Patent ID: 7562132

Claim:
A computer program product operable with a computer for use in managing a distributed data processing system, the computer program product includes a computer readable storage-type medium and further comprises: instructions for associating a set of logical networks in the distributed data processing system and/or a set of physical networks in the distributed data processing system with an anchor object, wherein different physical networks within the distributed data processing system may support duplicate network addresses; instructions for managing a set of anchor objects, wherein each anchor object has an anchorname which is a root name within a hierarchical naming space that represents a hierarchical logical network, wherein each anchorname is a unique name within the distributed data processing system, and wherein usage of an anchorname in combination with subnet information for a logical network supports unique addressing within a logical network; instructions for uniquely associating each anchor object in a set of anchor objects with a customer in a set of customers, wherein the distributed data processing system is managed on behalf of a plurality of customers; instructions for generating a topology map that includes a plurality of anchor objects; and instructions for displaying the topology map.