Patent ID: 8437277

Claim:
A control device having one or more host ports configured to connect to and communicate with a network having an initially unknown topology and a plurality of unknown devices, the control device comprising: a programmable processor configured to execute a start-up program that uses set and get commands to map the network by: discovering the plurality of unknown devices on the network using the one or more host ports; and enumerating the discovered devices using the one or more host ports; wherein the start-up program is further used by the programmable processor to determine whether each discovered device is a switch; to configure communication with each determined switch to take place via a switch port that first received commands from the control device; to configure routing tables for each determined switch, each routing table used to route communications between specified ports of the respective switch and enumerated devices; and to configure further communication with each determined switch to take place according to the routing table; wherein any communications received by a switch, prior to configuring a routing table for the switch, other than via the port that first received commands from the control device, are discarded.