Patent ID: 7222147

Claim:
A method of operating a telecommunications system, comprising: sending a first metadata file from a network device to an external management system, wherein the first metadata file enables the external management system to learn how to configure the network device and how to manage accounting data, statistics, security, and fault logging from the network device; generating a first management data file within the network device; sending the first management data file from the network device to the external management system; processing the first management data file in accordance with the first metadata file in the external management system for managing the network device; sending a second metadata file from one of the network device and a second network device to the external management system, wherein the second metadata file enables the external management system to learn how to configure the network device and how to manage accounting data, statistics, security, and fault logging from the network device; generating a second management data file within the network device; sending the second management data file from the network device to the external management system; and processing the second management data file in accordance with one of the first metadata file and the second metadata file.