International Business Machines Corporation

Cisco Technology, Inc.

Intelliden, Inc.

John Strassner

Shai Mohaban

Itzhak Parnafes

Yoram Snir

Yoram Ramberg

Illustrative embodiments of the invention provide for obtaining information from different devices in a computer network. Data representing the information from each of the different devices is received, the data is in a specific form relating to each of the different devices. The data from each of the different devices is assigned to one or more entities as defined by an information model. The data from each of the different devices is grouped using an adaptation layer before assigning the data from that device to one or more entities.

Obtaining information from different devices in a computer network

Illustrative embodiments of the invention provide for managing a computer network. One illustrative embodiment forms a first representation of a network element as a physical entity in an information model, the first representation having a form independent of an implementation defined by a vendor; and maps a portion of the first representation from the information model to a second representation in a vendor-independent data model residing in a first repository, the second representation having a form suitable for use with the first repository.

Managing a computer network

The present invention provides a system and method for configuring and managing networked communication systems. For example, an exemplary system and/or method according to one embodiment uses an information model to map between normalized representations of different network resources having different features. Moreover, the information model can represent different devices, different programming models, and/or different functionalities in a common representation, which is then used to configure and manage different network elements (e.g., different devices).

System and method for mapping between and controlling different device abstractions

A system and method for managing network device configurations is described. In one embodiment a device configuration is represented by configuration knowledge and configuration data, wherein the configuration knowledge may comprise one or more configuration knowledge instances, and the configuration data may comprise one or more configuration data instances. In preferred forms, the configuration knowledge instances and configuration data instances may comprise one or more schemata, which may be created, modified, or deleted without affecting other portions of a configuration knowledge instance or configuration data instance.

Repository-independent system and method for asset management and reconciliation

A method and apparatus for storing policies for use in policy-based management of quality of service treatments of network data traffic flows are described. The policies are stored in the form of policy statements. Each policy statement applies to a specific application that runs in the network. Policy statements are stored in a Repository, which may be a Directory Server or an X.500 directory. A policy server may create and store policies in the Repository based on information about the application, the network devices, and the quality of service treatments that the network devices can apply to a traffic flow. An application program and the policy server network device can retrieve the policy information from the Repository using appropriate function calls or an access protocol such as LDAP.

Method and apparatus for storing policies for policy-based management of network quality of service

A method and apparatus for storing policies for use in policy-based management of quality of service treatments of network data traffic flows are described. The policies are stored in the form of policy statements. Each policy statement applies to a specific application that runs in the network. Each policy statement includes a condition and a network service to be applied to all traffic matching the condition. Each condition comprises one or more basic condition components connected by operators. Each basic condition comprises a basic policy parameter identifier, an operator and an operand. Policy statements are stored in a Repository, which may be a Directory Server or an X.500 directory. A policy server may create and store policies in the Repository based on information about the application, the network devices, and the quality of service treatments that the network devices can apply to a traffic flow. An application program and the policy server network device can retrieve the policy information from the Repository using appropriate function calls or an access protocol such as LDAP. In an alternative embodiment, a complete quality of service directory schema for representing abstract policies is disclosed.

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John Strassner