Management information base listing viewer

Abstract

A MIB viewer for displaying objects defined in a MIB listing. The MIB viewer extracts object information from a MIB listing and reorganizes the object information for display to a user in an ordered and easily understandable manner. The MIB viewer separates object names from other object attributes to enable a user to quickly interpret the relationship among the objects in the MIB listing. Upon request, the attributes associated with any particular object can be displayed in a separate window. Another embodiment of the MIB viewer organizes the object names into a hierarchical structure and displays a graphical hierarchical structure showing the parent/child relationship between the objects in the MIB listing. Upon selection of an object name, the attributes associated with the object will be displayed in a separate window.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A method for displaying on a display device object attribute information from a MIB listing without the need for accessing an agent over a network, comprising:

reading object attribute information describing a plurality of objects from MIB listing, each object being either a parent object, a child object, or a parent and a child object, the object attribute information for at least some of the plurality of objects including an object name, an object identifier and an object description;

displaying on a display device a plurality of object names of child objects having a common parent;

receiving a selection signal from an input device corresponding to particular object name;

displaying at least one of the object identifier and the object description of the object associated with the particular object name in response to the selection signal.

2. A method according to claim 1, further comprising parsing the object information into a plurality of categories, the categories being based on a type of object.

3. A method according to claim 2, wherein the categories comprise scalar objects, group objects, and table objects.

4. A method according to claim 2, further comprising displaying the names of the categories, and upon receiving user selection of one of the categories, displaying a list of names of objects of the type of category selected.

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein the object attribute information for at least a plurality of objects further comprises a status attribute, an access attribute, and a syntax attribute.

6. A method according to claim 5, further comprising displaying the status attribute, the access attribute, and the syntax attribute of the object associated with the particular object name.

7. A method according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of object names are displayed in a graphical structure showing a parent-child relationship between parent objects and child objects.

8. A method for illustrating on a display device a hierarchical relationship between objects in a MIB listing without the need for accessing an agent over a network, comprising: reading object attribute information from MIB listing, the object attribute information including an object name and an object identifier for each of a plurality of objects;

determining a hierarchical relationship between each of the plurality of objects as a function of the object identifier associated with each of the plurality of objects;

displaying a hierarchical structure containing the names of the objects showing the parent/child relationship between the plurality of objects.

9. A method according to claim 8, further comprising receiving a signal from an input device corresponding to a particular object name, and in response to the signal displaying the object identifier of the object associated with the object name.

10. A method according to claim 8, wherein the object attribute information further comprises an object description, and further comprising receiving a signal from an input device corresponding to a particular object name, and in response to the signal displaying the object description of the object associated with the particular object name.

11. A method according to claim 8, wherein the hierarchical structure comprises a plurality of nodes, at least some of the nodes having a parent/child relationship with other of the nodes, and the hierarchical structure includes lines extending from at least some of the parent nodes to their respective child nodes.

12. A method according to claim 8, wherein the determining step comprises building a list of objects, each entry in the list being operative to maintain a child list and a sibling list, and as each object in the MIB listing is read, adding the object to the child list of a parent object.

13. A method according to claim 12, further comprising adding the object to a sibling list of a sibling object.

14. A system for displaying object attribute information from a MIB listing without the need to access an agent over a network, comprising;

a display device;

a read process being operative to read object attribute information from MIB listing containing definitions of parent objects, child objects, and parent and child objects, the object attribute information including an object name associated with each object;

a display process being operative to display device a plurality of object names; and

selection process being operative to receive a user selection identifying one of the plurality of object names and being operative to determine if the object associated with the object name has a child object, and if so being operative to display the name of the child object.

15. A system according to claim 14, wherein the object attribute information comprises an object identifier and an object description for at least some of the plurality of objects, and further comprising the selection process being operative to display at least one of the object identifier and the object description of the object associated with the object if the object does not have a child object.

16. A system according to claim 15, wherein the object attribute information comprises an object syntax, an object access and an object status, and wherein the selection process is operative to display the object identifier, the object description, the object access and the object status of the object.

17. A system according to claim 14, further comprising a parse process being operative to categorize each of the objects, and being operative to create a list of objects for each of the categories of objects.

