Systems and methods for trap monitoring in multi-core and cluster systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9294381-B2
Application number	US-201313861702-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 12, 2013
Priority date	Apr 13, 2012
Publication date	Mar 22, 2016
Grant date	Mar 22, 2016

Abstract

In a multi-core device or clustered system, instead of snmpd polling for configured monitoring values of an entity to determine if reached a threshold, each core in a multi-core system or node in a clustered system triggers information to the snmpd about entities that may be or are generating SNMP traps. A configured threshold T is distributed among the cores or nodes, as the case may be, based on the number of cores or nodes. If there are ‘n’ cores in a multi-core device, and the configured threshold is ‘T’, then each core checks for a per-core threshold value ‘T/n’. If there are ‘n’ nodes in a clustered system, and the configured threshold is ‘T’, then each node checks for a per-node threshold value ‘T/n’. According to the pigeonhole principle, if an entity has reached or exceeded the threshold ‘T’, then the entity must have reached or exceeded a value of ‘T/n’ on at least one core or node. Upon the entity crossing a ‘T/n’ value on any core or node, the core or node informs snmpd about this entity. Snmpd then gathers information about this entity from all the cores and checks for the threshold ‘T’.

First claim

What is claimed:

1. A method for distributing Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) trap monitoring in a multi-core device, the method comprising:
(a) establishing, by a first core of a plurality of cores of a device comprising the plurality of cores, a threshold for a value of an entity to be monitored by the plurality of cores of the device via a Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP);
(b) monitoring, by each core of the plurality of cores, the value of the entity in comparison to a portion of the threshold, each core assigned a corresponding portion of the threshold;
(c) determining, by a second core of the plurality of the cores, that the value of the entity as monitored by that core has reached the second core's corresponding portion of the threshold; and
(d) communicating, by the second core to the first core, an indicator of an SNMP trap condition responsive to the determination.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising obtaining, by the first core responsive to receipt of the trap condition, the value of the entity from each of the other cores of the device.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising determining, by the first core, whether the value of the entity has reached the threshold based on an aggregation of the monitored values of the entity obtained from each of the cores.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising determining that the value of the entity has reached the threshold to confirm the SNMP trap condition.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein step (a) further comprises establishing, by the first core of the device intermediary to a plurality of clients and a plurality of servers, the threshold for the value of the entity representing a metric of one or more of the plurality of servers.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein step (b) further comprises assigning to each core the portion of the threshold comprising a value of the threshold divided by a number of cores of the device.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein step (c) further comprises determining, by the second core, that the value of the entity monitored by the second core has reached the portion of the threshold comprising a value of the threshold divided by a number of cores of the device.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein step (c) further comprises monitoring, by an SNMP agent executing on each core, the value of the entity via polling an SNMP database on a predetermined frequency.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein step (d) further comprises communicating, by the second core to the first core, the indicator of the SNMP trap condition indicating a potential SNMP trap condition.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein step (d) further comprises communicating, by a master SNMP agent executing on the first core, with each SNMP agent on other cores of the device to obtain the monitored value of the entity as monitored by each respective core.

11. A method for distributing Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) trap monitoring in a cluster of devices, the method comprising:
(a) establishing, by a first device of a cluster comprising a plurality of devices, a threshold for a value of an entity to be monitored by the cluster via a Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP);
(b) monitoring, by each device of the plurality of devices, the value of the entity in comparison to a portion of the threshold, each device assigned a corresponding portion of the threshold;
(c) determining, by a device of the plurality of the devices, that the value of the entity as monitored by that device has reached the device's corresponding portion of the threshold; and
(d) communicating, by the device to the first device, an indicator of an SNMP trap condition responsive to the determination.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising obtaining, by the first device responsive to receipt of the trap condition, the value of the entity from each of the other devices in the cluster.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising determining, by the first device, whether the value of the entity has reached the threshold based on an aggregation of the monitored values of the entity obtained from each of the devices in the cluster.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising determining that the value of the entity has reached the threshold to confirm the SNMP trap condition.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein step (a) further comprises establishing, by the first device of the cluster intermediary to a plurality of clients and a plurality of servers, the threshold for the value of the entity representing a metric of one or more of the plurality of servers.

16. The method of claim 11 , wherein step (b) further comprises assigning to each device the portion of the threshold comprising a value of the threshold divided by a number of devices in the cluster.

17. The method of claim 11 , wherein step (c) further comprises determining, by the device, that the value of the entity monitored by the device has reached the portion of the threshold comprising a value of the threshold divided by a number of devices in the cluster.

18. The method of claim 11 , wherein step (c) further comprises monitoring, by an SNMP agent executing on each device, the value of the entity via polling an SNMP database on a predetermined frequency.

19. The method of claim 11 , wherein step (d) further comprises communicating, by the device to the first device, the indicator of the SNMP trap condition indicating a potential SNMP trap condition.

20. The method of claim 11 , wherein step (d) further comprises communicating, by a master SNMP agent executing on the first device, with each SNMP agent on other devices of the cluster to obtain the monitored value of the entity as monitored by each respective device.

Assignees

• Citrix Systems Inc

Inventors

• Gedam Dhiraj
• Holla Raveendra
• Mithyantha Sharvari

Classifications

• H04L43/10

  Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route · CPC title

• H04L41/0213

  Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP] · CPC title

• H04L43/16 Primary

  Threshold monitoring · CPC title

• H04L41/0681

  Configuration of triggering conditions · CPC title

• H04L41/0609

  based on severity or priority · CPC title