Graphical User Interface for Computer Management System and an Associated Management Information Base

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facisimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to a computer management system and, more particularly, to a computer management system having plural instrumentation agents for querying manageable devices to collect object data, an associated enterprise management information base (or "MIB") for storing object data in accordance with a specified MIB architecture and a graphical user interface (or "GUI") for managing the manageable devices using the enterprise MIB.

2. Description of Related Art

The Internet community has defined an organizational framework of data and provides a naming authority allowing any company or group to define information within the framework in a way that allows any or all of this data to coexist. Under the control of the International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee (or "CCITT") and the International Organization for Standardization (or "ISO"), the organizational framework has been constructed as a tree. The root of the tree is managed by CCITT and ISO. Extending from the root of the tree are a series of branches defined by CCITT and ISO. However, while the branch is initially defined by the managing authority, authority for the branch may then be given to another organization for defining the child branches for that branch. FIG. 1 illustrates the structure of the organizational framework defined by the Internet community and is included here so that the relationship of the enterprise MIB subject of the present application and the remainder of the Internet community will be clear.

Every piece of information within the organizational framework is configured in a formal grammar and referred to by its full name so that it can be unambiguously specified, thereby making information transfers within an interoperable network system possible. A series of dotted decimal notations, each separated by periods, specifies all of the branches needed to reach a particular item. For example, all items originating in a private enterprise would be headed by the notation "1.3.6.1.4.1". From a specific private enterprise, an item would be identified using the name 1.3.6.1.4.1.XXX.YY where "XXX" is an identifier assigned to that enterprise by the ISO and "YY" is an identifier assigned to that particular item by enterprise "XXX" under the authority of the ISO.

Simple Network Management Protocol (or "SNMP") is a protocol widely used within the Internet community for interoperable network management The SNMP protocol defines a set of commands that a management application may use to retrieve or change the value of items that a management agent is making available. The Internet community also maintains a series of documents which describe the communication protocols used by the community. These documents are called "Request for Comments" and are commonly referred to as "RFCs". Each RFC is assigned a number to identify the document. For example, RFC 1212 defines the formal grammar for a SNMP MIB.

A MIB is a data base that describes a set of items that management applications and agents use to report and control managed devices. A description of a MIB starts with a line that states the name of the MIB being defined. Typically, the name of the MIB is followed by an import statement which allows the MIB writer to specify information from other well known MIBs that are referred to in the MIB being defined. Within a MIB is a structure for organizing managed items. To form the structure, the MIB defines a group or groups for organizing related pieces of information. A group is defined by stating a name for the group and showing how the group fits into the tree. Typically, all group definitions are placed immediately following the IMPORTS statement. Groups may contain information in the form of items or "objects", sub-groups, or a combination of the two. Similarly, each sub-group is configured like a group.

Within a group or sub-group, data may be organized in one of two basic methods. A scalar item is a single piece of information that is within a group. For example, the total memory in a server is a scalar item. A table is a structure for organizing data that requires more information to uniquely identify a single data item within a group of similar items. An example of an item that is best organized in a table is an EISA board ID. It is necessary for someone requesting an EISA board ID to specify the EISA board to which they are referring.

Each item, either scalar or part of a table, defined in a MIB includes a description which explains the item. Typically, the description includes SYNTAX, ACCESS, STATUS and DESCRIPTION clauses. The SYNTAX clause specifies the type of information which the item contains. Information types typically specified by the SYNTAX clause include INTEGER, OCTET STRING, Counter and DisplayString. INTEGER specifies that the value of the item should be interpreted as a number. OCTET STRING specifies that the value of the item should be interpreted as a string of octets, each having a value between 0 and 255. Counter specifies that the item is an INTEGER that has an implied range of zero to FFFFFFFF. DisplayString specifies that the item is an OCTET STRING where each octet is restricted to a printable ASCII character.

The ACCESS clause specifies the ways the item may be used and shows the actions which the agent may support for the item. ACCESS may be read-only, read-write or not-accessible. Read-only means that the value of the item may be retrieved by a management application but may not be altered. Read-write means that the item may be read and/or altered by a management application. Not-accessible is given as the access for organizational constructs that do not represent data items. Not-accessible is used only for table features and should not be used for a scaler item. The STATUS clause specifies whether the item is required for an agent that supports the defined group. A STATUS of mandatory means that the item will always be present if the defined group is supported by the agent. A STATUS of optional means that a particular implementation has the option of supporting the item. The DESCRIPTION clause contains a double quote delimited text description of the item. Finally, the item definition ends by specifying how the item fits into the MIB tree. The group the item belongs to is given, followed by the unique branch number within the group for the item.

To organize a table requires the use of two additional operators, the SEQUENCE operator and the SEQUENCE OF operator. The SEQUENCE operator allows the definition of a new type that consists of several standard types in a specific order. The SEQUENCE OF operator allows the definition of a list of zero or more of the same type of elements. A table is formed by defining a SEQUENCE, typically called a table entry. A table is defined as a SEQUENCE OF the table entry type. As there is no data that is uniquely referred to by the name of the table or entry, the STATUS of the table and the table entry is not-accessible. The INDEX clause specifies the items that can be used to uniquely identify an element in the table.

A MIB may also contain trap definitions. A trap is a notification sent by the SNMP agent to a management console. The trap is sent to inform the management console about an event that has occurred on the managed system. The trap definition begins with the name of the trap, followed by the term TRAP-TYPE. An ENTERPRISE clause follows to indicate the MIB in which the trap is defined. An optional VARIABLES clause may also be included to specify additional information that will be sent in the trap. Typically, the additional information contained in the VARIABLES clause will be items defined in the MIB identified in the ENTERPRISE clause. A DESCRIPTION clause which explains the significance of the trap and the conditions that would cause it to be sent follows. Finally, the trap is given a number to identify it. The number will be unique within the scope of the ENTERPRISE. Both the enterprise name and the trap number are used by the management station to uniquely determine the identity of a received trap.

In one aspect, the present invention is of a management system for a file server having at least one manageable device associated therewith from which management information is acquired therefrom and arranged in a management information base (or "MIB"). The management system includes means for arranging the MIB information into at least one subsystem and means for selectively accessing the MIB information for each of the subsystems. In one aspect, each subsystem contains management information describing a manageable device associated with the file server. In further aspects thereof, the file server includes a server manager for collecting management information for the manageable devices and, in this aspect, the management information may be further arranged into a third subsystem which contains management information acquired by the server manager and a fourth subsystem which contains management information acquired by the server manager and management information for the file server itself.

In further aspects thereof, the manageable devices may include a system board, an expansion board and a disk storage system. In these aspects, the management information is arranged into a system board subsystem which contains management information which describes the system board, an expansion board subsystem which contains management information describing the expansion board, a disk storage subsystem which contains management information describing the disk storage system, a configuration subsystem which contains management information which describes the configuration of the file server, a security configuration subsystem which contains management information which describes the security configuration of the file server, an environment subsystem which contains management information which describes the internal temperature and voltage of the file server and an input/output (or "I/O") subsystem which contains management information which related to I/O ports of the file server.

In another embodiment, the present invention is of a management system for a file server having a system board, an expansion board, a disk storage system and a server manager for collecting management information from the system board. The management system includes means for arranging MIB information for the file server into a first manageable device specific subsystem containing management information describing the system board, a second, manageable device specific, subsystem containing management information describing the expansion board, a third, manageable device specific, subsystem containing management information describing the disk storage system, a fourth, non-manageable device specific, subsystem containing management information describing the configuration of the file server, a fifth, non-manageable device specific, subsystem containing management information describing the security configuration for the file server, a sixth, manageable device specific, subsystem containing management information describing the server manager, a seventh, non-manageable device specific, subsystem containing management information describing I/O ports of the file server, an eighth, non-manageable device specific, subsystem containing management information describing internal environmental conditions of the file server, and means for selectively accessing the management information for each of the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth subsystems. In various aspects thereof, the management information contained in the eighth subsystem is collected from the system board by the server manager, the management information contained in the seventh subsystem is acquired from the manageable devices and information collected from the system board by the server manager, and the management information contained in the fourth subsystem is comprised of a combination of information available from the remaining subsystems and information uniquely provided to the fourth subsystem.

In yet another embodiment, the present invention is of a management system for a plurality of networked file servers, each having a plurality of manageable devices associated therewith and described by management information contained in a MIB. The management system includes means for selectively accessing the MIB information describing each of the file servers and means for selectively accessing the MIB information describing each of the manageable devices associated with a selected file server. In various aspects thereof, each file server may include a system board, a processor and/or coprocessor, an expansion board and a disk storage system, either a hard disk drive, internal intelligent disk array and/or external intelligent disk array. For each of these aspects of the invention, the means for selectively accessing MIB information includes means for selectively accessing the MIB information describing the system board, the processors and/or coprocessors, the expansion board and the disk storage system, either the hard disk drive, internal intelligent disk array and/or external intelligent disk arrays, associated with the selected file server. In a further aspect thereof, the selective access means may further include means for selectively accessing a physical drive map for each of the internal and external intelligent disk arrays and for determining statuses of logical drives mapped to the internal and external intelligent disk arrays.

In still another embodiment, the present invention is of a method for managing plural networked file servers from a management console. A list of the networked file servers is first displayed at the management console. From the list of networked file servers, a file server to be managed is selected and a plurality of subsystems for the selected file server are displayed. From the plurality of displayed subsystems, a subsystem is selected for viewing and management information describing the selected subsystem is selectively viewed. The operation of the selected file server is then modified based upon the viewed management information. In one aspect thereof, an alert notification is received. An alert log is then accessed and details of an alert causing the alert notification. The file server subsystem management information to be viewed is then selected based upon the viewed alert details.

The present invention may be better understood, and its numerous objects, features and advantages will become apparent to those skilled in the art by reference to the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a tree illustrating the organizational framework defined by CCITT and ISO for an interoperable network of data;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a computer management system and an associated MIB;

FIG. 3 is an expanded block diagram of the computer management system of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4A is a tree illustrating the organization of an enterprise MIB used in conjunction with the computer management system and associated MIB of FIGS. 2 and 3;

FIG. 4B is an inheritance tree illustrating a MIB revision group commonly configured for each subMIB of the enterprise MIB of FIG. 4A;

FIG. 4C is an inheritance tree illustrating a trap history group similarly configured for plural subMIBs of the enterprise MIB of FIG. 4A;

FIG. 5A is an inheritance tree illustrating a first subMIB of the enterprise MIB of FIG. 4A;

FIG. 5B is an inheritance tree illustrating a processor child group of a component group of the subMIB of FIG. 5A;

FIGS. 5C-1 through 5C-8 is an inheritance tree illustrating an EISA non-volatile memory child group of the component group of the subMIB of FIG. 5A;

FIG. 5D is an inheritance tree illustrating a ROM child group of the component group of the subMIB of FIG. 5A;

FIG. 5E is an inheritance tree illustrating a serial port child group of the component group of the subMIB of FIG. 5A;

FIG. 5F is an inheritance tree illustrating a parallel port child group of the component group of the subMIB of FIG. 5A;

FIG. 5G is an inheritance tree illustrating a floppy disk child group of the component group of the subMIB of FIG. 5A;

FIG. 5H is an inheritance tree illustrating a fixed disk child group of the component group of the subMIB of FIG. 5A;

FIG. 6A is an inheritance tree illustrating a second subMIB of the enterprise MIB of FIG. 4A;

FIG. 6B is an inheritance tree illustrating a system board child group of a component group of the subMIB of FIG. 6A;

FIG. 7A is an inheritance tree illustrating a third subMIB of the enterprise MIB of FIG. 4A;

FIGS. 7B-1 through 7B-2 is an inheritance tree illustrating an interface child group of a component group of the subMIB of FIG. 7A;

FIGS. 7C-1 through 7C-2 is an inheritance tree illustrating a controller child group of the component group of the subMIB of FIG. 7A;

FIG. 7D is an inheritance tree illustrating a logical drive child group of the component group of the subMIB of FIG. 7A;

FIG. 7E is an inheritance tree illustrating a spare drive child group of the component group of the subMIB of FIG. 7A;

FIG. 7F is an inheritance tree illustrating a physical drive child group of the component group of the subMIB of FIG. 7A;

FIG. 8A is an inheritance tree illustrating a fourth subMIB of the enterprise MIB of FIG. 4A;

FIG. 8B is an inheritance tree illustrating an interface child group of a component group of the subMIB of FIG. 8A;

FIG. 8C is an inheritance tree illustrating a controller child group of the component group of the subMIB of FIG. 8A;

FIGS. 8D-1 through 8D-2 is an inheritance tree illustrating an object data child group of the component group of the subMIB of FIG. 8A;

FIG. 8E is an inheritance tree illustrating an asynchronous communication child group of the component group of the subMIB of FIG. 8A;

FIG. 8F is an inheritance tree illustrating an alert child group of the component group of the subMIB of FIG. 8A.

FIGS. 9A-F is a flow chart illustrating a method of managing a network of file servers using the computer management system and associated enterprise MIB of FIGS. 2-8F in accordance with the teachings of the present invention;

FIG. 10 illustrates a server list GUI for selectively accessing management information for a file server being managed by the computer management system of FIGS. 2-8F;

FIG. 11 illustrates a main system GUI for selectively accessing a server subsystem of the file server selected using the server list GUI of FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 illustrates an environment condition window accessible via the environment subsystem button of the main system GUI of FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 illustrates a disk storage GUI for selectively accessing various logical and physical drives installed in a selected file server; and

FIG. 14 illustrates an internal IDA logical drive GUI for selectively accessing from a selected logical drive; and

FIG. 15 illustrates an alert log generated by the computer management system of FIGS. 2-8F.

