to the operator terminal OT.

[0052] On the one hand, if the network equipment newly registered as the management target is of the same type as the registered network equipment, the network administrator shall define, as the attribute information specific to the network equipment to be registered, the attribute information among the multiple attribute information included in the specification information of the registered network equipment, whose attribute name or the range of possible values is different, and input it into the operator terminal OT.

[0053] In addition, among the multiple attribute information required for defining the characteristics of the network equipment to be registered, for the attribute information whose attribute name and the range of possible values are common to the attribute information of the registered network equipment, the network administrator shall generate information representing the inheritance relationship between the specification information of each network equipment in order to inherit it from the registered network equipment, and input it into the operator terminal OT.

[0054] FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining the outline of the external definition operation of the above specification information in an embodiment. In this example, a case where attribute information 1 and 2 are already registered in the specification information DB31B as the specification information of the L2 devices used by a certain vendor is shown.

[0055] In this state, when the specification information of the L2 devices used by other vendors A and B are to be additionally registered respectively, the network administrator shall newly define only the attribute information specific to the L2 device of vendor A, whose attribute name or the range of possible values is different from the attribute information of the registered L2 device, and the attribute information specific to the L2 device of vendor B, and input it into the operator terminal OT.

[0056] In addition, among the multiple attribute information included in the specification information of the registered L2 device, for the attribute information whose attribute name and the range of possible values are common, in order to inherit it respectively to the specification information of the L2 devices used by the vendors A and B to be registered, the network administrator shall define the inheritance relationship between the specification information of the registered L2 device and the specification information of the L2 device of vendor A, and between the specification information of the registered L2 device and the specification information of the L2 device of vendor B respectively, and input the defined inheritance relationship information into the operator terminal OT.

[0057] By performing the external definition process as described above, when the network administrator adds and registers the specification information of the L2 devices used by Vendors A and B, for the L2 devices of Vendor A and the L2 devices of Vendor B respectively, it is only necessary to define the information representing the inheritance relationship between the attribute information specific to the L2 device and the specification information of the already registered L2 devices. Therefore, compared with the case where all attribute information is always defined, it is possible to significantly reduce the operation of the external definition work of the network administrator when adding and registering the specification information of L2 devices of other vendors.

[0058] (Operation Example) In one embodiment, specification information regarding the communication termination point (Termination Point Encapsulation: TPE) of the first network facility using Ethernet is already registered in the specification information DB31B of the network management device NM. In this state, taking as an example the case of adding and registering specification information regarding the communication termination point (TPE) of a similar second network facility that uses Ethernet in the same way as the first network facility, and further registering the entity information of the resources with respect to the specification of the second network facility, an explanation will be given.

[0059] (1) Registration of Specification Information (1-1) Reception and Transmission of Input of Specification Information by Operator Terminal OT FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of the processing procedure and processing content of the reception processing of the specification information and entity information executed by the control unit 1A of the operator terminal OT and its registration request transmission processing.

[0060] In the standby state, the control unit 1A of the operator terminal OT determines, in steps S10 and S20, which of the specification information input mode and the entity information input mode is set.

[0061] In the state where the above specification information input mode is set, the network administrator inputs specification information regarding the communication termination point (TPE) of the second network facility to be registered. In this case, the network administrator defines, as the above specification information, the attribute information among the plurality of attribute information included in the specification information of the registered first network facility, for which the name of the attribute or the range of possible values is different, as the attribute information unique to the above first network facility, and inputs the defined unique attribute information in the input device 51.

[0062] Note that the process of defining the above unique attribute information and inheritance relationship information is performed, for example, by acquiring the specification information regarding the registered network facility from a database independently managed by the network administrator or the specification information DB31B of the network management device NM, and referring to the acquired specification information.

[0063] In addition, the network administrator defines information representing the inheritance relationship between the specification information of the above registered first network facility and the specification information of the above second network facility, in order to inherit the common attribute information necessary for defining the characteristics of the second network facility among the attribute information included in the specification information of the above registered first network facility. Then, the information representing the defined inheritance relationship is input in the input device 51. Note that the information representing the inheritance relationship may be automatically generated by the operator terminal OT based on the information regarding the first and second network facilities selected by the network administrator when defining the attribute information unique to the above second network facility.

