Patent ID: 7904588
Filing Date: 2011-03-08
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. In a network, a method for organizing Management Information Bases (MIB), the method comprising: accessing an existing object identifier (OID) tree using a network management station (NMS), the existing OID tree having a plurality of OID nodes, wherein a managed network device is one of a plurality of managed network devices operating as agents of the NMS according to a network management protocol; populating a table with a plurality of entries upon initialization of the managed network device, the table being associated with an MIB overlay structure forming an overlay OID tree that is different from and groups information in an alternative logical structure relative to the existing OID tree, wherein each of the entries in the table for the MIB overlay structure defines a mapping between an OID of a mount point and an OID of a mount target, the mount point being in the overlay OID tree of the MIB overlay structure and the mount target being one of the plurality of OID nodes in the existing OID tree; selecting between OIDs in the existing OID tree and OIDs from the overlay OID tree in the MIB overlay structure corresponding to an overlay MIB for accessing at least one of the plurality of OID nodes in the managed network device, wherein the selecting is in response to an indication from a user via a user interface such that the existing OID tree is traversed using the overlay OID tree in response to the selection indication; and defining an agent infrastructure to support the MIB overlay structure, the agent infrastructure being on each of the managed network devices, wherein the defining the agent infrastructure comprises: