Patent ID: 7751392

Claim:
A network monitoring method, comprising: operating a component stored on a memory and executed by a processor to parse router configurations to determine port connectivity information for each port on each router in a network, wherein the port connectivity information comprises information that specifies which ports on which cards on which routers are connected by which of a plurality of customer links of a customer to which of a plurality of customer locations of the customer; operating a component stored on a memory and executed by a processor to integrate the port connectivity information with customer data, the customer data comprising customer account information of the customer, to create an integrated database, wherein the integrated database identifies the port connectivity information that corresponds to the customer account information of the customer; operating a component stored on a memory and executed by a processor to determine a customer link diversity for the customer based on the integrated database, wherein the customer link diversity is calculated based on a total number of selected customer links of the customer relative to a number of the total number of selected customer links of the customer determined to be diverse links and wherein a particular customer link is considered diverse when the particular customer link comprises a particular collection of circuits and ports that is unique relative to the other customer links of the customer; and operating a component stored on a memory and executed by a processor to display the customer link diversity; wherein each customer link is a collection of circuits and ports that are needed to terminate on a particular router and card in order to provide a service to the customer, wherein each customer link provides at least one service to the customer, and wherein each customer link terminates at a different access point of the customer to provide access to the at least one service.