Abstract: A universal serial bus (USB) remote host control driver includes a connection to a local network, a network protocol stack and a memory for storing network addresses of USB device adapters and USB devices on the network. A USB device adapter has one or more USB ports, a network connection, a network address, and a network protocol stack. Together, the USB remote host control driver and the USB device adapter enable interaction between a network computer and peripheral USB devices on the network.

Abstract: A Max Sessions Server (MSS) automatically detects hardware and communications failures. Upon detection, counters are adjusted accordingly to maintain an accurate count of users or groups of users on a system. A database of unique identifiers for each connection is maintained, where the unique identifier is a concatenation of a Network Access Server (NAS) and the connection's incoming NAS node number. If a user requests permission to log into the system, the MSS first checks the database to determine if the unique identifier is already logged in. If so, then a hardware or communications failure has occurred and the MSS must make the appropriate adjustments to the database and counter.

Abstract: A method is disclosed for managing a network having a plurality of network elements, where the network elements are configured to be interconnected to one another. A data structure is maintained that includes information about a link state for each network element in the plurality of network elements. The link state for each network element describes a connection between that network element and at least one other network element designated to be connected to that network element. A management policy is configured for the plurality of network elements by using link state information in the data structure to detect if any of the plurality of network elements are unreachable.