Cisco Technology, Inc.

Patrick R Gili

Timothy James Swanson

Leon Zachery

Enid A Jimenez

Jaime Antonio Colom

Agrahara Sreenivasa Kiran Koushik

A method of providing network management information about a multiple-layer network communications interface sub-stack to a network management client includes establishing a standardized network management representation by use of an interface manager and a real driver and a pseudo driver, receiving a request from the network management client for network management information about an expected sub-layer interface, and in response to the request obtaining, by the pseudo driver, data maintained by the real driver corresponding to the requested network management information, and returning the data obtained by the pseudo driver to the network management client in satisfaction of the request.

Method and apparatus for automatically managing sub-layer interfaces

A method of generating a standardized network-management representation of a multiple-layer network communications interface sub-stack having a non-standardized network-management representation includes determining, based on a signature indicating a layered structure of the network communications interface sub-stack, whether an expected type of sub-layer interface of the network communications interface sub-stack exists. If the expected type of sub-layer interface is determined not to exist, then a sub-layer interface of the expected type is created and a network management information base is populated with a sub-layer interface entry including () respective instance and type identifiers of the sub-layer interface and () one or more operational attributes of the sub-layer interface, the value of each operational attribute identically mirroring the value of a corresponding operational attribute of the interface sub-stack as reflected in the non-standardized network-management representation. The method can be performed for multiple sub-layer interfaces by a reentrant procedure of a dedicated interface manager in conjunction with pseudo drivers responsible for the sub-layer interfaces.

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Bolton, MA, United States of America

Patrick R Gili