Patent ID: 8019851
Filing Date: 2011-09-13
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A network management system for discovering information about a network, comprising: a plurality of processing nodes; plural discovery agents on said nodes adapted to discover information concerning said network; each of said discovery agents having an associated discovery capability; each of said discovery agents having an associated discovery assignment computed prior to discovery; collectively, said agent discovery assignments being a subset of said agent discovery capabilities; and said agent discovery capabilities being overlapping due to some of said agents being capable of discovering the same information from the same network device, and said discovery assignments being non-overlapping, such that (1) no network device is discovered more than once by different discovery agents seeking the same information, (2) one or more agents are not permitted to perform full discovery of information due to one or more other discovery agents being assigned to discover the same information, and (3) no duplicate discovery information is generated.