System and method for collecting, aggregating, and coalescing network discovery data
First Claim
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1. A method comprising:
- receiving discovery data collected from a network device by two or more discovery agents;
aggregating said discovery data;
coalescing the discovery data in a discovery document, said discovery data including two or more duplicate data entries; and
removing all but one of the duplicate data entries from the discovery document.
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Abstract
In an embodiment, a network management system is capable of performing a coordinated discovery operation on devices in a network using a number of discovery and aggregator agents. Data collected and generated by the agents may be coalesced into a database file. New agents may be added to the system as plug-ins by registering an XML file with a network manager.
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Citations
30 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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receiving discovery data collected from a network device by two or more discovery agents;
aggregating said discovery data;
coalescing the discovery data in a discovery document, said discovery data including two or more duplicate data entries; and
removing all but one of the duplicate data entries from the discovery document. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30)
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12. A method comprising:
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registering a first plurality of agents;
performing a first discovery operation including collecting and aggregating data from a first plurality of network devices with said first plurality of agents, and coalescing said data in a discovery document;
registering an additional agent; and
performing a second discovery operation with a second plurality of agents including said first plurality of agents and said additional agent.
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16. An article, including instructions residing on a machine-readable medium, the instructions causing a machine to:
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receive discovery data collected from a network device by two or more discovery agents;
aggregate said discovery data;
coalesce the discovery data in a discovery document, said discovery data including two or more duplicate data entries; and
remove all but one of the duplicate data entries from the discovery document.
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27. An article, including instructions residing on a machine-readable medium, the instructions causing a machine to:
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register a first plurality of agents;
perform a first discovery operation including collect and aggregating data from a first plurality of network devices with said first plurality of agents, and coalesce said data in a discovery document;
register an additional agent; and
perform a second discovery operation with a second plurality of agents including said first plurality of agents and said additional agent.
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Specification