Patent ID: 7200122

Claim:
A method for determining a topology associated with a distributed processing network, comprising: selecting a network region from among a plurality of network regions, the network region containing first and second sets of routers, wherein the routers in the first set of routers are also members of the second set of routers, wherein the second set of routers comprises routers that are not in the first set of routers, wherein the plurality of network regions are defined by at least one routing protocol, and wherein at least two of the network regions are defined by a common routing protocol; contacting a first router in the second set of routers to determine at least one of the routers in the first set of routers, the first router not being in the first set of routers; thereafter contacting each of the routers in the first set of routers but not each of the other routers in the second set of routers, the first set of routers having fewer members than the second set of routers; accessing network information maintained by at least some of the contacted routers in the first set of routers; setting a flag value for each of the routers in the first set of routers, wherein the flag value depends upon the state of the contact with the associated router and/or router interface; and generating a representation of the network topology in the selected network region based on the accessed network information.