AUTOMATED DISCOVERY OF MONITORING DEVICES ON A NETWORK

• US 20100312875A1
• Filed: 06/05/2009
• Published: 12/09/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Square D Company (Schneider Electric SE)
• Original Assignee: Square D Company (Schneider Electric SE)
• Inventors: Wilerson, Patrick, Van Gorp, John C.
• Granted Patent: US 8,977,738 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4511 using domain name system [DNS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5014 using dynamic host configuration protocol [DHCP] or bootstrap protocol [BOOTP]

Abstract

A system and method are disclosed for the automated discovery of devices on a network, such as a TCP/IP network using Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (“DHCP”) and Domain Name System (“DNS”) servers. Devices on the network may be discovered, identified, and tracked by a monitoring server. Communications with the monitoring server may include identification information for each device. The identification information may be stored in DHCP option fields, transmitted with DHCP messages, and used to identify whether the device is new to the network.

Claims

1. A system for discovering devices on a network comprising:

one or more devices on the network that broadcast for access to the network, wherein the broadcast includes identification information for the broadcasting device;

a dynamic network address assignment server that receives the broadcast and leases an address to the broadcasting device;

a device address translator coupled with the dynamic network address assignment server that is updated with the leased address and assigns a host name to the device; and

a monitoring server communicating with the dynamic network address assignment server that discovers devices on the network based on the identification information.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the dynamic network address assignment server comprises a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) server and the device address translator comprises a domain name system (DNS) server.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the network comprises a TCP/IP network and the address comprises an IP address.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein leasing of the address further comprises:

providing an offer message in response to the broadcast;

receiving a request from the device, wherein the device sends the request to the monitoring server after locating the identification information; and

providing an acknowledgement message acknowledging the lease of the IP address.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein the identification information is stored in an option field that is included in the broadcast and the offer message.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the option field comprises a Vendor Specific Option (VSO) field or an option field for a host name.

7. The system of claim 5 wherein the identification information comprises a model, type, or serial number of the device.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the one or more devices comprise intelligent electronic devices (IED'"'"'s).

9. The system of claim 1 wherein one of the one or more devices comprises a gateway device that connects with other devices, and wherein the gateway device connects those other devices with the dynamic network address assignment server and the device address translator.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the identification information comprises an identification for the device and an identification for the dynamic network address assignment server.

11. A system for monitoring devices on a network comprising:

a monitoring server that includes dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) functions including leasing the devices an IP address, wherein the monitoring server identifies the devices on the network based on identification information from the devices; and

a domain name system (DNS) server that is updated with the leased IP address from the monitoring server, and assigns a host name based on the leased IP address;

wherein the monitoring server acts as a DNS slave that is prompted by the DNS server to monitor the devices on the network and identify devices that are added or removed from the network based on the identification information.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the leasing of the IP address comprises:

receiving a DHCPDISCOVER broadcast from at least one of the monitoring devices requesting the IP address;

providing a DHCPOFFER message to the broadcasting monitoring device;

receiving a DHCPREQUEST from the monitoring device, wherein the monitoring device sends the DHCPREQUEST to the monitoring server after locating the identification information; and

providing a DHCPACK message acknowledging the lease of the IP address.

13. The system of claim 11 wherein the DNS server is updated to include the identification information for each device as part of the TXT record of the device.

14. The system of claim 11 wherein the identification information for a particular monitoring device is stored in a DHCP option field associated with that monitoring device.

15. The system of claim 11 wherein the DNS server prompting of the DNS slave comprises zone transfer.

16. The system of claim 14 wherein the DHCP option field comprises the Vendor Specific Option (VSO) field or the DHCP option field for a host name.

17. The system of claim 11 wherein the identification information originates as part of a zone transfer.

18. A method for automated monitoring of devices on a network comprising:

receiving a request from a device to join the network, wherein the request includes identification information for the device;

offering, upon receipt of the request, to connect the device to the network;

acknowledging the connection of the device to the network;

updating a device address translator based on the identification information from the device for associating a host name with the device; and

updating a list of devices on the network based on the identification information for the devices, wherein the list of devices on the network is used to identify the connected devices and is compared with a prior list of devices to determine which devices are newly connected.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

updating the list of devices on the network by comparing the identification information for previously identified devices with the identification information for newly identified devices on the network.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein the offering to connect comprises providing the device with a lease of an internet protocol (IP) address for the network.

21. The method of claim 18 wherein the identification information comprises a model, type, or serial number of the device.

22. A method for automated tracking of devices on a network by a monitoring server, the method comprising:

receiving a discovery broadcast from a device;

determining whether the discovery broadcast includes identification information for the broadcasting device;

sending an offer to the device when the discovery broadcast includes identification information; and

utilizing the identification information to track the devices on the network by maintaining a list of devices on the network that includes the identification information for each device.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein the determination includes checking DHCP option fields for the identification information.