Referring first to FIG. 2, a computer management system which uses a combination of "management" or "instrumentation" agents and an enterprise MIB to manage a manageable device or devices from a management console shall now be described in greater detail. The management system 8 includes at least one manageable device 10 to be managed at a manager station or console 12. Preferably, the manager console 12 should be a computer system having a 386 CPU, 6 Mbyte RAM, 30 Mbyte ROM, a VGA color or higher resolution graphics controller supported by Microsoft Windows, a network interface card compatible with the NetWare open data link interface (or "ODI"), a Microsoft Windows compatible mouse, a Microsoft Windows compatible printer and Microsoft Windows 3.0 or 3.1.

Although only one manageable device 10 is illustrated in FIG. 2, it is specifically contemplated any number or types of manageable devices 10 may be managed at the manager console 12. The manageable device or devices 10 may include any number or combination of intelligent hardware device capable of supporting a software configured management agent 18 therein for interacting with the management system 8 in a manner to be more fully described below. For example, a bridge for interconnecting similar LAN segments, a router for interconnecting dissimilar LANs, a concentrator connected to data terminal equipment (or "DTE") and a file server or other DTE are all manageable devices which may be managed by the management system. For ease of discussion, however, the remainder of this document will assume that the collection of manageable devices 10 interconnected with the manager console 12 for the management thereof consists of a single file server 10 containing plural manageable devices such as industry-standard architecture components, an EISA bus, an intelligent drive array subsystem and a server manager board. The manageable device 10 and the manager console 12 are interconnected by a network 14 which provides a communications pathway for information to be transferred between the two. For example, an ethernet or token ring type network would be suitable for use as the network 14. Furthermore, the network 14 may be a local area network (or "LAN"), a wide area network (or "WAN"), or, more typically, a collection of interconnected LANs and WANs, also known as an "internet".

Installed at the manager console 12 is shell software having a suitable management platform 15, for example, an application process interface (or "API") for the operation of the management application 16. For example, Microsoft Windows would be a suitable platform 15 from which the management application 16 may be launched. In one embodiment of the invention, the management application 16 may coexist with Netware Management System (or "NMS") software manufactured by Novell, Inc., Openview network manager software manufactured by Hewlett Packard or another third party network management systems. For example, it is specifically contemplated that the management application 16 may be launched from Novell's NetWare Management Map focussed on a selected server. Alternately, the management application 16 may operate independent from the NetWare Management System products if the file server 10 is running NetWare v.3.11 or higher.

Once launched, the management application 16 running on the platform 15 performs specific management tasks by interacting with the management agent 18. The management application 16 and the management agent 18 communicate over the network 14 using management application protocols within the TCP/IP protocol suite, preferably the Simple Network Management Protocol (or "SNMP"). Monitored data will be transferred from the managed device 10 to the management application 18 using the SNMP "get request" operation in which the current value(s) associated with a declared variable (or list of variables) relating to a managed object is requested or "polled" by the management application 16 and the "get-next-request" in which the next value associated with a variable, such as a table, that comprises a list of elements, is requested or "polled" by the management application 16. Asynchronous traps, for example, alerts and other fault conditions will be immediately transported from the managed device 10 to the management application 18 using the "trap" operation where a network administrator physically located at the manager console 12 would be notified, either audibly or visually, of the existence of, information regarding the cause of, and possible solutions to, the alert.

In this manner, the management agent 18 collects management information about the file server 10 or other manageable devices and provides that information, which is generally referred to as a management information base (or "MIB") to a network administrator physically located at the manager console 12. The management information provided to the network administrator can be used to monitor the performance of the file server 10 and to respond to alerts as they occur. In this manner, the network administrator can perform "on the network" management" management of the file server 10 or other manageable device. Other functions which can be performed by the network administrator using the management information include security management, fault analysis and configuration management.

Referring next to FIG. 3, the computer management system 8 will now be described in greater detail. As may now be seen, the file server 10 is now designated as a NetWare server, thereby indicating that the managed server 10 is running NetWare v3.11 or greater. Installed on the netware server 10 is an SNMP agent 28 for transporting data from a managed device or devices to the management application 16. The SNMP agent is a collection of software capable of querying manageable devices and providing information to the management application 16 using operations defined as part of the SNMP protocol. Manageable devices such as ISA CMOS 20, the battery backed up RAM in the real time clock installed in the system board, EISA NVRAM22, the battery backed up non-volatile memory containing the EISA configuration of the file server 10, server manager board 24, a management device which contains configuration and real time monitored information on the file server 10, and intelligent drive array controller 26, which contains configuration, real time monitor and performance array on the intelligent drive array 26, are instrumented for interfacing with the SNMP agent 28 using base system instrumentation agent 30, server manager instrumentation agent 32 and drive array instrumentation agent 34, respectively. Instrumentation agents 30, 32 and 34 are NetWare loadable modules (or "NLMs") used so that the information regarding the managed device can be transferred to the application 16. As will be more fully discussed below, these instrumentation agents for the managed devices support separate subMIBs for the managed devices, thereby permitting the organization of managed information described herein.

More specifically, the base system instrumentation agent 30 is NLM software connected to provide industry-standard architectural information about the system configuration. This information includes product and model information, processor type, diskette type, hard drive type, EISA board configuration, system ROM version, installed memory, video subsystem and serial and parallel port configurations. It may also provide product ID, serial number and security configuration.

The disk drive array instrumentation agent 32 is NLM software for managing the drive array controller 26. Again using SNMP, the drive array instrumentation agent 34 will gather information including controller configuration, Compaq 4-MB array accelerator write cache configuration and status, if installed, logical drive configuration and status, physical drive configuration and status and spare drive configuration and status.

Finally, the server manager instrumentation agent 32 is NLM software used to manage a server manager 24 and is necessary only if the file server 10 has a server manager board installed therein. A server manager board innately monitors and process objects indicative of computer system performance and actual and/or potential computer systems failures, determines alert conditions based upon the innately monitored and processed objects, reports alert conditions in either an in-band or out-of band mode and provides for correction action to be taken from a remote location. The exact configuration of a server manager board is disclosed at length in the co-pending U.S. patent applications Ser. No. 07/720,259, filed Jun. 24, 1991 and issued Nov. 22, 1994 as U.S. Pat. No. 5,367,670, entitled "Computer System Manager" and previously incorporated by reference. The information gathered by the server manager instrumentation agent 32 includes server manager board configuration information and monitored item information maintained on the server manager board.

From the SNMP agent, information which forms part of the MIB may be transported over the network 14 using the IPX or IP protocol stack to the manager console 12 where Novell SNMP DDE server software 36 is installed so that the management data can be received at or transmitted from the manager console. The manager console 12 is further provided with a Btreive database 38 where object information from the MIB gathered over time by the management application 16 may be stored for later access, either by the management application 16 or another application running on the manager console 12. For example, object information which would be transmitted to the btrieve database 38 for storage would be all alerts transmitted to the management application 16 in the form of traps where they would be assembled as an alert log and information received in response to the polling of monitored items which would be assembled in the btreive database 38 in a manner which would enable trend analysis and reporting.

Referring next to FIG. 4A, an enterprise MIB 232 subject of the present invention and located at branch 1..4.6.1.4.232 of the CCITT/ISO organization framework for data illustrated in FIG. 1 will now be described in greater detail. The enterprise MIB 232 defines the set of all manageable object instances and traps known to the agent, instrumentation agent and the user interface application included as part of the computer management system of FIGS. 2-3. The management application 16 uses the enterprise MIB 232's definition of object instances and traps to manage the manageable devices 10. The variables identified will be read by the management application 16 and be graphically displayed at the workstation 12. The asynchronous traps generated by the SNMP agent supported by the instrumentation will be collected and displayed by the application 16.

The enterprise MIB 232 is organized to include a number of subMIBs, each describing a component in a managed server. The subMIBS include a standard equipment subMIB located at branch 232.1, a manufacturer specific system subMIB located at branch 232.2, a drive array subMIB located at branch 232.3 and a server manager subMIB located at branch 232.4. Each subMIB 232.1, 232.2, 232.3, and 232.4 includes a mibRev childgroup located at branch 232.1.1, 232.2.1, 232.3.1 and 232.4.1, respectively, and a component child group located at branch 232.1.2, 232.2.2, 232.3.2 and 232.4.2, respectively. The drive array subMIB and the server manager subMIB also include a traps child group located at branch 232.3.3 and 232.4.3, respectively. Of these, the mibRev child group for a subMIB contains information about the revision of the enterprise 232 to which the SNMP agent conforms and includes an indication as to that subMIB's last revision, the component child group for a subMIB details all object instances for the components of that subMIB and the traps child group contains a trap log history which will enable the management application 16 to determine alerting events that have occurred within the computer system 8.

Referring next to FIG. 4B, the mibRev child group commonly configured for each subMIB of the enterprise MIB shall now be described in greater detail. Each mibRev child group is located at branch 232.M.1, where M=the subMIB containing that mibRev child group. In this embodiment of the invention, M=(1,2,3,4), thereby indicating that all of the subMIBS are provided with a mibREV child group. Each mibRev child group a major revision object located at branch 232.M.1.1 and a minor revision object located at branch 232.M.1.2. The management application 16 obtains this information from the management agent 18 to determine if they are both using the same definition for the MIB. If the major revision object indicates a revision change, a very significant change in the information supported by the subMIB has occurred and indicates that an upgrade should be made to ensure correct interpretation of data. For example, if the management application 16 and agent 18 for a subMIB are using a MIB definitions having different major revision level, the older of the two should be upgraded. However, if the minor revision object indicates a revision change, the revision should not significantly change the interpretation of data. The formal organization of the mibRev child group is as follows:

Referring next to FIG. 4C, the traps child group, which is similarly configured for the drive array and server manager subMIBs of the enterprise MIB, shall now be described in greater detail. Each traps child group maintains information about the number of traps issued by the corresponding parent subMIB and maintains a table of immediately prior traps issued. In this manner, the management application 16, when accessing the management agent 18, may acquire recent status information regarding the manageable device 10. Each traps child group is located at branch 232.T.3, where T=the subMIB containing a traps child group. In this embodiment of the invention, T=(3,4), thereby indicating that a traps child group is provided for the drive array and server manager subMIBs. Each traps child group includes a trap packets object located at branch 232.T.3.1, a maximum size trap log object located at branch 232.T.3.2 and a trap log table located at branch 232.T.3.3. The trap log table has an entry N located at branch 232.T.3.3.N for each trap issued by the subMIB. For each entry N, the trap log table includes a log index object located at branch 232.T.3.3.N.1, a trap type object located at branch 232.T.3.3.N.2 and a trap time object located at branch 232.T.3.3.N.3. Finally, each subMIB having a traps child group includes a series of trap definitions specific to that subMIB which identifies to the management application 16 the exact type of trap maintained by the trap child group. Further details regarding the traps child group may be found by reference to the formal organizational framework of the traps child group set forth below:

Referring next to FIG. 5A, the StdEquipment subMIB located at branch 232.1 will now be described in greater detail. The StdEquipment subMIB consists of data that describes the devices typically found on the system board of the file server 10 being managed. IMPORT statements used in the StdEquipment subMIB are as follows:

As previously discussed, the StdEquipment subMIB includes two child groups, the mibRev child group located at branch 232.1.1 and the component child group located at branch 232.1.2. The mibRev child group contains information regarding the revision of the subMIB to which the SNMP agent conforms and is configured as previously described with respect to FIG. 4B and the component child group contains information describing equipment typically found on PC, ISA and EISA architectures. This information is contained in plural child groups of the component group. The component group's child groups are a processor group located at branch 232.1.2.2, a memory group located at branch 232.1.2.3, an ISA CMOS group located at branch 232.1.2.4, an EISA non-volatile memory group located at branch 232.1.2.5, a ROM group located at branch 232.1.2.6, a keyboard group located at branch 232.1.2.7, a video group located at branch 232.1.2.8, a serial port group located at branch 232.1.2.9, a parallel port group located at branch 232.1.2.10, a floppy disk group located at branch 232.1.2.11 and a fixed disk branch located at branch 232.1.2.12.

Referring next to FIG. 5B, the proccessor child group located at branch 232.1.2.2 will now be described in greater detail. As is well known to those skilled in the art, a processor is an electronic component that performs general purpose processing which may be used with or without a coprocessor and a coprocessor is a electronic that performs special purpose processing. The processor child group describes the processor and coprocessors in the file server 10 using a plurality of object instances. More specifically, the processor child group describes the processors and coprocessors in the file server 10 using two tables, a processor table located at branch 232.1.2.2.1 and a coprocessor table located at branch 232.1.2.2.2. The processor table includes an entry N located at branch 232.1.2.2.1.N for each of N processors in the system. Similarly, the coprocessor table includes an entry N located at branch 232.1.2.2.2.N for each of N coprocessors in the system. Each entry, whether in the processor or coprocessor table, provides identification, description and speed information for a particular processor or coprocessor.

