Patent ID: 7821966

Claim:
An automated method for discovering a topology of a network comprising a plurality of nodes, the method comprising the steps of: performing a first traceroute process for a given source node and one or more destination nodes listed in a target list so as to discover one or more paths through one or more intermediate nodes between the given source node and the one or more destination nodes; adding the one or more intermediate nodes discovered during the first traceroute process to the target list; and performing a second traceroute process for the given source node and the one or more intermediate nodes discovered during the first traceroute process so as to discover one or more paths through one or more additional intermediate nodes between the given source node and the one or more intermediate nodes discovered during the first traceroute process; wherein: (i) when one or more additional intermediate nodes are discovered as a result of performance of the second traceroute process, adding the one or more additional intermediate nodes to the target list and performing at least one subsequent traceroute process to determine the existence of any further intermediate nodes; and (ii) when no new intermediate nodes are discovered as a result of performance of the second traceroute process or the at least one subsequent traceroute process, identifying the nodes in the target list as a target closure set for the given source node; wherein the target closure set for the given source node is used as an initial target set for a next source node such that one or more traceroute processes can be performed to determine a target closure list for the next source node.