Topology discovery by partitioning multiple discovery techniques

• US 20030046427A1
• Filed: 04/22/2002
• Published: 03/06/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 09/06/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Inventors: Minhazuddin, Muneyb, Schreuder, James D., Goringe, Christopher M., Krumm-Heller, Alex M.
• Granted Patent: US 7,069,343 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/242
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/046 comprising network management agents or mobile agents therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/02 Topology update or discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/03 by updating link state protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/033 by updating distance vector protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/04 Interdomain routing, e.g. hierarchical routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/42 Centralised routing

Abstract

A system for discovering a topology of a distributed processing network that includes a first topology discovery agent 308 configured to contact a first set of routers to obtain a first type of information stored in each router in the first set of routers; a second topology discovery agent 312 and/or 316 configured to contact a second set of routers to obtain a second type of information stored in each router in the second set of routers, and a phase controller 304 configured to select between the first and second topology discovery agents. The first and second sets of routers are different, and the first and second types of information are different. In one configuration, the first type of information is defined by a network management protocol, and the second type of information is defined by a routing protocol.

Claims

1. A method for discovering a topology of a distributed processing network, comprising:

(a) retrieving from a first set of routers a first type of information stored in each router in the first set of routers; and

(b) retrieving from a second set of routers a second type of information stored in each router in the second set of routers, wherein the first and second sets of routers are different and the first and second types of information are different.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of routers includes at least some of the routers in the second set of routers.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first type of information comprises one or more variables in a management information base and the second type of information comprises one or more variables defined by a routing protocol.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

maintaining an outstanding list of uncontacted routers and/or router interfaces during the contacting steps (a) and (b).

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

maintaining a finished list of contacted routers and/or router interfaces during the contacting steps (a) and (b).

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

retrieving a next hop interface address associated with a selected router and/or interface;

determining a routing protocol supported by the next hop address; and

assigning to at least one of the selected router and/or interface and the next hop interface address a protocol identifier indicating the routing protocol.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

maintaining an initial gateway list during contacting step (a) for use in contacting step (b).

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

based on at least one of the first and second types of information, identifying one or more of interface objects, router objects, and network objects associated with the distributed processing network

9. The method of claim 1, wherein in retrieving step (a) the first type of information is defined by a network management protocol and in retrieving step (b) the second type of information is defined by a routing protocol.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

(c) processing at least one of the routers in the first set of routers by performing at least the following steps;

retrieving a list of interface addresses stored in the processed routers and for each interface address in the list of interface addresses, iteratively performing steps of;

(i) selecting an address of a next hop interface connected to the selected interface address;

(ii) identifying at least one of a router object, an interface object, a network object, and a link object associated with the selected interface address;

(iii) identifying a protocol associated with the selected next hop interface; and

(iv) repeating steps (i)-(iii) for each next hop interface associated with the selected interface address.

10. A method for discovering a topology of a distributed processing network, comprising:

(a) retrieving from a first set of routers a first type of information stored in each router in the first set of routers, the first type of information being defined by a network management protocol; and

(b) retrieving from a second set of routers a second type of information stored in each router in the second set of routers, the second type of information being defined by a routing protocol.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the first and second sets of routers are different and the first and second types of information are different.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the first set of routers includes at least some of the routers in the second set of routers.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the first type of information comprises one or more variables in a management information base defined by the simple network management protocol and the second type of information comprises one or more variables defined by a routing protocol.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

maintaining an outstanding list of uncontacted routers and/or router interfaces during the contacting steps (a) and (b).

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

maintaining a finished list of contacted routers and/or router interfaces during the contacting steps (a) and (b).

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

retrieving a next hop interface address associated with a selected router and/or interface;

determining a routing protocol supported by the next hop address; and

assigning to at least one of the selected router and/or interface and the next hop interface address a protocol identifier indicating the routing protocol.

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

maintaining an initial gateway list during contacting step (a) for use in contacting step (b).

18. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

based on at least one of the first and second types of information, identifying one or more of interface objects, router objects, and network objects associated with the distributed processing network.

