Patent ID: 8289873

Claim:
An apparatus for provisioning modular network devices, the apparatus comprising: one or more processors; a communication interface configured to receive information about a device, wherein the information comprises an inventory that describes absolute interface references for interfaces associated with the device; a configuration server configured to locate, based on the information received about the device, a template that describes relative interface references that are generic with respect to interfaces associated with the device and to create a configuration for the device by resolving the relative interface references with the absolute interface references; wherein, prior to resolving the relative interface references with the absolute interface references, the relative interface references are placeholders that do not specify absolute values; wherein each relative interface reference of the relative interface references specifies at least a type of interface and a logical port number and includes a delimiting character that delimits configuration commands from the at least the type of interface and the logical port number; wherein resolving the relative interface references with the absolute interface references comprises, for each relative interface reference of the relative interface references, placing a corresponding absolute interface reference in place of the delimiting character and said at least the type of interface and the logical port number; wherein the communication interface communicates the configuration to the device.