Patent ID: 7996851

Claim:
A computer-implemented method of providing information, said computer-implemented method comprising: obtaining configuration information of one or more adapters of a communications environment, said configuration information describing one or more characteristics of at least one adapter of the one or more adapters; providing locally to a communications layer of a node of the communications environment a globally consistent view of the configuration information absent any internodal communication by the communications layer to obtain the globally consistent view of the configuration information, wherein said providing locally ensures that each change of the configuration information, the globally consistent view of which is locally available to the communications layer of the node, is independently seen by the node and that proper sequencing of the changes is provided; storing locally at the node the globally consistent view of the configuration information; and wherein the providing locally comprises: determining that there is at least one change in the configuration information; including in an information table the at least one change in the configuration information; and forwarding the information table to a network availability matrix to locally provide the globally consistent view of the configuration information to the communications layer.