Patent ID: 8473606

Claim:
A method for initiating a network monitoring device of a network monitoring system, comprising: receiving an image and one or more templates at the network monitoring device from a network server entity, the network server entity to transmit the image and the one or more templates at least in part in response to receiving a request to transmit the image, wherein the image comprises an operating system to be executed by a processor of the network monitoring device at least in part to initialize the network monitoring device, and wherein the one or more templates comprise one or more specifications to describe how services are to be monitored for one or more network devices and further to describe how to generate one or more new device files to replace one or more previously existing device files for the network monitoring device, the one or more new device files associated with the one or more network devices; locating the one or more network devices on a network associated with the network monitoring system; generating the one or more new device files according to the one or more templates utilizing, at least in part, a processor of the network monitoring device; loading the image and the one or more new device files into a memory of the network monitoring device utilizing at least in part the processor of the network monitoring device at least in part in response to the one or more new device files being generated; and monitoring one or more services associated with the one or more located network devices.