Patent ID: 7856599

Claim:
A network administration method for provisioning logical configuration links for at least two network devices through a dedicated graphical user interface form, the method comprising: selecting a network device having at least one network interface through the dedicated graphical user interface form; determining local interface and next neighbor information for the network device; determining whether the local interface and next neighbor information is associated with a logical configuration link stored among a plurality of logical configuration links in a logical link database; creating a new logical configuration link when the local interface and next neighbor information is not associated with any of the logical configuration links in the logical link database; storing the new logical configuration link in the logical link database; validating the new logical configuration link; sending the new logical configuration link to the network device; and displaying a graphical representation of the new logical configuration link on a display device, wherein the step of creating the new logical configuration link further comprises the steps of: selecting a link type; selecting a link numbering type for the new logical configuration link; selecting a link application for the new logical configuration link; selecting a sub layer interface type for the new logical configuration link; creating a first endpoint for the new logical configuration link; and creating a second endpoint for the new logical configuration link, wherein the step of selecting the link application further comprises the step of: selecting the link application from a group consisting of: Internet Protocol Forwarding, Multi-Protocol Label Switching and Internet Protocol Forwarding, and Multi-Protocol Label Switching.