Configuration management device, configuration interface device and method for vendor-independent network device configuration
First Claim
1. A configuration management device for vendor-independent network device configuration, the device comprising:
- a network interface for communicating with network devices over a communications network, the network interface including a unified device network interface and one or more device-specific drivers; and
a data storage arranged to store at least one pre-existing device profile containing a name and vendor-independent configuration parameters of a corresponding network device type, wherein the network device type is defined to provide a pre-defined functionality within the communications network;
wherein the unified device network interface is configured to;
retrieve the at least one device profile from the data storage;
identify at least one network device which belongs to the network device type corresponding to the at least one device profile;
retrieve information on a device-specific configuration protocol to be used during configuration of the at least one network device; and
download values for vendor-independent configuration parameters to the at least one network device via a corresponding device-specific driver of the one or more device-specific drivers, the device-specific driver being arranged to apply the device-specific configuration protocol; and
wherein the at least one pre-existing device profile is adapted to automatically configure the communications network before the device-specific driver communicates over the communications network with the at least one network device.
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Abstract
A configuration management device for vendor-independent network device configuration includes a network interface unit for communicating with network devices over a communications network and a data storage unit. The network interface unit can include a unified device network interface and a device-specific driver unit, where the unified device network interface can: retrieve a device profile; to identify a network device which belongs to a network device type corresponding to the device profile; retrieve information on a device-specific configuration protocol to be used during configuration of the network device; and download values for the vendor-independent configuration parameters to the network device.
9 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A configuration management device for vendor-independent network device configuration, the device comprising:
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a network interface for communicating with network devices over a communications network, the network interface including a unified device network interface and one or more device-specific drivers; and a data storage arranged to store at least one pre-existing device profile containing a name and vendor-independent configuration parameters of a corresponding network device type, wherein the network device type is defined to provide a pre-defined functionality within the communications network; wherein the unified device network interface is configured to; retrieve the at least one device profile from the data storage; identify at least one network device which belongs to the network device type corresponding to the at least one device profile; retrieve information on a device-specific configuration protocol to be used during configuration of the at least one network device; and download values for vendor-independent configuration parameters to the at least one network device via a corresponding device-specific driver of the one or more device-specific drivers, the device-specific driver being arranged to apply the device-specific configuration protocol; and wherein the at least one pre-existing device profile is adapted to automatically configure the communications network before the device-specific driver communicates over the communications network with the at least one network device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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13. A configuration interface device, comprising:
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a unified device network interface for communicating over a communications network with a configuration management device which is configured to store data for vendor-independent network device configuration and to automatically configure the communications network; and a device-specific driver for communicating over the communications network with a network device, wherein; the unified device network interface is configured to receive from the configuration management device a name of at least one pre-existing device profile applicable to the network device, the at least one pre-existing device profile containing vendor-independent configuration parameters of a corresponding network device type, and the network device type being defined to provide a pre-defined functionality within the communications network; the unified device network interface is configured to receive from the configuration management device values for the vendor-independent configuration parameters belonging to the at least one device profile and to provide them to the device-specific driver; and the device-specific driver is configured to retrieve the values for the vendor-independent configuration parameters, and to download them to the network device using a device-specific configuration protocol; wherein the at least one pre-existing device profile is adapted to perform the automatic configuration of the communications network before the device-specific driver communicates over the communications network with the network device. - View Dependent Claims (14, 16)
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Specification