Patent ID: 7720940

Claim:
An element manager operating method comprising: an element manager acquiring information identifying a first network element, the first network element comprising a first set of configuration parameter values that influence behavior of the network element; based on the acquired information, the element manager associating a template configuration with the first network element, the template configuration comprising a second set of configuration parameter values determined without accessing the first set of configuration parameter values and stored by a network node other than the first network element, the second set of configuration parameter values representing the first set of configuration parameter values; and subsequent to the associating, the element manager providing configuration information describing a configuration of the first network element and comprising one or more of the configuration parameter values of the second set without retrieving the configuration parameter values of the first set represented by the one or more configuration parameter values of the second set from the first network element; and the element manager associating the template configuration with a second network element comprising a third set of configuration parameter values that influence behavior of the second network element, the second set of configuration parameter values representing the third set of configuration parameter values.