Patent ID: 7065562

Claim:
A method for modeling a command structure of a particular network component, the method comprising: accessing the particular a network component, wherein the particular network component is capable of facilitating communications in a network, wherein the network includes a plurality of network components; retrieving a command set from the network component, the command set includes commands for configuring the particular network component, and wherein the commands for configuring the particular network components differ from other commands utilized for configuring other network components; generating a representation of the retrieved command set, wherein the generated representation corresponds to the network component, and wherein the generating the representation includes: generating a hash key corresponding to at least a portion of the retrieved command set; and generating a hash object corresponding to the generated hash key, wherein the generated hash object includes metadata, the metadata including information that identifies the network component from among a plurality of network components; and storing the generated representation, wherein the step of generating a hash key comprises: identifying a first level configuration command in the retrieved command set; identifying a second level configuration command in the retrieved command set; and concatenating at least an indication of the first level command and at least an indication of the second level command.