20. A system for discovering a topology of a distributed processing network, comprising:

(a) first means for contacting a first set of routers to obtain a first type of information stored in each router in the first set of routers; and

(b) second means for contacting a second set of routers to obtain a second type of information stored in each router in the second set of routers, wherein the first and second sets of routers are different and the first and second types of information are different.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the first set of routers includes at least some of the routers in the second set of routers.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein the first type of information comprises one or more variables in a management information base and the second type of information comprises one or more variables defined by a routing protocol.

23. The system of claim 20, further comprising:

means for maintaining an outstanding list of uncontacted routers and/or router interfaces for use by the first contacting means.

24. The system of claim 23, further comprising:

means for maintaining a finished list of contacted routers and/or router interfaces.

25. The system of claim 20, wherein the first contacting means comprises:

retrieving means for retrieving a next hop interface address associated with a selected router and/or interface;

determining means for determining a routing protocol supported by the next hop address; and

assigning means for assigning to at least one of the selected router and/or interface and the next hop interface address a protocol identifier indicating the routing protocol.

26. The system of claim 20, further comprising:

means for maintaining an initial gateway list for use by the second contacting means.

27. The system of claim 20, further comprising:

based on at least one of the first and second types of information, means for identifying one or more of interface objects, router objects, and network objects associated with the distributed processing network

28. The system of claim 20, wherein the first type of information is defined by a network management protocol and the second type of information is defined by a routing protocol.

29. A system for discovering a topology of a distributed processing network, comprising:

(a) a first topology discovery agent configured to contact a first set of routers to obtain a first type of information stored in each router in the first set of routers;

(b) a second topology discovery agent configured to contact a second set of routers to obtain a second type of information stored in each router in the second set of routers, wherein the first and second sets of routers are different and the first and second types of information are different; and

(c) a phase controller configured to select between the first and second topology discovery agents.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the first set of routers includes at least some of the routers in the second set of routers.

31. The system of claim 29, wherein the first type of information comprises one or more variables in a management information base and the second type of information comprises one or more variables defined by a routing protocol.

32. The system of claim 29, wherein at least one of the first and second topology discovery agents and the phase controller are configured to maintain an outstanding list of uncontacted routers and/or router interfaces for use by the first topology discovery agent.

33. The system of claim 29, wherein at least one of the phase controller and first and second topology discovery agents is configured to maintain a finished list of contacted routers and/or router interfaces.

34. The system of claim 29, wherein the first topology discovery agent is configured to retrieve a next hop interface address associated with a selected router and/or interface, determine a routing protocol supported by the next hop address, and assign to at least one of the selected router and/or interface and the next hop interface address a protocol identifier indicating the routing protocol.

35. The system of claim 29, wherein at least one of the phase controller and first and second topology discovery agents is configured to maintain an initial gateway list for use by the second contacting means.

36. The system of claim 29, wherein at least one of the phase controller and first and second topology discovery agents is configured to identify one or more of interface objects, router objects, and network objects associated with the distributed processing network.

37. A network topology model, comprising:

a plurality of interface identifiers, each interface identifier being associated with a corresponding router;

a plurality of network identifiers; and

a plurality of routing protocol identifiers, each routing protocol identifier being associated with at least one of a router and an interface and being indicative of a routing protocol supported by the at least one of a router and an interface.

38. The network topology model of claim 37, wherein each interface identifier is an electronic address on a network.

39. The network topology model of claim 37, wherein each network identifier is a network address.

40. The network topology model of claim 37, wherein the protocols associated with the routing protocol identifiers comprise at least two distance-vector algorithms, link-state algorithms, and combinations thereof.

41. A method for determining a topology associated with an enterprise network, comprising:

identifying at least one routing protocol used in the enterprise network; and

based on the identified routing protocol, selecting a data collection agent from among a plurality of data collection agents to collect network topology information, wherein each of the plurality of data collection agents is configured to support a different routing protocol.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein the enterprise network uses first and second routing protocols and the first routing protocol is associated with a first data collection agent and the second routing protocol is associated with a second, different routing protocol and further comprising:

collecting a first set of network information using the first data collection agent and a second, different set of network information using the second data collection agent.

43. The method of claim 42, further comprising:

forming the first set of network information into a first network model and the second set of network information into a second, different network model.

44. The method of claim 41, further comprising:

merging the first and second network models into a single network model.