Method and apparatus for remotely configuring a network device

Claim 3

The method of claim 1 , wherein the network device is a router and the device configuration parameter is a global router parameter.

Claim 4

The method of claim 1 , wherein the device configuration parameter is a non-interface specific parameter.

Claim 5

The method of claim 1 , wherein generating configuration information comprises at least partially generating the configuration information in a manual manner.

Claim 6

The method of claim 1 , wherein generating configuration information comprises at least partially generating the configuration information in an automatic manner.

Claim 7

The method of claim 5 further comprising dynamically assigning a network address to the network device, and including the network address within the configuration information.

Claim 8

The method of claim 1 further comprising including routing protocol information within the configuration information.

Claim 9

The method of claim 1 further comprising including an IP address for each interface of the network device within the configuration information.

Claim 10

The method of claim 1 , wherein the identification information includes a pre-configured configuration parameter value.

Claim 11

The method of claim 1 , wherein the identification information includes a device-level MAC address.

Claim 12

The method of claim 1 , wherein the information discovered includes any one or more of routing protocol, local interface subnet connection or subnet mask information.

Claim 13

The method of claim 1 , wherein the configuration information includes a plurality of configuration objects.

Claim 14

The method of claim 1 , wherein the remote location comprises a configuration server.

Claim 15

Apparatus for remotely configuring a network device, the apparatus including: a central management system including a topology database and a central configuration server, which identifies a configuration domain to which the network device is assigned, to generate configuration information for the network device, the configuration server being remote from the network device, the configuration information including a device configuration parameter, in accordance with the configuration domain, and subnet information for each interface of the network device, and the configuration server upon receiving identification information, transfers to the network device the configuration information based on the identifier supplied within the identification information; and a communications interface to propagate the configuration information from the configuration server to the network device in response to receipt of the identification information concerning the network device at the configuration server, wherein the identification information includes information discovered by a neighbor discovery procedure executed by the network device.

Claim 16

Apparatus for remotely configuring a network device, the apparatus including: a central management system including a topology database and a central configuration server, which identifies a configuration domain to which the network device is assigned, to generate configuration information for the network device, the configuration server being remote from the network device, the configuration information including a device configuration parameter, in accordance with the configuration domain, and subnet information for each interface of the network device, and the configuration server upon receiving identification information, transfers to the network device the configuration information based on the identifier supplied within the identification information; and a communications interface to propagate the configuration information from the configuration server to the network device in response to receipt of the identification information concerning the network device at the configuration server, wherein the identification information includes information discovered by a neighbor discovery procedure executed by the network device.

Claim 17

The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the network device is a router and the device configuration parameter is a global router parameter.

Claim 18

The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the device configuration parameter is a non-interface specific parameter.

Claim 19

The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the configuration server at least partially generates the configuration information responsive to the identification information in an automatic manner.

Claim 20

The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the configuration server includes a dynamically assigned network address within the configuration information.

Claim 21

The apparatus of claim 18 further including a server for automatically assigning the network address to the network device.

Claim 22

The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the configuration server automatically includes routing protocol information within the configuration information.

Claim 23

The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the configuration server automatically includes IP address information for each interface of the network device within the configuration information.

Claim 24

The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the identification information includes a pre-configured configuration parameter value.

Claim 25

The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the identification information includes a device-level MAC address.

Claim 26

The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the information discovered includes any one or more of routing protocol, local interface subnet connection or subnet mask information.

Claim 27

The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the apparatus comprises a switching system product.

Claim 28

The apparatus of claim 14 further comprises a transmission system product.

Claim 29

A machine-readable medium storing a sequence of instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform the steps of: discovering identification information indicating a location of configuration information by utilizing a neighbor discovery process executed by a network device; in response to receipt of the identification information from the network device at a location remote from the network device, propagating the configuration information to the network device; automatically determining the location of the configuration information; the network device initiating a file transfer procedure via a host configuration protocol to transfer the configuration information to the network device; the network device utilizing the configuration information to generate a configuration file, wherein the configuration information for the network device is generated at the remote location using a topology database, and identifying a configuration domain to which the network device is assigned, the configuration information including a device configuration parameter, in accordance with the configuration domain, and a subnet identifier for each interface of the network device.

Claim 30

A machine-readable medium storing a sequence of instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform the steps of: discovering identification information indicating a location of configuration information by utilizing a neighbor discovery process executed by a network device; in response to receipt of the identification information from the network device at a location remote from the network device, propagating the configuration information to the network device; automatically determining the location of the configuration information; the network device initiating a file transfer procedure via a host configuration protocol to transfer the configuration information to the network device; the network device utilizing the configuration information to generate a configuration file, wherein the configuration information for the network device is generated at the remote location using a topology database, and identifying a configuration domain to which the network device is assigned, the configuration information including a device configuration parameter, in accordance with the configuration domain, and a subnet identifier for each interface of the network device.