Patent ID: 8625457
Filing Date: 2014-01-07
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A computer-implementable method for discovering the topology of a network, comprising: receiving a first list of node entries, each of the node entries comprising a unique node identifier representing a known node; performing operations on the unique node identifier of the node entries to partition the node entries into a plurality of node groups; assigning a first node discovery agent to a first group of nodes and a second node discovery agent to a second group of nodes, the first and second node discovery agents operable to collect node information from a node; collecting node information from a first node, the node information collected by the first node discovery agent and describing a connection between the first node and a second node; appending the node information to a second list of node entries; and processing the second list of node entries to generate a network topology; determining if the node identifier of the second node is listed in the first list; performing operations on the unique node identifier of the second node to determine its assignment to a node group if the node identifier of the second node is not listed in the first list; appending the second node to the determined node group; and, collecting node information from the second node, the node information collected by the node discovery agent assigned to the determined node group and describing a connection between the second node and a third node; and wherein hash operations are performed on the unique node identifier to generate a hash value, the hash value operable to be used to partition the node entries into a plurality of node groups.