Patent ID: 8407328

Claim:
A method for monitoring or controlling a plurality of equipment modules in a general-purpose module rack, the equipment modules employing a common network agent running on a processor of the module rack, said network agent controlling a plurality of addressable module locations of the module rack, each location capable of having an equipment module installed therein, the method comprising, at the network agent: interrogating each addressable module location to identify whether an equipment module is installed in the location; for each equipment module identified, determining an equipment type, the plurality of equipment modules having at least two equipment types; for each equipment type identified, determining a list of available control data objects associated with that equipment type, wherein control data objects represent values for use in monitoring or controlling equipment; compiling a management information database using information about the list of available control data objects associated with each equipment type, the management information database being used by the network agent to interpret object identifiers sent from a network manager; associating values with the control data objects of equipment modules to be controlled; communicating said values across a network, wherein the values are identified by equipment type and by control data object; periodically determining the types of the equipment identified at each module location in the module rack and lists of available control data objects for the identified equipment types; and updating the management information database using updated information about the lists of available control data objects associated with the types of the equipment identified at each addressable module location; wherein each of at least some of the control data objects is associated with a dot separated string of integers, and an integer in the dot separated string of integers specifies the location of the equipment module associated with the control data object within the module rack.