Method and mechanism for identifying an unmanaged switch in a network

• US 20060126534A1
• Filed: 12/10/2004
• Published: 06/15/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Huibregtse, Thomas Paul
• Granted Patent: US 7,733,800 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/254
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4641 Virtual LANs, VLANs, e.g. virtual private networks [VPN] LAN interconnection over a bridge based backbone H04L12/462; encapsulation techniques H04L12/4633; routing of packets H04L45/00; packet switches H04L49/00; virtual private networks for security H04L63/0272
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/103 across network layers, e.g. resolution of network layer into physical layer addresses or address resolution protocol [ARP]

Abstract

An exemplary method for managing a network includes accessing information associated with a managed switch in the network, querying an external data source, and identifying an unmanaged switch connected to the managed switch based on a reply to the query and the accessed information.

Claims

1. Method for managing a network, comprising:

accessing information associated with a managed switch in the network;

querying an external data source;

identifying an unmanaged switch connected to the managed switch based on a reply to the query and the accessed information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the information associated with the managed switch is accessed by querying the managed switch.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the information associated with the managed switch indicates a Layer 2 network address of a device connected to a port of the managed switch.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the query reply indicates a type of the device associated with the Layer 2 network address.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the information associated with the managed switch indicates a Virtual Local Area Network of the network with which the Layer 2 network address is associated, and the query reply indicates information about the Virtual Local Area Network.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the query reply indicates whether the Virtual Local Area Network is assigned for Internet Protocol telephony, and when the Virtual Local Area Network is assigned for Internet Protocol telephony, the device connected to the port of the managed switch is determined to be an unmanaged switch.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the query includes the Layer 2 network address of the device connected to the port of the managed switch and the external data source includes a table associating Layer 2 addresses with Layer 3 addresses within the network.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the table comprises at least one Address Resolution Protocol cache.

9. The method of claim 1, comprising deducing at least one root cause of a problem with or malfunction of the network based on the identification.

10. The method of claim 1, comprising performing the steps of accessing, querying, and identifying for different switches in the network.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the external data source is associated with the network.

12. The method of claim 1, comprising updating a topology of the network based on the identifying.

13. A method for identifying an order of multiple devices connected to ports of a managed network switch in a network, comprising:

for each port of the network switch, accessing Layer 2 and Layer 3 address information associated with the port;

identifying one or more devices connected to the port based on the accessed Layer 2 and Layer 3 information;

for each identified device, determining whether the identified device is included in an external list of switch-enabled devices; and

ordering the identified device in an ordered list associated with the port based on the determining.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein when the identified device is included in the external list of switch-enabled devices, the identified device is ordered as the first entry in the ordered list, and when the identified device is not included in the external list of switch-enabled devices, the identified device is ordered in the ordered list after an entry for a switch-enabled device.

15. The method of claim 13, comprising providing an alert when the identified device is included in the external list of switch-enabled devices and the ordered list already contains an entry for a different switch-enabled device.

16. A system for managing a network, comprising:

means for accessing information associated with a managed switch in the network and querying an external data source; and

means for identifying an unmanaged switch connected to the managed switch based on a reply to the query and the accessed information.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the information associated with the managed switch indicates a Layer 2 network address of a device connected to a port of the managed switch.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the query reply indicates a type of the device associated with the Layer 2 network address.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the information associated with the managed switch indicates a Virtual Local Area Network of the network with which the Layer 2 network address is associated, and the query reply indicates information about the Virtual Local Area Network.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the query reply indicates whether the Virtual Local Area Network is assigned for Internet Protocol telephony, and when the Virtual Local Area Network is assigned for Internet Protocol telephony, the device connected to the port of the managed switch is determined to be an unmanaged switch.

21. The system of claim 16, wherein the query includes the Layer 2 network address of the device connected to the port of the managed switch and the external data source comprises a table associating Layer 2 addresses with Layer 3 addresses within the network.

22. A machine readable medium comprising a computer program for causing a computer to perform:

accessing information associated with a managed switch in the network;

querying an external data source;

identifying an unmanaged switch connected to the managed switch based on a reply to the query and the accessed information.

23. The medium of claim 22, wherein the information associated with the managed switch indicates a Layer 2 network address of a device connected to a port of the managed switch.

24. The medium of claim 23, wherein the query reply indicates a type of the device associated with the Layer 2 network address.

25. The medium of claim 23, wherein the information associated with the managed switch indicates a Virtual Local Area Network of the network with which the Layer 2 network address is associated, and the query reply indicates information about the Virtual Local Area Network.

26. The medium of claim 25, wherein the query reply indicates whether the Virtual Local Area Network is assigned for Internet Protocol telephony, and when the Virtual Local Area Network is assigned for Internet Protocol telephony, the device connected to the port of the managed switch is determined to be an unmanaged switch.

27. The medium of claim 23, wherein the query includes the Layer 2 network address of the device connected to the port of the managed switch and the external data source includes a table associating Layer 2 addresses with Layer 3 addresses within the network.

28. A machine readable medium comprising a computer program for causing a computer to perform:

for each port of the network switch, accessing Layer 2 and Layer 3 address information associated with the port;

identifying one or more devices connected to the port based on the accessed Layer 2 and Layer 3 information;

for each identified device, determining whether the identified device is included in an external list of switch-enabled devices; and

ordering the identified device in an ordered list associated with the port based on the determining.

30. The medium of claim 28, wherein the program causes the computer to provide an alert when the identified device is included in the external list of switch-enabled devices and the ordered list already contains an entry for a different switch-enabled device.

29. The medium of 28, wherein when the identified device is included in the external list of switch-enabled devices, the program causes the computer to order the identified device as the first entry in the ordered list, and when the identified device is not included in the external list of switch-enabled devices, the program causes the computer to order the identified device in the ordered list after an entry for a switch-enabled device.