Methods and systems for unnumbered network link discovery

Details Methods and systems for unnumbered network link discovery Methods and systems for unnumbered network link discovery

2007-11-06

2007-11-06

Kizou, Hassan (Department: 2616)

Multiplex communications

Network configuration determination

C709S223000

Reexamination Certificate

active

10766715

ABSTRACT:
Embodiments of the present invention relate to methods and systems for automatically determining the network topology of a computer network containing unnumbered or unaddressed links between network devices, such as routers. The method according to one embodiment uses the network management information data available with each router. From the information, the embodiment can determine all routers connected to a given unnumbered interface. The embodiment can also automatically determine which of these routers is the immediate neighbor by comparing how they connect (via interface number) to the unnumbered interface and how they connect to each other. If the immediate neighbor is found to have a route back to the examined router or a default route, a link between the immediate neighbor and the unnumbered interface can then be stored and identified in the network topology. The method can be repeated in cycles to determine topology changes.

REFERENCES:
patent: 5185860 (1993-02-01), Wu
patent: 5450408 (1995-09-01), Phaal
patent: 5675741 (1997-10-01), Aggarwal et al.
patent: 5684796 (1997-11-01), Abidi et al.
patent: 5822305 (1998-10-01), Vaishnavi et al.
patent: 5835720 (1998-11-01), Nelson et al.
patent: 5854896 (1998-12-01), Brenner et al.
patent: 6286047 (2001-09-01), Ramanathan et al.
patent: 6392558 (2002-05-01), Schulmeyer et al.
patent: 6411997 (2002-06-01), Dawes et al.
patent: 6430595 (2002-08-01), Ferguson et al.
patent: 6516345 (2003-02-01), Kracht
patent: 6587440 (2003-07-01), Dawes
patent: 2003/0043820 (2003-03-01), Goringe et al.
patent: 2003/0112764 (2003-06-01), Gaspard et al.
patent: 2005/0102423 (2005-05-01), Pelavin et al.
patent: 1 322 068 (2003-06-01), None
Website printout, Riverstone Configuration Database Support Page, http://www.riverstonenet.com/pdf/config—db.pdf, pp. 1-3 and 114-116, printed Jan. 28, 2004.
Website printout, Unicenter, Managing On-Demand Computing,Aligning the IT Infrastructure to Support the Business, http://www3.ca.com/Solutions/Solution.asp?id=315, printed Jan. 27, 2004.
Website printout, hp OpenView, http://www.openview.hp.com/, printed Jan. 27, 2004.
Website printout, IBM Tivoli NetView, http://www-306.ibm.com/software/Tivoli/products
etview/, printed Jan. 27, 2004.
Website printout, Understanding and Configuring the ip unnumbered Command, http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/701/20.html, printed Jan. 27, 2004.
Website printout, Payam Kahen, IP Unnumbered between Cisco and RS, http://www.riverstonenet.com/support/configdb/0034.html, Jul. 29, 2001, printed Jan. 27, 2004.
Website printout, Eric A. Pulsipher, NNM 5.0: netmon Internals For New Features, http://support.openview.hp.com/pdf/dev—ov—netmon97.pdf , printed Jan. 27, 2004, pp. 1-14.
Website printout, IP Configuration Decisions, http://www.novell.com/documentation/lg
w5/uscomm/rtcf—enu/data/hmjqkeoe.html, printed Jan. 28, 2004.
Website printout, Understanding Network Discovery, http://www.novell.com/documentation/1g/zfsi/zfs—admin/data/a4ziolu.html, printed Jan. 26, 2004.
Breitbart, Yuri, Minos Garofalakis, Ben Jai, Cliff Martin, Rajeev Rastogi, and Avi Silberschatz,Topology Discovery in Heterogeneous IP Networks: The NetInventory System.
Stevens, Sandy, ZENworks for Networks,Delivering Quality of Service to Network Customers, NetWare Connection, May 2000.
Nortel Networks,Configuring IP, ARP, RARP, RIP, and OSPF Services,BayRS Version 15.1, Part No. 308627-15.1 Rev 00, Oct. 2001, pp. i-xxii, 1-1, 1-15, 1-20, and 3-50 to 3-71.
Breibart, Yuri, Minos Garofalakis, Ben Jai, Cliff Martin, Rajeev Rastogi, and Avi Silberschatz,Topology Discovery in Heterogeneous IP Networks: The NetInventory System, 2000.
Waddington et al. Topology Discovery for Public IPv6 Networks. ACM SIGCCMM Computer Comm. Review. vol. 32, No. 3, Jul. 2003. pp. 59-68.
YAO et al. Topology Inference in the Presence of Anonymous Routers. IEEE Infocom 2003, 22nd Annual Joint Conference of the IEEE Computer and Communications Societies.(IEEE CAT No. 03CH37428) IEEE Piscataway, NJ USA. vol. 1, Mar. 30, 2003. pp. 353-363.
Hwa Chun Lin et al. An Algorithm for Automatic Topology Discovery of IP Networks. COMMUNICATIONS 1998. ICC 98 Conference on Atlanta, GA USA. Jun. 7-11, 1998. vol. 2. pp. 1192-1196.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

Rating

Methods and systems for unnumbered network link discovery does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Methods and systems for unnumbered network link discovery, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Methods and systems for unnumbered network link discovery will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3814389