Patent ID: 6289017
Filing Date: 2001-09-11
Classification: H04L,H04Q

Abstract:
In a network consisting of a plurality of network devices, some of which are switches, and an emulated local area network (ELAN), said ELAN having K LAN emulation configuration servers (LECSs), one or more LAN emulation servers (LESs), one or more LAN emulation clients (LECs) and a network management system (NMS), a method of establishing a connection between a LEC and a LECS, said method comprising the steps of:monitoring said plurality of network devices on a continuous basis so as to construct a physical and logical topology of said network from information collected;maintaining a main active list consisting of a maximum of N LECSs wherein said active list consists of M LECSs at any point in time, wherein M is less than or equal to N;generating M active lists from said main active list whereby each active list contains the same contents but in a unique order to other active lists;dividing said network into M groups of switches;assigning and storing one of said active lists to each group within said M groups of switches; andwherein K, M and N are positive integers.