18. A system according to claim 14, wherein the object attribute information comprises an object identifier for each object, the object identifier establishing the parent/child relationship of each particular object with the object's parent and children, further comprising a parse process being operative to establish a hierarchical structure of objects as a function of the object identifier.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to the field of network management, and in particular relates to a method and system for displaying the contents of a management information base in an organized and understandable manner.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

As networks have proliferated, so too have the number of network-attached devices, such as servers, printers, bridges, routers and the like. Frequently these devices are geographically far removed from one another, even when attached to the same LAN, and managing such devices has become a major burden on network administrators. The Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) was designed to facilitate management of such devices from a central location.

SNMP allows a management software application running from a central location, such as a workstation, to query and or modify various objects associated with an SNMP-enabled device. Each SNMP-enabled device implements an SNMP agent, and the objects supported by any particular agent are defined in a source code listing referred to as a Management Information Base (MIB) listing. The MIB listing defines each object in terms of its attributes, such as its name, syntax, object identifier, access, status, and description. The management application reads the MIB listing to determine what objects a particular agent supports, whether the object can be read and/or written, the type of object (e.g., numeric, or string), and its object identifier. The object identifier is made up of a series of digits and periods, and is used to uniquely identify a particular object in an SNMP request from the management application.

The objects in a MIB are organized in a hierarchy which is established by the object identifier. The hierarchy is in the form of a tree, with each object being either a parent object, a child object, or a parent and child object. Parent objects are used to organize related child objects. For example, a group object is a parent object to certain child objects which somehow relate to the group object. Similarly, a table object is composed of rows, or sequences, of child objects. The hierarchy of such parent and child objects, however, is not easily determined from looking at the MIB listing, as the objects in a MIB listing merely follow one another sequentially.

To implement a MIB in an SNMP agent, or to determine what objects are implemented in a MIB, the MIB listing must be analyzed. Unfortunately, MIB listings can be very difficult to interpret because the definition of each object appears to be independent of every other object, and the parent/child relationship between the objects can be difficult to determine. MIB listings are created using a syntax referred to as Abstract Syntax Notation one (ASN.1), which requires that objects be defined in terms of its attributes, such as a name, an object identifier, a syntax, an access, a status, and optionally a description. Although optional, descriptions are widely used in practice to describe the purpose and use of the object and can be quite lengthy. The effect of this is that a single page of a MIB listing may contain the definition of only two or three objects. MIB listings frequently define hundreds of objects, resulting in MIB listings over 100 pages in length. Not only does such length make it difficult to locate a particular object, but can also make determining the hierarchy of the objects in the MIB very difficult. Although a text editor can be used to electronically search for the name of an object, it is presented without a context--that is without indicating where the object exists with respect to other objects.

For example, when examining a particular object in a MIB listing, either from a hard copy printout or from a computer screen, one cannot easily determine what objects are child objects of a particular object, or what attributes a parent object has. In fact, the parent object could be listed on a page 25 pages previous to the object of interest. Nor can one easily obtain an overall view of the hierarchy of the MIB. This is especially important when designing the layout of the MIB to ensure that the objects are implemented in a logical manner.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is one object of this invention to provide a method and system for interpreting a MIB listing, organizing the objects from the MIB listing into categories of objects, and displaying the names of the objects based upon a selected category.

It is another object of this invention to provide a method and system for interpreting a MIB listing, and graphically displaying the hierarchical parent/child relationship of the objects from the MIB listing.

It is yet another object of this invention to provide a method and system for interpreting a MIB listing, segregating the names of the objects in the MIB listing from the other attributes of the objects, and outputting the object attribute information in an ordered manner.

Additional objects, advantages and other novel features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description that follows and, in part, will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the invention. To achieve the foregoing and other objects and in accordance with the purposes of the present invention, a method and system is provided for displaying object information from a MIB listing on a display device. The method includes reading a MIB listing, parsing the objects in the MIB listing, and determining the parent/child hierarchy between the objects. According to one embodiment of this invention, a user can select a certain type, or category, of object to display, and the names of the objects of that type are displayed in a user interface window. The object names can be displayed based upon a common parent object, and selection of a parent object can result in the display of the names of all child objects. Thus, a user can quickly traverse through the parent/child hierarchy of objects. Because the object names alone are displayed in the user interface window, without the various other object attributes defined in the MIB listing, the user can quickly identify the objects of interest, and easily determine which objects are related by a common parent. Upon selection by a user of a particular child object name, attribute information associated with that object, such as an object identifier, a syntax, an access, and a description of the object is shown in a separate window.

