Abstract: A system and method is provided for communicating data and control information between two systems, each system including a communication protocol stack, such as an advanced program to program communication (APPC) protocol stack which includes an I/O interface layer with modules for OPEN, GET, PUT, UPDATE, RELEASE, DELETE, CLOSE, and an OPC interface to a serial optical bus. Dual control and data paths are established from, for example, a client system to a single agent on a target system, the control path including a protocol stack and a data path avoiding at least one layer of the protocol stack. Packets of control information for a given process are transferred on the control path, and packets of data information are transferred on the data path. Communications are sychronized so that the client and target systems send and receive communications packets on the same one of the two paths.

Abstract: Computer-implemented method and apparatus and associated for constructing a network configuration map comprised of at least two interconnected network entities selected from a series of network entities. A series of configuration scripts, each corresponding to one of the series of network entities include a first section comprised of a first portion containing an icon file for generating an icon representative of the corresponding one of the series of network entities, a second portion containing a set of connection rules for the corresponding one of the series of network entities and a second section containing a series of executable instructions for constructing a configuration file for the network entity.

Abstract: A system and method provide a messaging architecture for real time, asynchronous data exchange and request handling by multiple client applications in a network. Each client application effectively, simultaneously, send messages to and receive messages from, any number of other client applications on the network while maintaining only a single network connection to a server. The message architecture provides for multiplexed aggregation of messages being sent to client applications, thereby maximizing network efficiency, and reducing bandwidth requirements. The messaging architecture is fully asynchronous so that client applications need not pend on the receipt or handling of their messages by other client applications.

Abstract: Editing the parameters for several network devices coupled to a computer network can be a cumbersome task. To simplify the task, a method of editing parameter settings for more than one network device using a graphical user interface is introduced. First, a set of network devices is displayed on a display screen. Then, a user selects a set of network devices to edit parameters for. Next, a list of parameters for the selected network devices is displayed on a display screen. The parameters that have the same value for all the selected network devices are displayed on the screen. However, parameters that do not have the same value for all the selected network devices are not displayed on the screen. Instead, the field is usually left blank. A user can edit the parameter settings displayed on the screen. When a parameter modification is approved, the modified parameter value is sent to all the selected network devices.