Patent ID: 7769859

Claim:
A method of controlling access to managed objects associated with a networked device, said method comprising: receiving a request from a management station for access to a managed object of said managed objects; said networked device comprising a first management engine configured for controlling access to the managed object, wherein said managed objects are accessible via the management station based on membership in access groups; wherein the first management engine is compliant with a Role-Based Command Line Interface (CLI) Access protocol and a Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP); wherein the management station comprises a second management engine configured for requesting access to the managed object; wherein the second management engine is compliant only with the SNMP; wherein the management station is aware that the first management engine is compliant with the SNMP and not aware that the first management engine is compliant with the Role-Based CLI Access protocol; wherein said access groups define one or more access privileges to said managed objects, and wherein said access groups are compliant with SNMP; aligning two or more access groups with respective analogous roles of a plurality of roles in the Role-Based CLI Access protocol wherein the alignment corresponds to a unified security model; associating a first and a second of said two or more access groups with a principal corresponding to the access request; determining a set of access privileges for said principal based on a union of said first and said second access groups; and granting access to said managed object if said determined set of access privileges for said principal comprises an access privilege to said managed object.