Patent ID: 7957300

Claim:
A network management apparatus to manage a physical network, which comprises a plurality of nodes, a service providing device coupled to one of the nodes, and a user terminal device coupled to another node, and to manage a logical network assigned to the physical network, said network management apparatus comprising: a storage unit comprising: a link information storage unit storing link information including a connection relationship between the nodes in the physical network and a logical identifier that belongs to the connection relationship; a device information storage unit to store a device identifier indicating a particular device among the service providing device and the user terminal device, a first node identifier indicating a first node coupled with the particular device, and the logical identifier associated with the particular device; a distance information storage unit to store a usage identifier indicating a service provided by the service providing device, a second node identifier indicating a second node coupled with the service providing device, a third node identifier indicating a third node, and a connection number between the second node and the third node; and a control unit comprising: a node acquisition unit, when fault information is received, to acquire the third node identifier stored in the distance information storage unit associated with the connection number larger than another connection number for a node identified by the fault information, and the usage identifier associated with the acquired third node identifier from the distance information storage unit; a link information acquisition unit to acquire the link information stored in the link information storage unit based on the third node identifier acquired by the node acquisition unit; and an influence area identification unit to acquire a device identifier based on the link information acquired by the link information acquisition unit, and to identify the acquired device identifier, the usage identifier associated with the acquired device identifier and the acquired link information acquired by the link information acquisition unit as an area on which a fault influences.