Network management protocol for efficient retrieval operations
AssigneeAlcatel Networks Corporation
InventorsMark Tooker, Jonathan Bosloy, John Burns, Robert Muller
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A network management protocol for the efficient retrieval of items of information or objects from managed elements or other network management systems in a digital communications network is described. The new protocol introduces one or more qualifier bits appended to an information retrieval command wherein the qualifier bit specifies the subclasses of the objects requested.
Claims27
In a communications network management system in which items of information respecting a plurality of managed elements within the network are retained within said managed elements, an improved protocol for retrieving information from said managed elements comprising:
- adding to said items of information a qualifier bitmap in an object identifier, said qualifier bitmap having individual bits representing particular subclasses within a class of said information for filtering, at the managed elements, information to be returned from the managed elements to the network management system, whereby the managed elements each return only filtered information.
In a management system for a communications network in which information objects respecting managed devices within the communications network are retained within said managed devices, and improved protocol for retrieving said information objects from said managed devices comprising:
- adding at least one non-SNMP qualifier to said information objects wherein said at least one qualifier comprises a qualifier bitmap having individual bits representing particular subclasses within a class of said information and providing filtering, at the managed devices, of the information to be returned from the managed devices to the network management system whereby the managed devices each return only filtered information to the management system.
A method of retrieving items of information from a managed element in a communications network, the communications network having a network management system to generate a request for items of information and to forward the request to the managed element, the managed element responding to the request by returning items of information retrieved from a logical series of the information retained therein, the method comprising:
- adding a qualifier bitmap to the request, the qualifier bitmap having individual bits specifying particular subclasses of the logical series in which the items of information are retained and providing filtering, at the managed elements, of the information to be returned from the managed elements to the network management system whereby the managed elements each return only filtered information to the management system.
A method of efficiently retrieving objects from a managed element in a communications network, the communications network having a network management system to generate requests for objects and to forward the requests to the managed element, the managed element responding to the requests by returning the objects to the network management system, the objects being retrieved from a single, logical series of objects retained in the managed element, the method comprising:
- adding at least two qualifiers to the requests, at least one of said qualifiers comprising a qualifier bitmap including individual bits representing particular subclasses of the logical series in which the objects are retained and providing filtering, at the managed elements, of the information to be returned from the managed elements to the network management system whereby the managed elements each return only filtered information to the management system.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.