Patent ID: 7739385

Claim:
A method of managing a resource in a network element, said method being performed in a hardware-implemented agent associated with said network element, said method comprising: receiving on a network an explicit request to schedule a lock for a future time point on said resource in said network element, wherein an owner is associated with said lock, wherein the request is sent using a Management Information Base (MIB) protocol, and wherein a status of the lock is monitored through a plurality of keep alive messages, the status indicating if the lock is active and operational, wherein said explicit request is received containing data representing each of said future time point and said owner; scheduling said lock associated with said owner for said future time point in response to receiving said explicit request, wherein locking said resource prevents access to said resource by entities other than said owner on said network; wherein said resource is locked after said future time point and wherein said explicit request further specifies a maximum duration after which said lock is to be automatically released by: continuing with said lock for said maximum duration after said future time point only if a keep-alive message is received periodically in said maximum duration, wherein said keep-alive message is designed to merely indicate that said owner is alive and operational; performing unlocking of said resource before end of said maximum duration if said keep-alive message is not received in a specified duration period; and sending a plurality of warning messages in said specified duration period.