Patent ID: 7509678

Claim:
A method implemented in a network computer system, the method tracking the status of changes made in configuration settings for a remote device by providing a central console that listens for delivery status messages transferred in accordance with a standard messaging transport protocol, the method comprising acts of: at a central console module remote from, and disposed between, a sending device and a targeted device within a messaging network, receiving from the sending device an indication that configuration information has been sent to the targeted device, the configuration information being used to remotely change configuration settings on the targeted device and having been sent by the sending device in a message that includes the configuration information in a field of the message that is by default not presented at a user interface display of the targeted device and over an existing dedicated open port of a standard messaging transport protocol that is typically used to send message data to recipients for display on a user interface; at the central console module, writing a status log indicating that the configuration information has been sent from the sending device to the targeted device; at the central console module, receiving a delivery status message from the targeted device over a standard messaging transport protocol, the delivery status message indicating whether the targeted device accepted the configuration information from the sending device; and based on the delivery status message, and at the central console module, automatically updating the status log with additional status information indicating that the configuration information was accepted by the targeted device, and such that the central console module provides central monitoring and reporting of configuration changes from one or more remote devices to multiple target devices within the messaging network.