Patent ID: 8064358

Claim:
A computer-implemented method, comprising: collecting, by a server computer system, information pertaining to an infrastructure of a network and a plurality of devices on the network; presenting, by the server computer system, a user interface that provides a view of the network and the plurality of devices using the collected information, the view provided by the user interface including links between graphical representations of devices to illustrate how the plurality of devices are connected and including a broken link to graphically illustrate when a connection between any of the plurality of devices is broken, the user interface further allowing a user to select at least one of the plurality of devices presented in the user interface, and to view one or more characteristics of the at least one selected device, and the user interface additionally allowing the user to select a link between two devices and to view detailed information about a corresponding connection between the two devices; receiving via the user interface, by the server computer system, at least one new software setting provided by the user for the at least one selected device; and automatically updating, by the server computer system, current software settings of the at least one selected device based on the at least one new software setting provided by the user for the at least one selected device.