Each processor entry 232.1.2.2.1.N contains four objects, a unit index object located at branch 232.1.2.2.1.N.1, a slot object located at branch 232.1.2.2.1.N.2, a name object located at branch 232.1.2.2.1.N.3 and a speed object located at branch 232.1.2.2.1.N.4, each of which is described at greater detail in the formal organization of the processor table set forth below:

The coprocessor table, on the other hand, contains six objects, a unit index object located at branch 232.2.2.2.N.1, a chip index object located at branch 232.2.2.2.N.2, a slot object located at branch 232.2.2.2.N.3, a name object located at branch 232.2.2.2.N.4, a speed object located at branch 232.2.2.2.N.5 and a type object located at branch 232.2.2.2.N.6, each of which is described at greater detail in the formal organization of the coprocessor table set forth below:

Returning momentarily to FIG. 5B, the memory child group located at branch 232.1.2.3 and ISA CMOS child group located at branch 232.1.2.4, respectively of the StdEquipment subMIB will now be described in greater detail. The memory child contains a base memory object located at branch 232.1.2.3.1 and a total memory object located at branch 232.1.2.3.2 that describe the amount of base and total memory, respectively, installed on the file server 10. The formal organization of the memory child group is as follows:

The ISA CMOS group provides raw data regarding the CMOS variables common among industry standard PCs, including the ISA CMOS real time clock, security, and configuration which is interpretable by the manager application 16. More specifically, the ISA CMOS group contains a raw data object located at branch 232.1.2.4.1 configured as a continuous 64 byte octet string and formally organized in accordance with the following:

Referring next to FIGS. 5C1-8, the EISA non-volatile memory (or "NVRAM") child group located at branch 232.1.2.5 will now be described in greater detail. The EISA NVRAM child group contains a set of tables that detail, by slot and function, the configuration information stored in an EISA bus architecture. The EISA NVRAM child group includes an EISA slot table located at branch 232.1.2.5.1, an EISA function table located at branch 232.1.2.5.2, an EISA memory table located at branch 232.1.2.5.3, an EISA interrupt table located at branch 232.1.2.5.4, an EISA data memory access (or "DMA") table located at branch 232.1.2.5.5, an EISA port table located at branch 232.1.2.5.6, an EISA free form table located at branch 232.1.2.5.7 and EISA initialization table located at branch 232.1.2.5.8.

The EISA slot table located at branch 232.1.2.5.1 contains an entry N located at branch 232.1.2.5.1.N for each configured card installed in the system. For each entry N, the EISA slot table contains a slot index object located at branch 232.1.2.5.1.N.1, a raw object located at branch 232.1.2.5.1.N.2, a board ID object located at branch 232.1.2.5.1.N.3, a board name object located at branch 232.1.2.5.1.N.4 and an EISA configuration utility revision level object located at branch 232.1.2.5.1.N.5.

The formal organization of the EISA slot table located at branch 232.1.2.5.1 is as follows:

Continuing to refer to FIGS. 5C1-8, and, in particular, to FIG. 5C-2, the EISA function table will now be described in greater detail. The EISA function table located at branch 232.1.2.5.2 contains an entry N located at branch 232.1.2.5.2.N for each function performed by a configured card. For each entry N, the function table contains a slot index object located at branch 232.1.2.5.2.N.1, a function index object located at branch 232.1.2.5.2.N.2, a status object located at branch 232.1.2.5.2.N.3, a type object located at branch 232.1.2.5.2.N.4, an EISA configuration revision level object located at branch 232.1.2.5.2.N.5 and a selection object located at branch 232.1.2.5.2.N.6. The formal organization of the EISA function table is as follows:

Continuing to refer to FIGS. 5C1-8 and, in particular to FIG. 5C-3, the remaining tables included in EISA NVRAM child group will now be described in greater detail. The remaining tables (the EISA memory table, the EISA interrupt table, the EISA DMAtable, the EISA port table, the EISA free form table and the EISA initialization table) detail the resources used by each function of each configured card. More specifically, for each EISA memory configuration installed, the memory table located at branch 232.1.2.5.3 has an entry N which includes a slot index object located at branch 232.1.2.5.3.N.1, a function index object located at branch 232.1.2.5.3.N.2, an allocation index object located at branch 232.1.2.5.3.N.3, an address start object located at branch 232.1.2.5.3.N.4, a size object located at branch 232.1.2.5.3.N.5, a share object located at branch 232.1.2.5.3.N.6, a memory type object located at branch 232.1.2.5.3.N.7, a cache type object located at branch 232.1.2.5.3.N.8, an access object located at branch 232.1.2.5.3.N.9, a decode object located at branch 232.1.2.5.3.N.10 and a data size object located at branch 232.1.2.5.3.N.11. The formal organization of the memory table located at branch 232.1.2.5.3 is as follows:

Referring next to FIG. 5C-4, the EISA interrupt table will now be described in greater detail. The EISA interrupt table located at branch 232.1.2.5.4 includes an entry N for each interrupt configuration N. Each entry N includes a slot index object located at branch 232.1.2.5.4.N.1, a function index object located at branch 232.1.2.5.4.N.2, an allocation index object located at branch 232.1.2.5.4.N.3, a number object located at branch 232.1.2.5.4.N.4, a share object located at branch 232.1.2.5.4.N.5 and a trigger object located at branch 232.1.2.5.4.N.6. Additional information regarding the interrupt table is detailed in the formal organization set forth below:

Referring next to FIG. 5C-5, the EISA DMAtable will now be described in greater detail. The EISA DMA table includes N entries, each having a slot index object at branch 232.1.2.5.5.N.1, a function index object at branch 232.1.2.5.5.N.2, an allocation index at branch 232.1.2.5.5 .N.3, a DMA channel object at branch 232.1.2.5.5 .N.4, a share object at branch 232.1.2.5.5 .N.5, a timing object at branch 232.1.2.5.5 .N.6 and a transfer size object at branch 232.1.2.5.6 .N.6. Further details regarding each of the entry objects for the EISA DMA table are as follows:

Referring next to FIG. 5C-6, the EISA port table will now be described in greater detail. The EISA port table includes N entries, each having a slot index object at branch 232.1.2.5.6.N.1, a function index object at branch 232.1.2.5.6.N.2, an allocation index at branch 232.1.2.5.6.N.3, an address object at branch 232.1.2.5.6.N.4 and a size object at branch 232.1.2.5.6.N.5. Further details regarding each of the entry objects for the EISA port table are as follows:

Referring next to FIG. 5C-7, the EISA free form table will now be described in greater detail. The EISA free form table includes N entries, each having a slot index object at branch 232.1.2.5.7.N.1, a function index object at branch 232.1.2.5.7.N.2, and a value object at branch 232.1.2.5.7.N.3. Further details regarding each of the entry objects for the EISA free form table are as follows:

Referring next to FIG. 5C-8, the EISA initialization table will now be described in greater detail. The EISA initialization table includes N entries, each having a slot index object at branch 232.1.2.5.8.N.1, a function index object at branch 232.1.2.5.8.N.2, an allocation index object at branch 232.1.2.5.8.N.3, a use mask object at branch 232.1.2.5.8.N.4, an access object at branch 232.1.2.5.8.N.5, an address object at branch 232.1.2.5.8.N.6, a port value object at branch 232.1.2.5.8.N.7 and a port mask object at branch 232.1.2.5.8.N.8. Further details regarding each of the entry objects for the EISA initialization table are as follows:

Referring now to FIG. 5D, the ROM child group will now be described in greater detail. The ROM group located at branch 232.1.2.6 describes the system ROM, both version and date using a version object located at branch 232.1.2.6.1, and uses an N entry option ROM table, each entry having an address index object located at branch 232.1.2.6.2.N.1 and a size object located at branch 232.1.2.6.2.N.2 which describes the starting address and size of each option ROM in the system. The formal organization of the ROM group is as follows:

Returning momentarily to FIG. 5A, the keyboard child group will now be described in greater detail. The keyboard group is located at branch 232.1.2.7 contains a description object located at branch 232.1.2.7.1 which describes the keyboard attached to the system and which is organized as follows:

The video group is located at branch 232.1.2.8 and includes a description object located at branch 232.1.2.8.1 which describes the video adaptor and display and is configured as follows:

Referring now to FIG. 5E, the serial port child group will now be described in greater detail. The serial port group is located at branch 232.1.2.9 and includes a table located at branch 232.1.2.9.1 which contains N entries, each containing configuration information for one of the serial ports installed in the system. The configuration information is contained in an index object located at branch 232.1.2.9.1.N.1, an address object located at branch 232.1.2.9.1.N.2 and a description object located at branch 232.1.2.9.1.N.3. The serial port group is organized as follows:

Referring now to FIG. 5F, the parallel port child group will now be described in greater detail. The parallel port group is located at branch 232.1.2.10 and includes a table located at branch 232.1.2.10.1 which contains N entries, each containing configuration information for one of the parallel ports installed in the system. The configuration information is contained in an index object located at branch 232.1.2.10.1.N.1, an address object located at branch 232.1.2.10.1.N.2 and a description object located at branch 232.1.2.10.1.N.3. The parallel port group is organized as follows:

Referring now to FIG. 5G, the floppy diskette child group will now be described in greater detail. The floppy diskette group is located at branch 232.1.2.11 and includes a table located at branch 232.1.2.11.1 which contains N entries, each of which describes a floppy diskette drive installed in the system. The description of a floppy diskette drive is contained in an index object located at branch 232.1.2.11.1.N.1 and a type object located at branch 232.1.2.11.1.N.2. The floppy diskette group is organized as follows:

Referring now to FIG. 5H, the fixed disk child group will now be described in greater detail. The fixed disk group is located at branch 232.1.2.12 and includes a table located at branch 232.1.2.12.1 which contains N entries, each of which describes the configuration of a fixed disk drive installed in the system which is accessible through a ST506 compatible interface. The description of a fixed disk drive is contained in an index object located at branch 232.1.2.12.1.N.1, a type object located at branch 232.1.2.12.1.N.2, a cylinders object located at branch 232.1.2.12.1.N.3, a heads object located at branch 232.1.2.12.1.N.4, a sectors per track object located at branch 232.1.2.12.1.N.5 and a capacity object located at branch 232.1.2.12.1.N.6. The floppy diskette group is organized as follows:

Referring next to FIG. 6A, the Compaq system subMIB 232.2 which consists of data describing system board information specific to computer systems manufactured by Compaq Computer Corporation shall now be described in greater detail. IMPORTS used in the system subMIB 232.2 are as follows:

The system subMIB includes two child groups, a mibRev group located at branch 232.2.1 and a component group located at branch 232.2.2. The mibRev child group contains information regarding the revision of the subMIB to which the SNMP agent conforms and is configured as previously described in FIG. 4b.

The component child group contains information describing Compaq extensions to standard PC, ISA and EISA architectures. This information is contained in plural child groups of the component group. The component group's child groups are an interface child group containing information specific to the host software that supports runtime object instances, located at branch 232.2.2.1, an asset child group located at branch 232.2.2.2, a security child group located at branch 232.2.2.3 and a system board child group located at branch 232.2.2.4.

The asset child group located at branch 232.2.2.2 contains the serial numbers of any hardware, for example, file server 10, manufactured by Compaq Computers which support asset management and is comprised of a single object, referred to as a serial number object, located at branch is organized according to the following:

The security child group located at branch 232.2.2.3 contains object instances describing how security features installed on computers manufactured by Compaq Computer Corporation installed in the system are configured. The security group includes 10 objects, a power on password object located at branch 232.2.2.1, a network server mode object located at branch 232.2.2.2, a quick lock password object located at branch 232.2.2.3, a quick blank screen object located at branch 232.2.2.4, a diskette boot control object located at branch 232.2.2.5, a primary serial port access control object located at branch 232.2.2.6, a secondary serial port access control object located at branch 232.2.2.7, a parallel port access control object located at branch 232.2.2.8, a floppy diskette control object located at branch 232.2.2.9, a fixed disk control object located at branch 232.2.2.10. The security child group is organized according to the following framework:

The system board child group located at branch 232.2.2.4 describes features of a Compaq Computer Corporation type system board such as machine ID, product name and others. Such features are described in three objects, a machine ID object located at branch 232.2.2.4.1, a machine product name object located at branch 232.2.2.4.2 and an auxiliary input object located at branch 232.2.2.4.3 and a memory module table located at branch 232.2.2.4.4. Further details regarding the aforementioned objects are set forth in the organizational structure for the system board group set forth below:

Referring next to FIG. 6B, the memory module table of the system board child group will now be described in greater detail. The memory module table is located at branch 232.2.2.4.4 and describes the memory board installed in the file server 10. The memory module table includes N branches, one for each memory board installed in the file server 10. Each entry includes a board index object located at branch 232.2.2.4.4.N.1, a module index located at branch 232.2.2.4.4.N.2 and a module size object located at branch 232.2.2.4.4.N.3. The memory module table is organized as follows:

Referring next to FIG. 7A, the drive array subMIB located at branch 232.3 will now be described in greater detail. The drive array subMIB details the intelligent drive array and includes data which describes the drive array subsystem, including the internal intelligent drive array (or "IDA"), external IDA and accelerated IDA, including configuration and status information about the controllers, logical drives, physical drives, spare drives, 4MB array accelerator write cache board typically included in an intelligent drive array. Information regarding the relationship of the intelligent drive array and the host operating system is also included in the drive array subMIB.

