Patent ID: 7376951

Claim:
A method for starting a dependent process in a network device, comprising: starting one or more processes in the network device; registering the one or more processes with a process manager running in the network device; receiving, after the one or more processes are running in the network device, a request to start a second process in the network device; accessing a configuration file to determine if the second process is dependent on one or more prerequisite processes that must be running before the second process can be started, the configuration file further identifying a version of each prerequisite process required by the dependent process; if there is a prerequisite process of the second process defined in the configuration file, comparing the one or more prerequisite processes with the one or more registered running processes to determine if each of the one or more prerequisite processes is running in the network device and whether the second process is compatible with the version identifier of each of the one or more running prerequisite processes; and starting the second process only if every prerequisite process of the second process is running and the second process is compatible with the version identifier of each of the one or more running prerequisite processes.