Network Administration Systems And Methods

• US 20080104213A1
• Filed: 10/26/2006
• Published: 05/01/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Inventors: Walker, James R., McGee, Michael Sean, Stratton, Mark C.
• Granted Patent: US 9,338,056 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/06 Management of faults, events, alarms or notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0816 the condition being an adaptation, e.g. in response to network events
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/083 for increasing network speed
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0811 by checking connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display

Abstract

Network administration systems and methods are disclosed. In an exemplary implementation, a method of administering a computer network may include listening to inter-switch communication at a server computer in the computer network. The method may also include parsing the inter-switch communication. The method may also include extracting data about the network from the inter-switch communication for display to a user at the server computer.

Claims

1. A method of administering a computer network, comprising:

listening to inter-switch communication at a server computer in the computer network;

parsing the inter-switch communication;

extracting data about the network from the inter-switch communication for display to a user at the server computer.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising first identifying a type of inter-switch communication.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the type of inter-switch communication is based on at least one of the following protocols. Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP), Unidirectional Link Detection (UDLD), Dynamic ISL or Dynamic Trunking Protocol (DISL or DTP), VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP), Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP), Port Aggregation Protocol (PAgP), Spanning Tree Bridge Protocol Data Unit (BPDU) (either 802.1D or PVST+), and Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol BPDU (RSTP).

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising identifying a version of inter-switch communication after identifying the type of inter-switch communication.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the inter-switch communication is not addressed to the server computer.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising reconfiguring the computer network based on the extracted data.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the extracted data is displayed for a user and reconfiguring the computer network is manual.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising executing program code at the server computer to automatically reconfigure the network.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising changing a duplex setting on the computer server if the duplex settings do not match for a connection.

10. A network administration system, comprising:

a server computer in a computer network, the server computer including a plurality of network interface cards (NICs);

computer readable program code stored on the server computer, the computer readable program code operatively associated with the NICs during execution to;

receive inter-switch communications at the server computer;

extract data from the inter-switch communication; and

determine at least a network topology from the extracted data.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the computer readable program code extracts data by parsing the inter-switch communication.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the operations of parsing and extracting are protocol-specific.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the protocol is one of the following:

Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP), Unidirectional Link Detection (UDLD), Dynamic ISL or Dynamic Trunking Protocol (DISL or DTP), VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP), Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP), Port Aggregation Protocol (PAgP), Spanning Tree Bridge Protocol Data Unit (BPDU) (either 802.1D or PVST+), and Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol BPDU (RSTP).

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the computer readable program code executes to reconfigure the computer network based on the extracted data.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the computer readable program code executes to change at least one duplex setting on the computer server if the duplex settings do not match for a connection in the computer network.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the computer readable program code executes to display the extracted data for a user.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the computer readable program code executes to display suggestions for reconfiguring the computer network based on the extracted data.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein the network topology includes switch and switch port connectivity.

19. A system for administering a computer network, comprising:

means for listening to inter-switch communication at a server computer; and

means for learning network topology for the computer network by extracting data from the inter-switch communication.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the means for learning includes means for parsing the inter-switch communication and means for extracting data about the network from the inter-switch communication.