The drive array subMIB includes three child groups, a mibREV group located at branch 232.3.1, a component group located at branch 232.3.2, and a traps group located at branch 232.3.3. The mibRev child group contains information regarding the revision of the subMIB to which the SNMP agent conforms and is configured as previously described in FIG. 4B and the trap group contains information regarding traps issued from the drive array subMIB and is configured as previously described in FIG. 4c. Trap definitions specific to the traps child group located at branch 232.2.3 are as follows:

The component group contains a series of child groups, each of which describe a particular part of a drive array subsystem. These child groups include an interface group located at branch 232.3.2.1, a controller group located at branch 232.3.2.2, a logical drive group located at branch 232.3.2.3, a spare drive group located at branch 232.3.2.4 and a physical drive group located at branch 232.3.2.5.

Referring next to FIGS. 7B-1 through 7B-2 in general and FIG. 7B-1 in particular, the interface child group located at branch 232.3.2.1 will now be described in greater detail. The interface group contains at least one child group which contains information describing how the drive array subsystem interfaces with a particular host operating system. In the embodiment of the invention disclosed herein, a single child group describing the interface with a NetWare operating system is disclosed. It is contemplated, however, that as additional host operating system are instrumented, more child groups will be created. The osNetWare3x group is located at branch 232.3.2.1.1 and describes the driver module of the drive array controller in its software interface with the NetWare v3.x operating system using four objects, a driver name object located at branch 232.3.2.1.1.1, a driver version object located at branch 232.3.2.1.1.2, a driver poll type object located at branch 232.3.2.1.1.3 and a driver poll time object located at branch 232.3.2.1.1.4, and two tables, a drive statistics table located at branch 232.3.2.1.1.5 and a volume map table located at branch 232.3.2.1.1.6.

The objects included as part of the osNetware3x group are formally organized as follows:

The drive statistics table for the osNetWare3x group includes N entries, each including a controller index object located at branch 232.3.2.1.1.5.N.1, a logical drive index object located at branch 232.3.2.1.1.5.N.2, a total reads object located at branch 232.3.2.1.1.5.N.3, a total writes object located at branch 232.3.2.1.1.5.N.4, a corrected reads object located at branch 232.3.2.1.1.5.N.5, a corrected writes object located at branch 232.3.2.1.1.5.N.6, a fatal reads object located at branch 232.3.2.1.1.5.N.7 and a fatal writes object located at branch 232.3.2.1.1.5.N.8. The formal organization of the drive statistics table is as follows:

No referring specifically to FIG. 7C-2, the volume map table for the osNetWare3x group includes N entries, each including a controller index object located at branch 232.3.2.1.1.6.N.1, a logical drive index object located at branch 232.3.2.1.1.6.N.2 and a volume map located at branch 232.3.2.1.1.6.N.3. The formal organization of the volume map table is as follows:

Referring next to FIGS. 7C-1 through 7C-2, the controller child group located at branch 232.3.2.2 will now be described in greater detail. The controller group, which contains the configuration and statistical information relating to the drive array controllers and controller accelerator boards, includes a controller table located at branch 232.3.2.2.1 and an accelerator table located at branch 232.3.2.2.2. The controller table includes an entry N for each controller installed in the system. For each entry N, the controller table includes 6 objects, an index object located at branch 232.3.2.2.1.N.1, a model object located at branch 232.3.2.2.1.N.2, a firmware revision object located at branch 232.3.2.2.1.N.3, a standard interface object located at branch 232.3.2.2.1.N.4, a slot object located at branch 232.3.2.2.1.N.5 and a condition object located at branch 232.3.2.2.1.N.6. The formal organization of the controller table is as follows:

Similarly, the accelerator table includes an entry N for each accelerator installed in the system. For each entry N, the accelerator table includes 9 objects, an controller inex object located at branch 232.3.2.2.2.N.1, a status object located at branch 232.3.2.2.2.N.2, a memory object located at branch 232.3.2.2.2.N.3, a bad data object located at branch 232.3.2.2.2.N.4, an error code object located at branch 232.3.2.2.2.N.5, a battery status object located at branch 232.3.2.2.2.N.6, a read errors status located at branch 232.3.2.2.2.N.7, a write errors object located at branch 232.3.2.2.2.N.8 and a condition object located at branch 232.3.2.2.2.N.9. The formal organization of the accelerator table is as follows: ##SPC1##

Referring next to FIG. 7D, the logical drive child group located at branch 232.3.2.3 will now be described in greater detail. The logical drive child group contains configuration and statistical information regarding the logical drives associated with the drive array controller in the form of objects which describe the size, status, fault tolerance and other characteristics of the logical drives of the array. More specifically, the logical drive child group contains a logical drive table located at branch 232.3.2.3.1. The logical drive table includes an entry N for each logical drive associated with the drive array and, for each entry N, the logical drive table includes a controller index object located at branch 232.3.2.3.1.N.1, a drive index object located at branch 232.3.2.3.1.N.2, a fault tolerance object located at branch 232.3.2.3.1.N.3, a status object located at branch 232.3.2.3.1.N.4, an auto-reliability object located at branch 232.3.2.3.1.N.5, a rebuild blocks available object located at branch 232.3.2.3.1.N.6, an accelerator board object located at branch 232.3.2.3.1.N.7, an available spares object located at branch 232.3.2.3.1.N.8, a drive size object located at branch 232.3.2.3.1.N.9, a physical drive ID located at branch 232.3.2.3.1.N.10 and a drive condition object located at branch 232.3.2.3.1.N.11. The formal organization of the logical drive table is as follows: ##SPC2##

Referring next to FIG. 7E, the spare drive child group located at branch 232.3.2.4 will now be described in greater detail. The spare drive group contains statistical and configuration information regarding the spare drives associated with the drive array controller in the form of objects which describe the spare drive or drives that may be present on an external IDA. Spare drives are available for any particular logical drive until allocated for use. Examples of information which would be contained in the objects of the spare drive child group include status of spare drive (other, failed, inactive building or active), and the identity of the physical drive which the spare drive is replacing. More specifically, the spare drive group located at branch 232.3.2.4 contains a spare drive table at branch 232.3.2.4.1. The spare drive table includes an entry N for each spare drive associated with the drive array and, for each entry N, the spare drive table includes a controller index object located at branch 232.3.2.4.1.N.1, a drive index object located at branch 232.3.2.4.1.N.2, a status object located at branch 232.3.2.4.1.N.3, a replaced drive object located at branch 232.3.2.4.1.N.4, a rebuild blocks object located at branch 232.3.2.4.1.N.5 and a spare condition object located at branch 232.3.2.4.1.N.6. The formal organization of the spare drive child group is as follows:

Referring next to FIG. 7F, the physical drive child group located at branch 232.3.2.5 will now be described in greater detail. The physical drive child group contains configuration and statistical information regarding the physical drives associated with the drive array controller in the form of objects that describe each individual spindle in the array. Examples of information which would be contained in the physical drive child group include drive model, firmware revision, bay offset, reallocation units available, reallocation units used, on-line performance test results. More specifically, the physical drive child group contains a physical drive table located at branch 232.3.2.5.1. The physical drive table includes an entry N for each physical drive associated with the drive array and, for each entry N, the physical drive table includes a controller index object located at branch 232.3.2.5.1.N.1, a drive index object located at branch 232.3.2.5.1.N.2, a model object located at branch 232.3.2.5.1.N.3, a firmware revision object located at branch 232.3.2.5.1.N.4, a bay location object located at branch 232.3.2.5.1.N.5, a status object located at branch 232.3.2.5.1.N.6, a factory reallocation object located at branch 232.3.2.5.1.N.7, a used reallocations object located at branch 232.3.2.5.1.N.8, a reference minutes object located at branch 232.3.2.5.1.N.9, a read sectors object located at branch 232.3.2.5.1.N.10, a write sectors object located at branch 232.3.2.5.1.N.11, a seeks object located at branch 232.3.2.5.1.N.12, a hard read errors object located at branch 232.3.2.5.1.N.13, a recovered read errors object located at branch 232.3.2.5.1.N.14, a hard write errors object located at branch 232.3.2.5.1.N.15, a recovered write errors object located at branch 232.3.2.5.1.N.16, a seek errors object located at branch 232.3.2.5.1.N.17, a spinup time object located at branch 232.3.2.5.1.N.18, first, second and third functional test objects located at branches 232.3.2.5.1.N.19, 232.3.2.5.1.N.20 and 232.3.2.5.1.N.21, respectively, a DRQ timeouts object located at branch 232.3.2.5.1.N.22, an other timeouts object located at branch 232.3.2.5.1.N.23, a spinup retries object located at branch 232.3.2.5.1.N.24, a recover failed read errors object located at branch 232.3.2.5.1.N.25, a recover failed write errors object located at branch 232.3.2.5.1.N.26, a format errors object located at branch 232.3.2.5.1.N.27, a power on self test error object located at branch 232.3.2.5.1.N.28, a drive not ready errors object located at branch 232.3.2.5.1.N.29, a reallocation abort object located at branch 232.3.2.5.1.N.30, a factory threshold exceeded object located at branch 232.3.2.5.1.N.31, a monitor information object located at branch 232.3.2.5.1.N.32 and a drive condition object located at branch 232.3.2.5.1.N.33. The formal organization of the physical drive table is as follows: ##SPC3##

Referring next to FIG. 7E, the spare drive child group located at branch 232.3.2.4 shall not be described in greater detail. The spare drive child group contains object instances that describe the spare drive that may be present on an external IDA. Spare drives may be available for any particular logical drive until allocated for use. Example object instances would be status (other, failed, inactive building or active) physical drive number the spare is replacing and others. More specifically, the spare drive child group contains a spare drive table located at branch 232.3.2.3.1 which contains N entries, one for each spare drive installed in the drive array. For each installed spare drive, the spare drive table includes a controller index object located at branch 232.3.2.4.1.N.1, a physical drive index object located at branch 232.3.2.3.1.N.2, a spare status object located at branch 232.3.2.3.1.N.3, a replaced drive object located at branch 232.3.2.3.1.N.4, a rebuild blocks object located at branch 232.3.2.3.1.N.5 and a spare condition object located at branch 232.3.2.3.1.N.6. Further details are set forth in the formal organizational framework of the spare child group set forth below:

Referring next to FIG. 8A, the server manager subMIB located at branch 232.4 will now be described in greater detail. The server manager subMIB details the configuration of the server manager board 24, monitored item information maintained on the server board 24 and historical information about important events occurring on the board. The server manager subMIB includes three child groups, a mibREV group located at branch 232.4.1, a component group located at branch 232.4.2, and a traps group located at branch 232.4.3. The mibRev child group contains information regarding the revision of the subMIB to which the SNMP agent conforms and is configured as previously described in FIG. 4B, the component group describes the server manager and the trap group contains information regarding traps issued from the server manager subMIB and is configured as previously described in FIG. 4c. Trap definitions specific to the traps child group located at branch 232.4.3 are as follows:

The component group located at branch 232.4.2 contains a series of child groups, each of which describes a particular part of the server manager 24. Of these, the interface child group located at branch 2.4.2.1 contains information specific to the host software that supports the server manager controller. The controller child group located at branch 232.4.2.2 contains configuration and statistical information regarding the server manager board such as board name, board ID, firmware date, country code, modem type voice ROM status and others. The object data child group located at branch 232.4.2.3 lists and describes the objects and monitored items on the server manager board 24. In addition to containing the objects, the object data child group also contains the attribute label and value for each object in the group. Finally, the object data child group also contains information regarding the server manager's object management resource utilization. The asynchronous communication child group located at branch 232.4.2.4 describes the configuration and status of the server manager board's asynchronous communication ports using a series of objects which contain information regarding port status, modem type, session status, modem setting and other data relating to the aforementioned communication ports. Finally, the alert child group located at branch 232.4.2.5 contains object instance information describing the "off the network" alerting capabilities of the system manager. For example, alert destinations, including device type (SMF, pager or voice), phone number to dial, number or retries and others is typical information related to off the network alerting capabilities which is contained in the alert child group.

Referring next to FIG. 8b, the interface child group located at branch 232.4.2.1 will now be described in greater detail. The interface group contains at least one child group which contains information describing how the server manager board 24 interfaces with a particular host operating system for the computer management system 8. In the embodiment of the invention disclosed herein, a single child group describing the interface of the server manager board 24 with a NetWare operating system is disclosed. It is contemplated, however, that as additional host operating system are instrumented, more child groups will be created.