[0064] The control unit 1A of the operator terminal OT takes in the attribute information unique to the above second network facility and the information representing the inheritance relationship input in the above input device 51, respectively, by steps S11 and S12 under the control of the specification information input reception processing unit 11A, and temporarily stores them in the specification information storage unit 31A.

[0065] Next, when the control unit 1A of the operator terminal OT detects an input operation of a transmission instruction from the network administrator in step S13, under the control of the specification registration request transmission processing unit 13A, in step S14, the above-mentioned specification information storage unit 31A reads the attribute information specific to the second network facility and the information representing the inheritance relationship, and generates a specification registration request including the read information. Then, the specification registration request transmission processing unit 13A transmits the generated specification registration request from the communication I / F unit 4A to the network management device NM in step S15.

[0066] When the control unit 1A of the operator terminal OT finishes receiving and transmitting the input of the specification information for one network facility to be added, it monitors the input of the end instruction of the specification registration in step S16. Then, when the specification information for the next network facility is input, the above-mentioned series of processes of receiving and transmitting the specification information in steps S11 to S16 are repeated. Then, when the transmission end instruction of the specification information is input, it returns to the standby state.

[0067] (1-2) Registration of Specification Information by Network Management Device NM FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an example of the processing procedure and processing content of the registration process of the specification information and entity information executed by the control unit 1B of the network management device NM.

[0068] In the standby state, the control unit 1B of the network management device NM monitors the reception of the specification registration request and the entity registration request in steps S30 and S40, respectively.

[0069] In this state, when a specification registration request is transmitted from the operator terminal OT and this specification registration request is received by the communication I / F unit 4B, the specification registration request reception processing unit 11B takes in the specification registration request in step S30 and passes the taken-in specification registration request to the specification information registration processing unit 12B.

[0070] In step S31, the specification information registration processing unit 12B associates the attribute information specific to the second network facility to be registered, which is included in the above specification registration request, the specification information of the second network facility, and the inheritance relationship between the specification information of the registered first network facility with the identification information of the second network facility, and registers it in the specification information DB31B as differential specification information regarding the second network facility.

[0071] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of the registration results of the above differential specification information and policy information. In this example, TPE_Ethernet_Spec representing specification information is already registered in the specification information DB31B, and the case where differential specification information of TPE_Ethernet_A_Company_Spec and TPE_Ethernet_B_Company_Spec representing the specification information of network facilities provided by Company A and Company B respectively is additionally registered in this state is shown.

[0072] In this example, the registered specification information TPE_Ethernet_Spec includes three pieces of attribute information. Each piece of attribute information is represented by a pair of a Resource Spec Characteristic (RSC) representing the name of the attribute and a Resource Spec Characteristic Value (RSCV) representing the range that the attribute can take.

[0073] And the specification information is defined, for example, as TPE_Ethernet_Spec ·RSC: vlan / RSCV: 1 - 4096 ·RSC: bandwidth / RSCV: 1 - 1000Mbps ·RSC: physicalpor / RSCV: name of pp as follows.

[0074] On the other hand, the differential specification information of each network facility of Company A and Company B that has been additionally registered only includes unique attribute information. And, for example, TPE_Ethernet_A_Company_Spec ·RSC: vlan / RSCV: 1 - 1000 TPE_Ethernet_B Company_Spec ·RSC: Bandwidth / RSCV: 1 - 500Mbps is defined as follows.

[0075] In addition, the differential specification information of each of the above companies includes inheritance relationship information. Regarding the information representing this inheritance relationship, in FIG. 10, for simplicity, an example showing the inheritance relationship represented by lines and arrows is shown. However, in reality, for example ·TPE_Ethernet_Spec → TPE_Ethernet_A Company_Spec ·TPE_Ethernet_Spec → TPE_Ethernet_B Company_Spec ·TPE_Ethernet_Spec → TPE_Ethernet_C Company_Spec is defined as follows. Note that the inheritance relationship information may be represented using other symbols or text data, and the description method may be such that it can be recognized by the control unit 1B.

