DIAL-UP ACCESS RESPONSE TESTING METHOD AND SYSTEM THEREFOR

The present invention system automates the process of testing the integrity of the components residing at each node of a data network. After automatically dial connecting to a site of the network by selecting a telephone number from a retrieved list of telephone numbers each representing a site of the network, the instant invention sends a query directed to a particular component at the site. And depending on the response/non-response received, the instant invention can readily determine whether there is a problem with the being queried component. If there is a fault detected, this fault is reported either as a HTML file or a text file to either a web site or a data store, so that a technician can readily retrieve that information when needed. After all components at a site are tested, a report of the operational effectiveness of each of the components could be generated and provided either to the web site or dumped into the data store. Thereafter, the instant invention proceeds to retrieve a second telephone number from the list of telephone numbers and dial into the site to which that second telephone number relates. This process of automatically dial-in testing the components at a site is repeated until all telephone numbers, i.e. all sites, on the list have been contacted. The present invention system thereafter can repeat the process so that the integrity of the nodes of the data network can continuously be monitored.