Patent ID: 7774367

Claim:
A method comprising: storing configuration data for a device, wherein the configuration data is arranged in the form of a multi-level configuration hierarchy having a plurality of objects, each of the objects having a textual label and representing a portion of the configuration data; storing authorization data defining a coarse-grain access control attribute defining access control rights to a first set of one or more objects at and below a level of the hierarchy, and a fine-grain access control attribute and an associated regular expression defining a textual pattern that identifies a second set of one or more of the objects within the configuration hierarchy; applying the regular expression to a command to determine whether the command requests access to any of the objects within the second set; and controlling access to configuration data of the device based on the determination by: allowing access to the configuration data when the coarse-grain access control attribute does not allow access to a requested portion of the configuration data and the regular expression of the fine-grain access control attribute identifies a match between the command and the textual pattern; and denying access to the configuration data when the coarse-grain access control attribute allows access to a requested portion of the configuration data and the regular expression of the fine-grain access control attribute identifies a match between the command and the textual pattern.