AN AD-HOC NETWORK, A NETWORK DEVICE AND A METHOD OF CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT THEREFOR

摘要

The invention relates to an ad-hoc network ( 100 ) comprising a network device ( 201 ) for configuration management. The network device ( 201 ) comprises a traffic monitoring processor ( 211 ) which monitors traffic between different network elements. The network device ( 201 ) further comprises a configuration processor ( 213 ) which determines combined configuration information for at least a first and second network element in response to the monitored traffic. The combined configuration information is stored in a data store ( 215 ) and may be communicated to other network elements. The network device ( 201 ) may thus derive combined configuration information which relates to more than one network element and may specifically determine combined configuration information in the context of location, connections and history of the ad-hoc network ( 100 ). The stored combined configuration information may be used to initiate a replacement network element or to emulate the functionality of an existing network element. It may also be used for error detection.