Patent ID: 8019848

Claim:
A method for connection exploration in a network including a plurality of network elements each including at least one port, wherein a globally unique identifier is assigned to each individual port of said network elements, and wherein connected ports of two network elements transfer their globally unique identifiers over a corresponding connection using heartbeat-ordered sequences, said method comprising: capturing said transferred globally unique identifiers at receiving ports; storing each of said captured globally unique identifiers at a corresponding receiving port; reading out said transferred globally unique identifiers stored at each port of said network elements using an in-band access; matching said read out globally unique identifiers to a hardware configuration data set to identify connected network elements and connections between said connected network elements; and recording information about existing connections between said network elements; wherein in a hierarchical network different types of connections can be identified in different scanning procedures; wherein in a first scanning procedure all ports of first type network elements are scanned for received globally unique identifiers; wherein in a second scanning procedure all ports of second type network elements are scanned for received globally unique identifiers; and wherein a self-coupling link between two first type network elements in said hierarchical network is identified during said first scanning procedure in response to said received globally unique identifier matching a globally unique identifier of a first type network element as stored in said hardware configuration data set.