1. A method for building a sub-network of nodes in a communications network, the method comprising the steps of: identifying nodes to be included in the sub-network; gathering node configuration information from the nodes identified; resolving node configuration information conflicts among the nodes in the subnetwork by eliminating duplicate node numbers among nodes to be included in said subnetwork; create a sub-network map; distributing the sub-network map to the nodes in the sub-network; and synchronizing the nodes in the sub-network.