Patent ID: 8621211

Claim:
A method comprising: determining, by a processor, data associated with devices that are manageable by a management system, the data identifying: one or more brands of the devices that are manageable by the management system, and one or more types of the devices that are manageable by the management system; receiving, by the processor, discovery rule inputs that include a plurality of network addresses and simple network management protocol (SNMP) parameters; filtering, by the processor and based on the SNMP parameters, the plurality of network addresses to remove a first network address of the plurality of network addresses, the first network address being associated with the one or more of: a broadcast address, a multicast address, a loop back address, or a previously discovered device; obtaining, by the processor and based on the discovery rule inputs, information for a network device associated with a second network address, of the plurality of network addresses, that differs from the first network address, the information identifying: a particular brand associated with the network device, and a particular device type associated with the network device; determining, by the processor, that the network device is manageable by the management system based on a comparison of the information to the data associated with devices that are manageable by the management system, determining that the network device is manageable by the management system including: determining that the particular brand, associated with the network device, is included in the one or more brands of the devices that are manageable by the management system, and determining that the particular device type, associated with the network device, is included in the one or more types of the devices that are manageable by the management system; and identifying, by the processor and to the management system, the network device based on determining that the network device is manageable by the management system, the management system obtaining device configuration information associated with the network device and managing the network device using the device configuration information.