Automated deployment and management of network devices

• US 20020161863A1
• Filed: 04/30/2001
• Published: 10/31/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Valtrus Innovations Limited (f/k/a Dolya Holdco 9 Limited) (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: McGuire, Jacob
• Granted Patent: US 7,539,769 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0843 based on generic templates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0856 by backing up or archiving configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0886 Fully automatic configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227

Abstract

An automated provisioning and management system for network devices includes a library of commands that are generic to all devices of interest, and device-specific plug-ins for implementing those commands in each of the different devices. A user can select any one of the standard commands and have it applied to a particular device of interest in a manner which is capable of being handled by that device. An interface between the library and a source of configuration information, such as a database, enables the various tasks associated with the provisioning and management of network devices to be automatically carried out on multiple devices, thereby minimizing, or even eliminating, the need to manually configure each such device. Various tools are provided to facilitate the ability of support personnel to identify and monitor functions performed by various devices, as well as detect and correct errors in the operation of those devices.

Claims

1. A system for automatically configuring a plurality of different types of network devices, comprising

a library of generic commands that can be applied to said devices and converters for converting each of said generic commands into device-specific commands to be applied to individual network devices;

a database storing configuration parameters for said plurality of network devices; and

a configuration interface which receives said parameters from said database and issues generic commands to said library to cause individual ones of said devices to be configured in accordance with said parameters.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein said interface issues commands to said library to obtain configuration information from individual devices, and stores said information in said database.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein said configuration parameters are stored in said database as a model containing a list of values to which each configuration parameter in an individual one of said devices is to be set.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein said model also identifies the specific sequence in which the setting of the parameter values is to take place.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein said interface communicates with said database to obtain the identification of firewall devices associated with a network and generates a first display which lists said devices, and further includes means responsive to the selection of one of the devices in said list to generate a second display which lists conduits within said device, wherein each conduit is identified by means of descriptive names stored in said database for local and external devices and/or networks that are logically connected by the conduit.

6. The tool of claim 5, further including means responsive to the selection of one of the devices listed in said first display to generate a third display which lists internal networks owned by an entity associated with the selected device, and means to selectively open and close conduits respectively corresponding to said internal networks.

7. The tool of claim 6 wherein said third display further includes means for adding a new conduit to one of the internal networks.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein said interface includes:

means for commanding a console server to send a message to each console connected to said console server;

means for analyzing a response to said message provided by each console to determine the type of device which transmitted said response; and

means for displaying a list of device types corresponding to the consoles connected to said console server.

9. The system of claim 1 further including a memory storing a template which contains a sequence of commands for configuring each of a plurality of devices of a given type, wherein each command that refers to a particular device contains a variable as the identification of the device;

and wherein;

said database stores a record which indicates the respective network address of each specific device for which a given device is to be configured, and

said interface is responsive to a command to configure a given device for retrieving said template and the stored record associated with said given device, substituting the network addresses in the retrieved record for the variables in said template, and issuing commands to configure the given device in accordance with said retrieved record and said template.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein said network addresses comprise Internet Protocol (IP) addresses.

11. The system of claim 9 wherein a plurality of templates are stored in said memory, each corresponding to a different respective type of device.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein said templates are stored in said database.

13. The system of claim 3 wherein each parameter setting in said model is used to construct a separate command, and said commands are stored in a queue to be individually retrieved and forwarded to said library by said interface.

14. The system of claim 1 wherein said converters transmit each of said commands in accordance with a transmission protocol specific to the individual devices, respectively.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein one of said transmission protocols comprises Telnet.