Patent ID: 7111073

Claim:
A computer system comprising: a processor; a network interface, coupled to said processor and to a network, wherein said network comprises a plurality of network elements and each one of said network elements is coupled to at least one other of said network elements by at least one of a plurality of links; a computer readable medium coupled to said processor; and computer code, encoded in said computer readable medium, configured to cause said processor to: identify pairs of said network elements as being in a first set of network element pairs; generate a first matrix from said first set of network element pairs, wherein each row in said first matrix corresponds to a corresponding network element pair in said first set of network element pairs, and said first matrix comprises independent rows and non-independent rows; form a second set of network element pairs, wherein said second set of network element pairs contains independent network element pairs in said first set of network element pairs, and each one of said independent pairs of network element corresponds to a one of said independent rows of said first matrix; measure a measured network performance metric between a first network element and a second network element of each network element pair in said second set of network element pairs; and compute a computed network performance metric between a first network element and a second network element of a remaining network element pair in said first set of network element pairs using at least one of said measured network performance metrics, wherein said remaining network element pair corresponds to a non-independent row of said first matrix.