Patent ID: 7398326

Claim:
A method of operating a network manager (hereinafter, “first network manager”), the method comprising communicating with a first component set, the first component set comprising one or more network components via a first protocol and identifying each component of the first component set with an identifier of a first identifier type, the identifier being unique to that component under the first protocol with respect to the other components in the first component set, managing the one or more components of the first component set, receiving information regarding at least one component in a second component set, the second component set comprising one or more network components, that information including an identifier of the first identifier type, the information being received from a second network manager that (i) communicates with the second component set via a second protocol, (ii) manages the components of the second component set, (iii) provides an identifier for each component of the second component set with an identifier of a second identifier type unique to that component under the second protocol with respect to the other components in the second component set, and (iv) assigns an identifier of the first identifier type to a component of the second component set, the identifier of the first identifier type to be sent to a network manager of the first component set along with information regarding the component, wherein the identifier of the first identifier type assigned to a common component that is common to the first and second component sets matches an identifier used by the first network manager to identify the common component to the first component set and using said information to determine whether the component in identified in the information is common to the first and second sets.