Patent ID: 6981034

Claim:
A module for operating in a communication system having a plurality of interconnected modules including a base module and at least one non-base module, the module comprising: at least one management database; and management/control logic, wherein the management/control logic comprises: database interface logic operably coupled to the at least one management database for maintaining a number of module-specific objects and parameters and a number of stack-wide objects and parameters comprising at least one network management object, the stack-wide objects and parameters being common to the base module and the at least one non-base module; management interface logic operably coupled to enable the management/control logic to communicate with a network manager; inter-module communication logic operably coupled to enable the management/control logic to communicate with the plurality of interconnected modules; local handlers operably coupled to process network management information received from the network manager via the management interface logic and from other interconnected modules via the inter-module communication logic, and to send network management information to the other interconnected modules; and service logic operably coupled to receive a protocol message from the management interface logic and to direct the protocol message to the local handlers, if the module is the base module or the protocol message is not one of a number of protocol messages requiring synchronization or mutual exclusion among various interconnected modules, and direct the protocol message to the base module via the inter-module communication logic, if the module is a non-base module and the protocol message is one of the number of protocol messages requiring synchronization or mutual exclusion among various interconnected modules.