US Patent 7337209 Large-scale network management using distributed autonomous agents

In a computer network including a plurality of network elements, a network management architecture including a plurality of agents, each of the agents corresponding to a different one of the network elements, and a plurality of device components, each of the device components modeling at least one aspect of one of the network elements, the aspect being either of a physical and a functional characteristic of the network element, where each of the agents includes a plurality of the device components, and where at least of the two device components within at least one of the agents are logically interconnected, each logical interconnection corresponding to either of a physical and a functional interconnection found within or between any of the network elements.