Web-Based Home Gateway Management System using SNMP

Byoung Woo Yoon1, Seongjin Ahn2, Jin Wook Chung1

1 Dept. of Information and Communication Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Chunchun-Dong Jangan-gu, Suwon city kyounggi-do 440-746, Republic of Korea

{bwyoon, jwchung}@songgang.skku.ac.kr, Fax: +82-31-290-7211 2 Dept. of Computer Education, Sungkyunkwan University,

Myongnyun-dong, Chonhno-gu, Seoul 110-745, Republic of Korea sjahn@comedu.skku.ac.kr, Fax: +82-31-290-7211

Abstract. In this paper, we have designed and implemented the Web-based Home Gateway Management System, which can manage subscribers using home gateway device in home networking technology. To manage home gateway device with SNMP(Simple Networking Management Protocol), management elements are classified into system, performance, fault functional area based on MIB (Management Information Base) objects from home gateway device. System analysis provides configuration information of each device, and performance analysis provides device's traffic information and state. Finally fault analysis provides fault logging for the unexpected events and trap message from device. Implemented system can be accessed from remote location and manage home gateway device efficiently through the Web browser.

Keywords : network management, home gateway, SNMP, MIB objects 1. Introduction

In the recent telecommunication environment, due to an increase of Internet services, the number of various informative devices including the PC is increasing also in home. That is why home networking technology, which connects all electronic home appliances, communication devices and PC into one network, is in trend. Through this technology, it is possible to control various electronic home appliances through the Internet, share services and also transmit data mutually [1]. Especially, home networking technology, which uses home gateway device to efficiently manage various appliances within the household, is in trend. The home gateway is generally used to connect home appliances, but it also performs as a residential gateway that connects the subscriber network and the local network because of the demand for Internet service. The issue for home gateway is focused on the use of telephone line such as HomePNA, IEEE 802.15.3 and power line [2]. By using these technologies, various venders such as Motorola and Nokia have developed products. Products connected with xDSL are already in the market.

Existing Network Management System manages various network entities, such as router, switch, and hub. In this paper, we manage home gateway as the network entity and have designed and implemented Web-based Home Gateway Management System that can easily manage home gateway devices and provide the traffic volume and fault situation in real-time.

2. Home gateway Home gateway device, also called as a residential gateway, is an intelligent

network device located on home. This device helps the subscriber to access Internet service and also other services provided by various electronic home appliances. Since home gateway device is connected with electronic home appliances of various venders, architecture was designed based on OSGi(Open Service Gateway initiative), and it telecommunicates with other home appliances by using UPnP(Universal Plug & Play) protocol [12].

Internet

Home GatewayInternet AccessCable Broadband,DSL Broadband,

Fixed Wireless Broadband,ISDN, Dialup Modem

Home NetworkBluetooth, HomeRF,

Wireless LAN (802.11)Phone line (HomePNA)Power line (Home Plug)Ethernet, USB, IEEE1394

Fig.1. Using scenario of home gateway

Figure 1 is a scenario that shows an example of how home gateway actually works. It represents the functions of home gateway as a bridge or a router. Home gateway converts the protocol and the address between the exterior broadband network and the home network [3].

By using home gateway, a subscriber has an advantage of sharing the connection of electronic home appliances and using the Internet at the same time. Also home gateway provides VoIP, firewall, VPN and the control of electronic home appliances from remote areas. ISP(Internet Service Provider) will have increased income according to the need of new services and various application programs, and it can provide various services through a single subscriber interface. Presently, venders such as Intel, Conexant, Texas, Instrument, Broadcom, and Motorola are putting efforts on the development and standardization of various products. According to the prospects of ABI(Allied Business Intelligence) corporation, the market scale of home gateway is estimated to be $7.1billion by 2006 [2]. 3. Definition of Management Items

To develop a system that efficiently manages the home gateway, 79 MIB-Ⅱ

objects within the rectangle in figure 2 and 36 Private MIB(OID : 1.3.6.1.4.1.1000) objects of home gateway are needed. Among these MIB objects, management items that are needed for system, performance and fault analysis have to be selected. In this paper, we have classified the managed device into network and home gateway. Also, we have defined the management items by extracting different MIB objects according to the type of devices.

