Patent ID: 8886808

Claim:
A method for configuring a first network device in a communication network, comprising: selecting at least one subsets of a plurality of standardized network equipment configuration parameters, each subset comprising a plurality of individual configuration parameters that may be enabled and disabled together; representing each selected at least one subset by a value of an associated grouping variable; saving each value associated with each grouping variable into a configuration file on a server, each value representing each selected at least one subsets, thereby creating a configuration file that governs switches executed by the first network device to switch on and/or off the at least one subsets of standardized network equipment configuration parameters according to the values associated with the grouping variables; loading the configuration file from the server to the first network device; and setting software switches within the first network device according to at least one of the grouping variable values in the configuration file, thereby switching on and/or off subsets of standardized network equipment configuration parameters within the first network device according to at least one of the group representative values in the configuration file.