Unified storage for configuring multiple networking technologies

• US 8,615,570 B2
• Filed: 11/21/2008
• Issued: 12/24/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/21/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Brewis, Deon C., Mandhana, Taroon, Teh, PehKeong
• Primary Examiner(s): GOODCHILD, WILLIAM J
• Application Number:
  US12/276,157
• Publication Number:
  US 20100131622A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,859 Days
• Field of Search: 709/220, 709/221
• US Class Current: 709/221
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/303 Terminal profiles

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 enable the at least one computer to communicate using a plurality of networking technologies, the method comprising acts of:

providing at least one management interface that enables an administrator to configure a plurality of sets of one or more configuration settings, the sets of configuration settings corresponding, respectively, to the media managers, each set of configuration settings being used by its corresponding media manager to configure at least one corresponding network interface of the at least one computer to control how the at least one computer communicates using a networking technology enabled by the corresponding media manager;

using at least one processor to enable the administrator to create, via the at least one management interface, a plurality of configuration profiles that each corresponds to one of the plurality of media managers, respectively, each configuration profile being created based at least in part on a corresponding set of configuration settings configured by the administrator; and

providing the plurality of configuration profiles to the at least one computer in a same configuration file having a particular format, the particular format comprising a first section and a second section different from the first section, the first section storing configuration information that is not specific to any particular network or networking technology, the second section storing at least the plurality of configuration profiles created by the administrator.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising acts of:

receiving the configuration file at the at least one computer;

accessing each of the configuration profiles from the configuration file; and

providing the sets of configuration settings to the media managers, respectively.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one management interface comprises a common user interface adapted for the administrator to use to configure the plurality of configuration settings, and wherein the common user interface is provided via a single application program.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the single application program comprises a framework and at least first and second plug-ins incorporated into the framework, wherein the first plug-in is specially adapted to provide the single application program with functionality that enables the single application program to be used to configure a first set of configuration settings for a first media manager that enables the at least one computer to communicate using a first networking technology, and wherein the second plug-in is adapted to provide the single application program with functionality that enables the single application program to be used to configure a second set of configuration settings for a second media manager that enables the at least one computer to communicate using a second networking technology.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising acts of:

receiving the configuration file at the at least one computer;

accessing first and second configuration profiles from the configuration file, the first configuration profile comprising the first set of configuration settings, the second configuration profile comprising the second set of configuration settings;

providing the first set of configuration settings to the first media manager to enable the computer to communicate using the first networking technology according to the first set of configuration settings; and

providing the second set of configuration settings to the second media manager to enable the computer to communicate using the second networking technology according to the second set of configuration settings.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of configuration settings comprises first and second sets of configuration settings, wherein the first set of configuration settings comprises a first plurality of network settings and the second set of configuration settings comprises a second plurality of network settings.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration file comprises at least one setting that relates to at least two of the plurality of media managers.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the second section of the configuration file comprises a plurality of sub-sections, with each of the plurality of configuration profiles having a corresponding sub-section.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the plurality of sub-sections that correspond to the plurality of configuration profiles share a common format.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration file comprises a hierarchical structure.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the hierarchical structure 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 the configuration information that is not specific to any particular network or networking technology, 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.

12. A computer comprising:

a first media manager that enables the at least one computer to communicate using a first networking technology, the first media manager being adapted to configure at least one first network interface of the computer;

a second media manager that enables the at least one computer to communicate using a second networking technology that is different than the first networking technology, the second media manager being adapted to configure at least one second network interface of the computer; and

at least one processor programmed to;

process a configuration file having a particular format, the particular format comprising a first section and a second section different from the first section, the first section storing configuration information that is not specific to any particular network or networking technology, the second section storing a plurality of configuration profiles;

retrieve from the configuration file a first configuration profile that comprises a first set of one or more configuration settings for the first networking technology and a second configuration profile that comprises a second set of one or more configuration settings for the second networking technology;

provide the first set of configuration settings to the first media manager for use in configuring the at least one first network interface to enable the computer to communicate using the first networking technology according to the first set of configuration settings; and

provide the second set of configuration settings to the second media manager for use in configuring the at least one second network interface to enable the computer to communicate using the second networking technology according to the second set of configuration settings.

13. The computer of claim 12, wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to receive the configuration file in a communication over a network from another computer operated by a system administrator.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the first set of configuration settings comprises a first plurality of network settings and the second set of configuration settings comprises a second plurality of network settings.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the configuration file comprises at least one setting that relates to both of the first and second media managers, and wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to use the at least one setting to configure both of the first and second media managers.

16. At least one tangible computer readable storage device 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 enable the at least one computer to communicate using a plurality of networking technologies, the method comprising acts of:

providing at least one management interface that enables an administrator to configure a plurality of sets of one or more configuration settings, each of the plurality of sets of configuration settings corresponding to one of the plurality of media managers and being used by the corresponding media manager to configure at least one corresponding network interface of the at least one computer to control how the at least one computer communicates using the networking technology enabled by the corresponding media manager, wherein;

the at least one management interface comprises a common user interface through which the administrator may configure the plurality of sets of configuration settings;

the common user interface is provided via a single application program comprising a framework and at least first and second plug-ins incorporated into the framework;

the first plug-in is specially adapted to provide the single application program with functionality that enables the single application program to be used to configure a first set of configuration settings for a first media manager that enables the at least one computer to communicate using a first networking technology; and

the second plug-in is specially adapted to provide the single application program with functionality that enables the single application program to be used to configure a second set of configuration settings for a second media manager that enables the at least one computer to communicate using a second networking technology;

enabling the administrator to create, via the at least one management interface, a plurality of configuration profiles that each corresponds to one of the plurality of media managers, each configuration profile being created based at least in part on a corresponding set of configuration settings configured by the administrator; and

providing the plurality of configuration profiles to the at least one computer in a same configuration file having a hierarchical structure, the hierarchical structure comprising a network layer node that relates to configuration information for layer 3 in the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model of networking and a connections node that relates to configuration information for layer 2 in the OSI model of networking.

17. The at least one tangible computer readable storage device of claim 16, wherein the configuration file comprises at least one setting that relates to at least two of the plurality of media managers.

18. The at least one tangible computer readable storage device of claim 16, wherein the configuration file comprises a plurality of sub-sections, with each of the plurality of configuration profiles having a corresponding sub-section, and wherein the plurality of sub-sections that correspond to the plurality of configuration profiles share a common format.

19. The at least one tangible computer readable storage device of claim 16, wherein the hierarchical structure comprises a root node and three nodes below it, the three nodes below the root node comprising the network layer node, the connections node, and a policy node that relates to configuration information that is not specific to any particular network or networking technology.