Computer method for updating a network design

Claim 3

The method of claim 1, further comprising: preventing the connection from being made if the validation indicates an invalid connection to the first one of the device icons.

Claim 4

The method of claim 1, further comprising: prompting a user to take additional actions before completing the connection if the validation indicates that the connection to the first one of the device icons is invalid but can be made valid.

Claim 5

The method of claim 3, wherein the additional actions include: configuring the first one of the device icons to include an adapter card.

Claim 6

The method of claim 3, wherein the additional actions include: adding an additional device icon to the network design sheet.

Claim 7

The method of claim 1, further comprising: connecting the selected media type to a second one of the selected device icon and the other device icon; and validating the connection to the second one of the device icons.

Claim 8

The method of claim 6, further comprising: validating the media connection between the first and second ones of the device icons.

Claim 9

The method of claim 6, further comprising: preventing the connection to the second one of the device icons from being made if the validation indicates an invalid connection.

Claim 10

The method of claim 6, further comprising: prompting a user to take additional actions before completing the connection to the second one of the device icons if the validation indicates that the connection is invalid but can be made valid.

Claim 11

The method of claim 9, where in the additional actions include: configuring the second one of the device icons to include an adapter card.

Claim 12

The method of claim 9, wherein the additional actions include: adding an additional device icon to the network design sheet.

Claim 15

The method of claim 12, wherein comparing includes flagging: devices discovered by auditing the network but not corresponding to intelligent device objects in the network design; intelligent device objects found in the network design but not corresponding to devices discovered by auditing; and intelligent device objects found in the network design and devices discovered by auditing that correspond with each other.

Claim 16

The method of claim 1 or of claim 12, wherein communicating includes employing a suite of probes.

Claim 17

The method of claim 14, wherein the suite of probes employ one or more communication protocols.

Claim 18

The method of claim 14, wherein employing the suite of probes includes employing probes selected from the group of probes consisting of an SNMP probe, an IPX probe, an MS SMS probe, an HP/OV probe, an SNA probe, and an IPX SAP probe.

Claim 19

The method of claim 16, wherein employing the SNMP probe includes finding SNMP managed devices, and gathering internet protocol address and media access control address information from the SNMP managed devices.

Claim 20

The method of claim 14, wherein employing the suite of probes includes gathering topology, host and interface information from devices in the network.

Claim 21

The method of claim 1 or of claim 12, wherein auditing further includes supplementing the discovered configuration by inputting information not automatically discoverable by communicating with the devices in the network.

Claim 22

A computer program for updating a network design of a network, the network including a plurality of devices being connected by communication media, the computer program being stored on a media readable by a general purpose computer, for configuring the computer upon being read and executed by the computer to perform functions comprising: auditing the network, including communicating with at least one of the devices with the computer, to discover a configuration of the network; displaying the discovered configuration in a network design sheet on a display monitor of the computer, the network design sheet including device icons representing intelligent device objects corresponding to discovered devices and media types representing the intelligent media objects corresponding to discovered communication media; allowing a user to modify the design sheet by: selecting from device icons representing intelligent device objects and placing a selected device icon on the network design sheet; and selecting a media type representing an intelligent media object and connecting the selected media type to a first one of the selected device icon and another device icon on the network design sheet; and validating the connection to the first one of the device icons.

Claim 23

A computer program for updating a network design of a network, the network including a plurality of devices being connected by communication media, the computer program being stored on a media readable by a general purpose computer, for configuring the computer upon being read and executed by the computer to perform functions comprising: auditing the network, including communicating with at least one of the devices with the computer, to discover a configuration of the network; displaying the discovered configuration in a network design sheet on a display monitor of the computer, the network design sheet including device icons representing intelligent device objects corresponding to discovered devices and media types representing the intelligent media objects corresponding to discovered communication media; allowing a user to modify the design sheet by: selecting from device icons representing intelligent device objects and placing a selected device icon on the network design sheet; and selecting a media type representing an intelligent media object and connecting the selected media type to a first one of the selected device icon and another device icon on the network design sheet; and validating the connection to the first one of the device icons.

