Patent ID: 8452876

Claim:
A method for facilitating configuration of policies deployed in a network, the method using a data processing system including a display and one or more input devices, the method comprising: displaying on the display a configuration interface comprising a first interface component including a set of endpoints for traffic in the network, the interface component being based on data relating to physical connections in the network, the data being entered or previously entered by a user, a second interface component including a set of policies, the interface component being based on data relating to policies entered or previously entered by a user, and a third interface component, responsive to user input, facilitating logical application of one or more policies from the set of policies to two or more endpoints from the set of endpoints, along with an indicator of traffic direction for each policy so applied; wherein the third interface component uses a table to display a logically applied policy, the table including a row for each logically applied policy and three columns in each row comprising, a first column for one or more endpoints for the logically applied policy, a second column for one or more policies for the logically applied policy, wherein each of the policies has a traffic direction indicator, and a third column for one or more endpoints for the logically applied policy updating the display of the third interface component in response to an input from the user which logically applies one or more policies from the set of policies to at least two endpoints from the set of endpoints, along with an indicator of traffic direction for each policy so applied, the indicator configured to indicate application of the policy to bidirectional and unidirectional traffic; and storing as policy application data a representation of the logically applied policies displayed in the third interface component.