The NetWare3x group is located at branch 232.4.2.1.1 and describes the driver module of the server manager board in its software interface with the NetWare v3.x operating system using twelve objects, a driver name object located at branch 232.4.2.1.1.1, a driver date object located at branch 232.4.2.1.1.2, a driver version object located at branch 232.4.2.1.1.3, an issued commands object located at branch 232.4.2.1.1.4, a received commands object located at branch 232.4.2.1.1.5, a watchdog frequency object located at branch 232.4.2.1.1.6, a clock synchronization command frequency object located at branch 232.4.2.1.1.7, an issued watchdogs object located at branch 232.4.2.1.1.8, an issued clock synchronization commands object located at branch 232.4.2.1.1.9, a memory allocation failure errors object located at branch 232.4.2.1.1.10, a board resets object located at branch 232.4.2.1.1.11 and a board state object located at branch 232.4.2.1.1.12. The formal organization of the interface child group is as follows:

Referring next to FIG. 8C, the controller child group located at branch 232.4.2.2 will now be described in greater detail. The controller child group contains configuration and statistical information, for example, board name, board ID, firmware date, country code, modem type and voice ROM status, regarding the server manager controller. The group is comprised of twelve objects which detail this information. The objects of the child group are a board name object located at branch 232.4.2.2.1, a board ID object located at branch 232.4.2.2.2, a ROM date object located at branch 232.4.2.2.3, a country code object located at branch 232.4.2.2.4, a ROM status object located at branch 232.4.2.2.5, a battery status object located at branch 232.4.2.2.6, a dormant mode status object located at branch 232.4.2.2.7, a self test error code object located at branch 232.4.2.2.8, an operating system ID object located at branch 232.4.2.2.9, an operating system major revision object located at branch 232.4.2.2.10, an operating system minor revision object located at branch 232.4.2.2.11, a power on self test timeout object located at branch 232.4.2.2.12, and a condition object located at branch 232.4.2.2.13. The formal organization of the controller child group is as follows: ##SPC4##

Referring generally to FIGS. 8D-1 through 8D-2 and, in particular to FIG. 8D-1, the object data child group located at branch 232.4.2.3 will now be described in greater detail. The object data child group describes the objects and monitored items on the server manager board 24 using three objects, a total objects object located at branch 232.4.2.3.1, a total object space object located at branch 232.4.2.3.2, an innate monitoring status object located at branch 232.4.2.3.4, an object table located at branch 232.4.2.3.5 and a monitored item table located at branch 232.4.2.3.6.

The object table is comprised of N entries, one for each object monitored by the server manager 24. For each entry N, the object table contains four objects: an object index object located at branch 232.4.2.3.5.N.1, an object instance index object located at branch 232.4.2.3.5.N.2, an object class object located at branch 232.4.2.3.5.N.3 and an object label object located at branch 232.4.2.3.5.N.4.

Referring, in particular, to FIG. 8D-2, the monitored item table located at branch 232.4.2.3.6 includes an entry N for each item monitored by the server manager. For each entry N, the monitored item table contains 18 objects: a monitored item index object located at branch 232.4.2.3.6.N.1, a monitored item instruction index object located at branch 232.4.2.3.6.N.2, a monitored item index located at branch 232.4.2.2.3.6.N.3, an in-band alert status object located at branch 232.4.2.3.6.N.4, an out-of-band alert status object located at branch 232.4.2.3.6.N.5, an innate status object located at branch 232.4.2.3.6.N.6, a host notification object located at branch 232.4.2.3.6.N.7, a logical operator object located at branch 232.4.2.3.6.N.8, a monitored item severity object located at branch 232.4.2.3.5.N.9, a monitored item data type object located at branch 232.4.2.3.5.N.10, a voice message number object located at branch 232.4.2.3.5.N.11, a monitored item label object located at branch 232.4.2.3.5.N.12, a monitored item limit object located at branch 232.4.2.3.5.N.13, an optional monitored item object located at branch 232.4.2.3.5.N.14, a monitored item default value object located at branch 232.4.2.3.5.N.15, a monitored item, current value object located at branch 232.4.2.3.5.N.16, a monitored item current string object located at branch 232.4.2.3.5.N.17, a monitored item current contents located at branch 232.4.2.3.5.N.18 and a monitored item time stamp located at branch 232.4.2.3.5.N.19.

The formal organization of the object data child group is as follows: ##SPC5##

Referring next to FIG. 8E, the asynchronous communications child group located at branch 232.4.2.4 will now be described in greater detail. The asynchronous communications child group contains five objects and a table for describing the configuration and status of the asynchronous communication ports of the server manager 24. The objects of the asynchronous communications child group include a status object located at branch 232.4.2.4.1, a internal modem baud rate object located at 232.4.2.4.2, an audible indicator status object located at branch 232.4.2.4.3, a remote session status object located at branch 232.4.2.4.3 and a callback status object located at branch 232.4.2.4.5. Information regarding the modem settings is contained in a modem settings table located at branch 232.4.2.4.6. The modem settings table includes an entry N for each modem installed on the server manager board. Each entry N contains a settings index object located at branch 232.4.2.4.6.N.1, a settings status object located at branch 232.4.2.4.6.N.2, a settings baud rate object located at branch 232.4.2.4.6.N.3, a settings parrity object located at branch 232.4.2.4.6.N.3, a settings data length object located at branch 232.4.2.4.6.N.4, a settings stop bits object located at branch 232.4.2.4.6.N.5, a settings dial string object located at branch 232.4.2.4.6.N.7, a settings hand up string located at branch 232.4.2.4.6.N.8, a settings answer string located at branch 232.4.2.4.6.N.9 and a settings originate string located at branch 232.4.2.4.6.N.10. The formal organizational framework for the asynchronous communications child group is as follows: ##SPC6##

Referring next to FIG. 8F, the alert child group located at branch 234.4.2.5 will now be described in greater detail. The alert child group describes the configuration and status of the server manager board's alerting system using an alert status object located at branch 232.4.2.5.1 and an alert destination table located at branch 232.4.2.5.2. The alert destination table contains an entry N for each designated destination for an alert. For each selected destination, the alert destination table includes an alert priority index object located at branch 232.4.2.5.2.N.1, an alert destination type object located at branch 232.4.2.5.2.N.2, an alert destination retries object located at branch 232.4.2.5.2.N.3, an alert destination connect flags object located at branch 232.4.2.5.2.N.4, an alert destination phone number object located at branch 232.4.2.5.2.N.5, an alert destination time mask object located at branch 232.4.2.5.2.N.6, an alert destination pager type object located at branch 232.4.2.5.2.N.7, an alert destination pager ID object located at branch 232.4.2.5.2.N.8, and an alert destination pager display length object located at branch 232.4.2.5.2.N.9. The formal organization of the alert child group is as follows:

Referring next to FIGS. 9A-F, a method by which a user may access the computer management system and associated enterprise MIB such as that previously described with respect to FIGS. 2-8F to manage at least one file server and/or other manageable device or devices networked with the computer management system will now be described in greater detail. More specifically, at step 200, the user launches the computer management system from a management platform 16 such as Microsoft Windows 3.1 where it may coexist with other network management and administration applications such as Compaq's Server Manager Facility (or "SMF") or System Manager Collector (or "SMC"), Novell's NetWare Tools or RCONSOLE (a server console emulation utility application), Hewlett Packard's Openview or another third party applications by selecting an icon previously designated as representative of the computer management system from a Windows display. Additionally, the computer management system application is interoperable with the Microsoft Window's version of Novell's NetWare Management System (or "NMS") wherein using a logical map generated by NMS, the user could select a file server and then launch the computer management application disclosed herein focussed on the server selected from Novell's logical map.

Proceeding to step 202, once launched, the management application 16 generates a server list GUI 500 which displays a list of servers which may be managed using the management application 16. The server list GUI 500, which may be seen by reference to FIG. 10, includes an information block 502 and view, setup, delete and help buttons 504, 506, 508 and 510, respectively. Any number of file servers, each with an identifying name, may be listed in the information block 502 as those file servers for which management by the management application 16 has been contemplated, although not all of the listed file servers will necessarily be manageable. For example, in FIG. 9, "Accounting", "Atlanta", "Benefits", "Boston", "Dallas Region", "Distribution", "Engineering", "Facilities", "Headquarters", "Houston", "Legal", "Marketing", "Medical" and "Miami", are displayed in the information block 502 and others, not visible in the information block 502, will be displayed if the server listing is upwardly or downwardly scrolled by depressing buttons 511, 513, respectively. All of the file servers listed in the information block 502 have been instrumented, i.e. a software management agent 18 has been installed therein and placed on line, i.e. networked with the management application 16 via the network 14 and are, therefore, manageable using the management application 16. It is contemplated that potentially manageable file servers that are off-line, i.e., the server is not powered or not communicating on the network, would be denoted on the listing with a single asterisk and potentially manageable servers that are not instrumented, i.e., the necessary instrumentation agents necessary to make the server manageable have not yet been installed would be denoted on the server listing with two asterisks.

From the server list GUI displayed at step 202, the user may either select a control or server feature at step 204. If the server feature is selected at step 204, the method proceeds to step 206 where the user selects a file server from the displayed list by highlighting the selected server by "pointing" to one of the listed servers followed by selecting one of the server control options for the selected server at step 206 by "clicking" or depressing one of the server control buttons n at step 106. The server features available from the server list GUI 500 are "delete", "setup" or "view" the highlighted file server. If deletion of the server is selected, the network administrator selects delete button 508 at step 208, thereby deleting the highlighted server. The network administrator then returns to step 202 where the modified server list window, now consisting of a list of the remaining servers is displayed. It should be noted, however, that only servers that are off-line may be deleted from the displayed list.

Returning to step 206, if the network administrator however, decides to setup the highlighted server, the network administrator selects the setup button 506. Proceeding to step 210, a server setup GUI (not shown) is displayed on the screen. From the server setup GUI, the specific configuration information may be input for the selected file server. More specifically, from the server setup GUI, the network administrator can turn the automatic data collection feature on or off for the selected file server, view the file name for the btrieve file containing the collected data for the selected file server, designate the frequency at which automatic reports are generated for the selected file server, select a template for all reports to be generated for the selected file server and set the SNMP timeout for the selected file server.

When automatic data collection is turned on, the management application 16 will periodically poll each file server 10 and store the data received in response thereto, thereby recording information about the polled file server over time. Once stored, the collected information can be viewed through reports or graphical displays. If automatic data collection is on, the management application 16 may be further instructed to generate printed reports of the data that is automatically collected and stored in the data file at a selected frequency and at a selected day or time of the week. Finally, when the management application 16 polls a file server, it expects a response within the SNMP timeout period. If a response is not received within the timeout period, data about the selected file server cannot be viewed using the management application 16. Once the network administrator has completed setup for a selected server, the server setup GUI is closed, thereby returning the network administrator to step 202 where the server list GUI is again displayed.

Returning to step 206, if the network administrator decides to view the highlighted server, the network administrator selects the view button 504. Proceeding to step 212, the management application 16 generates a selected server GUI 512 from which the selected file server may be managed. As may be seen in FIG. 11, the selected server GUI 512 identifies the detailed management information which may be viewed for the selected file server. The selected server GUI 512 includes an image 515 of the selected file server, in the illustrated example, a Systempro file server manufactured by Compaq Computer Corporation of Houston, Tex., surrounded by a plurality of buttons, each of which corresponds to one of plural file server subsystems for which management information regarding the selected file server is accessible for viewing. Buttons provided in the selected server GUI 512 include an environment subsystem button 514, a configuration subsystem button 516, a security configuration subsystem button 518, a disk storage subsystem button 520, a system board subsystem button 522, an expansion boards subsystem button 524, a server manager subsystem button 526 and an input/output (or "I/O") ports subsystem button 528. By selectively depressing one of subsystem buttons 516, 518, 520, 522, 524, 526 or 528, a GUI through which management information for the selected subsystem is available will be displayed.

Briefly, the environment subsystem accessible by depressing the environmental button 514 contains information regarding internal temperature and voltages for the selected server and is available only if a server manager board is installed in the selected file server. Otherwise the environment subsystem button 514 will be grayed. The configuration subsystem accessible by depressing the configuration button 516 contains a summary of the configuration of the selected file server and, as will be more fully described below, includes information from others of the displayed subsystems. The security configuration subsystem accessible by depressing the security configuration button 518 contains information regarding which ones of the available security options are configured for the selected server. The disk storage subsystem accessible by depressing the disk storage button 520 contains information regarding the disk storage subsystem for the selected file server. For example, the disk storage subsystem includes information on the status of the drives, controller and device driver information and error data for the selected file server. The system board subsystem accessible by depressing the system board button 522 contains information regarding the system board, for example, memory and processor information. The expansion boards subsystem accessible by depressing the expansion boards button 524 contains information on the expansion boards installed in the selected file server and may be used to keep track of which expansion boards are installed on a selected file server and what resources are being used by each installed expansion board. The server manager board subsystem accessible by depressing the server manager button 526 contains information regarding items on the server which are monitored by the server manager board and will be available if a server manager board is installed in the file server. Otherwise, the server manager subsystem button 526 will be grayed. The I/O ports subsystem accessible by depressing the I/O subsystem button 529 contains information regarding the I/O ports, for example, overrun and parity errors, for the selected file server and will be available if the server manager is installed. Otherwise the I/O subsystem button 528 will be grayed.

Additionally, the overall condition of several of the subsystems may be determined from the selected server GUI 512. Specifically, borders 514a, 520a, 522a, 526a and 528a, respectively, surround the environment, disk storage, system board, server manager, I/O ports and environment buttons 514, 520, 522, 526 and 528, respectively. Each border will be colored, depending on whether the status of the subsystem surrounded by that border is normal (or "OK"), degraded or failed.

