Design of computer networks
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method of configuring a computer network having a predetermined topology said method comprising(a) selecting a plurality of symbol objects, each symbol object being an object-based computer representation, having settable attributes, of a physical element in a computer network;
- (b) defining associations between the selected symbol objects to produce an initial network configuration;
(c) applying at least one rule from a predefined set of rules to the selected symbol objects in the initial network configuration, the rules in said set being arranged to alter the settable attributes of symbol objects dependent upon predefined rule conditions, thereby automatically selecting specific hardware for the physical elements and updating the network configuration; and
(d) repeating (c) using, at each repetition, the updated network configuration arising from the immediately preceding application of (c) in place of the initial network configuration until the updated network configuration becomes substantially stable from one repetition to the next.
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Abstract
A method of designing a computer network makes use of an object-based model enabling elements of the network to be displayed on screen, and manipulated by way of on-screen icons. A predefined rule list, acting directly on the objects, automatically updates the attributes of the objects to complete the network configuration. The rules are preferably Lisp-based, allowing users access to the standard Lisp functions in defining the rules.
52 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method of configuring a computer network having a predetermined topology said method comprising
(a) selecting a plurality of symbol objects, each symbol object being an object-based computer representation, having settable attributes, of a physical element in a computer network; -
(b) defining associations between the selected symbol objects to produce an initial network configuration;
(c) applying at least one rule from a predefined set of rules to the selected symbol objects in the initial network configuration, the rules in said set being arranged to alter the settable attributes of symbol objects dependent upon predefined rule conditions, thereby automatically selecting specific hardware for the physical elements and updating the network configuration; and
(d) repeating (c) using, at each repetition, the updated network configuration arising from the immediately preceding application of (c) in place of the initial network configuration until the updated network configuration becomes substantially stable from one repetition to the next. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
the symbol objects are represented by display icons, the selection of symbol objects and the defining of associations being effected by on-screen manipulation of the display icons; and
the display icon of a symbol object changes in dependence upon the settable attributes of that object.
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17. A method as in claim 3 in which the values of at least some of the settable attributes for a symbol object are displayed on screen in association with the corresponding icon.
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18. A method as in claim 1, in which the rules are Lisp-compatible, or compatible with a superset thereof.
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19. A method as in claim 1 in which:
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a specific piece of physical hardware, from a specific manufacturer, is represented by a specific symbol object having specific predefined values for the settable attributes; and
including a user-selectable conflict resolution method to prevent looping.
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20. A method as in claim 19 in which:
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a specific piece of physical hardware, from a specific manufacturer, is represented by a specific symbol object having specific predefined values for the settable attributes;
in (c) the initial configuration is first parsed by testing the rule condition portion of each rule in said set for each selected symbol object, and an agenda list of rules and corresponding objects is constructed for which the test was positive, and wherein said at least one rule being applied at (c) is selected from said agenda list of rules, and the conflict resolution method includes selecting rules from the agenda list in reverse order.
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21. A method as in claim 19 in which:
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a specific piece of physical hardware, from a specific manufacturer, is represented by a specific symbol object having specific predefined values for the settable attributes;
in c the initial configuration is first parsed by testing the rule condition portion of each rule in said set for each selected symbol object, and an agenda list of rules and corresponding objects in constructed for which the test was positive, and wherein said at least one rule being applied at (c) is selected from said agenda list of rules; and
the conflict resolution method includes selecting only the first rule in the agenda list, or the last rule, and discarding the rest.
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Specification