Patent ID: 8312128

Claim:
A network management system comprising: a storage device maintaining a database of MIBs loaded on the network management system; and a processor to: identify a subset of MIB object identifiers (OIDs) of interest from the MIBs loaded on the network management system to be tested for support by a managed device, transmit a series of requests to the managed device, the transmitting comprising: (1) transmitting an initial request to test the managed device for an initial OID of interest from the subset of OIDs of interest, (2) receiving a response to the initial request including an initial returned MIB OID, (3) determining that there are remaining MIB OIDs in the subset of interest that are lexicographically subsequent to the returned MIB OID, and (4) for each remaining MIB OID, transmitting a subsequent request including a MIB OID from the subset of MIB OIDs of interest that is lexicographically next with respect to a previous returned MIB OID included in a previous response; identify, based on each response to each request from the managed device: a first group of MIB OIDs in the subset of MIB OIDs of interest that are supported by the managed device, and a second group of MIB OIDs that are supported by the managed device, but are not loaded on the network management system; and enable the network management system to manage the managed device based on at least the identified first group of MIB OIDs.