Patent ID: 8873428
Filing Date: 2014-10-28
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method comprising: discovering, by a network device of a network, a plurality of network devices of the network; based on discovery of the plurality of network devices, establishing, by the network device, a group of network devices, wherein the group of network devices comprises the network device and a subset of the plurality of network devices; receiving, by the network device, information that is pertinent to one or more network devices included in the group of network devices, wherein the information comprises (i) configuration information to configure the one or more network devices included in the group of network devices, (ii) updates to update software or firmware installed in the one or more network devices included in the group of network devices, (iii) programming scripts for execution by the one or more network devices included in the group of network devices, and (iv) attributes that identify individual network devices in the group of network devices, which are to receive a respective subset of the information; processing the information to generate processed information; and propagating the processed information to one or more network devices of the subset of the plurality of network devices, wherein the processed information propagated to the one or more network devices of the subset of the plurality of network devices is useable by the one or more network devices of the subset of the plurality of network devices to (i) configure one of the one or more network devices of the subset of the plurality of network devices, (ii) update the software or firmware installed in one of the one or more network devices of the subset of the plurality of network devices, (iii) execute programming scripts by one of the one or more network devices of the subset of the plurality of network devices, and (iv) identify individual network devices in the group of network devices, which are to receive a respective subset of the information.