Patent · US Active

Vendor-independent network configuration tool

US7870238B2 · kind B2 · utility

37Cited by
2References
18Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateFeb 4, 2009
Grant dateJan 11, 2011
Priority date
Expiry dateJul 17, 2029

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L41/0856
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Techniques are described for managing and configuring network devices from a plurality of vendors with a single network configuration tool. This vendor-independent network configuration tool may extract configuration information stored to devices from disparate vendors, and parse tags from extracted configuration information. Each tag defines a configuration property. The tool may further analyze the tags to determine relationships and present configuration information based primarily on the determined relationship and only secondarily on the devices. The tool may also perform analysis on the tags to detect one or more errors or configuration inconsistencies, as well as, update or change tags, which causes the tool to push any changes to the appropriate device. Furthermore, the tool by automatically share information related to the above described steps with other vendor-independent network configuration tools to more quickly propagate efficient extraction and updating techniques.

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