Method of detecting a device in a network

• US 6,687,754 B1
• Filed: 08/27/1999
• Issued: 02/03/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Sorensen, Lauge Schwartz
• Primary Examiner(s): Alam, Hosain
• Assistant Examiner(s): WON, MICHAEL YOUNG
• Application Number:
  US09/384,687
• Time in Patent Office: 1,621 Days
• Field of Search: 709/231, 709/230, 709/201, 709/106, 709/108, 709/220, 709/243, 709/204, 709/236, 395/200.06, 395/200.11, 345/335, 345/339, 380/20, 380/10, 380/49, 710/8, 710/10, 710/62, 710/220, 710/221
• US Class Current: 709/236
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/40169 Flexible bus arrangements arrangements for maintenance or administration involving management of faults; events, alarms H04L41/06; automatic restoration of network faults H04L41/0654
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/433 with asynchronous transmission, e.g. token ring, register insertion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0836 to enhance reliability, e.g. reduce downtime
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0853 by actively collecting configuration information or by backing up configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0886 Fully automatic configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies

Abstract

A method is disclosed for permitting devices connected to a network to identify characteristics of other devices connected to a network. The devices may automatically obtain information about the other devices in the network in a distributed manner without required a centralized management entity. This means that functions, such as device configuration, can be performed without a system administrator. This reduces the risk of system failure at the system administrator by reducing the reliance on the administrator. The disclosed method may be used in a network employing Ethernet or token-ring frame formats.

Claims

1. A method for identifying and enabling communication capabilities of peer devices connected to a network, the method comprising:

generating a first identification frame at a first peer device in a network when the first peer device is coupled with the network, the first identification frame indicating that the first peer device belongs to a group of devices and has a communication feature common to the group of devices, the common communication feature governing how devices communicate with each other in the network, said generating including inhibiting the first identification frame from propagating to non-peer devices connected to the network;

receiving at the first peer device a second identification frame generated at a second peer device in response to receipt of the first identification frame, the second identification frame indicating that the second peer device has the common communication feature;

enabling the common communication feature based on at least one of the first and second identification frames, without relying on a centralized management device;

wherein inhibiting the first identification frame from propagating to non-peer devices comprises introducing an error into the first identification frame;

identifying the first identification frame at the second peer device by processing the error in the frame; and

rejecting the first identification frame at a third device due to the error in the frame.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the error comprises a corruption of a cyclic redundancy control (CRC) check bit of the first identification frame.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the error comprises a predefined combination of padding bites of the first identification frame.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the second identification frame includes information to indicate acknowledgement of receipt of the first identification frame.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the second identification frame comprises information about other peer devices.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the second identification frame comprises a sysObjectId object in a management information base (MIB) format.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the network comprises an Ethernet, and enabling the common communication feature comprises controlling adaptive packet sizes.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein enabling the common communication feature comprises providing secured data transmissions among peer devices.

9. A system comprising:

a network;

a plurality of peer devices coupled with the network such that, when a new peer device is coupled with the network, an identification frame is propagated from the new peer device to the plurality of peer devices, enabling a communication feature common to the peer devices, while inhibiting propagation of the identification frame to a non-peer device coupled with the network, the common communication feature governing how devices communicate with each other in the network, and said enabling occurring without reliance on a centralized management device; and

switches coupled between the network and the peer devices and the non-peer device, wherein a subset of the switches fail to recognize the identification frame as an identification frame, said frame recognition failure resulting in the identification frame not being propagated to the non-peer device, and wherein inhibiting the propagation of the identification frame to a non-peer device comprises introducing an error into the identification frame, and a second subset of the switches processes the error to identify the identification frame.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the network comprises an Ethernet.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the error comprises a corruption of a cyclic redundancy control (CRC) check bit of the identification frame.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the peer devices exchange identification information in a plurality of identification frames, while inhibiting propagation of the identification frames to the non-peer device, to control adaptive packet sizes.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the peer devices exchange identification information in a plurality of identification frames, while inhibiting propagation of the identification frames to the non-peer device, to provide secured data transmissions among the peer devices.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the peer devices exchange identification information in management information base format in a plurality of identification frames, while inhibiting propagation of the identification frames to the non-peer device.

15. A machine-readable medium embodying information indicative of instructions to cause a device connected to a network to perform operations comprising:

generating a first identification frame at a first peer device in a network when the first peer device is coupled with the network, the first identification frame indicating that the first peer device belongs to a group of devices and has a communication feature common to the group of devices, the common communication feature governing how devices communicate with each other in the network, said generating including inhibiting the first identification frame from propagating to non-peer devices connected to the network;

receiving at the first peer device a second identification frame generated at a second peer device in response to receipt of the first identification frame, the second identification frame indicating that the second peer device has the common communication feature;

enabling the common communication feature based on at least one of the first and second identification frames without relying on a centralized management device;

wherein inhibiting the first identification frame from propagating to non-peer devices comprises introducing an error into the first identification frame;

identifying the first identification frame at the second seer device by processing the error in the frame; and

rejecting the first identification frame at a third device due to the error in the frame.

16. The machine-readable medium of claim 15, wherein enabling the common communication feature comprises controlling adaptive packet sizes.

17. The machine-readable medium of claim 15, enabling the common communication feature comprises providing secured data transmissions among peer devices.