LAN topology detection and assignment of addresses

• US 8,331,266 B2
• Filed: 02/26/2007
• Issued: 12/11/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: Nokia Solutions and Networks US LLC (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Niggemeier, Peter, Hauenstein, Markus
• Primary Examiner(s): CHRISS, ANDREW W
• Application Number:
  US11/679,096
• Publication Number:
  US 20070291665A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,115 Days
• Field of Search: 370/255
• US Class Current: 370/255
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4645 Details on frame tagging routing of packets H04L45/00; support for virtual LAN H04L49/354
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/467 Arrangements for supporting untagged frames, e.g. port-based VLANs
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/045 for graphical visualisation of monitoring data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5038 for local use, e.g. in LAN or USB networks, or in a controller area network [CAN]

Abstract

A method, system, device and computer program product for automatically detecting a topology of a local area network, LAN. The LAN may be included in a telecommunication node, e.g. a base transceiver station. The LAN includes a central host and further hosts connected to the LAN. The central host sends topology descriptors to the hosts connected to the LAN, the hosts each reporting at least one of the received topology descriptors and other information to the central host. The central host can thus build up a topology data base describing the network topology. The topology descriptors are sent in broadcast frames to the hosts. A host, after having received a topology descriptor, may create one or more dedicated addresses, e.g. from the topology descriptor, and return the address(es) to the central host which may store the address(es).

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

sending, in broadcast frames, at least one topology descriptor from a central host to at least one further host;

filtering, by at least one switch, the broadcast frames containing the sent at least one topology descriptor in such a way that only frames dedicated to a certain host reach, or are processed by, that host, wherein a frame dedicated to a certain host is a frame containing at least one topology descriptor describing the port number of the switch to which that host is directly connected;

receiving, at the at least one further host, the at least one topology descriptor sent in frames dedicated to the at least one further host;

reporting, from each of the at least one further host, the received at least one topology descriptor to the central host;

building up, at the central host, a topology data base describing the network topology based on the reported received at least one topology descriptor.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the sending of the at least one topology descriptor is sent in payloads of broadcast frames or untagged broadcast frames.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one further host and the central host are network elements which are interconnected via a local area network.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one further host and the central host are internal elements of a local area network based network element.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein connections between the internal elements are of point-to-point type connections.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the filtering is based on tags in the frames received from the central host.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the tags are removed from filtered frames that are dedicated to a potential host connected to a certain port.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

broadcasting received non-tagged frames to all ports of the at least one switch;

using a switch hierarchy to enlarge a local area network and to increase the number of hosts that can be connected;

forwarding tagged frames targeted to a host on a lower hierarchy level to ports of the switch without removing the tag;

receiving, at a switch on a lower level, tagged frames and filtering the tagged frames based on the tags; and

removing, by the switch on the lower level, a tag from filtered frames that are dedicated to a potential host connected to a certain port of the switch on the lower level.

9. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by a host receiving dedicated frames, whether a received frame is tagged and processing non tagged frames while ignoring tagged frames.

10. A method according to claim 9, wherein the dedicated frames comprises at least one address from which at least one host selects its host address.

11. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

computing, by at least one host, at least one unique address based on the received topology descriptor.

12. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

performing, by the at least one further host comprising a pre-programmed look-up table, at least one of computing one or more addresses and generating the one or more addresses by appending the received topology descriptor to a prefix.

13. A method according to claim 1, wherein a reporting message of the at least one further host to the central host comprises information comprising at least one of:

all topology descriptors received by the at least one further host,

the host type, and

at least one computed address of the at least one further host.

14. A method according to claim 1, wherein a local area network comprises at least one intermediate switch provided between the central host and the at least one further host, and further comprising:

detecting, by the central host, the existence of the at least one intermediate switch from the reported descriptor.

15. A method according to claim 1, wherein a local area network comprises at least one intermediate switch provided between the central host and the at least one further host, the at least one intermediate switch comprising a fixed uplink port for communication with the central host.

16. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

generating, by port numbers of ports to which the at least one further host is connected, identifiers to identify the at least one further host in a local area network.

17. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

assigning, by the central host, addresses to the at least one further host based on at least one of the topology and the topology descriptor.

18. A method according to claim 1, wherein an intermediate switch is provided in a virtual local area network connected to the at least one further host and the central host, the central host communicating with a switch, wherein a central box comprises the switch and the central host, wherein the switch comprises at least one matrix, and wherein the intermediate switch comprises at least one transpose matrix of one of the at least one matrix.

19. A method according to claim 1, wherein a local area network comprises at least one of an Ethernet local area network, a virtual local area network, and wherein the at least one further host is an Ethernet host.

