A network management system allows a network administrator to intuitively manage all components of a heterogeneous networked computer system using views of any component or any set of components. These views are generated in a multi-dimensional, virtual reality environment. Navigation tools are provided that allow an operator to travel through the network hierarchy's representation in the virtual environment using an automatic flight mode. Automatic flight mode determines a reasonable trajectory to a network component that avoids collisions with intervening objects in the virtual environment. Since the system is capable of managing a world-wide network, views of network components may be organized by continent, wide area network, city, building, subnet, segment, and computer. A view may also display internal hardware, firmware, and software of any network component. Views of network components may be filtered so only components pertaining to a specific business or other interest are displayed.

Network management system using virtual reality techniques to display and simulate navigation to network components

The present invention provides a highly scalable architecture for a three-dimensional graphical, multi-user, interactive virtual world system. In a preferred embodiment a plurality of users interact in the three-dimensional, computer-generated graphical space where each user executes a client process to view a virtual world from the perspective of that user. The virtual world shows avatars representing the other users who are neighbors of the user viewing the virtual word. In order that the view can be updated to reflect the motion of the remote user's avatars, motion information is transmitted to a central server process which provides positions updates to client processes for neighbors of the user at that client process. The client process also uses an environment database to determine which background objects to render as well as to limit the movement of the user's avatar.

http://www.worlds.com/text/PatentNo3_7493558.pdf

System and method for enabling users to interact in a virtual space

A method and apparatus are generally disclosed for maintaining data integrity across distributed computer systems. In one embodiment, the method of the invention includes the step of transmitting an object from a server application to a client application. The method also includes the step of transmitting an object state from the server application to the client application. The method further includes the steps of synchronizing the object and object state between the server application and the client application, and updating the object by invoking a server application method after the step of synchronizing. An apparatus and article of manufacture for carrying out the steps of the method are also disclosed.

Method and apparatus for maintaining data integrity across distributed computer systems

Network and service management encompasses a set of activities, methods, procedures, and tools, whose ultimate goal is to guarantee the proper functioning of a networked system. Computational tools are essential to help network administrators in their daily tasks, and information visualization techniques are of great value in such context. In essence, information visualization techniques associated to visual analytics aim at facilitating the tasks of network administrators in the process of monitoring and maintaining the network health. This paper surveys the use of information visualization techniques as a tool to support the network and service management process. Through a systematic literature review (SLR), we provide a historical overview and discuss the current state of the art in the field. We present a classification of 285 articles and papers from 1985 to 2013, according to an information visualization taxonomy, as well as a network and service management taxonomy. Finally, we point out future research directions and opportunities regarding the use of information visualization in network and service management.

A Survey on Information Visualization for Network and Service Management

A method for reporting alert conditions is disclosed which includes defining alert filter criteria, identifying an alert condition, analyzing one or more properties of the alert condition based on the alert filter criteria, and determining whether to report the alert condition. Systems and computer-readable storage media for reporting an alert condition are also disclosed.

Method and apparatus for filtering messages based on context

As network services become more sophisticated to handle multimedia exchange, demands for real-time network control are increasing. With 2D workstations, managers can observe network activities only at a distance. Direct observation requires a 3D interface combined with a structured control architecture. >

Managing networks through a virtual world

Existing network management systems typically use a combination of textual displays and 2-D directed graph representations of network topology. A network management system is being designed that uses a virtual world presented through a 3-D stereo display and manipulated with a 3-D mouse. The goal is to allow the user to better understand and control the structure and behavior of a large, complex network. In the current prototype, the user interacts with a 3-D representation of a network whose topology and behavior are specified by a separate network emulator. The user can choose from among a set of different views of the network. For example, one view shows a selected virtual path as a series of logical links contained within a physical path. The system will serve as a testbed for the knowledge-based design of network visualizations. >

/pdf/a-virtual-world-for-network-management-1d3l3ohaju.pdf

A.A. Lazar

Papers

Managing networks through a virtual world

A virtual world for network management