METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR NETWORK SUBNET DISCOVERY

• US 20130223441A1
• Filed: 02/27/2012
• Published: 08/29/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Conduent Business Services, LLC (Conduent, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: MEYER, LAWRENCE W., Kumar, Vijay, Igharas, Walter
• Granted Patent: US 9,077,635 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/389
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0213 Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/02 Topology update or discovery

Abstract

A method and non-transitory computer readable medium for discovering network subnets are disclosed. For example, the method sets a host portion of a network address to a fixed value for a particular network, sends a discovery message to a subnet of a plurality of subnets having the fixed value of the host portion for the particular network, discovers the subnet if a response to the discovery message is received from a device and repeats the sending and the discovering until all of the plurality of subnets are checked, where the sending and the discovering are applied only to the fixed value of the host portion for each of the plurality of subnets.

Claims

1. A method for discovering network subnets, comprising:

setting a host portion of a network address to a fixed value for a particular network;

sending a discovery message to a subnet of a plurality of subnets having the fixed value of the host portion for the particular network;

discovering the subnet if a response to the discovery message is received from a device; and

repeating the sending and the discovering until all of the plurality of subnets are checked, where the sending and the discovering are applied only to the fixed value of the host portion for each of the plurality of subnets.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the discovery message comprises a communications protocol that requires no pre-authorization and requires a response from the device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the communications protocol comprises a simple network management protocol version three (SNMPv3).

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the discovery message comprises an engine identification request under SNMPv3.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the network address comprises an internet protocol version four network address.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the network address comprises an internet protocol version six network address.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the fixed value comprises a first host of the network address.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the fixed value comprises a last host of the network address.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the particular network comprises a private network.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions, the plurality of instructions including instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method for discovering network subnets, comprising:

setting a host portion of a network address to a fixed value for a particular network;

sending a discovery message to a subnet of a plurality of subnets having the fixed value of the host portion for the particular network;

discovering the subnet if a response to the discovery message is received from a device; and

repeating the sending and the discovering until all of the plurality of subnets are checked, where the sending and the discovering are applied only to the fixed value of the host portion for each of the plurality of subnets.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the discovery message comprises a communications protocol that requires no pre-authorization and requires a response from the device.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the communications protocol comprises simple network management protocol version three (SNMPv3).

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the discovery message comprises an engine identification request under SNMPv3.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the network address comprises an internet protocol version four network address.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the network address comprises an Internet protocol version six network address.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the fixed value comprises a first host of the network address.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the fixed value comprises a last host of the network address.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the particular network comprises a private network.

19. A method for discovering network subnets, comprising:

setting a host portion of a network address to a fixed value for a particular network, wherein the fixed value comprises a first host of the network address for the particular network;

sending a simple network management protocol version three (SNMPv3) engine identification request message to a subnet of a plurality of subnets having fixed value of the host portion for the particular network;

determining if a response is received to the SNMPv3 engine identification request message from a router on the subnet, wherein the router is configured with SNMPv3;

recording the subnet as discovered in a database if the response from the router is received; and

repeating the sending, determining and recording until all of the plurality of subnets are checked, where the sending and the discovering are applied only to the fixed value of the host portion for each of the plurality of subnets.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the network address comprises at least one of:

an internet protocol version four address or an internet protocol version six address.