Patent ID: 8868723

Claim:
A method of discovering a network device in a network which comprises at least one network device and a management server, the method comprising: setting a number of network devices to be discovered; setting a discovery repetition period; and repeatedly discovering the at least one network device with one or more different discovering methods until the set number of network devices are discovered, the discovering including discovering the at least one network device by discovering a specific object and discovering a non-specific object, the discovering including: comparing a number of network devices which have been discovered and the set number; and when the number of network devices which have been discovered is not equal to the set number, rediscovering a non-discovered network device in the network; and determining whether a non-discovered network device exists by comparing an IP address of the network device which has been discovered and an IP address of the network device to be discovered, wherein the discovering methods include a broadcast method, a multicast method and an unicast method and one of the discovering methods are performed according to a range of the network where the network device reside, and wherein the discovering comprises discovering the network device during the set discovery repetition period until the set number of network devices are discovered.