Patent ID: 8897169

Claim:
A method comprising: detecting, at a first network device of a first class of network devices, a packet originating from a second network device of a second class of network devices; determining, at the first network device, that the second network device is communicatively located adjacent to at least one network interface of the first network device when the packet does not include a tag associated with the first class of network devices; transmitting, from the first network device, a protocol message associated with the first class of network devices, the protocol message indicating that the second network device is communicatively located adjacent to the first network device; and determining whether a network bridge of the second class of network devices is communicatively located between a first network segment associated with the first network device and a second network segment associated with a third network device of the first class of network devices based at least in part on whether a probe message transmitted from the first network device to the second network device is detected by the third network device, the probe message associated with the first class of network devices.