Claim 24

A computer program for servicing a network that is implemented with a plurality of devices being connected by connection media, the computer program being stored on a media readable by a general purpose computer, for configuring the computer upon being read and executed by the computer to perform functions comprising: allowing a user to design a network configuration by placing a selected plurality of device icons representing intelligent device objects on a network design sheet being displayed on a display monitor of the computer, connecting the device icons on the design sheet with one or more selected media types representing intelligent media objects, and validating the connections to each of the selected plurality of device icons on the design sheet; auditing the implemented network, including communicating with at least one of the devices in the implemented network, to discover a configuration of the implemented network; and comparing the discovered configuration of the implemented network to a network configuration being stored in the computer, wherein the stored network configuration comprises one of a network configuration discovered by a prior auditing and a network configuration designed by the user.

Claim 25

A computer program for servicing a network that is implemented with a plurality of devices being connected by connection media, the computer program being stored on a media readable by a general purpose computer, for configuring the computer upon being read and executed by the computer to perform functions comprising: allowing a user to design a network configuration by placing a selected plurality of device icons representing intelligent device objects on a network design sheet being displayed on a display monitor of the computer, connecting the device icons on the design sheet with one or more selected media types representing intelligent media objects, and validating the connections to each of the selected plurality of device icons on the design sheet; auditing the implemented network, including communicating with at least one of the devices in the implemented network, to discover a configuration of the implemented network; and comparing the discovered configuration of the implemented network to a network configuration being stored in the computer, wherein the stored network configuration comprises one of a network configuration discovered by a prior auditing and a network configuration designed by the user.

Claim 26

The computer program of claim 20 or of claim 21, wherein the communicating function includes employing a suite of probes.

Claim 27

The computer program of claim 22, wherein the suite of probes employ one or more communication protocols.

Claim 28

The computer program of claim 22, wherein employing the suite of probes includes employing probes selected from the group of probes consisting of an SNMP probe, an IPX probe, an MS SMS probe, an HP/OV probe, an SNA probe, and an IPX SAP probe.

Claim 29

The computer program of claim 22, wherein employing the suite of probes includes gathering topology, host and interface information from intelligent device objects.

Claim 30

The computer program of claim 20 or of claim 21, wherein the auditing function further includes supplementing the discovered configuration by inputting information not automatically discoverable by communicating with the intelligent device objects.

Claim 31

The computer program of claim 21, wherein the function of comparing includes flagging: devices discovered by auditing the network but not corresponding to intelligent device objects in the stored network configuration; intelligent device objects found in the stored network configuration but not corresponding to devices discovered by auditing; and intelligent device objects found in the stored network configuration that correspond with devices discovered by auditing.

Claim 32

An article of manufacture comprising: a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein for assisting a user to update a network design of a network, the network including a plurality of devices, the computer readable program code in the article of manufacture comprising: computer readable program code for causing a computer to audit the network, the audit including communicating with at least one of the devices, to discover a configuration of the network; computer readable program code for causing the computer to generate a network design sheet from the discovered configuration of the network and to display the network design sheet on a display monitor of the computer; computer readable program code for causing the computer to display on the display monitor a palette of device icons representing intelligent device objects corresponding to devices; computer readable program code for causing the computer to allow a user to place a selected one of the device icons on the network design sheet; computer readable program code for causing the computer to display a palette of media types representing intelligent media objects on the display monitor; computer readable program code for causing the computer to allow a user to connect a selected one of the media types between the selected device icon and another device icon on the network design sheet, including connecting the media type to a first one of the selected device icon and the other device icon; and computer readable program code for causing the computer to validate the connection of the media type between the selected device icon and the other device icon, including validating the connection to the first one of the device icons.

