Network management
First Claim
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1. A method comprising:
- discovering agents operative on devices in a network by broadcasting, to the network devices, discovery messages that have a common format and contain data and receiving, from the agents, reply messages that have the common format and contain data; and
the common format being configured to permit the inclusion of new types of data within the messages without changing the common format.
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Abstract
A method for discovering agents operative on devices configured in a network by broadcasting discovery messages having a common format and containing data to the network devices and receiving reply messages having the same common format and containing data from the agents, and permitting new types of data within the messages without changing the common format.
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Citations
35 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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discovering agents operative on devices in a network by broadcasting, to the network devices, discovery messages that have a common format and contain data and receiving, from the agents, reply messages that have the common format and contain data; and
the common format being configured to permit the inclusion of new types of data within the messages without changing the common format. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 27, 28, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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16. A method comprising:
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organizing data within a message configured to be read by remote agents in a network of devices, the data being organized without regard to data formats and data alignment standards of the devices or operating systems of the devices;
broadcasting the message on the network;
receiving messages from the remote agents; and
organizing data within the messages in accordance with a specific the data format and data alignment standard of a specific device and operating system.
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23. A method comprising:
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discovering remote agents operative on devices in a network by broadcasting discovery messages to the network devices and receiving reply messages from the remote agents; and
at a device, randomly selecting an amount of time and delaying sending the reply message by the amount of time.
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26. A method comprising:
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discovering remote agents operative on remote network devices by broadcasting discovery messages from a local network device to the remote network devices and receiving reply messages from the agents;
at a remote network device, upon receipt of a discovery message, forwarding the message to an application on the remote network device; and
in response to the forwarded discovery message, sending a reply message configured to contain information about the application from the application to the local network device.
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29. Apparatus comprising:
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a listening function of an agent discovery service to listen for discovery requests at a device configured in a network of devices;
a collection function of an agent discovery service for collecting information about the device to be included in responses to discovery requests; and
a registration function of an agent discovery service for identifying applications operative on the device that want to be discovered;
wherein the functions of the agent discovery service are selectively hosted by an application operative on the device.
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35. An article comprising:
a machine-readable medium which stores machine-executable instructions, the instructions causing a machine to;
discovering agents operative on devices in a network by broadcasting, to the network devices, discovery messages that have a common format and contain data and receiving, from the agents, reply messages that have the common format and contain data; and
the common format being configured to permit the inclusion of new types of data within the messages without changing the common format.
Specification