According to another embodiment of this invention, a graphical tree structure showing the parent/child hierarchy between all the objects in a MIB listing is displayed. Upon user selection of any object in the tree, a window is generated containing the attribute information relating to the selected object, such as the object identifier of the object, the syntax of the object, the access of the object, the status of the object, and the description of the object. Thus, the sequential layout of objects in a MIB listing are converted into a graphical display showing the parent/child hierarchy of the objects, enabling an individual to quickly grasp the relationship of any object in the MIB with respect to any other object in the MIB.

According to yet another embodiment of this invention, a MIB listing is parsed and interpreted, and a document file is created containing a condensed ordered listing of the names of the objects in the MIB listing, based upon their parent/child relationship with each other. Omitted from the document file are many of the object attributes specified in a MIB listing, such as the description attribute and the status attribute. Thus, the document file can be less than one-fifteenth the size of the original MIB listing, and its parent/child ordering enables one to easily grasp the parent/child relationship between the objects.

Still other objects of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in this art from the following description wherein there is shown and described preferred embodiments of this invention. As will be realized, the invention is capable of other different obvious aspects all without departing from the invention. Accordingly, the drawings and description will be regarded as illustrative in nature and not as restrictive.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings incorporated in and forming a part of the specification, illustrate several aspects of the present invention, and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram and display window showing a MIB viewer according to one embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a display window showing a listing of table object names according to one embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 3 is a display window showing a plurality of child object names of a table object shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a display window showing a listing of trap object names according to one embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 5 is a display window showing a plurality of group object names;

FIG. 6 is a display window showing a plurality of child object names of a group object shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a schematic illustrating a graphical hierarchical structure showing the parent/child relationship between objects in a MIB listing according to one embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 8 is a display window showing in greater detail a portion of the schematic shown in FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a display window showing in greater detail another portion of the schematic shown in FIG. 7;

FIG. 10 shows two display windows, an outer display window showing a portion of the schematic shown in FIG. 7, and an inner display window showing attribute information relating to a particular object selected in the outer display window;

FIGS. 11-12 are flow diagrams illustrating the operation of the MIB viewer according to one embodiment of this invention; and

FIG. 13 is a flow chart illustrating in greater detail the parsing aspect of the operation of the MIB viewer shown in FIGS. 11-12.

Reference will now be made in detail to present preferred embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like numerals indicate the same elements throughout the views.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As used herein the phrase "MIB listing" refers to a listing having a predetermined syntax for defining managed objects used in network management protocols such as SNMP or CMIP, for example. In the SNMP environment, a MIB listing defines the objects which are implemented in an SNMP agent. Objects typically are described in terms of attributes, such as an object name, an object identifier, an object syntax, an object access, an object status, and an object description. This is conventionally referred to as Abstract Syntax Notation one (ASN.1). The word objects, as used herein, refers to scalar objects, group objects, table objects, objects which compose a sequence, or rows of a table object, trap objects and other entities defined in ASN.1 syntax as objects. The ASN. 1 syntax is not a concise syntax, which can result in MIB listings being over 100 pages in length. Objects in a MIB have a hierarchical parent/child relationship with respect to each other, each object being either a parent object to a child object, a child object to a parent object, or a parent object and a child object. The hierarchical relationship is established through the object identifier of each object. An object identifier comprises a value such as `1.3.4.6.4.5.23.43.2.3`. This value can either be specified explicitly in the MIB listing, or indirectly by specifying the name of the parent object, and a unique child object number, such as "nwTimeSync 3". Thus, it is difficult for an individual, merely by viewing the MIB listing, to discern the hierarchical parent/child relationship between objects.

