VISUAL REPRESENTATION OF NETWORK-DISCOVERED COMPONENTS

• US 20160253069A1
• Filed: 02/26/2015
• Published: 09/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Zapletal, Lukas
• Granted Patent: US 9,921,715 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/604 Address structures or formats
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/622 Layer-2 addresses, e.g. medium access control [MAC] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0253 using browsers or web-pages for accessing management information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/02 Topology update or discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display

Abstract

Systems and methods to generate and provide a user interface to display a shape-based icon that visually represents a server in a user interface. An example method may include identifying a media access control (MAC) address associated with a server, the MAC address including a vendor identifier and a server identifier; determining a first color in view of the vendor identifier and a second color in view of the server identifier; determining a first shape in view of the vendor identifier and a second shape in view of the server identifier; generating a shape-based icon comprising the first shape having the first color and the second shape having the second color; and providing the user interface to display the shape-based icon that visually represents the server.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

identifying, by a processing device, a media access control (MAC) address associated with a first server, the MAC address comprising a vendor identifier and a server identifier;

determining a first color in view of the vendor identifier and a second color in view of the server identifier;

determining a first shape in view of the vendor identifier and a second shape in view of the server identifier;

generating a shape-based icon comprising the first shape having the first color and the second shape having the second color; and

providing a user interface to display the shape-based icon that visually represents the first server.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the vendor identifier comprises an organizationally unique identifier (OUI) part of the MAC address, and wherein the server identifier comprises a network interface controller (NIC) specific part of the MAC address.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising converting a hexadecimal value of the OUI part of the MAC address to a decimal value.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising mapping the decimal value of the OUI part of the MAC address to a corresponding value on a red, blue, green (RGB) scale to determine the first color.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first server comprises a plurality of network interface controller (NIC) cards.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising determining a primary NIC card of the first server, wherein the MAC address is associated with the primary NIC card.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first shape and the second shape are selected from a shape type set comprising a plurality of different shape types.

8. A system comprising:

a memory; and

a processing device operatively coupled to the memory, the processing device to;

identify, by the processing device, a media access control (MAC) address associated with a first server, the MAC address comprising a vendor identifier and a server identifier;

determine a first color in view of the vendor identifier and a second color in view of the server identifier;

determine a first shape in view of the vendor identifier and a second shape in view of the server identifier;

generate a shape-based icon comprising the first shape having the first color and the second shape having the second color; and

provide a user interface to display the shape-based icon that visually represents the first server.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the vendor identifier comprises an organizationally unique identifier (OUI) part of the MAC address, and wherein the server identifier comprises a network interface controller (NIC) specific part of the MAC address.

10. The system of claim 9, the processing device to convert a hexadecimal value of the OUI part of the MAC address to a decimal value.

11. The system of claim 10, the processing device to map the decimal value of the OUI part of the MAC address to a corresponding value on a red, blue, green (RGB) scale to determine the first color.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the first server comprises a plurality of network interface controller (NIC) cards.

13. The system of claim 12, the processing device to determine a primary NIC card of the first server, wherein the MAC address is associated with the primary NIC card.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the first shape and the second shape are selected from a shape type set comprising a plurality of different shape types.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processing device, cause the processing device to:

determine, by the processing device, a primary network interface controller (NIC) card of a plurality of NIC cards of a first server;

identify, by the processing device, a media access control (MAC) address associated with the primary NIC card of the first server, the MAC address comprising a vendor identifier and a server identifier;

determine a first color in view of the vendor identifier and a second color in view of the server identifier;

determine a first shape in view of the vendor identifier and a second shape in view of the server identifier;

generate a shape-based icon comprising the first shape having the first color and the second shape having the second color; and

provide a user interface to display the shape-based icon that visually represents the first server.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the vendor identifier comprises an organizationally unique identifier (OUI) part of the MAC address, and wherein the server identifier comprises a network interface controller (NIC) specific part of the MAC address.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, the processing device to convert a hexadecimal value of the OUI part of the MAC address to a decimal value.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, the processing device to map the decimal value of the OUI part of the MAC address to a corresponding value on a red, blue, green (RGB) scale to determine the first color.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the first shape and the second shape are selected from a shape type set comprising a plurality of different shape types

20. The non transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the user interface displays a plurality of unique shape-based icons each associated with a respective server of a plurality of servers.