Patent ID: 7310666

Claim:
A method for management of a distributed data processing system, the method comprising: associating a set of logical networks in the distributed data processing system and/or a set of physical networks in the distributed data processing system with an anchor object, wherein different physical networks within the distributed data processing system may support duplicate network addresses; managing a set of anchor objects, wherein each anchor object has an anchorname which is a root name within a hierarchical naming space that represents a hierarchical logical network, wherein each anchorname is a unique name within the distributed data processing system, and wherein usage of an anchorname in combination with subnet information for a logical network supports unique addressing within a logical network; uniquely associating each anchor object in a set of anchor objects with a customer in a set of customers, wherein the distributed data processing system is managed on behalf of a plurality of customers; generating a topology map that includes a plurality of anchor objects; and displaying the topology map.