From the selected server GUI 512 displayed at step 212, the network administrator may select any one of the available file server subsystems or close the selected file server at step 214. If the network administrator selects the environment subsystem button 514 at step 214, the environment subsystem is opened at step 216 (FIG. 8B) so that the network administrator may view environment conditions for the selected file server. More specifically, the environment window displays the internal temperature, in degrees Celsius, inside the selected file server, the temperature change, in degrees Celsius per minute, of the temperature inside the selected file server, the current reading, in millivolts, of the +5 volt power line on the EISA bus of the selected file server, the current reading, in milliVolts, of the -5 volt power line on the EISA bus of the selected file server, the current reading, in milliVolts, of the +12 volt power line on the EISA bus of the selected file server and the current reading, in milliVolts, of the -12 volt power line on the EISA bus of the selected file server. Each of these readings are determined by the server manager installed in the file server.

Proceeding to step 218, the network administrator may either close the environment window and return to the selected server GUI 512 at step 212 or view any one of the selected conditions. If the network administrator views one of the conditions, a graphical window for the selected environment condition for the selected file server is opened at step 220. For example, FIG. 12 illustrates a condition window 532 for the environment subsystem of the engineering file server which would be generated if the network administrator selected temperature as the selected condition for the environment subsystem of the engineering file server. As may now be seen, the environment condition window 532 includes historical and real time graphical displays 534, 536 of the selected environment condition. Of the two, the historical display 534 will be generated only if data collection was turned enabled when the selected file server was configured using the server setup GUI. The environment condition window 532 also includes x-grid and y-grid buttons 538, 540 which, when selected, turn on grid lines parallel to the horizontal and vertical axes, respectively, for the historical and real time displays 534, 536, a print button 542 which, when selected, prints the historical and real time displays 534, 536 and a close button 544 which, when selected, closes the environment condition window 532 at step 222 and returns the network administrator to step 216 where the environment window is again displayed. Here, the network administrator may select another condition for viewing or may close the environment window and return to step 212 (FIG. 9A) where the selected server GUI 512 is again displayed.

From the selected server GUI 512 displayed at step 212, if the network administrator selects the configuration subsystem button 516 at step 214, the configuration window is opened at step 224 (FIG. 8C) so that the network administrator may view the configuration of the selected file server. More specifically, the configuration window (not shown) displays how the selected file server is configured and provides details regarding the resources of the selected server. The information displayed here is a summary of selected ones of values found under the other subsystems and certain additional configuration items. Listed here are the product type, machine ID, processor type, expansion bus type, current system speed, descriptions of the system ROM, keyboard, diskette drives, fixed disks, size of base and extended memory, extended non-volatile memory, type and IRQ entries and port ranges. From the configuration window, the network administrator may also select a system resources button at step 226 to open a system resources window at step 228. From the system resources window, the network administrator may view the resources in use by the selected file server. These resources included interrupt request (or "IRQ") numbers, port address ranges, data memory access (or "DMA") channels and memory ranges. For each IRQ number, port address range, DMA channel and memory range in use, the slot number of the board using that IRQ, port address range, DMA channel or memory range is listed. After viewing the system resources window, the network administrator closes the window at step 230 and returns to the configuration subsystem window at step 224. The network administrator may opt to close the configuration subsystem window at step 226, thereby returning to the selected server GUI 512 at step 212 (FIG. 9A).

From the selected server GUI 512 again displayed at step 212, the network administrator may select the security configuration subsystem button 518 at step 214, thereby opening a security configuration window (not shown) at step 232 (FIG. 9C) so that the network administrator may view the security configuration of the selected file server to see which security features have been enabled on the selected file server. More specifically, the security configuration window identifies whether the network server mode used to lock the keyboard when the server is used as an unattended file server, the power-on password used to disable the computer, the prevent floppy boot used to prevent the drive from starting the file server, the quicklock used to disable the keyboard and pointing device interface using a hot-key combination, the quickblank feature used to blank the screen using a hot-key combination, serial port A control used to prevent data transfers through serial port A, serial port B control used to prevent data transfers through serial port B, parallel port control used to prevent transfers through the parallel port, diskette drive control used to prevent read or write operations from the floppy diskette drives, hard disk drive controls used to prevent read or write operation from the hard disk drive and server manager dial-back which is used to cause the server manager to hang up and check the number of a caller before allowing a caller to view system data, are enabled or disabled. After viewing the security configuration at step 232, the network administrator closes the security configuration window at step 234 and returns to the selected server GUI 512 at step 212 (FIG. 9A).

From the selected server GUI 512 again displayed at step 212, if the network administrator selects the disk storage subsystem button 520 at step 214, a disk storage GUI 546 is generated at step 236 (FIG. 9C) so that the network administrator may access various logical and physical drives installed in the file server and selectively view information regarding the various logical and physical drives for the selected file server. As may be seen in FIG. 13, the disk storage GUI 546 includes a single disks display 548 which lists all single disks installed in the selected file server and an intelligent disk arrays display 550 which lists all intelligent disk arrays installed in the selected file server. For each installed single disk or intelligent disk array, the disk storage GUI 546 provides a button to permit the network administrator to select that disk or disk array for viewing. For example, for the selected file server illustrated in FIG. 13, a single hard disk and a pair of intelligent disk arrays are installed therein. Accordingly, the disk storage GUI 546 includes a first button 548 which may be used to select the hard disk for viewing, a second button 550 which may be used to select the internal intelligent disk array for viewing and a third button 552 which may be used to select the external intelligent disk arrays for viewing. A border 548a, 550a, and 552a surrounds each button 548, 550, 552, respectively, to indicate the general condition of each displayed disk storage component as either normal, degraded or failed.

Proceeding to step 238, if the network administrator selects button 548, an IDE/ESDI window (not shown) from which the hard disk installed in the selected server may be viewed at step 240 (FIG. 9D) and information such as drive type and capacity and, if the server manager is installed, I/O errors and ECC error counts reviewed. More specifically, from the IDE/ESDI window, drive type, capacity, cylinders, heads, and sectors per track are displayed for each drive of the primary controller. Also, if the server manager is installed, I/O errors, ECC errors and track zero not found are displayed for the primary controller.

Proceeding to step 242, from the IDE/ESDI window, the network administrator may view any one of the selected conditions, I/O errors, ECC errors and Track zero not found. If, at step 242, the network administrator selects one of the conditions for viewing, a graphical window for that condition is opened and historical and real time graphs of the selected disk storage condition are displayed at step 244 for viewing. After viewing the displayed condition, the network administrator closes the graph window at step 246 and returns to the open IDE/ESDI window at step 240.

Again proceeding to step 242, from the IDE/ESDI window, the network administrator may select whether to display the IDE or ESDI controller in the IDE/ESDI window by selecting either the primary or secondary controller buttons included as part of the IDE/ESDI window. When opening the IDE/ESDI window, information for the primary IDE or ESDI controller is displayed. If a secondary IDE or ESDI controller is present in the file server, the network administrator may view the secondary controller for display in the IDE/ESDI window by selecting the secondary controller button at step 242. The information displayed in that IDE/ESDI window for the primary controller will be replaced with similar information for the secondary controller at step 248 and the network administrator will return to step 240 where conditions for the secondary controller may be viewed in the same manner by which conditions for the primary controller were viewed. Finally, after completing the viewing of the single disks, the network administrator may return to the disk storage GUI 546 by closing the IDE/ESDI window at step 242 and returning to step 236.

From the disk storage GUI 546, if the network administrator selects internal intelligent disk array button 550 at step 238, an internal IDA logical drive GUI 556 from which the physical map of the installed logical drives may be viewed is opened at step 248 (FIG. 9D). For example, an internal IDA logical drive GUI 556 for drive 1 of the selected server is illustrated in FIG. 14. As may now be seen, the internal IDA logical drive GUI 556 includes an information block 562 which describes the condition of the logical drive, a physical drive map 564 of the logical drive and logical drive buttons 558, 560 for selecting the logical drive to be described in the information block 562 and mapped in the physical drive map 564. When opening the internal IDA logical drive GUI 556, the primary logical drive is described in the information block 562 and mapped in the physical drive map 564 by default. Each logical drive button 558, 560 is surrounded by a border 558a, 560a which is colored to indicate whether the drive is normal, degraded or failed.

Accordingly, if primary and secondary controllers have been installed in the internal IDA logical drive, the network administrator may select the logical drive to be viewed at step 250 and then return to step 248 where the selected logical drive will be displayed as part of the logical drive GUI 556.

Having selected the secondary logical drive or accepted the default primary logical drive for viewing, at step 248, the network administrator may then view the logical drive. Information displayed in the information block 562 of the internal IDA logical drive GUI 556 for the selected logical drive are status, fault tolerance, auto-reliability, rebuild blocks, accelerator board and capacity. Status is a monitored item which indicates the status of the logical drive and may be in one of the following states: OK, failed, unconfigured, recovering, ready rebuild, rebuilding, wrong drive, bad connect, overheating and shutdown. Of these, OK indicates that the logical drive is in normal operation mode, failed indicates that more physical drives have failed than the fault tolerance mode of the logical drive can handle without data loss, unconfigured indicates that the logical drive is not configured, recovering indicates that the logical drive is in an interim recovery mode where at least one physical drive has failed but the logical drive's fault tolerance mode lets the drive continue to operate with no data loss, ready rebuild indicates that the logical drive is ready for automatic data recovery and that the physical drive that failed has been replaced but the logical drive is still operating in interim recovery mode, rebuilding indicates that the logical drive is doing automatic data recovery during which fault tolerance algorithms restore data to the replacement drive, wrong drive indicates that the wrong physical drive was replaced after a physical drive failure, bad connect indicates that a physical drive is not responding, overheating indicates that the drive array enclosure that contains the logical drive is overheating, and shutdown indicates that the drive array enclosure that contains the logical drive has overheated and that the logical drive is no longer functioning.

The fault tolerance item indicates the fault tolerance mode of the logical drive and may have the following values: none, mirroring, data guard and distributed data guarding. None indicates that fault tolerance is not enabled. If a physical drive reports an error, the data cannot be recovered. Mirroring indicates that, for each physical drive, there is a second physical drive containing identical data. If a drive fails, the data can be retrieved from the mirror drive. Data guard indicates that one of the physical drives is being used as a data guard drive and contains the exclusive OR of the data on the remaining drives. If a failure is detected, the data guard information, in combination with information from the other drives, can be used to rebuild the data. Distributed data guarding is similar to data guard but differs in that the parity information is distributed across all of the drives.

Auto-reliability indicates how many seconds the logical drive will wait with no requests before beginning auto-reliability monitoring in which each disk is scanned to verify that all of the sectors in the array are readable. If possible, detected bad sectors are remapped. If a request is received during autoreliability monitoring, the drive will stop monitoring to process the request. After a failed physical drive has been replaced, the physical drive must still have its data rebuilt. The rebuilt blocks value indicates, therefore, how many blocks of data still need to be rebuilt. When the value reaches zero, the rebuilding process is complete.

The accelerator board monitored item, which is displayed in the information block 562 of the internal IDA logical drive GUI 556 as "accel assigned", indicates whether the logical drive has an array accelerator board configured and enabled. This item may have a value of either enabled, disabled, unavailable or other. Enabled indicates that the array accelerator board is configured and enabled for the logical drive. Disabled indicates that the array accelerator board is configured but not enabled for the logical drive. Unavailable indicates that there is no array accelerator board configured for the logical drive and other indicates that the instrumentation agent does not recognize the array accelerator board. Finally, the capacity item indicates the size of the logical drive in megabytes.

From the internal IDA logical drive GUI 556 displayed at step 250, the network administrator may also view the physical drive map 564 for the selected logical drive. The physical drive map 564 identifies each physical drive mapped to the selected logical drive. For example, in FIG. 14, physical drives 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 are represented by a physical drive buttons 566, 568, 570, 572, 574, 576, 578 and 580, respectively, configured to indicate whether the physical drive is mapped to the selected logical drive and how it is functioning. For example, in FIG. 13, physical drives 1 and 2 are functioning normally, drive 3 is experiencing degraded performance, drive 4 has failed and drives 5, 6, 7 and 8 are not mapped to the selected logical drive.

From the physical drive map 564, the network administrator may select any of the physical drives for viewing at step 250 by depressing one of the physical drive buttons 566, 568, 570, 572, 574, 576, 578 or 580 to open the physical drive window for the selected drive. Proceeding to step 252, from the physical drive window, the network administrator may view the following information: status, logical drive, thresholds exceeded, drive model, firmware version, sectors read, sectors written, hard read errors, hard write errors, service minutes, functional test 1, functional test 2 and functional test 3.

Status indicates the status of the selected physical drive and may either be OK, indicating that the drive is functioning normally; failed, indicating that the drive is no longer operating and should be replaced; and other, indicating that the instrumentation agent does not recognize the drive. The logical drive item indicates which logical drive the selected physical drive maps to. The threshold exceeded item indicates whether certain thresholds that have been set to monitor performance of the drive have been exceeded. For example, a threshold value may be selected for spinup time. If the time that it actually takes the physical drive to spin up exceeds the threshold value, the threshold exceeded item would indicate that such an occurrence has taken place. The drive model item is a text description of the physical drive and will vary from physical drive to physical drive, depending on the type of physical drive and its manufacturer. The firmware version item indicates a version number for the firmware installed in the drive array. The sectors read item indicates the total number of sectors read from the physical disk drive. The sectors written item indicates the total number of sectors written to the physical disk drive. The hard read errors item indicates the number of read errors that have occurred on a drive that could not be recovered by the drive's ECC algorithm or through retries. The hard write errors item indicates the number of write errors that could not be recovered by the physical drive. The service minutes item shows the total number of minutes that the physical drive has been spinning since the drive was stamped. The functional test items provide information regarding a series of test that indicate how well a physical drive works by comparing the way the physical drive currently operates when performing selected tasks with the way it worked when new. A percent value is displayed that represents how the drive works currently when compared to how the drive worked when new.

