Method and apparatus for determination of network topology

• US 20060031445A1
• Filed: 06/17/2004
• Published: 02/09/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/17/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: WSOU Investments, LLC (WSOU Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent USA, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: van Willigenburg, Willem, Rajan, Govinda N.
• Granted Patent: US 7,646,729 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/042 comprising distributed management centres cooperatively managing the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies

Abstract

A method and apparatus for determining network topology includes adapting a single sniffer to collect information from nodes associated with at least two selected areas of the network and determining a topology of at least a portion of the network using the collected information.

Claims

1. A method for managing a communications network having a plurality of areas, each of said plurality of areas having associated with it a respective group of nodes, said method comprising:

adapting a single sniffer to collect information from nodes associated with at least two selected areas of said network; and

determining a topology of at least a portion of said network using said collected information.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of adapting said single sniffer further comprises connecting said sniffer to a central location of said network.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said sniffer is part of an existing network management system of said network.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein said sniffer is a stand-alone device connected independently to said central location of said network.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein the step of adapting the single sniffer further comprises configuring said centrally connected network sniffer as a partitioned designated node of a selected area.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said selected area further comprises an L1 area and an L2 area;

and in the case of an L1 area being selected, said method further comprises configuring said sniffer as a partition designated L2 node of the selected L1 area.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said information from said nodes comprises link state messages.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein said collected information is based upon an existing network protocol.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein said existing network protocol is part of ISO-IEC 10589:

2001.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of determining the topology further comprises collecting information about a first selected area and calculating the topology according to said first selected area and then subsequently receiving information about a second or more selected areas and recalculating the topology based upon each new area.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of determining the topology further comprises receiving information from all nodes of all areas in the network and performing a single topology calculation.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said areas are selected by sequentially configuring said sniffer as a partition designated L2 node of an L1 area to be selected.

13. A computer readable medium containing a program which, when executed, performs an operation for managing a communications network having a plurality of areas said operation comprising:

adapting a single sniffer to collect information from nodes associated with at least two selected areas of said network; and

determining a topology of at least a portion of said network using said collected information.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 13 wherein the step of adapting said single sniffer further comprises connecting said sniffer to a central location of said network.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein said sniffer is part of an existing network management system of said network.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 14 wherein said sniffer is a stand-alone device connected independently to said central location of said network.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 14 wherein the step of adapting the single sniffer further comprises configuring said centrally connected network sniffer as a partitioned designated node of a selected area.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein said selected area further comprises an L1 area and an L2 area;

and in the case of an L1 area being selected, said method further comprises configuring said sniffer as a partition designated L2 node of the selected L1 area.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein said information from said nodes comprises link state messages.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 13 wherein said collected information is based upon an existing network protocol.

21. The computer readable medium of claim 20 wherein said existing network protocol is part of ISO-IEC 10589:

2001.

22. The computer readable medium of claim 13 wherein the step of determining the topology further comprises collecting information about a first selected area and calculating the topology according to said first selected area and then subsequently receiving information about a second or more selected areas and recalculating the topology based upon each new area.

23. The computer readable medium of claim 13 wherein the step of determining the topology further comprises receiving information from all nodes of all areas in the network and performing a single topology calculation.

24. The computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein said areas are selected by sequentially configuring said sniffer as a partition designated L2 node of an L1 area to be selected.

25. A communications network having improved topology determination means comprising:

an inner nodal area;

one or more outer nodal areas connected to the inner nodal area; and

means for detecting topology forming information about all nodes in the inner and outer nodal areas from a central location in the communications network.

26. The communications network of claim 25 wherein said means for detecting the topology forming information is a single sniffer connected to the inner nodal area.

27. The communications network of claim 26 wherein the sniffer is part of an existing network management system of said network.

28. The communications network of claim 26 wherein the sniffer apparatus is a stand-alone device connected independently to the central location of the network.

29. The communications network of claim 26 wherein the sniffer is instructed to function as a partition designated node in an existing network protocol.

30. The communications network of claim 29 wherein the existing network protocol is ISO-IEC 10589:

2001.