Scalable and Robust Mechanism for Remote IP Device Monitoring With Changing IP Address Assignment

A server for monitoring devices with changing Internet protocol (IP) addresses comprising:

• memory for storing a program for monitoring devices with changing Internet protocol (IP) addresses;
• and
• a processor, functionally coupled to the memory, the processor being responsive to computer-executable instructions contained in the program and operative to:
• receive SNMP trap from a remote device at a first IP address to notify that a connection is up;
• in response to receiving the SNMP trap from the device, transmit an SNMP poll to the device to obtain an identifier for the device;
• correspond the first IP address to the identifier for the device;
• transmit a sequence of SNMP GET requests at predetermined time periods to the device, wherein a corresponding sequence of SNMP GET responses are transmitted back from the device;
• in response to failing to receive from the device a predetermined and tunable number of consecutive SNMP GET responses equal to a predetermined threshold, determine that there is a connection failure or a device failure;
• in response to determining that there is the failure, check whether the device is in a maintenance window;
• and
• in response to determining that there is the failure, wait a predetermined and tunable window for the device to reconnect to a network and to send another SNMP trap from the device notifying that a connection is back up, wherein the device has a second IP address and the same identifier.

A computer program product, tangibly embodied on a computer readable medium, the computer program product including instructions for causing a computer to execute a method for monitoring devices with changing Internet protocol (IP) addresses, comprising:

• receiving SNMP trap from a remote device at a first IP address to notify that a connection is up;
• in response to receiving the SNMP trap from the device, transmitting an SNMP poll to the device to obtain an identifier for the device;
• corresponding the first IP address to the identifier for the device;
• transmitting a sequence of SNMP GET requests at predetermined time periods to the device, wherein a corresponding sequence of SNMP GET responses are transmitted back from the device;
• in response to failing to receive from the device a predetermined and tunable number of consecutive SNMP GET responses equal to a predetermined threshold, determining that there is a connection failure or a device failure;
• in response to determining that there is the failure, checking whether the device is in a maintenance window;
• and
• in response to determining that there is the failure, waiting a predetermined and tunable window for the device to reconnect to a network and to send another SNMP trap from the device notifying that a connection is back up, wherein the device has a second IP address and the same identifier.