CREATING CROSS-TECHNOLOGY CONFIGURATION SETTINGS

• US 20100131619A1
• Filed: 11/21/2008
• Published: 05/27/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/21/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Mandhana, Taroon, Teh, PehKeong, Brewis, Deon C.
• Granted Patent: US 8,751,612 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 41/0846 based on copy from other elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0863 by rolling back to previous configuration versions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0894 Policy-based network configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/18 Multiprotocol handlers, e.g. single devices capable of handling multiple protocols

Abstract

A network and connection provisioning framework for configuring and provisioning multiple aspects of network connectivity (e.g., multiple networks, media types, and/or connections). The framework may comprise a unified configuration interface that enables an administrator to configure multiple different types of network connectivity. A single configuration file comprising settings for multiple aspects of network connectivity may be generated based on preferences entered by a system administrator, or by exporting current settings from a particular computing device. Global configuration policies or other configuration settings that span multiple types of network connectivity may be also created and stored in one or more configuration files. Stand-alone media managers and/or plug-in modules may implement one or more standardized application programming interface functions so that they may interoperate with the network and connection provisioning framework. The standardized API may be used to ensure that configuration information is handled and stored in a standardized manner by different media managers and/or plug-in modules.

Claims

1. A method for use in a computer system comprising at least one computer, the at least one computer comprising a plurality of media managers that collectively enable the at least one computer to communicate using a plurality of network connection technologies, wherein each of the plurality of media managers enables the at least one computer to communicate using a respective one of the network connection technologies, the method comprising an act of:

(A) providing at least one management interface that enables an administrator to establish at least one setting that relates to at least two of the plurality of media managers.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one setting comprises a global policy that specifies a preference among at least some of the plurality of network connection technologies to form a connection when multiple of the at least some of the plurality of network connection technologies are available.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of network connection technologies comprises first and second network connection technologies, and wherein the at least one setting comprises a contingent setting for the first network connection technology that is to be enforced only when the second network connection technology is in active use.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one setting comprises a global policy that specifies a limit on a number of connections allowed at one time for the at least one computer via the plurality of network connection technologies.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one setting comprises a global policy that specifies a limit on a number of networks to which the at least one computer may connect at any time via the plurality of network connection technologies.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the act (A) comprises providing at least one management interface that further enables the administrator to establish a plurality of sets of one or more network connection settings, each of the plurality of sets of network connection settings corresponding to one of the plurality of media managers and being used to configure the corresponding media manager to enable the at least one computer to communicate using the network connection technology enabled by the corresponding media manager.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising acts of:

(B) in response to input received from the administrator via the at least one management interface, creating a plurality of network connection profiles that each corresponds to one of the plurality of media managers; and

(C) providing the plurality of network connection profiles and the at least one setting that relates to at least two of the plurality of media managers to the at least one computer in a same network configuration file.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising acts of:

receiving the network configuration file at the at least one computer;

accessing each of the plurality of network connection profiles and the at least one setting that relates to at least two of the plurality of media managers from the network configuration file; and

using each one of the plurality of sets of network connection settings and the at least one setting that relates to at least two of the plurality of media managers to configure the plurality of media managers.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the network configuration file comprises a hierarchical structure that comprises a root node and three nodes below it, the three nodes below the root node comprising a first node that is a policy node that relates to configuration information that is not specific to any particular network or media type, a second node that is a network layer node that relates to configuration information for layer 3 in the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model of networking, and a third node that is a connections node that relates to configuration information for layer 2 in the OSI model of networking.

10. A computer comprising:

a plurality of media managers that each enables the computer to communicate using a corresponding one of a plurality of network connection technologies; and

at least one processor programmed to;

retrieve from a network configuration file at least one setting that relates to at least two of the plurality of media managers; and

use the at least one setting that relates to at least two of the plurality of media managers to configure the at least two of the plurality of media managers.

11. The computer of claim 10, wherein the at least one setting comprises a global policy that specifies a preference among at least some of the plurality of network connection technologies to form a connection when multiple of the at least some of the plurality of network connection technologies are available.

12. The computer of claim 10, wherein the plurality of network connection technologies comprises first and second network connection technologies, and wherein the at least one setting comprises a contingent setting for the first network connection technology that is to be enforced only when the second network connection technology is in active use.

13. The computer of claim 10, wherein the at least one setting comprises a global policy that specifies a limit on a number of connections allowed at one time for the at least one computer via the plurality of network connection technologies.

14. The computer of claim 10, wherein the at least one setting comprises a global policy that specifies a limit on a number of networks to which the at least one computer may connect at any time via the plurality of network connection technologies.

15. The computer of claim 10, wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to:

retrieve from the network configuration file a plurality of network connection profiles that each comprises a set of one or more network connection settings for a corresponding one of the network connection technologies; and

use the plurality of network connection settings to configure the plurality of media managers to enable the computer to communicate using the plurality of network connection technologies.

16. At least one computer readable medium encoded with a plurality of instructions that, when executed, perform a method for use in a computer system comprising at least one computer, the at least one computer comprising a plurality of media managers that collectively enable the at least one computer to communicate using a plurality of network connection technologies, wherein each of the plurality of media managers enables the at least one computer to communicate using a respective one of the network connection technologies, the method comprising an act of:

(A) providing at least one management interface that enables an administrator to establish at least one setting that relates to at least two of the plurality of media managers.

17. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the at least one setting comprises a global policy that specifies a preference among at least some of the plurality of network connection technologies to form a connection when multiple of the at least some of the plurality of network connection technologies are available.

18. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the at least one setting comprises a global policy that specifies a limit on a number of connections allowed at one time for the at least one computer via the plurality of network connection technologies.

19. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the at least one setting comprises a global policy that specifies a limit on a number of networks to which the at least one computer may connect at any time via the plurality of network connection technologies.

20. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the method further comprises acts of:

(B) in response to input received from the administrator via the at least one management interface, creating a plurality of network connection profiles that each corresponds to one of the plurality of media managers; and

(C) providing the plurality of network connection profiles and the at IS least one setting that relates to at least two of the plurality of media managers to the at least one computer in a same network configuration file.