Patent ID: 7969998

Claim:
A method for providing network management communication between a transport manager and a plurality of network elements, the method comprising: creating a tunnel configured for transmitting data between the transport manager and said plurality of network elements, the tunnel passing through a gateway network element configured to communicate with the transport manager and said plurality of network elements utilizing a network management protocol, wherein creating a tunnel comprises initiating at the transport manager, communication between the gateway network element and one of the network elements to open the tunnel, and wherein one end of the tunnel is at a proxy network element and the other end of the tunnel is at the transport manager; creating a socket interface at each end of the tunnel; opening multiple flow controlled channels over the tunnel; multiplexing said channels into a single connection at each end of the tunnel; and transmitting network management information over one or more of said channels utilizing said network management protocol; wherein the transport manager is an IP (Internet Protocol) device in a first IP network in communication with the gateway network element, the tunnel connecting the first IP network to a second IP network.