Patent ID: 8868731

Claim:
A method comprising: determining, by a processor, that a protocol state associated with a first port of a network device has expired, expiration of the protocol state being indicative of a network problem associated with the first port; determining, by the processor, that the first port determined to have an expired protocol state is a member of a first port group, the first port group including a plurality of ports of the network device that share one or more common characteristics; applying, at the network device, a policy to the plurality of ports of the first port group, to determine whether one or more other ports in the port group also have a corresponding protocol state to the first port that has expired; in response to one or more other ports in the first port group also having a corresponding protocol state that has expired, determining that expiration of the protocol state of the first port is a false positive and not taking further action based on expiration of the protocol state; when expiration of the protocol state of the first port is not determined to be a false positive, taking further action based on expiration of the protocol state; in response to one or more other ports in the first port group not having a corresponding protocol state that has expired, determining a next-higher level port group of which the first port is a member, the next-higher level port group including a second plurality of ports of the network device that share one or more second common characteristics; applying a second policy to the second plurality of ports of the next-higher level port group to determine whether one or more other ports in the next-higher level port group also have a corresponding protocol state that has expired; and in response to one or more other ports in the next-higher level port group also having a corresponding protocol state that has expired, determining expiration of the protocol state is a false positive, and not taking further action based on expiration of the protocol state.