Fig.2. The structure of home gateway’s MIB tree

3.1 System Analysis Management Items

Table 1 is management items that show basic system information of home gateway

such as name, serial number, install location, trap IP address, and system rebooting. This management information is acquired through SNMP polling of server when home gateway is registered. Further more additional resource information such as type of hardware, OS description, type of CPU, subnet mask, DNS(Domain Name Server) server can also be acquired.

Table 1. MIB objects of System Information

Items MIB objects Items MIB objects System name hgName Hardware type hgMachinesDescr

System serial num hgSerialNum OS description hgOSDescr Install location hgLocation CPU type hgCpuType Trap IP address hgTrapIpAddr Subnet mask hgSubnetMask

System rebooting hgReset DNS server hgDnsServer 3.2 Performance Analysis Management Items

Performance analysis collects MIB objects from network entities and analyzes it. If

the result exceeds threshold, it reports to manager in the form of a table. By receiving this report, the manager can understand the situation of network in real-time and detect faults beforehand [4,5].

Table 2. MIB objects of performance analysis

Items MIB objects Total memory size hgMemTotSize Free memory size hgMemFreeSize

CPU user time hgCpuUsr CPU system time hgCpuSys

CPU idle time hgCpuIdle

The memory and CPU utilization of home gateway can be calculated by using the MIB objects in table 2. Through this result, the manager can measure load factor of system and perform efficient resource management. Table 3 shows the formula to calculate the utilization measure by using the items in table 2.

Table 3. Calculation’s formula of performance analysis

Items Calculation’s formula

CPU utility hgCpuUsr

100hgCpuUsr+hgCpusys+hgCpuIdle

×

Memory utility

hgMemTotSize-hgMemFreeSize100

hgMemTotSize×

Table 4 displays the information of Web server of home gateway, condition of

DHCP server and interface. Through these items, UP/DOWN condition of Web server and DHCP server can be understood. Also, by using the subnet address range of DHCP server, an efficient management of IP address that is allotted dynamically can be performed. Through MIB objects of interface of home gateway, interface concentrated with traffic and interface that is DOWN due to the occurrence of fault can be found. Thus, it is possible to quickly handle device occurred the fault.

Table 4. MIB objects of Web/DHCP server

Items MIB objects Operation state of Web server WebSrvOpStatus

Operation state of DHCP server DHCPSrvOpStatusNumber of interface hgIfNum

Type of interface hgIfType 3.3 Fault Management Items

Table 5 displays the management items of a trap generated by device occurred a

fault. Through trap handling module, the manager constantly receives the trap message. By quickly detecting faults in the network, efficient treatment can be performed.

Table 5. MIB objects of trap

Items MIB objects Initiation of system hgSystemInitTrap Reboot of system hgSystemRestartTrap Down of interface hgInterfaceDownTrap

Down of Web server hgWebSrvDownTrap Down of DHCP server hgDHCPSrvDownTrap

4. Design and Implementation of System 4.1 General Constitution of System

Figure 3 shows the general constitution of home gateway management system.

Each home gateway which is scattered over remote areas is connected to various electronic home appliances such as TV, facsimile, printer, refrigerator, and PC.

This system, which can monitor and manage the condition and fault of home gateway from the remote area, is needed for an effective network management. Through Web browser it is possible to access to home gateway management system without limitation of places.

Home Gateway

TV

FAX

HGMS Client

HGMS Client

HGMS Client

HGMS Client

HGMS Server

Printer

PC

Refrigerator

Home Gateway

Home Gateway

Home Gateway

Fig.3. The general constitution of home gateway management system

4.2 Interior Constitution of System

Existing Network Management Systems perform all functions with a single management system that has a centralized form. However, these systems are not effective since one system has many loads. In this paper, we have designed the system in distributed architecture form to solve this problem. Because the system is web-based, it can perform network management without limitation of places [6,7].

Figure 4 shows the interior constitution of system. The entire system model is established on the basis of WBEM(Web-Based Enterprise Management)[8] technology[9,10]. When a client requests necessary information from the server, the server receives message from the client and analyzes the request, then sends it to the module that will perform the request. The server sends its execution result to the client through a message. The client shows the received message to the manager by converting it into an appropriate format such as a table or a graph. Through this process, list of home gateway and system, performance and fault management can be executed.

