United States Patent m
Sidey
[54J METHOD AND APARATUS FOR PROVIDING AGENT CAPABILITY INDEPENDENT FROM A NETWORK NODE
[75] Inventor: Michael J. Sidey. Middletown. N.J.
[73] Assignee: NCR Corporation, Dayton. Ohio
[21] Appl. No.: 968,646
[22] Filed: Nov. 12, 1997
Related U.S. Application Data
[63] Continuation of Ser. No. 675,954, Jul. 5, 1996, abandoned.
[51] Int CI.6 G06F 13/00; G06F 15/177
[52] U.S. CI 395/200.53: 395/200.32;
395/200.5; 395/200.51; 395/200.54; 395/200.8; 395/182.01; 395/187.01; 395/670; 395/672
[58] Field of Search 395/200.31-200.32,
395/200.5-200.56. 200.8. 182.01. 182.02, 187.01, 670, 672
[56] References Cited
U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
4,466,063 8/1984 Segarra et al 395/200.56
4,858,112 8/1989 Pueizer et al 395/200.6
5283,869 2/1994 Adams et al 395/200.67
Mlllllllllllll
US005761428A
[ii] Patent Number: 5,761,428 [45] Date of Patent: Jun. 2, 1998
5.299.313 3/1994 Petersen et al 395/200.64
5.299.314 3/1994 Gates 395/884
5.303,344 4/1994 Yokoyama et al 395/200.6
5,367,635 11/1994 Bauer et al 395/200.51
5,434,976 7/1995 Tan et al 395/200.64
5,448,724 9/1995 Hayashi 395/182.02
5.450,601 9/1995 Okuda 395/200.54
5,491,796 2/1996 Wanderer et al 395/200.54
5,561,769 10/1996 Kumar et al 395/200.32
5,678.006 10/1997 Valizadeh et al 395/200.53
Primary Examiner—Parshotam S. Lall
Assistant Examiner—Bharat Barot
Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Ying Tuo
[57] ABSTRACT
An improved network node includes a network node autonomy portion and a sentinel autonomy portion. The network node autonomy portion can perform the tasks as a conventional network node. Both the autonomy portions contain their respective processors and MIBs. In a proper operational condition, the sentinel autonomy portion copies network management information from the MIB of the network node autonomy portion to the MIB of the sentinel autonomy portion. When faults or failures occur to the network node autonomy portion, the sentinel autonomy portion can still respond to polls from and send traps to a network management station.
19 Claims, 4 Drawing Sheets