20. A system, comprising:

a local area network having at least one switch;

a central host; and

at least one further host directly connected to one of said at least one switch, wherein;

the central host of the local area network is configured to send, in broadcast frames, at least one topology descriptor to the at least one further host,

the at least one switch is configured to filter the broadcast frames containing the sent at least one topology descriptor in such a way that only frames dedicated to a certain host reach, or are processed by, that host, wherein a frame dedicated to a certain host is a frame containing at least one topology descriptor describing the port number of the switch to which that host is directly connected;

the at least one further host is configured to receive the at least one topology descriptor sent in frames dedicated to the at least one further host;

the at least one further host is configured to report the received at least one topology descriptor to the central host; and

the central host is configured to build up a topology data base describing the network topology based on the reported received at least one topology descriptor.

21. The system according to claim 20, wherein the at least one further host is configured to send a reporting message to the central host, the reporting message comprising at least one of:

all topology descriptors received by the host,

the host type, and

at least one address belonging to the at least one further host.

22. A system according to claim 20, wherein the local area network includes at least one intermediate switch provided between the central host and the at least one further host, the at least one intermediate switch comprising a fixed uplink port for communication with the central host.

23. A system according to claim 20, wherein the system is configured to assign at least one address to the at least one further host, wherein the at least one further host, after having received a topology descriptor, is configured to create the at least one address, and return the at least one created address to the central host, and wherein the central host stores the at least one created address.

24. A system according to claim 20, wherein the system is configured to assign at least one address to at least one further host, wherein the central host is adapted to create the at least one address for the at least one further host and to assign the at least one created address to the at least one further host.

25. A system according to claim 20, wherein the node is selected from one of a communication node;

a telecommunication node and a base transceiver station.

26. An apparatus, comprising:

a host device in a local area network, the local area network further comprising at least one switch directly connected to the host and a central host, configured to;

receive, from said central host via said at least one switch, broadcast frames comprising at least one topology descriptor in such a way that only frames dedicated to the host are received, wherein a frame dedicated to the host is a frame containing at least one topology descriptor describing the port number of the switch to which the host is directly connected, and

send, when receiving one or more topology descriptors from the central host, a reporting message to the central host, the reporting message containing the received at least one topology descriptor.

27. The apparatus according to claim 26, wherein the apparatus is configured to ignore tagged frames and to evaluate only untagged frames.

28. The apparatus according to claim 27, wherein the apparatus is configured to create at least one address and to return the at least one created address to the central host.

29. The apparatus according to claim 28, wherein the at least one address created by the apparatus comprise at least one of a Media Access Control address and an Internet Protocol address.

30. The apparatus according to claim 28, wherein the apparatus is configured to create the at least one address by using a look-up operation to look up in a pre-defined table mapping topology descriptors to addresses.

31. The apparatus according to claim 28, wherein the apparatus is configured to create an identifier for identifying the host in the local area network based on a port number of a port to which the host is connected.

32. An apparatus, comprising:

a central host device in a local area network, the local area network further comprising at least one switch and at least one further host directly connected to one of said at least one switch, the central host device configured to;

send, in broadcast frames, at least one topology descriptor to the at least one further host, wherein the at least one topology descriptor is sent in broadcast frames in such a way that only frames dedicated to a certain host reach, or are processed by, that host, wherein a frame dedicated to a certain host is a frame containing at least one topology descriptor describing the port number of the switch to which that host is directly connected,

receive, from each of the at least one further host, at least one of a reporting message containing the received at least one topology descriptor, and

build up a topology data base describing the network topology based on the received at least one topology descriptor.

33. The apparatus according to claim 32, wherein the apparatus is further configured to send the topology descriptor in payloads of broadcast frames.

34. The apparatus according to claim 32, wherein the apparatus is further configured to provide at least one address to the hosts.

35. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having a computer program embodied thereon, the computer program configured to cause a processor to:

send, in broadcast frames, at least one topology descriptor from a central host to at least one further host;

filter, by at least one switch, the broadcast frames containing the sent at least one topology descriptor in such a way that only frames dedicated to a certain host reach, or are processed by, that host, wherein a frame dedicated to a certain host is a frame containing at least one topology descriptor describing the port number of the switch to which that host is directly connected;

receive, at the at least one further host, the at least one topology descriptor sent in frames dedicated to the at least one further host;

reporting, from each of the at least one further host, the received at least one topology descriptor to the central host;

build up, at the central host, a topology data base describing the network topology based on the reported received at least one topology descriptor.

36. An apparatus, comprising:

a device in a local area network, the local area network further comprising a central host and at least one further host directly connected to the device, configured to;

receive, from the central host, broadcast frames containing at least one topology descriptor;

filter the broadcast frames containing the at least one topology descriptor in such a way that only frames dedicated to a certain host reach that host, wherein a frame dedicated to a certain host is a frame containing at least one topology descriptor describing the port number of the device to which that host is directly connected, and

forward a reporting message containing the at least one topology descriptor of at least one further host from the at least one further host to the central host.

37. The apparatus according to claim 36, wherein the device is a switch.