For example, a group object is a parent object to one or more scalar and table objects. A group object is used to organize child objects having some functional relationship. When examining a MIB listing, it can be difficult to locate the definition of a group object of any particular child object, since the group object could have been defined many pages previous to the definition of the child object. Similarly, a table object comprises rows, or sequences, of objects related by function. When a sequence comprises a large number of objects, it can be difficult to locate the definition of the parent table object when examining the child objects. Another problem is that the syntax for defining any object, whether the object be a group, a table or a scalar object, is very nearly identical, which makes it extremely difficult to determine where one group or table begins, and another group or table ends. This inability to easily analyze the objects in a MIB listing can increase the difficulty of implementing a MIB in an SNMP agent. Moreover, because several people are frequently involved in the implementation of a MIB in an SNMP agent, group discussions regarding the objects in a MIB listing can be hindered because of the difficulty in finding objects in a MIB listing, and the difficulty in determining the hierarchical relationship of the objects with respect to each other.

An example of several MIB object definitions are provided below, in Table 1.

                  TABLE 1
    ______________________________________
    nwServerTimeType OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX INTEGER {
            unknown(0),
            client(1),
            secondary(2),
            primary(3),
            reference(4),
            single(5)
    ACCESS read-only
    STATUS mandatory
    DESCRIPTION
    "The type of this time server:
    0 = Unknown
    1 = Client
    2 = Secondary
    3 = Primary
    4 = Reference
    5 = Single"
    ::= { nwTimeSync 7 }
     DS Time source Table
    nwTimeSourceTable OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX SEQUENCE OF NwDSTimeEntry
    ACCESS not-accessible
    STATUS mandatory
    DESCRIPTION
    "A list of time sources for this server.
    Although this table is manually configured,
    you can choose to have SAP discover new
    time sources and add them to this list."
    ::= { nwTimeSync 8 }
    nwTimeSrcEntry OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX NwDSTimeEntry
    ACCESS non-accessible
    STATUS mandatory
    DESCRIPTION
    "A description of a particular time source
    in the time source table."
    INDEDX {nwTimeServerID}
    ::= { nwTimeSourceTable 1 }
    NwDSTimeEntry ::= SEQUENCE {
    nwTimeServerID
                  INTEGER,
    nwSrcTblServerTime
                  DateAndTime,
    nwSrcDiscrepInSec
                  INTEGER,
    nwSrcDiscrepInFrac
                  INTEGER,
    nwRemoteServerType
                  INTEGER,
    nwRemoteServerStatus
                  INTEGER
     }
    nwTimeServerID OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX INTEGER
    ACCESS read-only
    STATUS mandatory
    DESCRIPTION
    "An integer that uniquely identifies a particular
    time source. The server's name or other entry information
    can be obtained querying the reference server table."
    ::= { nwTimeSecEntry 1 }
    nwSrcTblServerTime OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX DateAndTime
    ACCESS read-only
    STATUS mandatory
    DESCRIPTION
    "The most recent data and time that
    this time source was polled."
    ::= { nwTimeSrcEntry 2 }
    nwSrcDiscrepInSec OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX WholeSeconds
    ACCESS read-only
    STATUS mandatory
    DESCRIPTION
    "The discrepancy (in whole seconds) between
    this server's time and that of the time source.
    This integer is the upper 32 bits of a
    64-bit number with a fixed point between
    the upper and lower 32 bits."
    ::= { nwTimeSrcEntry 3 }
    nwSrcDiscrepInFrac OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX FractionalSeconds
    ACCESS read-only
    STATUS mandatory
    DESCRIPTION
    "The discrepancy (in fractional seconds) between
    this server's time and that of the time source.
    This integer is the lower 32 bits of a
    64-bit number with a fixed point between
    the upper and lower 32 bits."
    ::= { nwTimeSrcEntry 4 }
    ______________________________________

