Datasheet

US 7,099,934 B1
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etc., each of Which are connected to one or more power
sources. The value of POP equipment can range from
$200,000 to $500,000, and the number of individual devices
can exceed a thousand.
Many enterprises rely on an uninterruptable poWer supply
(UPS) to keep their netWork appliances operational. Many
netWork appliances are typically connected to a single UPS,
and this sets up a problem. When an individual router locks
up, the router’s poWer cannot be individually cycled on and
off externally at the UPS because it is connected to a
multiple poWer outlet. The recovery action choices available
to the netWork control center operator thus do not include
being able to reinitialiZe the individual equipment through a
poWer interruption reset. The netWork operator could com
mand the UPS to poWer cycle, but that Would reset all the
other attached devices that Were ostensibly operating nor
mally and carrying other netWork traf?c. Another option is
to dispatch someone to the remote location to reset the
locked-up device. Neither choice is an attractive solution.
In large organizations that have come to depend heavily
on enterprise netWorks, there is great pressure to develop
Ways to control costs and thus to improve pro?ts. Organi
Zational doWn-siZing has been used throughout the corporate
World to reduce non-netWork costs, and that usually trans
lates to feWer technical people available in the right places
to support large and complex in-house global netWorks.
Such reduced repair stalfs noW rely on a combination of
centraliZed netWork management tools and third-party main
tenance organiZations to service their remote POP sites. The
costs associated With dispatching third-party maintenance
technicians is very high, and the dispatch and travel delay
times can humble the business operations over a Wide area
for What seems an eternity.
Global communication netWork operators, located at a
feW centraliZed netWork management centers, are relying
more and more on automated netWork management appli
cations to analyZe, process, display and support their net
Works. An increasing number of netWork management soft
Ware applications are being marketed that use open-system
standardized protocols. Particular netWork application tool
softWare is possible to report lists of the netWork appliances,
by location, and can issue trouble lists and keep track of
softWare versions and releases. Simple netWork manage
ment protocol (SNMP) applications are conventionally used
to issue alarms to central management consoles When
remote netWork appliances fail.
SNMP is conventionally used to send messages betWeen
management client nodes and agent nodes. Management
information blocks (MIBs) are used for statistic counters,
port status, and other information about routers and other
netWork devices. GET and SET commands are issued from
management consoles and operate on particular MIB vari
ables for the equipment nodes. Such commands alloW net
Work management functions to be carried out betWeen client
equipment nodes and management agent nodes. The agent
nodes can issue alert or TRAP messages to the management
center to report special events.
SNMP is an application protocol for netWork manage
ment services in the internet protocol suite. SNMP has been
adopted by numerous netWork equipment vendors as their
main or secondary management interface. SNMP de?nes a
client/ server relationship, Wherein the client program, a
“netWork manager”, makes virtual connections to a server
program, an “SNMP agent”, on a remote netWork device.
The data base controlled by the SNMP agent is the SNMP
management information base, and is a standard set of
statistical and control values. SNMP and private MIBs alloW
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the extension of standard values With values speci?c to a
particular agent. Directives issued by the netWork manager
client to an SNMP agent comprise SNMP variable identi?
ers, e.g., MIB object identi?ers or MIB variables, and
instructions to either GET the value for the identi?er, or SET
the identi?er to a neW value. Thus private MIB variables
alloW SNMP agents to be customiZed for speci?c devices,
e.g., netWork bridges, gateWays, and routers. The de?nitions
of MIB variables being supported by particular agents are
located in descriptor ?les, typically Written in abstract syn
tax notation (ASN.1) format. The de?nitions are available to
netWork management client programs.
SNMP-based netWork management systems (NMS) can
be implemented With Compaq INSIGHT MANAGER, Nov
ell NETWARE, HeWlett-Packard OPENVIEW, Castlerock
SNMPC, Banyan VINES, Ar‘tisoft LANTASTIC, Microsoft
WINDOWS, SunNet MANAGER, IBM AS/ 400, etc. Spe
ci?c control of an agent is traditionally afforded by hardWare
manufacturers by supplying MIB extensions to the standard
iZed SNMP MIB library by Way of source-text ?les on
?oppy disks or compact disks (CD’s). These MIB extensions
load on the NMS, and an assigned IP-address for the agent
is entered-in by a user at the NMS. Connecting the agent and
the NMS to a properly con?gured netWork is usually enough
to establish communications and control.
In 1994, American PoWer Conversion (West Kingston,
RI) marketed a combination of their SMART-UPS, POW
ERNET SNMP ADAPTER, MEASURE-UPS, and an
SNMP-based management station. POWERNET SNMP
agents Were used to generate traps or alarms for attention by
the management station. The SNMP agents Were described
as being able to supply real-time UPS status and poWer
quality information, e.g., UPS run-time, utility-line voltage,
and UPS current load.
In 1996, American PoWer Conversion Was marketing their
MASTERSWITCH embodiment that comprises a single
rack-mountable box With eight relay-controlled poWer out
lets on the back apron. Abuilt-in l0 Base-T netWorking plug
alloWs connection to a LAN. It further includes an embed
ded SNMP agent responsive to the netWorking plug that can
control individual poWer outlets. A Telnet agent Was also
included. Revisions of the MASTERSWITCH that appeared
by 2000 further included a hypertext transfer protocol
(HTTP) agent that can generate information and control
Webpages on a logged-in Web broWser. SNMP traps Were
relied on to generate unsolicited alarm inputs. Automatic
IP-address assignment is provided by a Bootup process.
By at least 1998, American PoWer Conversion began
marketing a “complete enterprise poWer management sys
tem”. A POWERNET manager controls SMART-UPS
devices over a netWork using SNMP. An SNMP agent is
associated With each controlled SMART-UPS and a graphi
cal user interface (GUI) on the manager alloWs a user to see
the poWer status of each SMART-UPS. ShutdoWns and
reboots of individual SMART-UPS sites are initiated from
the GUI. The POWERNET EVENT ADAPTER converts
SNMP traps into events that are reported in a GUI, e. g., the
TIVOLI ENTERPRISE CONSOLE (TEC). In 1998, volt
age, current, temperature, and relative humidity Were being
reported, e.g., by MEASURE-UPS, and displayed in the
POWERNET MANAGER GUI.
All such patents and patent applications mentioned herein
are incorporated by reference.