3com Corporation

Daniel Simon Ginger

Simon Peter Valentine

Robert Duncan

Hamish Donald Stuart Martin

Paul Robert Jones

Mitchell James Warner

A network management apparatus and method for determining the topology of a network in which a Spanning-Tree protocol is implemented, is disclosed in which address table data is obtained from the ports of the core network devices on the network, and the identity of the ports of the core network devices are determined. Spanning-Tree protocol information is obtained from the core network devices and used to process the address table data to remove data relating to ports having links which are inactive. The topology of the network is then determined using the processed data by first selecting one of the core network devices as a root network device, and then using the processed address table data to build a network tree from the selected root device.

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Hertfordshire, United Kingdom

Daniel Simon Ginger