Patent ID: 7051097

Claim:
A communications system, comprising: a network device comprising: an internal configuration database for managing configuration of internal resources within the network device; a computer system comprising: an input mechanism for receiving configuration input data from a network manager; and a Network Management System (NMS) process for responding to the configuration input data and for sending configuration data to the configuration database within the network device; an NMS database maintained on said computer system in synchrony with said internal configuration database of the network device; wherein the configuration database process within the network device configures internal resources of the network device in response to the configuration data received from the NMS and wherein the configuration database supports an active query feature and the NMS database is configured to establish an active query for all records within the configuration database to synchronize the NMS database with the configuration database and wherein for any change to the configuration data stored by the configuration database, the configuration database sends a notification of the chance to the NMS database within the computer system to synchronize the NMS database with the configuration database, wherein said internal configuration database process utilizes assigned process identification numbers for flexible naming of said network device that allows applications to use data in the configuration database to determine the names of other applications and configurable objects, wherein the re-start or upgrade of said network device or one of said plurality of modular processes is transparent to other said plurality of modular processes, with the exception of being notified of new process identification numbers.