Mib database and generic popup window architecture

Abstract

An apparatus for acquiring a plurality of values from an agent on a network is provided. The apparatus may be accessed through a predefined interface by various network management station applications. Because the apparatus is independent from the network management applications, the functionality provided by the apparatus need not be duplicated in each network management station application. The apparatus generally includes an agent identification unit, a display mechanism, a database access unit, a storage device and an information retrieval unit. The storage device stores a database containing data representing agents, management information bases, objects and attribute groups. When a network management station application requires values from an agent, the network management station application sends the apparatus a signal identifying the agent and specifying an information category, such as performance, status, or diagnostic. The agent identification unit identifies the type of the agent. The database access unit accesses the database to determine a plurality of objects which correspond to the specified information category according to the type of the agent. The information retrieval unit sends an information request to the agent based on the plurality of objects determined by the database access unit, and receives a response containing the plurality of values from the agent. The plurality of values are sent to the display unit, which displays the values visually in a pop-up window.