Patent Document ID: 7684354
Application ID: 11832510
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A method for analyzing a topology of a multiprotocol label switching (MPLS)/Virtual Private Network (VPN) network comprising: obtaining logical communication channel information for a plurality of virtual routing and forwarding (VRF) instances, wherein each of the plurality of VRF instances are located on one of a plurality of routers, wherein the logical communication channel information specifies a plurality of logical communication channels between the plurality of VRF instances, and wherein at least two VRF instances are located on one of the plurality of routers; constructing, by a computer processor, an audit matrix representing the logical communication channel information, wherein the audit matrix specifies the topology of the MPLS/VPN network, wherein the audit matrix comprises a separate row for each of the plurality of VRF instances and a separate column for each of the plurality of VRF instances, and wherein constructing the audit matrix comprises: for each of the plurality of logical communication channels in the logical channel information: identifying two VRF instances of the plurality of VRF instances that can communicate via the logical communication channel, identifying at least one entry located at the separate row and the separate column for the two VRF instances in the audit matrix, and setting a value of the at least one entry, wherein the value specifies the logical communication channel between the two VRF instances; analyzing, by the computer processor, the audit matrix according to the value set for each of the plurality of logical communication channels to obtain an analysis result, wherein analyzing the audit matrix comprises: comparing the audit matrix with an intended matrix, wherein the intended matrix identifies an intended configuration of communication channels between the plurality of VRF instances, reducing the audit matrix by swapping at least one row and at least one column of the audit matrix to obtain a reduced audit matrix, identifying a plurality of disjoint subsets of the plurality of VRF instances from the reduced audit matrix, and creating the analysis result, wherein the analysis result specifies a difference between the audit matrix and the intended matrix and comprises the plurality of disjoint subsets; and presenting the analysis result.