                  TABLE 2
    ______________________________________
    Filename: NWTMSYNC.MIB
    Mibname: NetWare-TimeSync-MIB
    INDEX ---------------------------------
    GROUPS
    nwTimeClock
               1.3.6.1.4.1.23.2.63.2 ***** 1
    nwTimeSync 1.3.6.1.4.1.23.2.63.1 ***** 2
    TABLES
    nwTimeSourceTable 1.3.6.1.4.1.23.2.63.1.8 ***** 3
    nwTimeClientTable 1.3.6.1.4.1.23.2.63.1.9 ***** 4
    GROUP LIST ---------------------------------
     1 nwTimeClock(2) GROUP 1.3.6.1.4.1.23.2.63.2
    ----------
    nwClkTimeSec(1)      INTEGER
    nwClkTimeFrac(2)     INTEGER
    nwClkStatus(3)       INTEGER
    nwClkAdjustCount(4)  Counter
    nwClkAdjustSec(5)    INTEGER
    nwClkAdjustFrac(6)   INTEGER
    nwClkGrossCorrectSec(7)
                         INTEGER
    nwClkGrossCorrectFrac(8)
                         INTEGER
    nwClkTickIncrement(9)
                         INTEGER
    nwClkStdTickIncrement(10)
                         INTEGER
    nwClkEventOffset(11) INTEGER
    nwClkEventTime(12)   OCTET STRING 8 .. 11
    nwClkDayLight(13)    INTEGER 0 .. 1
    nwClkTimeZoneOffset(14)
                         INTEGER
    nwTzName(15)         7 ByteString
    nwTimeZoneString(16) OCTET STRING 0 .. 255
    nwDayLightOffset(17) INTEGER
    nwClkDayLightOnOff(18)
                         INTEGER 0 .. 1
    nwClkDayLightStart(19)
                         OCTET STRING 8 .. 11
    nwClkDayLightStop(20)
                         OCTET STRING 8 .. 11
     2 nwTimeSync(1) GROUP 1.3.6.1.4.1.23.2.63.1
    ----------
    nwLastSuccessTimeSourceIndex(1)
                         INTEGER
    nwLastSuccessfulTimeSync(2)
                         OCTET STRING 8 .. 11
    nwLastAttemptedTimeSourceIndex(3)
                         INTEGER
    nwLastAttemptedTimeSync(4)
                         OCTET STRING 8 .. 11
    nwLastTimeSyncStatus(5)
                         INTEGER 0 .. 2
    nwLastTimeInTimeSync(6)
                         OCTET STRING 8 .. 11
    nwServerTimeType(7)  INTEGER 0 .. 5
    TABLE LIST ---------------------------------
     3 nwTimeSourceTable(8) TABLE 1.3.6.1.4.1.23.2.63.1.8
     nwTimeSrcEntry(1) Index: {nwTimeServerID}
    -------------------
    nwTimeServerID(1)    INTEGER
    nwSrcTblServerTime(2)
                         OCTET STRING 8 .. 11
    nwSrcDiscrepInSec(3) INTEGER
    nwSrcDiscrepInFrac(4)
                         INTEGER
    nwRemoteServerType(5)
                         INTEGER 0 .. 5
    nwRemoteServerStatus(6)
                         INTEGER 0 .. 2
     4 nwTimeClientTable(9) TABLE 1.3.6.1.4.1.23.2.63.1.9
     nwTimeClientEntry(1) Index: {nwTimeClientServerID}
    nwTimeClientServerID(1)
                         INTEGER
    nwCltTblServerTime(2)
                         OCTET STRING 8 .. 11
    nwClientServerType(3)
                         INTEGER 0 .. 5
    nwClientServerStatus(4)
                         INTEGER 0 .. 2
    ______________________________________

                  TABLE 3
    ______________________________________
    ObjIdList next;   // next sibling object identifier
    String  name;   // this object identifier
    String  parentName; // name of the parent
    String  value;   // value of this object identifier
    ObjIdList childPtr; // point to list of children.
    ObjectDesc objData;
    int  type;   // TABLE, SCALAR, GROUP
    ______________________________________

• Inventors
  Lakis, David Michael;
• Assignee
  Novell, Inc. (Provo, UT)
• Published
  Jan-26-1999
• Current US Classes:
  707/10
  707/100
  707/103R
  707/104.1
• Application #
  824081
• International Classes
  G06F 017/30
• Field of Search
  707/102 707/103 707/104 707/10 707/1 707/2 707/3 707/100 707/101 707/200 707/203 707/205 345/440 345/356 345/357 345/329 345/340 345/348 395/183.14 395/677 395/183.03 395/670 395/200.33 395/182.02 395/183 370/408
• Examiner
  Amsbury; Wayne
• Agent
  Dinsmore & Shohl LLP
• US Patent References:
  5388196
  5421015
  5572640
  5615323
  5651006
  5684988
  5701137
  5737518