[0076] When registering the specification information regarding the second network device, complete specification information including all attribute information regarding the second network device may be generated, and this complete specification information may be registered in the specification information DB31B.

[0077] In this case, the specification information registration processing unit 12B acquires the specification information of the first network device that is the inheritance source from the specification information DB31B based on the information representing the inheritance relationship included in the above specification registration request, and synthesizes the attribute information included in the acquired specification information and the attribute information specific to the second network device included in the above specification registration request, thereby generating complete specification information regarding the second network device. Then, the generated complete specification information is registered in the specification information DB31B in association with the identification information of the second network device.

[0078] (2) Registration of entity information (2-1) Input reception and transmission by the operator terminal OT In the state where the entity information input mode is set, the network administrator defines entity information representing the resources actually used for the second network facility to which the above specification information is additionally registered, and inputs the defined entity information in the input device 51.

[0079] The control unit 1A of the operator terminal OT takes in the entity information input in the input device 51 under the control of the entity information input reception processing unit 12A by step S21, and temporarily stores it in the entity information storage unit 32A.

[0080] Next, when the control unit 1A of the operator terminal OT detects an input operation of a transmission instruction from the network administrator in step S22, under the control of the entity registration request transmission processing unit 14A, in step S23, the above entity information is read from the entity information storage unit 32A, and a registration request for the read entity information is transmitted from the communication I / F unit 4A to the network management device NM.

[0081] When the control unit 1A of the operator terminal OT finishes the input reception and transmission processing of the entity registration request for one network facility, it monitors the input of an end instruction for entity registration in step S24. Then, when an entity registration request for the next network facility is input, a series of input reception and transmission processing of the entity registration request by steps S21 to S24 is repeated. And when the above end instruction for entity registration is input, it returns to the standby state.

[0082] (2-2) Registration of entity information by the network management device NM When an entity registration request is transmitted from the operator terminal OT and this entity registration request is received by the communication I / F unit 4B, the entity registration request reception processing unit 13B takes in the above entity registration request in step S40, and passes the taken-in entity registration request to the entity information registration processing unit 14B.

[0083] When the entity information registration processing unit 14B receives the above entity registration request, in step S41, it executes a series of processes for registering entity information as follows.

[0084] FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an example of the processing procedure and processing content of the entity information registration process executed by the entity information registration processing unit 14B.

[0085] That is, the entity information registration processing unit 14B first reads, in step S411, the differential specification information regarding the second network facility specified by the above entity registration request from the specification information DB 31B. Next, in step S412, the entity information registration processing unit 14B reads the specification information regarding the first network facility that is the inheritance source from the specification information DB 31B based on the information representing the inheritance relationship included in the read differential specification information.

[0086] Subsequently, in step S413, the entity information registration processing unit 14B synthesizes the attribute information included in the specification information regarding the first network facility that is the inheritance source and the attribute information specific to the second network facility included in the differential specification information, thereby generating complete specification information including all the attribute information regarding the second network facility.

[0087] Next, in step S414, the entity information registration processing unit 14B compares the entity attributes described in the above entity registration request with the attribute information included in the complete specification information regarding the second network facility generated above. Then, in step S415, it is determined whether the possible values of the attributes requested by the above entity registration request are included in the range of possible values of the attributes with the same name among the respective attribute information included in the complete specification information regarding the second network facility. That is, it is determined whether the content of the entity registration request satisfies the registration requirements defined by the attributes of the specification information of the second network facility.

[0088] As a result of this determination, if the content of the entity registration request satisfies the registration requirements, the entity information registration processing unit 14B proceeds to step S416 and registers the entity information described in the entity registration request in the entity information DB 32B. Finally, in step S417, a registration completion message is transmitted from the communication I / F unit 4B to the operator terminal OT of the requester.