DB

Data collection Trap process Map visualization

Analysis Module

Threshold Management

ReportManagement

Real-timeprocess

KnowledgeManagement

ResourceManagement Web

Server

Servlet

JSP

Client

Server

Home Gateway Home Gateway Home Gateway Home Gateway

Internet

HGMS Client

HGMS Client

HGMS Client

Fig.4. The interior constitution of system

AM(Analysis Module) : Analysis module handles the manager's request for

condition analysis and management of home gateway. System can request static data such as DB information or dynamic data such as real-time graph.

TMM(Threshold Management Module) : Through threshold management module,

the manager can define fault items according to the entities of the network, and threshold can be set for each item. Setting threshold according to management policy provides pliability for appropriately handling each network conditions.

RMM(Report Management Module) : This is a function that provides the data

collected through polling to the manager by classifying the data into day-analysis, weekend-analysis, month-analysis, real-time-analysis. For an easier understanding of the analysis results of fault items of network for the manager, this automatically generates reports in the formats of a table or a graph.

RPM(Real-time Process Module) : Through the performance analysis of

equipment, managers can request real-time polling. Real-time process module undertakes this request. It collects the data of real-time graph or UP/DOWN condition, coefficient of utilization and fault rate of device to inform the present condition of network and sends it to the client.

KMM(Knowledge Management Module) : By using knowledge information DB, it

records the arrangement of manager when fault has occurred, and it performs knowledge search function when the same fault occurs. This module is to share information of fault arrangements between managers. It provides indirect experiences of various faults to managers and improves their abilities of dealing them.

RMM(Resource Management Module) : It provides past information of deletion,

revision and registration about resource which means network entities. Also it

provides the list of registered resource and detailed information as well as the report of each resource.

DCM(Data Collection Module) : It finds out the threshold of each device from DB

during periodic polling. It stores fault information that exceeds the threshold in DB. These will be used as the input value of report management module.

TPM(Trap Process Module) : Fault items are the ones that occur within the

network resource, and if a fault occurs, it brings such phenomena as failure of remote connection of network and decrease of the user's network speed. It is fatal when a fault occurs in the network. In such situations, it is necessary to search whether a fault occurred or not, and a quick report and immediate action have to be executed. For this fault management, the trap process module constantly detects the fault, and by showing the information about the occurred fault on the top corner of the monitor, the manager can manage the fault quickly.

MVM(Map Visualization Module) : Through this module, network entities

managed in the system are indicated by icons. And it displays coefficient of utilization/fault rate of each device. Also, UP/DOWN condition of the device is indicated by colors, making it easy to understand the present state of the network. 4.3 Message format and System State Transition Diagram

Client and sever system define the message format for an efficient communication.

Through this message, feedback of the clients' request, traffic volume and processing load of server system can be reduced [11]. Figure 5 shows the fields of message. To classify the type into main type and sub type reduced the number of system’s method. MSG Body field uses ObjectInputStream and ObjectOutputStream of the JAVA and contains actual data of client and server.

MSGType

SubType

MSG Body Status

Fig.5. The fields of message

Table 6. The types of event and its mean

Event’s type Mean Event’s type Mean Dis_Info Display information AM_Typ Analysis data Pkt_Rcv Receive packet KM_Typ Manage knowledge Usr_inp User input RM_Typ Manage resource Usr_Ntf Notify user TM_Typ Manage threshold Evt_Invk Invoke event RP_Typ Process real-time Sv_Cplt Complete saving TP_Typ Process TRAP

Conn_DB Connect database DC_Typ Collect data Trp_Gnt Trap generator St_Cfg Set configuration

Table 6 shows the types of event and its mean about the state transition in figure 6.

Figure 6 shows the state transition diagram of the system. It shows every event and its transition of condition during the system’s execution.

Listen

MSG Parser EVT Handler

EVT Process

AM

KMMTMMRMM

DCM

RPM

TPM

MVM

DB Saver

DB QueryUser Level Flow

System Level Flow

Pkt_Rcv Usr_inp Usr_Ntf

Sv_Cplt

Trp_Gnt

Conn_DB

Evt_Invk

Evt_Invk

RP_Typ

TP_Typ

DC_Typ

TM_TypRM_TypKM_Typ

AM_Typ

Dis_Info

RG_Typ

Sv_Cplt

St_Cfg

Fig.6. The state transition diagram of the system

5. Test and Consideration

The server of home gateway management system is geared with Apache 1.3.14 and

Tomcat 4.0 and equipped within the SunOS 5.8 environment. To implement a system that is independent to various platforms and reflects the advantage of object indication, we used java language, and for client interface, we used JSP and applet that is appropriate for a web-based system. The product specification of home gateway used in this paper is Embedded Linux system that uses CPU of 200MHz, 16MB flash memory and 128MB SDRAM. It supports protocol such as TCP/IP, PPP, NAT and DHCP, and provides LAN interface and one exterior network interface of ADSL, Ethernet and Cable Modem.