From the physical drive window displayed at step 252, the network administrator may opt to view additional information (or "details") regarding the selected physical drive or to view conditions for selected ones of the previously described items at step 254. More specifically, sectors read, sectors written, hard read errors, hard write errors, service minutes and functional tests 1-3 are items having a graphical window associated therewith which may be viewed at step 254 by selecting the graph button adjacent the selected item. After viewing the graphical window for the selected item at step 256, the network administrator closes the selected graphical window at step 258 and returns to the physical drive window at step 252.

Returning to step 254, the network administrator may also select to view additional details regarding the physical drive by selecting an advanced physical drive button displayed on the physical drive window, thereby opening an advanced physical drive window at step 260 in which additional details regarding the selected physical drive are displayed for viewing by the network administrator. Specifically, in addition to the status, logical drive and thresholds exceeded items displayed in the previously described physical drive window, the advanced physical drive window will display factory reallocation, POST error, used reallocation, recovered read error, recovered write error, not ready error, total seek, seek errors, DRQ timeout, other timeout, spinup time, spinup retries, failed recovery read, failed recovery write, reallocated aborts and format errors for viewing by the network administrator.

The factory reallocation monitored item shows the number of spare sectors available for remapping at the time the physical drive was shipped. The POST error monitored item indicates the number of times that a physical drive has failed its self test. The used reallocated sectors monitored item indicates the number of sectors of the reallocation area that have been used by the physical drive. The recovered read errors monitored item indicates the number of read errors corrected through physical drive retries. The recovered write errors monitored item indicates the number of write errors corrected through physical drive retries or recovered by a physical drive on a monitored system. The drive not ready errors item indicates the number of times the physical drive failed after the spinup command was issued. The total seeks monitored item indicates the total number of seek operations performed by the selected physical drive since the drive was shipped. The seek errors monitored item indicates the number of seek errors that a physical drive detects. The DRQ timeouts monitored item indicates the number of times that a physical drive continued to request data, but did not get a command completion. The other timeouts monitored item indicates the number of times that a physical drive did not respond with an interrupt within a controller-defined period of time after a command had been issued. The spinup time monitored item indicates the time required for the physical drive to spin up to full speed. The spinup retries monitored item indicates the number of times that the physical drive has to retry to spin up before successfully achieving operating speed. The recovery failed read error monitored item indicates whether any read errors occurred while automatic data recovery from the selected physical drive to a second physical drive was taking place. The recovery failed write error monitored item indicates whether write errors occurred while doing automatic data recovery from another physical drive to the selected physical drive was taking place. The reallocation aborts monitored item indicates the number of times that the physical drive has failed due to an error that occurred when the controller was trying to reallocate a bad sector. The format error monitored item indicates the number of times that a format operation failed when the controller attempted to remap a bad sector.

After viewing the advanced physical drive window at step 260, the network administrator may open a graphical window for any one of the used reallocation, recovery read errors, recovery write errors, not ready errors, total seeks, seek errors, DRQ timeouts, other timeouts, spinup time railed recovery reads, failed recovery writes, reallocation aborts or format errors monitored items by selecting a graph button corresponding to the respective monitored item at step 262 to open the graphical window. The network administrator may then view the opened graphical window for the selected monitored item at step 264. The graph window is then closed at step 266, thereby returning the network administrator to the open advanced physical drive window at step 260 where, proceeding again to step 262, another graphical window may be selected for viewing or the advanced physical drive window closed to return the network administrator to the open physical drive window at step 252 where, if all monitored items from the advanced physical drive window and all graphical windows corresponding to monitored items which may be viewed from the logical drive window for which viewing is desired, have been viewed, the physical drive window is then closed to return to the open internal IDA logical drive GUI 556 at step 248 (FIG. 9D).

In addition to viewing the logical drive and selecting the logical drive to be viewed, at step 248, the network administrator may also select an IDA controller or device driver for viewing. To view the IDA controller from the internal IDA logical drive GUI 556, the network administrator would select controller information button 582 to open the IDA controller window. By selecting the controller information 582 at step 248, the IDA controller window is opened and the IDA controller may be viewed at step 268. From the IDA controller window, selected information regarding the IDA controller may be viewed. This information includes a model object instance which lists the type of controller card installed in the internal IDA, a drive array controller firmware revision object instance which lists the firmware revision of the drive array controller, a drive array controller BMIC interface object instance which confirms that the BMIC interface is enabled, a drive array controller standard interface object instance which indicates the status of the standard interface between the IDA and DOS, and a drive array controller slot object instance which indicates the physical slot where the drive array controller resides.

From the IDA controller window, further details on the IDA controller may be viewed by selecting an accelerator button at step 270 to open a drive array accelerator board window where information on a 4 MB array accelerator write cache associated with the drive array controller may be viewed at step 272. From the open drive array accelerator board window, object instances which may be viewed include a status item object instance which describes the status of the 4 MB array accelerator write cache as either enabled (indicating that write cache operations are currently configured and enabled for at least one logical drive), disabled (which indicates that write cache operations have been temporarily disabled), permanently disabled, invalid (which indicates that an array accelerator board has not been installed), or other (which indicates that the instrument agent does not recognize the status of the array accelerator); a memory object instance, which indicates the amount of memory allocated for the write cache; a bad data object instance, which indicates that the battery packs were not sufficiently charged at power up to retain data stored in the write cache; and an error code object instance which indicates the status of write cache operations. Monitored items which may be viewed from the array accelerator window include a board read errors monitored item which indicates the total number of read memory parity errors detected while reading from the array accelerator board and a write errors monitored item which indicates the total number of write memory parity errors that were detected while writing to the array accelerator board.

Proceeding to step 274, a graphical window may be opened for either of the monitored items by selecting a graph button associated with the monitored item, thereby enabling the network administrator to view the condition of the detail. After viewing the graphical window for the selected monitored item at step 276, the selected graphical window is closed at step 278 and the network administrator is returned to the drive array accelerator board window at step 272 for further viewing of details or detail conditions. After the network administrator has completed viewing of all desired drive array accelerator board details or detail conditions, the network administrator may close the drive array accelerator board window at step 274, thereby returning to the IDA controller window (step 268) where, if no additional viewing of the controller is desired, the network administrator may close the IDA controller window at step 270 to return to the internal IDA logical drive GUI 556 at step 248 (FIG. 9D).

Again proceeding from the internal IDA logical drive GUI 556, the network administrator may also open an IDA device driver window to view the IDA device driver by selecting device driver button 584 at step 250. From the IDA device driver window, a series of object instances and monitored items which describe the IDA device driver may be viewed by the network administrator at step 280. Monitored items include a total reads monitored item which provides a value representing the total number of reads accumulated by the IDA device driver for the logical drive, a total writes monitored item which provides a value representing the total number of writes accumulated by the IDA device driver for the selected logical drive, a corrected reads monitored item which shows the number of corrected reads as reported by the IDA controller for the selected logical drive, a corrected writes monitored item which shows the number of corrected writes as reported by the IDA controller for the selected logical drive, a fatal reads monitored item which shows the number of fatal reads as reported by the IDA controller for the selected logical drive, a fatal writes monitored item which shows the number of fatal writes as reported by the IDA controller for the selected logical drive, an array controller driver name, an array controller driver version, and volume info, which identifies the name of the NetWare volume and the segment number for that volume which maps to the selected logical drive.

Proceeding to step 282, a graphical window may be opened for either the total reads, total writes, corrected read, corrected writes, fatal reads or fatal writes monitored items by selecting a graph button associated with the monitored item, thereby enabling the network administrator to view the condition of the monitored item detail. After viewing the graphical window for the selected monitored item at step 284, the selected graphical window is closed at step 286 and the network administrator is returned to the IDA device driver detail window at step 280 where additional detail conditions for monitored items may be viewed. After the network administrator has completed viewing all desired detail conditions, the network administrator may close the IDA device driver window at step 282, thereby returning to the internal IDA logical drive GUI 556 at step 248 (FIG. 9D) where, if the network administrator has completed viewing of information accessible via the internal IDA logical drive GUI 556, close button 586 may be selected to close the internal IDA logical drive GUI 556 and return the network administrator to the disk storage GUI 546 at step 236 (FIG. 9C).

After completing the viewing of the single disks and the internal IDA logical drive, the network administrator may then view the external IDA logical drive from the disk storage GUI 546 by selecting the external intelligent disk array button 552 at step 238. Proceeding to step 308, an external IDA logical drive GUI (not shown) from which the physical map of the installed logical drives may be viewed is opened at step 308 (FIG. 9D). The external IDA logical drive GUI includes an information block which describes the condition of the logical drive, a physical drive map of the logical drive and logical drive buttons for selecting the logical drive to be described in the information block and mapped in the physical drive map. When opening the external IDA logical drive GUI, the primary logical drive is described in the information block and mapped in the physical drive map by default. Each logical drive button is surrounded by a border which is colored to indicate whether the drive is normal, degraded or failed. Accordingly, if primary and secondary controllers have been installed in the external IDA logical drive, the network administrator may select the logical drive to be viewed at step 310 and then return to step 308 where the selected logical drive will be displayed as part of the logical drive GUI.

Having selected the secondary logical drive or accepted the default primary logical drive for viewing, at step 308, the network administrator may then view the logical drive. Information displayed in the information block of the external IDA logical drive GUI for the selected logical drive are status, fault tolerance, autoreliability, rebuild blocks, spare drive bay and capacity. The spare drive bay is a monitored item which indicates which physical drives function as spares for the logical drive.

From the external IDA logical drive GUI displayed at step 308, the network administrator may also view the physical drive map for the selected logical drive. The physical drive map 564 identifies each physical drive mapped to the selected logical drive. Each physical drive is represented by a physical drive button configured to indicate whether the physical drive is mapped to the selected logical drive and how it is functioning, i.e. normal, degraded, failed, or not mapped to the selected logical drive.

From the physical drive map, the network administrator may select any of the physical drives for viewing at step 312 by depressing one of the physical drive buttons to open the physical drive window for the selected drive. Proceeding to step 314, from the physical drive window, the network administrator may view the following information: status, logical drive, thresholds exceeded, drive model, firmware version, sectors read, sectors written, hard read errors, hard write errors, service minutes, functional test 1, functional test 2 and functional test 3.

From the physical drive window displayed at step 312, the network administrator may opt to view additional information (or "details") regarding the selected physical drive or to view conditions for selected ones of the previously described items at step 314. More specifically, sectors read, sectors written, hard read errors, hard write errors, service minutes and functional tests 1-3 are items having a graphical window associated therewith which may be viewed at step 314 by selecting the graph button adjacent the selected item. After viewing the graphical window for the selected item at step 316, the network administrator closes the selected graphical window at step 318 and returns to the physical drive window at step 312.

Returning to step 314, the network administrator may also select to view additional details regarding the physical drive by selecting an advanced physical drive button displayed on the physical drive window, thereby opening an advanced physical drive window at step 320 in which additional details regarding the selected physical drive are displayed for viewing by the network administrator. Specifically, in addition to the status, logical drive and thresholds exceeded items displayed in the previously described physical drive window, the advanced physical drive window will display factory reallocation, POST error, used reallocation, recovered read error, recovered write error, not ready error, total seek, seek errors, DRQ timeout, other timeout, spinup time, spinup retries, failed recovery read, failed recovery write, reallocated aborts and format errors for viewing by the network administrator.

After viewing the advanced physical drive window at step 200, the network administrator may open a graphical window for any one of the used reallocation, recovery read errors, recovery write errors, not ready errors, total seeks, seek errors, DRQ timeouts, other timeouts, spinup time railed recovery reads, failed recovery writes, reallocation aborts or format errors monitored items by selecting a graph button corresponding to the respective monitored item at step 322 to open the graphical window. The network administrator may then view the opened graphical window for the selected monitored item at step 324. The graph window is then closed at step 326, thereby returning the network administrator to the open advanced physical drive window at step 320 where, proceeding again to step 322, another graphical window may be selected for viewing or the advanced physical drive window closed to return the network administrator to the open physical drive window at step 312 where, if all monitored items from the advanced physical drive window and all graphical windows corresponding to monitored items which may be viewed from the logical drive window for which viewing is desired, have been viewed, the physical drive window is then closed at step 314 to return to the external IDA logical drive GUI at step 308 (FIG. 9D).

In addition to viewing the logical drive and selecting the logical drive to be viewed, at step 310, the network administrator may also select an IDA controller or device driver for viewing. To view the IDA controller from the internal IDA logical drive, the network administrator would select the controller information button to open the IDA controller window. By selecting the controller information button at step 310, the IDA controller window is opened and the IDA controller may be viewed at step 328. From the IDA controller window, selected information regarding the IDA controller may be viewed. This information includes model, drive array controller firmware revision, drive array controller BMIC interface, drive array controller standard interface and drive array controller slot object instances. After viewing the IDA controller, the IDA controller window may be closed at step 330 to return to the external IDA logical drive GUI at step 308 (FIG. 9D).

