Ethernet topology change notification and nearest neighbor determination
First Claim
1. A computer implemented method of automatically determining the topology of a computer network, said computer network comprising a plurality of network devices coupled together, each of said network devices having at least one port, said method comprising starting with a set of all network devices then repeating the following steps until all network devices downstream from other network devices are detected:
- sending packets from each of said network devices in said set to at least all other network devices in said set;
determining an upper network device is directly above a lower network device in said set by detecting within each network device in said set if a packet from only one other network device was received on a particular port; and
in response to said determination, executing the steps of;
marking said lower network device as a downstream network device in a topology table within said upper network device determined to be directly above said lower network device; and
silencing said lower network device by removing said lower network device from said set.
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Accused Products
Abstract
It is desirable to be able to automatically map the topology of a computer network. To automatically map the topology of a computer network, a new method is proposed. First, all the network management modules (NMMs) in the network start off broadcasting multicast packets informing other units of their presence. When a network management module detects that only a single unit is connected to a particular slot-port combination, then that network management module designates the single unit as being a downstream unit in a network topology table. After updating its network topology table, the network management module sends a quench packet to the single unit to silence the downstream unit. These steps are repeated for all occurrences of a single unit connected to a particular slot-port combination in that network. After this occurs, the very bottom layer of the network has been detected and it'"'"'s topology has been mapped. Since this bottom layer has been silenced by the quench packets, the bottom layer units will no longer be sending out the multicast packets. Thus, the next lowest layer can be detected by performing the same set of steps again. Specifically, any slot-pair combination that only has a single unit coupled to it is then marked as being a downstream and a quench message is sent to silence that unit. These steps are performed recursively until the entire network topology is detected.
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Citations
15 Claims
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1. A computer implemented method of automatically determining the topology of a computer network, said computer network comprising a plurality of network devices coupled together, each of said network devices having at least one port, said method comprising starting with a set of all network devices then repeating the following steps until all network devices downstream from other network devices are detected:
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sending packets from each of said network devices in said set to at least all other network devices in said set; determining an upper network device is directly above a lower network device in said set by detecting within each network device in said set if a packet from only one other network device was received on a particular port; and in response to said determination, executing the steps of; marking said lower network device as a downstream network device in a topology table within said upper network device determined to be directly above said lower network device; and silencing said lower network device by removing said lower network device from said set. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A network device for automatically determining the topology of a computer network, said computer network comprising a plurality of network devices coupled together, said network device comprising:
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a processor; a memory coupled to said processor; at least one network port, said network port coupled to another network device; a sending thread executing on said processor, said sending thread sending packets from said network device to other network devices in said network unless said network device has been silenced; and a receiving thread executing on said processor, said receiving thread receiving packets from other network devices, if only one other network device is detected on a network port then marking said only one other network device as a downstream network device in a topology table in said network device and silencing said downstream network device. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A computer network, said computer network comprising a plurality of network devices, each of said network devices having at least one network port coupled to another network device through a communication line, each of said network devices in said computer network starting in a set of all network devices then repeating the following steps until all network devices downstream from other network devices are detected:
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sending packets from network devices in said set to at least all other network devices in said set; determining an upper network device is directly above a lower network in said set by detecting if a packet from only one other network device was received on a particular network port; and in response to said determination, executing the steps of; marking said lower network device as a downstream network device in a topology table within said upper network device determined to be directly above said lower network device; silencing said lower network device by removing said lower network device from said set.
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Specification