Patent ID: 7233957

Claim:
In a data collection process operating in a computer system, a method for processing management data, the method comprising: collecting a current management data set from at least one managed resource in a network; comparing the current management data set to a former management data set previously collected from the managed resource in the network to identify differences in the current management data set as compared to the former management data set; appending at least one verification value to the current management data set to allow remote verification of contents of the current management data set; and transmitting the current management data set from the computer system to a remote store process operating in another computer system for storage within a management database for access by a network management application; wherein comparing the current management data set to a former management data set comprises: calculating a current verification value on a current portion of management data in the current management data set; comparing the current verification value to a former verification value of a former portion of management data in the former management data set that corresponds to the current data portion of the current management data set; and determining if the current verification value is not equal to the former verification value, and if so, identifying the current portion of management data in the current management data set as containing a change in relation to the corresponding former portion of management data.