Again proceeding from the external IDA logical drive GUI, the network administrator may also open an IDA device driver window to view the IDA device driver by selecting device driver button at step 310. From the IDA device driver window, a series of object instances and monitored items which describe the IDA device driver may be viewed by the network administrator at step 332. Monitored items include total reads, total writes, corrected reads, corrected writes, fatal reads and fatal writes monitored items. Also displayed are an array controller driver name, an array controller driver version, and volume info, which identifies the name of the NetWare volume and the segment number for that volume which maps to the selected logical drive.

Proceeding to step 334, a graphical window may be opened for either the total reads, total writes, corrected read, corrected writes, fatal reads or fatal writes monitored items by selecting a graph button associated with the monitored item, thereby enabling the network administrator to view the condition of the monitored item detail. After viewing the graphical window for the selected monitored item at step 336, the selected graphical window is closed at step 338 and the network administrator is returned to the IDA device driver detail window at step 332 where additional detail conditions for monitored items may be viewed. After the network administrator has completed viewing all desired detail conditions, the network administrator may close the IDA device driver window at step 334, thereby returning to the external IDA logical drive GUI at step 308 (FIG. 9D).

Again proceeding from the external IDA logical drive GUI, the network administrator may also open a spare drive window to view the spare driver by selecting a spare drive button at step 310. From the spare drive window, a series of monitored items which describe the spare drive, its status and the number of the physical drive it is replacing, if any, may be viewed by the network administrator at step 340. Monitored items include a logical drive spare drive bay, which indicates which physical drives function as spares for this logical drives, a status, which indicates the status of the on-line spare drive, a replaced drive bay, which identifies the failed physical drive by its bay number, and a rebuild blocks left, which indicates how many blocks of data remain to be built on the spare before the spare begins operating in place of a failed physical drive. The status of the on-line spare drive may either be building, indicating that a physical drive has failed and that automatic data recovery is in progress to recover data to the on-line spare, active, indicating that a physical drive has failed, automatic data recovery is complete and the system is using the on-line spare as a replacement for the failed drive, failed, indicating that the on-line spare has failed and is no longer available for use and inactive, indicating that the monitored system has an on-line spare configured, but that the spare is not currently in use. Finally, a spare drive bay number which indicates the bay location where the spare drive has been installed is also visible from the spare drive window.

After viewing the spare drive window at step 340, the window is closed at step 342 and the network administrator is returned to the external IDA logical drive GUI at step 308 (FIG. 9D) where, if the network administrator has completed viewing of information accessible via the external IDA logical drive GUI, a close button may be selected at step 310 to close the external IDA logical drive GUI and return the network administrator to the disk storage GUI 546 at step 236 (FIG. 9C) and where, if the network administrator has completed viewing information accessible via the disk storage GUI 546, close button 554 may be selected to close the disk storage GUI 546 and return the network administrator to the selected server GUI 512 at step 212 (FIG. 9A).

Proceeding again from the selected server GUI 512 displayed at step 212, if the network administrator selects the system board subsystem button 522 at step 214, the system board window is opened at step 288 (FIG. 9C) so that the network administrator may view information regarding the system board for the selected file server. The system board window (not shown) displays information regarding the processors and coprocessors installed in the selected file server. More specifically, the system board window displays the type of file server, the processor name, the coprocessor type and speed and the firmware version for the selected file server. The system board window also indicates whether an EISA bus is present for the selected file server, which slots of the file server have an expansion board installed therein, the amount of memory directly accessible by MS-DOS, the total amount of memory available and the serial number of the system board. Finally, the system board window displays includes two monitored items--I/O check and memory parity--both of which are valid if the server manager 24 is installed on the selected file server. The I/O check monitored item monitors all expansion boards installed in the selected file server that may produce I/O check errors and displays the total number of I/O check errors produced by the file server. The memory parity monitored item monitors the occurrence of memory parity errors, i.e. the value of bits in each byte transferred during a read or write operation does not match the expected value.

Proceeding to step 290, a graphical window may be opened for either the I/O check or the memory parity monitored items by selecting a graph button associated with the monitored item, thereby enabling the network administrator to view the condition of the monitored item detail. After viewing the graphical window for the selected monitored item at step 292, the selected graphical window is closed at step 294 and the network administrator is returned to the system board window at step 288. After completing the viewing of the system board window, the network administrator closes the window at step 290 and returns to the selected server GUI 512 at step 212 (FIG. 9A).

Proceeding again from the selected server GUI 512 displayed at step 212, if the network administrator selects the expansion boards subsystem button 524 at step 214, the expansion boards window is opened at step 296 (FIG. 9B) so that the network administrator may view information regarding the expansion boards installed in the selected file server. The expansion boards window (not shown) displays a list of installed expansion boards, their name, ID, slot number and the amount of system resources used by each board.

Proceeding to step 298, specific information regarding a particular one of the installed expansion boards installed in a slot on the expansion bus may be viewed at step 300 by highlighting a specific expansion board and depressing a view button provided on the expansion boards window. In addition to the above-listed information regarding the selected expansion board which is displayed by the expansion boards window, it is further contemplated that, if the selected expansion board is a server manager board or an intelligent drive array, information regarding the server manager subsystem or the disk storage subsystem, respectively, may be viewed by selecting a "more info" button.

After viewing the selected expansion board, the network administrator may close the view of the selected expansion board at step 302 and return to step 298 where the network administrator may select a system resources button to view information regarding the resources in use by the system at step 304. After viewing information regarding the resources in use by the system, the network administrator may close the system resources view at step 306 and return to the expansion boards window at step 298. After completing the viewing of the expansion boards window, the network administrator closes the window at step 298 and returns to the selected server GUI 512 at step 212 (FIG. 9A).

Again proceeding from the selected server GUI 512 displayed at step 212, if the network administrator selects the server manager subsystem button 526 at step 214, the server manager subsystem window is opened at step 344 (FIG. 9C) so that the network administrator may view information regarding the server manager for the selected file server. The physical configuration of a server manager was described in detail in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/720,259, filed Jun. 21, 1991 and issued Nov. 22, 1994 as U.S. Pat. No. 5,367,670, entitled "Computer System Manager" and previously incorporated by reference as if reproduced in its entirety.

From the server manager window (not shown), information regarding the board name, ID, ROM date, battery status, self test result, alert status, percent object space available, innate monitoring, async remote session, dial-back status, asynchronous settings and alert destinations may be viewed. The server manager board name monitored item lists the board name. The server manager board ID monitored item lists the server manager board ID. The server manager ROM date monitored item may be used to identify the particular revision of the server manager board firmware. The server manager battery status monitored item will identify whether the battery used to power the server manager board when system power is unavailable and must be enabled to prevent loss of server manager data in the event of power loss to the monitored system. The self test code error monitored item displays whether the sever manager board has experienced an error. The alert status monitored item identifies whether the server manager alert capability is enabled. If alert status is disabled, the monitored server cannot deliver any pending or new alerts to the server manager. The object space available monitored item displays the percentage of space available on the server manager board. This enables the user to determine whether there is enough space to create more objects or items. The innate monitoring status monitored item indicates whether the server manager is innately monitoring objects such as temperature, input/output check and power without input from the operating system. Enabled indicates that innate monitoring is active while disabled indicates that innate monitoring is not active. The async remote status monitored item indicates whether asynchronous communications between the server manager and the modem is enabled or disabled. If disabled, all remote alerting capability is disabled. The dial-back status monitored item lists the status of the server manager's dial back security feature. If enabled, the server manager will hang up and check the number of a caller before allowing the caller to view system data. If the number is valid, the server manager will then re-establish the connection.

If the self test error code indicates that the server manager has passed, no server manager errors have occurred. The self test error code can also display the following errors: ROM Checksum failed, RAM test failed and 80186 timer failed. Each of these errors indicates the need for immediate board service. In addition, the self test error code can display failures with the built-in modem, which indicates that the board will function but that functions requiring the modem such as off-the-network alerting will not occur, direct connect interface failures, which indicates that the server manager will continue operating but that functions requiring direct connection such as off-the-network alerting will not occur, real-time clock failures, which indicates that the server manager will require service as soon as possible, temperature and voltage sensor, which indicates that the server manager will continue operating but will be unable to provide correct information regarding temperature and voltage items, DTMF failures, which indicates that the server manager will continue operating but will be unable to process voice alerts, VSL failures, which indicates that the server manager will require service as soon as possible, or host bus monitor failures, which indicates that the server manager will continue to operate but that no information regarding items monitored by the host bus monitor such as keyboard items will be available, BMIC failures, which indicates that the board is operable but cannot communicate with the monitored system's operating system's drivers and battery is broken, which indicates the absence of any backup power source in case of power failure.

Finally, the server manager window also includes an asynchronous settings box which displays the current settings of the asynchronous ports, both mode and serial port, of the server manager and an alert destinations box which displays the alert destination list for the server manager. In the event of an alert, the server manager will attempt to deliver notification to the destinations on the alert destination list.

After viewing the server manager window at step 344, the network administrator may proceed to step 346 where a device driver window (not shown) may be opened from the server manager window by selecting a device driver button. The device drive window displays information regarding driver name, driver version, driver date, watchdog frequency and board resets monitored items. The driver name monitored item identifies the driver for the server manager. The driver date monitored item identifies the date of the driver for the server manager. The driver version monitored item identifies the version of the driver for the server manager. The watchdog frequency monitored item specifies the watchdog interval in minutes. The board reset monitored item indicates the number of times that the server manager performed a board reset.

Proceeding to step 348, the network administrator views the device driver for the server manager and, continuing on to step 350, the device driver is closed and the network administrator is returned to the server manager window at step 344. If the network administrator has completed viewing the server manager and device driver windows, the server manager window is closed at step 346, thereby returning the network administrator to the selected server GUI 512 at step 212 (FIG. 9A).

Proceeding again from the selected server GUI 512 displayed at step 212, if the network administrator selects the I/O ports subsystem button 528 at step 214, the I/O ports window (not shown) is opened at step 352 (FIG. 9B) so that the network administrator may view information regarding the I/O port addresses, keyboard type and other port configuration information. More specifically, the I/O ports window displays a serial port I/O address, a parallel port I/O address, a keyboard type, for example, a 101 key enhanced keyboard, a video type, for example, EGA or VGA, and a pointing device monitored item which indicates if the mouse port is enabled.

By selecting a "stats" button at step 354, an I/O port statistics window is opened at step 356. The I/O port statistics window displays the following monitored items: carrier detect, which indicates whether a link between the serial device attached to a serial port on a monitored system and another serial device occurs, LPTx status, which indicates the status of the printer port, overrun errors, which indicate the number of overrun errors produced by the device connected to a serial port on a monitored system, parity errors, which indicates the number of parity errors produced by the device attached to a serial port on a monitored system and framing errors, which indicates the number of framing errors produced by the device attached to a serial port on a monitored system.

Proceeding to step 358, a graphical window may be opened for either the overrun errors, parity errors or framing errors monitored items by selecting a graph button associated with the monitored item, thereby enabling the network administrator to view the condition of the statistic. After viewing the graphical window for the selected statistic at step 360, the selected graphical window is closed at step 362 and the network administrator is returned to the I/O ports statistics window at step 356. After completing the viewing of the I/O ports statistics window, the network administrator closes the window at step 358 and returns to the I/O ports window at step 352 and, after completing the viewing of the I/O ports window, the network administrator closes the window at step 354 and returns to the selected server GUI 512 at step 212 (FIG. 9A).

Having view all of the server subsystems accessible via the selected server GUI 512, the network administrator closes the selected server GUI at step 214 by selecting a close button 530, thereby returning to the server list GUI 500 at step 202. Proceeding again to step 204, the network administrator may now select a control feature option by selecting one of the control feature buttons 588, 590, 592, 594 or 596. Proceeding now to step 364, if the server list button 588 is selected, the network administrator returns to the server list GUI 500 at step 202. If the reports button 590 is selected, a report control window is opened at step 366. Proceeding to step 368, the format of reports to be generated may be modified by selecting various report control buttons. Once the desired report format has been selected, the report control window may be closed at step 368. If the print queue button 592 is selected at step 364, a print queue control window is opened at step 370 and the print queue listed. Proceeding to step 372, the print queue may be controlled, for example, by deleting a print job. After the print queue has been modified as desired, the print queue window is closed at step 372.

If the alert log button 594 is selected at step 364, an alert log window 598 is opened at step 374. The alert log window includes an alert log 600 which displays a record of alerts sent to the management console 12. The alert log 600 provides information on the date and time the alert was received, the name of the file server that produced the alert and the item that produced the alert. Further details regarding the alert may be displayed by highlighting an alert and selecting alert detail button 602. The alert detail window displays specific details on the alert such as the severity and threshold value of the alert. After viewing the alert log 600, the alert log window may be closed by selecting close button 604 at step 376.

If the server manager facility (or "SMF") button 596 is selected at step 364, the server manager facility is launched at step 378. Once launched, the server manager may be operated at step 380 and closed at step 382.

Thus, there has been described and illustrated herein a computer management system having plural instrumentation agents for querying manageable devices to collect object data, an associated enterprise MIB for storing object data in accordance with a specified MIB architecture and a GUI for managing the manageable devices using the enterprise MIB. However, those skilled in the art will recognize that many modifications and variations besides those specifically mentioned may be made in the techniques described herein without departing substantially from the concept of the present invention. Accordingly, it should be clearly understood that the form of the invention described herein is exemplary only and is not intended as a limitation on the scope of the invention.