Patent ID: 7054926

Claim:
A method of managing network devices by specifying device components using a parsable string that conforms to a specified grammar, the method comprising the computer steps of: creating and storing one or more entity location specifier values each comprising one or more location elements; wherein the one or more entity location specifier values are specified as parsable strings; wherein the parsable strings conform to the specified grammar; wherein the specified grammar defines one or more delimited location specifiers, wherein each location specifier specifies a location type and a number: wherein the parsable strings are stored in Managed Information Base (MIB) objects and wherein the one or more entity location specifier values are specified as the parsable strings in the MIB objects; wherein each of the one or more location elements is selected from a superset of location elements that specify locations of entities within one or more network devices; receiving from an application a retrieval request for a particular entity location specifier value; and transmitting the particular entity location specifier value to the application.