Configurable fault recovery policy for a computer system

1. A computer system comprising:

a default event policy defining responses to detected events indicative of selected faults,

a configurable event policy for modifying the default event policy to define responses to one or more of said detected events that are different than default responses, and

a hierarchical event management system using the default event policy and the configurable event policy to determine a required response to a particular event.

2. The computer system of claim 1 , further comprising:

a configuration database, wherein the configurable event policy is stored within the configuration database.

3. The computer system of claim 2 , wherein the configuration database notifies one or more event managers of modifications made to the default event policy.

4. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein the default event policy and the configurable event policy include hierarchical descriptors.

5. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein the computer system comprises a network device.

6. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein events include resource consumption notifications.

7. The computer system of claim 6 , wherein said resource comprises memory assigned to one or more applications.

8. A method of operating a computer network device comprising:

providing a default event policy;

providing a configurable event policy;

providing a hierarchical event management system using the default event policy and the configurable event policy to determine a required response to a particular event;

using the configurable event policy to modify the default event policy;

detecting an event indicative of any of a failure or a resource consumption notification;

responding to the detected event in accordance with the default event policy as modified by the configurable event policy; and

using the hierarchical event management system to implement an appropriate response.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein responding to the detected event includes: taking actions less severe than those in the unmodified default policy.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein responding to the detected event includes: taking actions more severe than those in the unmodified default policy.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein responding to the detected event includes: taking different actions than those in the unmodified default policy.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein responding to the detected event includes: taking new actions not defined in the unmodified default policy.

13. The method of claim 8 , wherein the default event policy and the configurable event policy include hierarchical descriptors.

14. The method of claim 8 , wherein modifying the default event policy with the configurable event policy includes:

masking one or more particular events.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein masking one or more particular events includes:

taking actions less severe than those in the unmodified default policy.

16. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

providing a second configurable event policy;

modifying the default event policy with the second configurable event policy;

detecting an event; and

responding to the detected event in accordance with the default event policy as modified by the second configurable event policy.

17. In a network device, a fault management system, comprising:

a default event policy defining responses to selected events indicative of failures or resources usage,

a configurable event policy for augmenting said default policy with definitions of responses to events, indicative of failures or resource usage, other than those events identified in the default policy, and

a hierarchical event management system utilizing the default event policy and the configurable event policy to determine a required response to a particular event.