[0089] The entity information is represented by the name of the resource specification and a plurality of attribute information corresponding to the attribute information defined by the specification information. Each piece of attribute information is represented by a pair of an RSC representing the name of the attribute and a Resource Characteristic Value (RCV) representing the value for the attribute.

[0090] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an operation example when the registration of the entity information specified in the entity registration request is successful.

[0091] In this example, it shows a case where, due to an entity registration request, the registration of entity attributes for the specification information of Company A's network equipment is requested as the TPE_Ethernet 1 entity. That is, for TPE_Ethernet 1, the registration of RCV:123 as the value of the vlan attribute, RCV:1000Mbps as the value of the bandwidth attribute, and PP1 of Swtich1 as the name of the physicalport is requested.

[0092] In this case, in the network management device NM, the entity information registration processing unit 14B first, in (1), acquires TPE_Ethernet_A_Company_Spec, which is the differential specification information of the network equipment to be registered specified by the Resource Spec of the entity registration request, from the specification information DB 31B, and based on the information representing the inheritance relationship set corresponding to TPE_Ethernet_A_Company_Spec, acquires TPE_Ethernet_Spec, which is the specification information of the network equipment from which inheritance is derived, from the specification information DB 31B.

[0093] Next, in (2), the entity information registration processing unit 14B synthesizes the attribute information defined in the above TPE_Ethernet_Spec of the inheritance source and the attribute information defined in the above TPE_Ethernet_A_Company_Spec to generate complete specification information including all the attribute information for the above TPE_Ethernet_A_Company_Spec. For example, among the plurality of attribute information defined in the above TPE_Ethernet_Spec of the inheritance source, for the attribute information whose attribute content has not been changed, it is directly inherited, and for the attribute information whose attribute content has been changed, the attribute information defined in the above TPE_Ethernet_A_Company_Spec is overwritten to generate complete specification information including all the attribute information for the above TPE_Ethernet_A_Company_Spec.

[0094] Subsequently, the entity information registration processing unit 14B refers to the generated complete specification information in (3) to determine whether the attribute information required by the above TPE_Ethernet 1 is included in the range that each attribute information defined in the above TPE_Ethernet_A_Company_Spec can take. That is, it determines whether the registration requirements are met.

[0095] In this example, since the values of each attribute information required by TPE_Ethernet 1 are all within the range that each attribute information defined in the above TPE_Ethernet_A_Company_Spec can take, the entity information registration processing unit 14B registers the values of each attribute information required by the above TPE_Ethernet 1 in the entity information DB32.

[0096] On the contrary, if it is determined in step S415 that the content of the entity registration request does not meet the registration requirements defined by the attributes of the specification information of the second network facility, the entity information registration processing unit 14B generates a registration impossible message in step S418 and transmits the generated registration impossible message from the communication I / F unit 4B to the requesting operator terminal OT.

[0097] FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an operation example when the registration of the entity information specified in the above entity registration request fails.

[0098] In this example, it shows a case where, due to an entity registration request, the registration of entity attributes for the specification information of Company B's network equipment is requested as the TPE_Ethernet 2 entity. That is, for TPE_Ethernet 2, the registration of RCV:123 as the value of the vlan attribute, RCV:1000Mbps as the value of the bandwidth attribute, and PP1 of Swtich2 as the name of the physicalport is requested.

[0099] In this case, in the network management device NM, the entity information registration processing unit 14B first, in (1), in the same manner as the case of TPE_Ethernet 1 described in FIG. 11 above, acquires TPE_Ethernet_B company_Spec, which is the differential specification information of the network equipment to be registered specified by the ResourceSpec of the above entity registration request, from the specification information DB31B, and based on the information representing the inheritance relationship set corresponding to TPE_Ethernet_B company_Spec, acquires TPE_Ethernet_Spec, which is the specification information of the network equipment of the inheritance source, from the specification information DB31B.

