Patent · US Expired

Verifying that a network management policy used by a computer system can be satisfied and is feasible for use

US6301613A · kind A · utility

123Cited by
10References
17Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 3, 1998
Grant dateOct 9, 2001
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 3, 2018

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L63/20
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A method and apparatus are provided for verifying policies that govern a policy-based system. The method and apparatus may be implemented as a policy verifier that acts upon one or more policies. Each policy comprises a condition and a consequent. The policy verifier acquires configuration information about the system under management, thereby acquiring an understanding of the system. The policy verifier determines whether all the policies can be satisfied by the system, and if not, reports problems or errors in the policies that cause the policies to be non-satisfiable. The policy verifier determines whether all the policies are feasible for the system, and if not, reports problems or errors that cause the policies to be non-feasible. The policy verifier also verifies that a configuration required by a particular policy consequent can be actually carried out by the managed system. In one embodiment, the policy verifier operates on network management policies, of a policy-based network management system. As a result, the invention improves the accuracy and safety of policies prepared for a network that previously did not use policy-based management.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.