System and method for transforming configuration commands

• US 20030220986A1
• Filed: 05/15/2002
• Published: 11/27/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation, ServiceNow Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Intelliden, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Thakor, Sanjiv
• Granted Patent: US 6,959,329 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/082 the condition being updates or upgrades of network functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0843 based on generic templates

Abstract

A system and method for generating network device-specific configuration commands from device-neutral configuration commands is described. To generate a device-specific configuration command from a device-neutral configuration command, the described device, in one embodiment, determines a target network device'"'"'s characteristics. Using that characteristic data, a lookup key is generated for the code that is being converted from a device-neutral format to a device-specific format. That lookup key can be used to access a configuration schema and to locate the information necessary for converting the command to a device-specific format. Using the configuration schema, the device-specific configuration command can be generated.

Claims

1. A method for configuring a network device associated with a device-neutral configuration code, the method comprising:

determining a characteristic for the network device;

generating a lookup key corresponding to the device-neutral configuration code;

identifying configuration schema material corresponding to the lookup key;

locating a device-specific command boundary in the device-neutral configuration code using the identified configuration schema material, the device-specific command boundary indicating the boundary between a first portion of the device-neutral configuration code and a second portion of the device-neutral configuration code, wherein the first portion corresponds to a first device-specific command and the second portion corresponds to a second device-specific command;

assembling the first device-specific command from the first portion of the device-neutral configuration code;

assembling the second device-specific command from the second portion of the device-neutral configuration code; and

providing the assembled device-specific command for delivery to the network device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the characteristic for the network device comprises:

determining one of a device type, a device manufacturer, a device model, and an operating system version.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying configuration schema material comprises:

indexing a schema hash table with the lookup key, the schema hash table corresponding to the determined characteristic for the network device.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

retrieving a schema object corresponding to the lookup key.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the schema object comprises:

hierarchical data about the device-neutral configuration code.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified configuration schema material comprises:

an identifier for a sibling command to at least a portion of the device-neutral configuration code, wherein the sibling command is a command type available to the network device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified configuration schema material comprises:

an identifier for a parent command.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified configuration schema material comprises:

an identifier for a root command.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein locating device-specific command boundaries comprises:

performing a forward lookup in the identified configuration schema material.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

marking the first portion of the device-neutral configuration code as completed responsive to assembling the first device-specific command and prior to assembling the second device-specific command;

wherein the marked portion corresponds to the first portion of the device-neutral code.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein assembling the first device-specific command comprises:

applying a device-specific rule to the device-neutral configuration code prior to assembling the first device-specific command.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the device-neutral configuration code is an original device-neutral configuration code, the method comprising:

generating a marked-up device-neutral configuration code from the original device-neutral configuration code; and

identifying the difference between the original device-neutral configuration code and the marked-up device-neutral configuration code;

wherein the assembled first device-specific command corresponds to at least a portion of the identified difference.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the marked-up device-neutral configuration code comprises:

a Delta XML document.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a change made to the device-neutral configuration code;

wherein the assembled first device-specific command corresponds to the identified change.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

arranging the first device-specific command and the second device-specific command as expected by the network device.

16. A method for configuring a network device associated with a device-neutral configuration code, the method comprising:

determining a characteristic for the network device;

identifying configuration schema material corresponding to the determined characteristic;

assembling at least a first device-specific command corresponding to the device-neutral configuration code and corresponding to the identified configuration schema material; and

providing the assembled device-specific command for delivery to the network device.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

locating a device-specific command boundary in the device-neutral configuration code using the identified configuration schema material;

wherein assembling the at least a first device-specific command uses the located device-specific command boundary.

18. A method for configuring a network device associated with a device-neutral configuration code, the method comprising:

identifying configuration schema material corresponding to the network device;

locating a device-specific command boundary in the device-neutral configuration code using the identified configuration schema material, the device-specific command boundary indicating the boundary between a first portion of the device-neutral configuration code and a second portion of the device-neutral configuration code, wherein the first portion corresponds to a first device-specific command and the second portion corresponds to a second device-specific command;

assembling the first device-specific command from the first portion of the device-neutral configuration code;

assembling the second device-specific command from the second portion of the device-neutral configuration code; and

providing the assembled device-specific command for delivery to the network device.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the device-neutral configuration code is an original device-neutral configuration code, the method comprising:

generating a marked-up device-neutral configuration code from the original device-neutral configuration code; and

identifying the difference between the original device-neutral configuration code and the marked-up device-neutral configuration code;

wherein the assembled first device-specific command corresponds to at least a portion of the identified difference.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

identifying a change made to the device-neutral configuration code;

wherein the assembled first device-specific command corresponds to the identified change.

21. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

arranging the first device-specific command and the second device-specific command as expected by the network device.

22. A system for configuring a network device, the system comprising:

a network device identifier;

a configuration schema analyzer connected to the network device identifier;

a configuration schema manager connected to the configuration schema analyzer; and

a command assembler connected to the configuration schema manager.

23. The system of claim 22, further comprising:

a lookup key generator.

24. A system for managing the configuration of a network device, the system comprising:

a communication module for exchanging information with the network device;

a device-specific configuration generator connected to the communication module;

a configuration schema storage device;

a device-neutral configuration generator connected to the communication module and to the configuration schema storage device; and

a device-neutral configuration storage device connected to the device-neutral configuration generator.

25. A system for configuring a network device associated with a device-neutral configuration code, the system comprising:

at least a first processor;

at least a first memory device connected to the processor; and

a plurality of instruction stored on the at least a first memory device, the plurality of instructions configured to cause the at least a first processor to;

determine a characteristic for the network device;

identify configuration schema material corresponding to the determined characteristic;

assemble at least a first device-specific command corresponding to the device-neutral configuration code and corresponding to the identified configuration schema material; and

provide the assembled device-specific command for delivery to the network device.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the plurality of instructions are further configured to cause the at least a first processor to:

locate a device-specific command boundary in the device-neutral configuration code using the identified configuration schema material;

wherein assembling the at least a first device-specific command uses the located device-specific command boundary.

27. The system of claim 25, further comprising:

a device-neutral configuration storage device.

28. The system of claim 27, further comprising:

a schema corresponding to the network device, the schema being storable on the device-neutral configuration storage device.

29. The system of claim 25, further comprising:

a device-neutral configuration generator.

30. The system of claim 25, further comprising:

a graphical user interface for modifying the device-neutral configuration code.

31. A system for configuring a network device associated with a device-neutral configuration code, the system comprising:

at least a first processor;

at least a first memory device connected to the processor; and

a plurality of instructions stored on the at least a first memory device, the plurality of instructions configured to cause the at least a first processor to;

identify configuration schema material corresponding to the network device;

locate a device-specific command boundary in the device-neutral configuration code using the identified configuration schema material, the device-specific command boundary indicating the boundary between a first portion of the device-neutral configuration code and a second portion of the device-neutral configuration code, wherein the first portion corresponds to a first device-specific command and the second portion corresponds to a second device-specific command;

assemble the first device-specific command from the first portion of the device-neutral configuration code;

assemble the second device-specific command from the second portion of the device-neutral configuration code; and

provide the assembled device-specific command for delivery to the network device.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the device-neutral configuration code is an original device-neutral configuration code and wherein the plurality of instructions are configured to cause the at least a first processor to:

generate a marked-up device-neutral configuration code from the original device-neutral configuration code; and

identify the difference between the original device-neutral configuration code and the marked-up device-neutral configuration code;

wherein the assembled first device-specific command corresponds to at least a portion of the identified difference.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the plurality of instructions are further configured to cause the at least a first processor to:

identify a change made to the device-neutral configuration code;

wherein the assembled first device-specific command corresponds to the identified change.

34. The system of claim 31, wherein the plurality of instructions are further configured to cause the at least a first processor to:

arrange the first device-specific command and the second device-specific command in an order expected by the network device.

35. A system for configuring a network device associated with a device-neutral configuration code, the system comprising:

means for identifying configuration schema material corresponding to the network device;

means for locating a device-specific command boundary in the device-neutral configuration code using the identified configuration schema material, the device-specific command boundary indicating the boundary between a first portion of the device-neutral configuration code and a second portion of the device-neutral configuration code, wherein the first portion corresponds to a first device-specific command and the second portion corresponds to a second device-specific command;

means for assembling the first device-specific command from the first portion of the device-neutral configuration code;

means for assembling the second device-specific command from the second portion of the device-neutral configuration code; and

means for providing the assembled device-specific command for delivery to the network device.

36. The system of claim 35, wherein the device-neutral configuration code is an original device-neutral configuration code, the system further comprising:

means for generating a marked-up device-neutral configuration code from the original device-neutral configuration code; and

means for identifying the difference between the original device-neutral configuration code and the marked-up device-neutral configuration code;

wherein the assembled first device-specific command corresponds to at least a portion of the identified difference.