[0100] Next, the entity information registration processing unit 14B, in (2), synthesizes the attribute information defined in the above TPE_Ethernet_Spec of the inheritance source and the attribute information defined in the above TPE_Ethernet_B company_Spec to generate complete specification information including all the attribute information for the above TPE_Ethernet_B company_Spec. For example, among the plurality of attribute information defined in the above TPE_Ethernet_Spec of the inheritance source, for the attribute information whose content has not been changed, it is carried over as it is, and for the attribute information whose content has been changed, the attribute information defined in the above TPE_Ethernet_B company_Spec is overwritten to generate complete specification information including all the attribute information for the above TPE_Ethernet_B company_Spec.

[0101] Finally, the entity information registration processing unit 14B refers to the generated complete specification information in (3) to determine whether the attribute information requested by the TPE_Ethernet2 is within the range of possible values of each attribute information defined in the TPE_Ethernet_B company_Spec. That is, it determines whether the registration requirements are met.

[0102] In this example, among the values of each attribute information requested by the TPE_Ethernet2, the requested bandwidth "1000 Mbps" exceeds the range of possible values of the bandwidth "1 - 500 Mbps" defined by the TPE_Ethernet_B company_Spec. Therefore, the entity information registration processing unit 14B determines that the entity information requested by the TPE_Ethernet2 does not meet the registration requirements and does not register the entity request.

[0103] When complete specification information regarding the second network facility to be additionally registered is generated and registered in the specification information DB31B when a specification registration request is received, the entity information registration processing unit 14B acquires the complete specification information from the specification information DB31B without performing the generation process of the complete specification information regarding the second network facility and determines whether the entity information can be registered.

[0104] (Function and Effect) As described above, in one embodiment, when adding and registering the specification information of the second network facility to be registered, among the plurality of attribute information included in the specification information of the already registered first network facility, the attribute information unique to the second network facility, whose attribute name or the range of possible values is different, and the information representing the inheritance relationship between the specification information of the already registered first network facility and the specification information of the second network facility to be registered are included in the specification registration information and transmitted from the operator terminal OT to the network management device NM. Then, in the network management device NM, when receiving the specification registration request or when determining the admissibility of registering entity information, the specification information of the already registered first network facility is obtained from the specification information DB31B based on the information representing the inheritance relationship, and the attribute information included in the obtained specification information of the first network facility and the attribute information unique to the second network facility are combined to generate the complete specification information regarding the second network facility. And the admissibility of registering entity information is determined using this complete specification information.

[0105] Therefore, according to one embodiment, it is not necessary to define all the attribute information regarding the second network facility to be registered for passing registration without omission, thereby reducing the operation time required for the external definition work of the network administrator and making it possible to register the complete specification information regarding the second network facility.

[0106] [Other Embodiments] (1) In one embodiment, the case where a network administrator uses the operator terminal OT to perform a registration operation of specification information and entity information on the network management device NM from a remote location is taken as an example for explanation. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. When the function of the network management device NM is provided in an information processing device such as a personal computer arranged in an office or the like, the specification information and the entity information may be directly registered to the information processing device.

[0107] (2) In one embodiment, the registration operations of the specification information and the entity information are performed from one operator terminal OT. However, the registration operation of the specification information and the registration operation of the entity information may be performed from separate operator terminals.

[0108] (3) In one embodiment, the case where the specification information DB31B and the entity information DB32B are provided in the network management device NM has been described as an example. However, the specification information DB31B and the entity information DB32B may be provided in another database server or the like, and the network management device NM may access the specification information DB31B and the entity information DB32B provided in the above database server or the like to perform the registration of the specification information and the registration process of the entity information. Further, the registration process function of the specification information and the registration process function of the entity information may be distributed and arranged in a plurality of information processing devices.

[0109] (4) In addition, with respect to the functions, processing procedures and processing contents, formats and data structures of the specification information and the entity information provided in the network management device, various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.

[0110] The embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above. However, the foregoing description is merely illustrative of the present invention in all respects. Needless to say, various improvements and modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. That is, in implementing the present invention, a specific configuration according to the embodiment may be appropriately adopted.

