3com Corporation

Hewlett-packard Development Company, L.P.

Simon Peter Valentine

Christopher Robert Linzell

Lee Anthony Walker

Russell Kennett Bulmer

Mark Douglas Cook

Paul Robert Jones

Robert Duncan

Hamish Donald Stuart Martin

Andrew Peter White

Daniel Simon Ginger

Brendan Boulter

Richard J Artes

Peter Wai Lam

The topology of a computer network may be by the process of discovery in which each of the devices of the network is interrogated to thereby produce details of the network and its operation, preferably in the form of a network map which may be displayed on a visual display unit showing the devices and links between the devices. At its simplest, and where the device is a 'managed' device, this information is usually provided by interrogation using a known protocol, such as the SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol), of the so-called 'agent' of each device which stores the device's unique MAC address, the type of device and the MAC addresses embedded in the data passing into a particular port which thereby gives the MAC addresses of the origin of the data and hence the MAC address of the devices which are connected to the ports directly or indirectly. However, many devices are not SNMP enabled and so the discovery or interrogation of the network produces a result which indicates that these non SNMP enabled devices are displayed as 'generic' devices. There is described a device for use in a network, said device including information identifying the device, which information is made accessible during HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) authentication procedure.

Discovering non managed devices in a network such as a LAN using HTTP

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.

Network management apparatus and method for determining the topology of a network

A network management apparatus and method for determining the topology of a networkis described. The present invention uses data relating to discovered devices on the networktypically network management address table data, to build a network tree. Due to the presence of unsupported or unmanaged connecting network devices, some branches of the resulting tree may not be resolved. In order to address this, for each unresolved branch of the network tree, the present invention attempts to determine the type of each of the discovered network devices on the branch, and if the type of every discovered network device on the branch is determined to be an endstation type, the present invention determines that an undiscovered connecting device is present on the branch.

Method and apparatus for determining unmanaged network devices in the topology of a network

A method and program for checking for misconfigurations and inefficiencies in the configuration of devices and links on a network. Information relating to the configuration of components on the network is stored in a database. The configuration information is accessed for each device, and interrogated for each port and its associated link and connected remote port. The interrogation determines whether the ports and links have matched configuration and whether they are running at optimum capability, such as at full duplex (both ends permitting), at maximum speed or with maximum numbers of ports assigned to a trunk.

Optimisation of network configuration

In a computer network, a process of discovery of the network, including discovery of network phones, and means for retrieving an icon relating to the phones and displaying a network map including network phones in the network map.

Display of phones on a map of a network

A technique for discovering the topology of a computer network and which relies on initially resolving the positions of end stations on the network and subsequently resolving the topology of remaining devices. This technique specifically involves querying a port of a managed device for a first address of any packet which it received; querying the same port for a second address of any other packet which the device received; if there is no such second packet, then returning data to a manager and determining if there is another port on the device; if there is such a second address, determining if there is another port on the device; repeating the preceding steps for the other port of the device; and if no such other port exists, repeating all the preceding steps for another managed device on the network.

Efficient method of deducing network topology including endstations

In a computer network, a process for discovering devices in the network, including network phones, and constructing a topological map of the network; and associated apparatus for retrieving an icon relating to the phones and displaying the map including the phones therein.

Discovery of phones on a network, such as a LAN

Graphically distinguishing a path between two points on a network

Use of remote poll to facilitate determining network topology

A method for providing a data set relating to a network by merging a first data set relating to the network at a first time and a second data set relating to the network at a s second, later, time, said first data set comprising data acquired by interrogation of the network and other data, and said second data set comprising data acquired by interrogation of the network, said method comprising: comparing the data in the first data set with the second data set, and updating the first data set to include additional data present in the second data to set which is not present in the first data set.

Merging network data sets comprising data acquired by interrogation of a network

Network problem indication

Program method and apparatus providing elements for interrogating devices in a network

Network supervising apparatus comprising a store ( ), in use, storing information relating to the components ( ) of the network, the links ( ) between those components, and the type of each link, a visual display apparatus ( ) connectable with said store and including processor apparatus ( ) to convert the information in said store into a visual display on said visual display apparatus, the visual display representing the physical relationship between the components and the links of the network, said processor apparatus processing the signals to said visual display to visually distinguish at least some of said links according to type.

Graphical representation of the connections between network devices and their configuration

A network management apparatus is described which includes a port for connecting to a network for receiving management data from network devices on the network. The network management apparatus includes a processor for processing the received management data and for determining substantially a complete topology of the network and providing image data representative of the network topology. The apparatus further includes a display for receiving the image data and displaying a graphical representation of the network. The processor is adapted to process the received management data to obtain object data for each network object (i.e. device or link) on the network. The object data is provided to the display, for display in graphical form by means of an object tip or tool tip, when the user points to a predetermined part of the graphical representation of the corresponding network object on the display.

Growing community of inventors

Hemel Hempstead, United Kingdom

Simon Peter Valentine