Automated Layer 1 Configuration in a Network Device

A network device comprising:

• one or more computer processors;
• and
• a computer-readable storage device comprising instructions that control the one or more computer processors to:
• access a resource hierarchy that represents the network device, wherein the resource hierarchy comprises a hierarchical structure comprising nodes representing independently configurable instances of Layer 1 (L1) hardware resources of the network device and holding first configuration parameters with associated configuration spaces of allowable configurations corresponding to the independently configurable instances of the L1 hardware resources;
• receive a manual configuration for second configuration parameters;
• traverse the resource hierarchy to automatically configure third configuration parameters, the third configuration parameters being a subset of the first configuration parameters;
• output an L1 configuration for the network device, the L1 configuration including the manually configured second configuration parameters and the automatically configured third configuration parameters;
• and
• configure the network device according to the L1 configuration.

A method in a network device for configuring Layer 1 resources in the network device, the method comprising:

• accessing a resource hierarchy that represents the network device, wherein the resource hierarchy comprises a hierarchical structure comprising nodes representing independently configurable instances of Layer 1 (L1) hardware resources of the network device and holding first configuration parameters with associated configuration spaces of allowable configurations corresponding to the independently configurable instances of the L1 hardware resources;
• receiving a manual configuration for second configuration parameters, the second configuration parameters being a first subset of the first configuration parameters;
• traversing the resource hierarchy to automatically configure third configuration parameters, the third configuration parameters being a second subset of the first configuration parameters;
• outputting an L1 configuration for the network device, the L1 configuration including the manually configured second configuration parameters and the automatically configured third configuration parameters;
• and
• configuring the network device according to the L1 configuration.