Claim 33

An article of manufacture comprising: a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein for assisting a user to update a network design of a network, the network including a plurality of devices, the computer readable program code in the article of manufacture comprising: computer readable program code for causing a computer to audit the network, the audit including communicating with at least one of the devices, to discover a configuration of the network; computer readable program code for causing the computer to generate a network design sheet from the discovered configuration of the network and to display the network design sheet on a display monitor of the computer; computer readable program code for causing the computer to display on the display monitor a palette of device icons representing intelligent device objects corresponding to devices; computer readable program code for causing the computer to allow a user to place a selected one of the device icons on the network design sheet; computer readable program code for causing the computer to display a palette of media types representing intelligent media objects on the display monitor; computer readable program code for causing the computer to allow a user to connect a selected one of the media types between the selected device icon and another device icon on the network design sheet, including connecting the media type to a first one of the selected device icon and the other device icon; and computer readable program code for causing the computer to validate the connection of the media type between the selected device icon and the other device icon, including validating the connection to the first one of the device icons.

Claim 34

An article of manufacture comprising: a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein for servicing a network that is implemented with a plurality of devices, the computer readable program code in the article of manufacture comprising: computer readable program code for causing a computer to allow a user to design a network configuration, including computer readable program code for causing the computer to allow the user to place a selected plurality of device icons representing intelligent device objects on a network design sheet being displayed on a display monitor of the computer, computer readable program code for causing the computer to allow the user to connect the device icons on the design sheet with one or more selected media types representing intelligent media objects, and computer readable program code for causing the computer to validate the connections to each of the selected plurality of device icons on the design sheet; computer readable program code for causing the computer to audit the implemented network to discover a configuration of the implemented network, including computer readable program code for causing the computer to communicate with at least one of the devices in the implemented network; computer readable program code for causing the computer to compare the discovered configuration of the implemented network to a network configuration being stored in a memory of the computer, wherein the stored network configuration comprises one of a network configuration discovered by a prior auditing and a network configuration designed by the user.

Claim 35

An article of manufacture comprising: a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein for servicing a network that is implemented with a plurality of devices, the computer readable program code in the article of manufacture comprising: computer readable program code for causing a computer to allow a user to design a network configuration, including computer readable program code for causing the computer to allow the user to place a selected plurality of device icons representing intelligent device objects on a network design sheet being displayed on a display monitor of the computer, computer readable program code for causing the computer to allow the user to connect the device icons on the design sheet with one or more selected media types representing intelligent media objects, and computer readable program code for causing the computer to validate the connections to each of the selected plurality of device icons on the design sheet; computer readable program code for causing the computer to audit the implemented network to discover a configuration of the implemented network, including computer readable program code for causing the computer to communicate with at least one of the devices in the implemented network; computer readable program code for causing the computer to compare the discovered configuration of the implemented network to a network configuration being stored in a memory of the computer, wherein the stored network configuration comprises one of a network configuration discovered by a prior auditing and a network configuration designed by the user.

Claim 36

The article of manufacture of claim 28 or of claim 29, wherein the computer readable program code for causing the computer to communicate includes computer readable program code for causing the computer to communicate by employing a suite of probes.

Claim 37

The article of manufacture of claim 30, wherein the suite of probes employ one or more communication protocols.

Claim 38

The article of manufacture of claim 30, wherein employing the suite of probes includes employing probes selected from the group of probes consisting of an SNMP probe, an IPX probe, an MS SMS probe, an HP/OV probe, an SNA probe, and an IPX SAP probe.

Claim 39

The article of manufacture of claim 30, wherein employing the suite of probes includes gathering topology, host and interface information from intelligent device objects.

Claim 40

The article of manufacture of claim 28 or of claim 29, wherein the computer readable program code for causing the computer to audit the implemented network further includes computer readable program code for causing the computer to supplement the discovered configuration by allowing the user to input information not automatically discoverable by communicating with the intelligent device objects.

Claim 41

The article of manufacture of claim 29, wherein the computer readable program code for causing the computer to compare includes computer readable program code for causing the computer to flag: devices discovered by the audit of the network but not corresponding to intelligent device objects in the stored network configuration; intelligent device objects found in the stored network configuration but not corresponding to devices discovered in the audit; and intelligent device objects found in the stored network configuration that correspond with devices discovered in the audit.