Patent ID: 8589531

Claim:
A method of diagnosing a network by a network analysis system implemented on a computer system, said method comprising: obtaining, by the network analysis system, a first network description file comprising network objects that indicate a baseline state of equipment in the network, obtaining, by the network analysis system, a second network description file comprising network objects that indicate a current state of equipment in the network, obtaining, by the network analysis system responsive to a user input, a set of comparison behavior parameters indicating equipment in the network that are of interest by the user, comparing, by the network analysis system, respective objects in the first network description file and the second network description file corresponding to the same equipment in the network, based on the comparison behavior parameters, categorizing, by the network analysis system, the comparison between objects in the first network description file and the second network description file based on objects that are unchanged, changed, deleted, and added, and providing, by the network analysis system, information for displaying a difference report comprising a set of categories to indicate objects that are unchanged, changed, deleted, and added in the network.