Unified Configuration API for Network Connectivity Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
The increasing number of available media types in computing devices burdens system administrators with complex installation, configuration, and maintenance tasks due to the need for multiple software programs and disparate configuration handling and storage methods, making it difficult to manage and replicate settings across different media types.
Innovation Solution
A unified configuration interface and network and connection provisioning framework that enables administrators to configure multiple media types through a single interface, generating a standardized configuration file and implementing a standardized API for media managers to ensure consistent handling and storage of configuration information, facilitating the creation of global policies and easy addition of new media types.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multiple separate media managers are used to configure different media types, then each media type can be configured with dedicated settings, but the system complexity and administrative burden increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple separate media managers into a single unified configuration interface that can manage multiple media types (physical and virtual) through one program. This consolidation maintains the ability to configure different media types while eliminating the need for administrators to launch and manage multiple separate software applications, directly resolving the contradiction between configuration flexibility and system complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The unified configuration interface is designed to be universal, supporting both physical media types (Ethernet, Wi-Fi) and virtual media types (VPN, SSH tunnels) through a single application. This multi-functional approach allows one software program to perform the roles previously requiring multiple dedicated programs, reducing administrative burden while maintaining adaptability across different media types
2Adaptability or versatility
If different media managers handle and store configuration information differently, then each media type can have optimized storage methods, but configuration replication and restoration become difficult and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The unified configuration interface implements a centralized configuration storage system that creates standardized configuration files containing settings for all media types. This allows configuration information to be easily copied, replicated, and restored across different systems or media types, eliminating the time-consuming process of manually transferring settings between multiple separate storage locations while still maintaining media-type-specific configuration capabilities
Solution Approach 2:
The unified configuration interface uses a universal configuration file format that can store settings for multiple media types in a standardized structure. This single configuration file serves multiple purposes: it stores media-type-specific settings, enables easy replication across systems, and facilitates rapid restoration of settings, resolving the contradiction between optimized media-type handling and efficient configuration replication
3Manufacturing precision
If dedicated interfaces are used for each media manager, then configuration precision for specific media types is maintained, but creating global policies spanning multiple media types becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple dedicated configuration interfaces into a single unified interface that provides both media-type-specific configuration capabilities and global policy management. The unified interface maintains precision for specific media types through dedicated configuration sections while simultaneously enabling the creation of global policies that span multiple media types, eliminating the limitation of isolated dedicated interfaces
Data Source
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AI summary
A network and connection provisioning framework for configuring and provisioning multiple aspects of network connectivity. The framework may comprise a unified configuration interface that enables an administrator to configure multiple different types of network connectivity. A single configuration file comprising settings for multiple aspects of network connectivity may be generated based on preferences entered by a system administrator, or by exporting current settings from a particular computing device. Global configuration policies or other configuration settings that span multiple types of network connectivity may be also created and stored in one or more configuration files. Stand-alone media managers and/or plug-in modules may implement one or more standardized application programming interface functions so that they may interoperate with the network and connection provisioning framework. The standardized API may be used to ensure that configuration information is handled and stored in a standardized manner by different media managers and/or plug-in modules.