Method and system for determining physical connectivity in a dynamic network

• US 8,811,224 B2
• Filed: 08/05/2010
• Issued: 08/19/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: McAfee, LLC
• Original Assignee: Mcafee Ireland Holdings Limited (McAfee, LLC)
• Inventors: Arkin, Ofir
• Primary Examiner(s): Phillips, Hassan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tsegaye, Saba
• Application Number:
  US12/851,415
• Publication Number:
  US 20100315975A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,475 Days
• Field of Search: 370/254, 370/255, 709/224, 709/223
• US Class Current: 370/254
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/413 with random access, e.g. carrier-sense multiple-access with collision detection [CSMA-CD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies

Abstract

There are provided a system and a method of determining a physical connectivity of a new node connected to a dynamic communication network comprising a plurality of connecting nodes each comprising a plurality of ports. The method comprises: (a) responsive to automatically discovering a new node connected to the dynamic communication network, obtaining address data characterizing a network address of said discovered new node; (b) querying all known connecting nodes and generating a port dataset representing all ports thereof which have registered address data characterizing the network address of said discovered new node; (c) defining, by analyzing the generated port dataset, a port and respective connecting node which said discovered new node is directly connected to.

Claims

1. A method of determining a physical connectivity of the new node connected to a dynamic communication network comprising a plurality of connecting nodes each comprising a plurality of ports, the method comprising:

determining a baseline dataset comprising node data and connectivity data representing all discovered nodes in a dynamic communication network;

responsive to automatically discovering a new node connected to the dynamic communication network and not represented in the baseline dataset, obtaining address data characterizing a network address of said discovered new node;

querying all known connecting nodes and generating a port dataset, the port dataset indicating connectivity data for only a subset of all known connecting nodes, the subset representing only connecting nodes having registered address data characterizing the network address of said discovered new node;

determining, by analyzing the generated port dataset, a directly connected port and respective connecting node to which said discovered new node is directly connected;

classifying initially the discovered new node as an endpoint node and classifying the port of the respective connecting node as an endpoint port prior to performing a network connectivity analysis;

reclassifying said discovered new node as a connecting node responsive to results of the network connectivity analysis; and

reclassifying the directly connected port as an inter-switch port or a switch-router port responsive to results of the network connectivity analysis.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the act of determining a baseline dataset comprises retrieving the baseline dataset from a memory.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the network address is a MAC address.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the port dataset is generated using SNMP MIB data received from the connecting nodes responsive to querying.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the port dataset is generated in accordance with data received from the connecting nodes by querying via remote log-in into the connecting nodes.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein analyzing the port dataset comprises processing data related to the ports represented in the port dataset in order to discover a port which is not an inter-switch port or a switch-router port, thereby discovering the port directly connected to the discovered new node.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the dynamic communication network is selected from a group comprising a single-subnet communication network, a multi-subnet communication network, a single VLAN communication network, and a multi-VLAN communication network.

18. The method of claim 1 further comprising augmenting the baseline dataset to include address data and connectivity data associated with the discovered new node.

8. A system capable to determine a physical connectivity of a new node connected to a dynamic communication network, the dynamic communication network comprising a plurality of connecting nodes each comprising a plurality of ports, the system comprising one or more processors configured to:

determine a baseline dataset comprising node data and connectivity data representing all discovered nodes in a dynamic communication network;

obtain, responsive to automatically discovering the new node connected to the dynamic communication network and not represented in the baseline dataset, address data characterizing a network address of said discovered new node;

query all known connecting nodes and receive respective responses, the respective responses indicating connectivity data for only a subset of all known connecting nodes, the subset representing only connecting nodes having registered address data characterizing the network address of said discovered new node; and

analyze data from the respective responses to define a directly connected port and respective connecting node directly connected to said discovered new node;

initially classify the discovered new node as an endpoint node and the directly connected port as an endpoint port prior to performing a network connectivity analysis;

reclassify said discovered new node as a connecting node responsive to results of the network connectivity analysis; and

reclassify the directly connected port as an inter-switch port or a switch-router port responsive to results of the network connectivity analysis.

9. The system of claim 8 further comprising a memory configured to maintain data related to the known connecting nodes.

10. The system of claim 8 further comprising communication means operative to receive data related to the known connecting nodes from an external memory.

11. The system of claim 8 wherein the network address is a MAC address.

12. The system of claim 8 wherein the port dataset is generated in accordance with SNMP MIB data received from the connecting nodes responsive to querying.

13. The system of claim 8 wherein the port dataset is generated in accordance with data received from the connecting nodes by querying via remote log-in into the connecting nodes.

14. The system of claim 8 wherein the dynamic communication network is selected from a group comprising a single-subnet communication network, a multi-subnet communication network, a single VLAN communication network, and a multi-VLAN communication network.

15. The system of claim 8, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to augment the baseline dataset to include address data and connectivity data associated with the discovered new node.

16. A computer program product embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon, the instruction to cause one or more processors to:

determine a baseline dataset comprising node data and connectivity data representing all discovered nodes in a dynamic communication network;

obtain, responsive to automatically discovering a new node connected to the dynamic communication network and not represented in the baseline dataset, address data characterizing a network address of said discovered new node;

query all known connecting nodes and receive respective responses, the respective responses indicating connectivity data for only a subset of all known connecting nodes, the subset representing only connecting nodes having registered address data characterizing the network address of said discovered new node;

analyze data from the respective responses to identify a port and a connecting node directly connected to said discovered new node;

classify initially the discovered new node as an endpoint node prior to performing a network connectivity analysis;

classify initially the port of the node directly connected to the discovered new node as an endpoint port prior to performing a network connectivity analysis;

reclassify said discovered new node as a connecting node responsive to results of the network connectivity analysis; and

reclassify the port of the directly connected node as an inter-switch port or a switch-router port responsive to results of the network connectivity analysis.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the instructions stored thereon further comprise instructions to cause the one or more processors to augment the baseline dataset to include address data and connectivity data associated with the discovered new node.