[Test Environment]

1. Home gateway was installed in Sungkyunkwan University network, and the address was allotted to 203.252.53.51.

2. For tests, the system server was installed in the UNIX server(Solaris 7). 3. For 2 months the management information of home gateway within the

server system was polled and monitored periodically every five minutes. Database is MYSQL.

RouterSKKU networkInternet

Home Gateway

Switch

Solaris7

PC

203.252.53.51

Server

Client Fig.7. Test network

Table 7 displays the scenario that is to be performed based on the organized test diagram. Inspection points are largely divided into three parts: system, performance and fault management.

Table 7. Test Scenario

Grouping Object

System management -Add/delete the home gateway equipment that is to be managed. -Inquire system information of specific home gateway equipment. -Inquire and set SNMP community and trap cycle of specific home gateway equipment.

Performance management

-Perform the real-time monitoring of the amount of input/output byte of each interface of home gateway, the amount of input/output packet, and coefficient of utilization of CPU of system and of memory, and analyze the efficiency of collected data

Fault management

-Upon the whole management home gateway, inquire fault list of each equipment that occurred during analyzing period -Receive the real-time trap and confirm if it detects fault

Next, by applying the system that is referred in this paper to the test environment,

the examples of performing home gateway management based on the test scenario is displayed. System management is the one of the basic and important functions in the management system. To perform the subscriber management, the first thing that the manager should understand is the present condition of the constitution of device that is to be managed. This can be done through add/adjust/delete of equipment, inquire of information of device and manager set up.

Fig.8. The basic constitutions of system

Figure 8 shows the conditions of groups that manage home gateway devices. It shows detailed information of large groups and items of devices that are managed in small groups, in the format of a table. The tree structure on the left panel shows the items of presently managed devices in a level format.

Fig.9. Real-time fault detection

Figure 9 is a management screen that visually shows coefficient of utilization of the

home gateway equipment, CPU, memory utilization, and UP/DOWN condition of Web server and DHCP server through icons. It is connected to the real-time server, confirming UP/DOWN condition of equipments periodically, and if there's the equipment that is downed, it shows the relevant icon of the equipment with a red icon.

Fig.10. The system information of equipment

Figure 10 is a pop-up menu, which comes out when the equipment is clicked, and it

gives detailed system information of the equipment. Basically, analysis of performance and fault is possible and utilization of interface, information of DHCP server, utilization of CPU and memory, and information of Host Resource-MIB can be acquired.

Fig.11. The real-time utilization graph of interface

Figure 11 shows interface information of equipment when the interface menu in

figure 10 is selected. By selecting a port where its condition is UP state among the results, the manager can see real-time utilization graph of the interface. When the port that is downed is selected, the real-time utilization graph is not displayed.

Fig.12. Performance cumulative analysis

Figure 12 is a performance cumulative analysis, which shows items such as the

amount of input/output byte, and the number of packets in the format of a graph or characters according to the equipment collection period. Through this, equipment that is near to threshold limit can be arranged before the fault occurs, thus performing secure network management. 6. Conclusion

As the technology of home networking develops, the supply of home gateway

device is expected to increase. Through home gateway management system, which is implemented in this paper, we provided the framework to effectively manage subscribers who use the device. By using JSP and Applet of JAVA, this system overcame the defects of existing centralized management system. It provides real-time management, which is effective to users and independent to platform.

To manage home gateway, the system collects MIB objects from the device

through SNMP polling. The collected information enables system to perform system analysis, performance analysis and fault analysis. Through this, the manager can understand condition and fault of home gateway in real-time. Therefore he can perform effective network management. To verify the utility of the system, actual device was set up within the Sungkyunkwan University network, and the execution screen of system, performance, and fault management was presented as a test result.

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