[0111] In short, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments as they are, and at the implementation stage, the components can be modified and embodied without departing from the gist thereof. Further, various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of components disclosed in the above embodiments. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the embodiment. Furthermore, components from different embodiments may be appropriately combined.

Explanation of Reference Numerals

[0112] NM… Network Management Device OT… Operator Terminal UT1~UTn… User Terminal NW… Network 1A,1B… Control Unit 2A,2B… Program Memory Unit 3A,3B… Data Memory Unit 4A,4B… Communication I / F Unit 5A… Input / Output I / F Unit 6A,5B… Bus 51… Input Device 52… Output Device 11A… Specification Information Input Reception Processing Unit 12A… Entity Information Input Reception Processing Unit 13A… Specification Registration Request Transmission Processing Unit 14A… Entity Registration Request Transmission Processing Unit 11B… Specification Registration Request Reception Processing Unit 12B… Specification Information Registration Processing Unit 13B… Entity Registration Request Reception Processing Unit 14B… Entity Information Registration Processing Unit 31A… Specification Information Memory Unit 32A… Entity Information Memory Unit 31B… Specification Information DB 32B… Entity Information DB

Claims

1. A specification information storage unit in which first specification information that defines characteristics of first network equipment to be managed by a plurality of first attribute information is registered; Of a plurality of second attribute information that defines characteristics of second network equipment, a unique attribute information different from the first attribute information, and a first input reception processing unit that receives an input of inheritance relationship information representing an inheritance relationship between the first attribute information and the second attribute information; Based on the input inheritance relationship information, the first specification information serving as an inheritance source is acquired from the specification information storage unit, and based on the first attribute information included in the acquired first specification information and the input unique attribute information, a second specification information related to the second network equipment is generated by a specification information generation processing unit A network management device comprising:

2. An entity information storage unit; A second input reception processing unit that receives an input of entity information that defines actual resources related to the second network equipment; An entity registration processing unit that determines whether or not to register the input entity information based on the second specification information, and registers the entity information in the entity information storage unit when it is determined that registration is possible Further comprising: The first input reception processing unit registers the input unique attribute information and the inheritance relationship information in the specification information storage unit; In the process of the entity registration processing unit determining whether or not to register the entity information, the specification information generation processing unit acquires the unique attribute information and the inheritance relationship information from the specification information storage unit, acquires the first specification information serving as an inheritance source from the specification information storage unit based on the acquired inheritance relationship information, and generates the second specification information based on the first attribute information included in the acquired first specification information and the unique attribute information The network management device according to claim 1.

3. An entity information storage unit; A second input reception processing unit that receives an input of entity information that defines actual resources related to the second network equipment; An entity registration processing unit that determines whether or not to register the input entity information based on the second specification information, and registers the entity information in the entity information storage unit when it is determined that registration is possible Further comprising: When the specification information generation processing unit receives the specific attribute information and the inheritance relationship information, it acquires the first specification information from the specification information storage unit based on the inheritance relationship information, and generates the second specification information based on the first attribute information included in the acquired first specification information and the specific attribute information, and registers the generated second specification information in the specification information storage unit. The network management device according to claim 1.

4. The entity registration processing unit acquires the second specification information from the specification information storage unit, determines whether to register the input entity information based on the acquired second specification information, and registers the entity information in the entity information storage unit when it is determined that registration is possible. The network management device according to claim 3.

5. A network management method executed by an information processing device, comprising: a process of registering first specification information that defines the characteristics of a first network facility to be managed with a plurality of first attribute information in a specification information storage unit; a process of receiving an input of specific attribute information different from the first attribute information and inheritance relationship information representing an inheritance relationship between the first attribute information and second attribute information among a plurality of second attribute information that define the characteristics of a second network facility; a process of acquiring the first specification information serving as an inheritance source from the specification information storage unit based on the input inheritance relationship information, and generating second specification information related to the second network facility based on the first attribute information included in the acquired first specification information and the input specific attribute information A network management method comprising the above.

6. A program that causes a processor included in the network management device to execute processing performed by at least one of the processing units included in the network management device according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

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