Patent ID: 7552238

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for maintaining configurations of network devices in user devices of a network, said method comprising: updating a database in a network management device each time a configuration of any of network devices in the network changes, said network management device database being updated by a network device whose configuration has changed or by a user of the network management device; said network management device notifying the user devices in the network each time the network management device is updated, storing the notifications of the updated of the network management device in a table maintained in each of the user devices if a prior notification relating to the same network device has not been stored in the table, wherein the table stores a list of network devices that have undergone configuration changes; determining whether a select user device has been notified of an update in the network management device of a configuration change of a network device selected by the select user device, wherein the configuration of the selected network device is determined to have been changed if a notification indicating the configuration change of the selected network device is stored in the table of the select user device; communicatively establishing a connection between the select user device and the selected network device without synchronizing the select user device with the network management device if the select user device has not been notified of the update in network management device of a configuration change in the selected network device; synchronizing the select user device with the network management device to update the select user device of the configuration change in the selected network device prior to communicatively establishing a connection between the select user device and the selected network device, if the select user device has been notified of the update in the network management device of a configuration change in the selected network device; and updating a database in the select user device to correspond with the database in the network management device, when the select user device synchronizes with the network management device.