Systems and methods of discovering and controlling devices without explicit addressing

• US 9,887,883 B2
• Filed: 10/19/2016
• Issued: 02/06/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/18/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accedian Networks Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Accedian Networks Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Robitaille, Claude, Bouffard, Pierre
• Primary Examiner(s): JEAN GILLES, JUDE
• Application Number:
  US15/297,604
• Publication Number:
  US 20170041194A1
• Time in Patent Office: 475 Days
• Field of Search: 709221-224, 709204, 709219, 709220
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/622 Layer-2 addresses, e.g. medium access control [MAC] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5009 Determining service level performance parameters or violations of service level contracts, e.g. violations of agreed response time or mean time between failures [MTBF]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/26 Route discovery packet
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/74 Address processing for routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/35 involving non-standard use of addresses for implementing network functionalities, e.g. coding subscription information within the address or functional addressing, i.e. assigning an address to a function
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0414 during transmission, i.e. party's identity is protected against eavesdropping, e.g. by using temporary identifiers, but is known to the other party or parties involved in the communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers

Abstract

A method of discovering a device in a communication network having multiple interconnected nodes includes continuously monitoring, by a device to be discovered, any IP packets sent by a discoverer. The method further includes transmitting, by the discoverer, an IP packet destined for a downstream device and receiving, by the device to be discovered, the IP packet. The method further includes determining, by the device to be discovered, whether the IP packet is intended for the device to be discovered. If the IP packet is not intended for the device to be discovered, retransmitting, by the device to be discovered, the IP packet to the downstream device via an egress port of the device to be discovered.

Claims

1. A method of discovering a device in a communication network having multiple interconnected nodes, the method comprising:

continuously monitoring, by a first device to be discovered, any IP packets sent by a discoverer;

transmitting, by the discoverer, a first IP packet to a downstream device;

receiving, by the first device to be discovered, the first IP packet;

determining, by the first device to be discovered, whether the first IP packet has a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) port number that matches an internet assigned numbers authority (IANA) assigned UDP port number;

processing, by the first device to be discovered, the first IP packet to verify that the packet is a discovery type packet.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the discoverer is a testing unit, a router, a remote node that is local or remote to a subnet where the device to be discovered is located.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the device to be discovered does not require a unique IP or MAC address for the discoverer to send messages to the device to be discovered.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first IP packet from the discoverer includes a destination IP address of the downstream device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first IP packet includes an identifier within its header portion to denote that the IP packet originates from the discoverer.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first IP packet includes a management domain identifier within its header to denote that the first IP packet originates from the discoverer from the same management domain defined in the first device to be discovered.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first IP packet further includes an identifier within its payload portion to denote that the first IP packet is destined for the first device to be discovered.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the device to be discovered replies to the IP packet with unique information about the first device to be discovered using a borrowed IP and MAC address from the downstream device as its source IP address and source MAC address.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein a payload of the first IP packet is sent in an encrypted.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein a payload of the first IP packet is sent in an non-encrypted form.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

continuously monitoring, by a second device to be discovered, any IP packets sent by a discoverer, wherein the second device to be discovered is downstream of the first device to be discovered;

transmitting, by the discoverer, a second IP packet to a downstream device;

determining, by the first device to be discovered, whether the second IP packet is destined for the first device to be discovered;

if the second IP packet is not destined for the first device to be discovered or if discovery for the first device is not activated;

receiving, by the second device to be discovered, the second IP packet;

determining, by the second device to be discovered, whether the second IP packet has a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) port number that matches an internet assigned numbers authority (IANA) assigned UDP port number;

processing, by the second device to be discovered, the second IP packet to verify that the packet is a discovery type packet.

12. A system of discovering a device in a communication network having multiple interconnected nodes, the system comprising:

a first device to be discovered including a first egress port;

a discoverer; and

a downstream device, wherein the first device to be discovered is located between the discoverer and the downstream device,

wherein the first device to be discovered is configured to continuously monitor any IP packets sent by the discoverer destined for the downstream device, the first device to be discovered being further configured to receive a first IP packet and to determine whether the first IP packet has a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) port number that matches an internet assigned numbers authority (IANA) assigned UDP port number and whether the first IP packet is a discovery type packet.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising a second device to be discovered located between the first device to be discovered and the downstream device, wherein if the first IP packet is retransmitted by the first device to be discovered to the downstream device, the first IP packet is received by the second device to be discovered, the second device to be discovered being configured to receive the first IP packet and to determine whether the first IP packet has a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) port number that matches an internet assigned numbers authority (IANA) assigned UDP port number and whether the first IP packet is a discovery type packet.

14. A method of discovering a device in a communication network having multiple interconnected nodes, the method comprising:

continuously monitoring, by a first device to be discovered, any IP packets sent by a discoverer;

transmitting, by the discoverer, a first IP packet containing a first time to live value to a downstream device;

receiving, by the first device to be discovered, the first IP packet with the first time to live value;

decreasing, by the first device to be discovered, the first time to live value by a single unit;

determining, by the first device to be discovered, whether the decreased time to live value is greater than zero;

if the new time to live value is not greater than zero, verifying, by the first device to be discovered, that discovery is activated for the first device to be discovered; and

if the discovery is activated for the first device to be discovered, sending, by the first device to be discovered, an advertisement packet to the discoverer.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein if the decreased time to live value is greater than zero, retransmitting, by the first device to be discovered, the IP packet with the decreased time to live value to a downstream device.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein upon receiving, by the discoverer, an advertisement packet from the first device to be discovered, transmitting, by the discoverer, a second IP packet that has a second time to live value that is greater than the first time to live value transmitted, by the discoverer, within the first IP packet.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein if the discoverer does not receive an advertisement packet within a specific time out period, the discoverer, after a random or fixed delay, transmits a new IP packet with a time to live value equal to one.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein after receiving, by the second device to be discovered, the IP packet with the decreased time to live value, the second device to be discovered decreases the decreased time to live value by a single unit;

the second device to be discovered then determines whether the decreased time to live value is greater than zero;

if the new time to live value is not greater than zero, verifying, by the second device to be discovered, that discovery is activated for the second device to be discovered; and

if the discovery is activated for the second device to be discovered, sending, by the second device to be discovered, an advertisement packet to the discoverer.