Method and apparatus for providing multiple management interfaces to a network device

A network device comprising:

• means for providing a text-based interface to a combined text-based interface generator and hypertext transport protocol (HTTP) client;
• means for providing an HTTP server interface to a combined HTTP server and simple network management protocol (SNMP) manager;
• and
• means for providing an SNMP agent interface layer to a SNMP agent to receive user input that specifies a change to configuration data stored in said network device and said SNMP agent to transmit a first message to a means for combining hypertext transport protocol (HTTP) server and SNMP manager using HTTP;
• said means for combining HTTP server and SNMP manager, wherein the means for combining HTTP server and SNMP manager only accesses said configuration data by communicating with said SNMP agent and wherein in response to said first message, said means for combining HTTP server and SNMP manager to transmit a second message to a means for combining text-interface generator and HTTP client using SNMP;
• and
• said means for combining text-interface generator and HTTP client, wherein the means for combining text-interface generator and HTTP client to only access said configuration data in response to said second message as specified by said user input by requesting the means for combining HTTP server and SNMP manager to communicate with said SNMP agent, so that all safety mechanisms are built into the SNMP agent to enhance security and wherein said means for providing said text-based interface layer, said HTTP server interface and said SNMP agent interface reside in said network device.

A computer readable medium containing executable instructions which, when executed in a processing system, causes the system to perform the following comprising:

• provide a text-based interface layer to a combined text-based interface generator and hypertext transport protocol (HTTP) client;
• provide an HTTP server interface layer to a combined HTTP server and simple network management protocol (SNMP) manager;
• and
• provide an SNMP agent interface layer to SNMP agent, wherein the SNMP agent is configured to generate user input that specifies a change to configuration data stored in said access device and said SNMP agent is configured to transmit a first message to a combined hypertext transport protocol (HTTP) server and SNMP manager using HTTP;
• provide a combined HTTP server and SNMP manager, wherein the combined HTTP server and SNMP manager is configured to only access said configuration data by communicating with said SNMP agent and wherein in response to said first message, the combined HTTP server and SNMP manager is configured to transmit a second message to a combined text-interface generator and HTTP client using SNMP;
• and
• provide a combined text-interface generator and HTTP client, wherein the combined text-interface generator and HTTP client is configured to only access said configuration data in response to said second message as specified by said user input by requesting said combined HTTP server and SNMP manager to communicate with said SNMP agent, so that all safety mechanisms are built into the SNMP agent to enhance security and wherein said a text-based interface layer, said HTTP server interface layer and said SNMP agent interface layer reside in said computer readable medium.

An apparatus, comprising:

• one or more access devices, each of the one or more access devices comprising:
• a text-based interface layer to a combined text-based interface generator and hypertext transport protocol (HTTP) client;
• an HTTP server interface layer to a combined HTTP server and simple network management protocol (SNMP) manager;
• a SNMP agent interface layer to a SNMP agent, wherein the SNMP agent generates a user interface and receives user input that specifies a change to configuration data stored in said one or more access devices, the SNMP agent is the only module configured to directly access the configuration data, and the SNMP agent transmits a first message to the combined hypertext transport protocol (HTTP) server and SNMP manager using HTTP;
• the combined HTTP server and SNMP manager, wherein the combined HTTP server and SNMP manager only accesses said configuration data by communicating with said SNMP agent and wherein in response to said first message said combined HTTP server and SNMP manager transmits a second message to the combined text-interface generator and HTTP client using SNMP;
• and
• the combined text-interface generator and HTTP client, wherein the combined text-interface generator and HTTP client only accesses said configuration data in response to said second message as specified by said user input by requesting said combined HTTP server and SNMP manager to communicate with said SNMP agent, so that all safety mechanisms are built into the SNMP agent to enhance security and wherein said text-based interface layer, said HTTP server interface layer and said SNMP agent interface layer reside in the access device.

A network device having one or more processing devices to implement code which when executed cause the one or more processors to perform the following comprising:

• causing a second software layer to send a Hypertext Markup Language document to a first software layer;
• executing said first software layer to generate a user interface based on said Hypertext Markup Language document;
• said first software layer receiving user input that specifies a change to configuration data stored in said network device;
• in response to said user input, said first software layer transmitting a first message to a second software layer using Hypertext Transport Protocol, wherein said second software layer resides in said network device;
• in response to said first message, said second software layer transmitting a second message to a third software layer using Simple Network Management Protocol, wherein said third software layer resides in said network device;
• and
• in response to said second message, said third software layer changing said configuration data as specified by said user input.

A network device having one or more processing devices to implement code which when executed cause the one or more processors to perform the following comprising:

• executing a first software layer to generate a user interface, wherein said first software layer is a text-based interface layer to a combined text-based interface generator and hypertext transport protocol (HTTP) client;
• said first software layer receiving user input that specifies a change to configuration data stored in said network device;
• in response to said user input, said first software layer transmitting a first message to a second software layer using Hypertext Transport Protocol, wherein said second software layer is an HTTP server interface layer to a combined HTTP server and simple network management protocol (SNMP) manager and resides in said network device;
• in response to said first message, said second software layer transmitting a second message to a third software layer using Simple Network Management Protocol, wherein said third software layer is an SNMP agent interface layer and resides in said network device;
• and
• in response to said second message, said third software layer changing said configuration data as specified by said user input.