System and unified setting interface for configuring network manageable devices

• US 8,849,973 B2
• Filed: 12/30/2009
• Issued: 09/30/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/20/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Gteko Ltd. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Leib, Evgeny, Glazer, Joshua, Liansky, Leonid
• Primary Examiner(s): LEE, BRYAN Y
• Application Number:
  US12/649,901
• Publication Number:
  US 20100106811A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,735 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0226 Mapping or translating multiple network management protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0253 using browsers or web-pages for accessing management information

Abstract

A unified setting interface that enables a management application to configure network manageable devices, regardless of their type or manufacturer. Configuration of a network manageable device requires that certain information be provided to the network manageable device. For different types of devices from different manufacturers, this information and its format can vary. A management application using the unified setting interface does not require the individual interfaces for configuring network manageable devices from different manufacturers.

Claims

1. A system enabling the configuration of at least one network manageable device, the system comprising:

a setting diagnostic agent that;

automatically detects a type of the at least one network manageable device based at least in part on an analysis of a response sent from the at least one network manageable device; and

retrieves a description of the at least one network manageable device from a location provided by the at least one network manageable device in the response, the retrieved description including one or more locations of configurable parameters for the at least one network manageable device;

a unified setting interface that interfaces with at least one management application to generate a device request based at least partly on the retrieved description, the unified setting interface automatically modified based at least in part on the detected type of the at least one network manageable device, wherein the unified setting interface allows the at least one management application to modify the configurable parameters of the at least one network manageable device, and for each of the configurable parameters, the unified setting interface provides a unique name regardless of the type of the at least one network manageable device; and

a request generator that generates a submission request to the at least one network manageable device based on a translated device request received from the unified setting interface; and

a database comprising a plurality of entries associated with the at least one network manageable device, wherein individual ones of the entries include at least a regular expression and an address of at least one of the configurable parameters.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the unified setting interface comprises a set of commands through which the at least one management application sets the configurable parameters.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the individual ones each of the entries further include at least one of a manageable device script, an authorization parameter, or an identification parameter.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the manageable device script is used for generating the submission request.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the submission request is in a format compliant with the at least one network manageable device.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the submission request is at least a Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP) request.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising a device interface that communicates with the at least one network manageable device using at least one of a Telnet connection, hypertext transfer protocol, simple network management protocol and universal plug and play protocol.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the unique name is associated with the original parameter name.

9. A system enabling the configuration of at least one network manageable device, the system comprising:

diagnostic means to identify a type of the at least one network manageable device based at least on a response sent from the at least one network manageable device, and to retrieve a description of the at least one network manageable device from a location provided by the at least one network manageable device in the response, the retrieved description including one or more locations of configurable parameters for the at least one network manageable device;

interface means for interfacing with at least one management application to generate a device request based at least partly on the retrieved description, the interface means automatically modified based on the identified type of the at least one network manageable device, wherein the interface means allows the at least one management application to modify the configurable parameters of the at least one network manageable device, and for each of the configurable parameters the interface means generates a unique name regardless of the type of the at least one network manageable device;

request means for generating a submission request to the at least one network manageable device based on a translated device request received from the interface means; and

a database comprising a plurality of entries associated with the at least one network manageable device, wherein individual ones of the entries include at least a regular expression and an address of at least one of the configurable parameters.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the interface means comprises a set of commands through which the at least one management application sets the configurable parameters.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the individual ones of the entries further include at least one of a manageable device script, an authorization parameter, or an identification parameter.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the manageable device script is used for generating the submission request.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the submission request is in a format compliant with the at least one network manageable device.

14. The system of claim 9, further comprising a communication means that communicate with the at least one network manageable device using at least one of a Telnet connection, hypertext transfer protocol, simple network management protocol and universal plug and play protocol.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the unique name is associated with the original parameter name.

16. A computer-implemented method comprising:

automatically detecting a type of at least one network manageable device based at least in part on analyzing a response sent from the at least one network manageable device;

retrieving a description of the at least one network manageable device from a location provided by the at least one network manageable device in the response, the retrieved description including at least one location of configurable parameters for the at least one network manageable device;

generating a device request based at least partly on the retrieved description;

modifying the configurable parameters of the at least one network manageable device by providing a unique name for each of the configurable parameters regardless of the type of the at least one network manageable device;

generating a submission request to the at least one network manageable device based on a translation of the device request; and

storing, in a database, a plurality of entries associated with the at least one network manageable device, wherein individual ones of the entries include at least a regular expression and an address of at least one of the configurable parameters.